Spring effect in the backyard

Last night, we pulled the cover off the grill — a major sign of spring for us. As Tom was perfecting our dinner, I walked around to check the footsteps of spring in the yard. It has been raining all day and everything looked so clean and new.

Forsythias are actually nothing new — they are everywhere. But it’s still nice to see the color coming up after the grime of winter.

For years we’ve been struggling with the dusty patch in the back of the yard. Now, it finally has a solid vinca cover. During summer, it keeps bright green. In spring, these flowers make it almost all purple and so uplifting.

A few years ago, we’ve started our own fruit orchard mixing cherries with plums. Last year, there was quite a good amount of sour cherries. Plums bloom well but then they fold.

This year, our apple trees are turning five. Tom seems to be winning his battle with the local deer population: the trees now have not only leaves, they also bloom and, last year, we’ve enjoyed a small harvest.

Never ending struggle with the birds. These blueberries are at least a decade old but look like we’ve planted them yesterday. Do we have berries? Ha! Birds know how to get them through the net. Somehow we still keep our hopes and don’t have the heart to pull the bushes out.

And the lilac time is coming up. Every year, we get more and more flowers. They were my mother’s favorite. Glad lilacs are growing and creating a nice private room around our front porch. Soon, very soon.

The dogwood tree always blooms on my birthday. But this year, everything is late which is not a bad thing: we’ll have these flowers for longer. Barbara gave us this tree the year my mom passed away. When it blooms, it’s my mom wishing me happy birthday opening the flowers. 

Last weekend, I’ve added a few peonies to the previously dinky flower bed. My older peonies were not doing that great. Let’s see what happens with the new ones. It’s another connection with my mom: on her birthdays, she was always happily drowning in peonies. 

We have not done much for our vegetable garden: cleaned it up and mulched the walks between the patches — that’s about it. Our perennial staples have already popped up. Horseradish: using its root in winter as a condiment and leaves during summer for pickling.

Sorrel — my memories of childhood and our summer house in Zhavoronki, i.e. Larks, a village in the suburbs of Moscow. And the best Russian summer soup.

Scallions. Somehow this bush survives and thrives all year round. Don’t even remember how old it is. It’s so prolific — it’s crazy! Makes me think of Stranger Things and the demogorgon. This is just a little nothing of the actual thing.

For years, we’ve been planting peas to no result. But we don’t give up. Here’s another try. They are coming up! Keeping fingers crossed.

Last weekend we’ve made quite an exciting addition to our garden: black currants, red currants, and gooseberries. That’s another influence of my Russian heritage. But it’s a whole another story…