2017 May Gardens in Vermont

May in Vermont tends to be a wet month. Elsewhere the sun may be shining and the flowers are in full bloom while here in Vermont we are experiencing a cool wet spring. After last year’s drought we do need the rain. However after a long cold winter I’m really looking forward to getting outside once again and working in the garden. Our May gardens may not look like much but it is wonderful to see things greening up after the winter.

 

Since the house is on the market I’ve cut way back on my vegetable gardens. However I want the rest of my flowerbeds to look their best so I do have some work to do.

 

The first step in clean up for the gardens is to rake all the gravel out of the lawn. Our plow guy does the most excellent job but inevitably we end up with some gravel that needs to be raked out. My husband tackled that job this year and he did an excellent job. The grass is coming in nicely and the gravel is where it belongs, in the driveway!

 

This year it’s taking a while for the daffodils to come along. The forsythia was beautiful this year and it won’t be long before the lilac is in full bloom.

 

Our rhubarb is also doing well. It won’t be long before I’ll be making a delicious rhubarb cake! I’m going to have an abundance of rhubarb this year and not doing any canning I’ll have to give a lot of it away. We have way more than I can ever use!

 

The strawberries are coming along. I’d forgotten that I created a new strawberry bed last year! I was surprised to see them filling the garden bed. I look forward to our own fresh strawberries, a yearly treat.

 

I picked up some small plants at the local nursery to fill our planters. I have a small planter that sits in front of our chicken coop and two larger plants that sit by the back entrance to the house. We haven’t had many sunny warm days but I managed to get out between showers and get the pots planted.

 

The raised beds will be planted before June first. I plan to plant a few vegetables and lots of flowers! I look forward to being able to fill the house with cut flowers over the summer.

 

How is your garden coming along? Do you have a lot of spring clean up where you live?