Compost+Snow=Magic
I have a piece of land that I am trying to rehabilitate on the cheap– no store bought soil enhancers, no store bought plants. I’ve turned compost into the dirt and planted by dividing bulbs, rhizomes, and plants, and I’ve moved volunteers. When the snow came and the snowplows pushed four feet of snow onto this area, I thought my work was all for naught.As the snow melted, I was devastated. I was used to see iris leaves slumbering. They were gone. The butterfly bushes I planted last August were crushed to the ground. The garlic a friend said I’d be able to harvest in February was nowhere to be seen. I decided to just suck it up and start over.
The cold weather kept me inside. It’s a good thing otherwise I might have started digging. Instead, I did nothing. When the weather warmed, I began looking around. New iris leaves were coming up. Itty-bitty garlic leaves were peeking out from the soil. Encouraged, I started to prowl. The day lilies were coming back. The smooshed butterfly bushes were showing signs of green. The decorative grasses were sending out new shoots.
As the warming continued, I developed a daily routine of scouting for plantings. The cottoney asters were thriving. The euonymus was nice and bushy, and the autumn joy was happily returning.
I had planted wineberries. I couldn’t find them at first then I spotted distinctive berry leaves. When I looked closer, I noticed white blossoms. Wineberries don’t have white blossoms. Neither do the black raspberries that I tried to plant. I looked a little further and noticed more blossoms. What was going on?
I seem to have both blackberries and strawberries growing in my reclamation garden. Evidently planted by the compost and slowly watered by the snow, the berry plants are thriving. The blossoms are slowly giving way to berries so I should know soon what’s coming up. I doubt that I’ll ever eat any fruit. I’ve already seen hoof prints in the mud. It only seems fair the the deer should enjoy the bounty of nature through composting.