My helper friend was here on Thursday and the first thing he did was clean all the leaves and branches out of the cold frames. With the covers on they will warm up. The onions will go out mid April.
The last thing we did was put the covers on. They are stored at the very back of the garden shed and I had to excavate them from behind all the stuff that had been put in there over the winter.
The tree guys that took down the trees last year pulled and cut off as much of the grapevines from our signature white oak as they could, back in June. But over the summer and autumn they grew back. So my helper friend tackled taking them down again and clearing the area. The little tree is one of my witch hazels.
While he was doing that I was raking the North side yard.
When he finished the oak, he wanted to get the vines off the hemlock next to it, so I said, “Go for it!”.
By then I’d made it down to the Kousa dogwood and cleaned that out and pruned it up off the ground.
We stopped for a cup of tea mid morning and then he went out behind the woodshed and pruned the jostaberry back.
Jostaberry buds
I used to have a black currant that is compatible with the jostaberry for cross pollination back there. Jostaberries come from a cross between a black currant bush and a gooseberry plant. The currant died many years ago and next year I will be able to get another plant so the jostaberry will bear fruit.
As I continued my raking he also pruned the Seven Sisters rose down out of the shed’s trim and back into the garden and onto the trellises.
Garlic in the Small garden, shallots lower right row
He then helped me finish raking the side yard, down by the Small garden and the compost bins. He also did the area west of the house and shed.
It was a cold and bit windy day, too cold to be sitting on the ground digging. So we were able to be productive doing standing jobs.
Friday it rains all day and then starts to warm up over the weekend. I hope to get more raking done on Saturday.