Greening...

[layla]

Memorial Day is the traditional "past the danger of frost" planting date in Fairbanks, although this year, I don't think it's gotten below freezing since late April. Nonetheless, I spent most of the weekend working on homework, doing Kismet pages, reading and generally goofing off. I finally got my butt in gear on the garden last night ... Then I discovered that the mining tailings (which is what our yard consists of) were too rough to drag a laden wheelbarrow to the area where I built the beds, so I had to fling or carry the dirt to it one shovelful at a time. This is what happens when your yard consists solely of rocks. I ended up just putting together one 8-foot bed. If I get to feeling industrious, I'll fill a second bed with dirt and put in perennials or something, but for right now, this'll be my garden this year. I transplanted my strawberry plants into one end of it last night, and then strung up a fence to keep the dogs out. (Lucky loves the soft dirt.) By then it was after 9 p.m. and I still had to make dinner, so I didn't get any seeds planted -- too bad; it's raining today and it would have been perfect! Tonight I'm going to hit a greenhouse or two between work and class, and pick up some more strawberry plants. I have seeds for lettucs, carrots, radishes and spinach, so this will be a nice little salad and strawberry garden this summer.