Getting ready for a spring that waits to be

I spent a good part of my free time last week trying to get the yard ready to plant our garden, although I always insist that I keep more of a plant menagerie than a proper “garden.”

This year’s big project is the construction of a raised flower bed, approximately 16 feet wide by two feet deep that will be home to eight Astilbe plants that we’ve been growing inside since late February. A couple of them are now around 15 inches tall and they’re more than ready to go outside, as soon as the weather cooperates.

While a love of baseball was something I could share with my father, I got into gardening to have something I could share with my mother. And by now, I need to see pretty, colorful signs of life to help get through winter just as much or more than she does.