Brussel sprouts from the garden

Last night there was a  hail/snow storm and so the entire garden is covered with a layer of icy pellets. This morning I was BBMing (blackberry messaging) with a friend in Ontario who asked me “how do you garden in the snow?”.  Inspired by his question, this is how I have spent my afternoon:

(1) Cutting back dead plants and grasses, especially fall bloomers like crocasimia and chrysanthemums.

(2) Pulling up weeds, yarrow, crabgrass, invasive species such as ivy,  morning glory and holly.

(3) Raking up the piles of leaves from beds, corners of the steps. Many of the bulbs are starting to come up – so I am doing this gently.

(4) Confirming that the dead trees and shrubs are still dead.

(5) Making mental lists of things I need to do like: call the tree guy to remove the dead trees and shrubs.

(6) Turning the food compost. It isn’t decaying fast, but is still warm and full of worms. The garden compost seems to be decaying rapidly – or maybe it is just becoming more compact. Also, I was not happy to find a full garbage can of putrefying leaves, moss and rain water.

(7) Pruning the lavenders and hedges, as well as the yellow broom that is taking over the front (okay, I did that last week).

(8) Gathering all the dead branches that have fallen over the winter, and cutting them up.

(9) Cutting budding branches of forsythia to bloom inside.

(10) Harvesting greens from the garden. Today I picked arugula, cilantro, a few leaves of kale and a lot of swiss chard. Probably just enough for four people to have a warm salad with prosciutto and pine nuts. Last week I harvested a big bowl of brussel sprouts, also consumed with prosciutto.