Prairie Garden Year 6

A few weeks ago I was listening to a local gardening program on WCCO radio. Master gardener Theresa Rooney was answering questions from listeners, most of whom were hoping to finally start spring clean-up on still frozen gardens. Ms. Rooney made what seemed to be a startling statement: save your energy by leaving leaves and other organic debris in the soil. I decided to take her advice with the prairie garden.

Chris did his magic yesterday with a gas tilller. This morning I went out before 7:00 a.m., raked in a "compost plus manure" combo, and mixed up my seed (packaged Encap mixes bought with my Mother's Day gift card: wildflower, aromatic, pollinator, zinnia). I carried my bucket to the garden and spread it by the handful over the soil.

I removed only the largest rocks and finished the job within an hour. It was already hot -- yes, HOT! -- so I took off my jacket and hung it on the hook where I'll install the hummingbird feeder a little later today.