Death in the garden

Those of you who live in the northeast probably don't need reminding, but for anyone else who wasn't paying attention, this was one of those winters that's really hell on gardens. After the heavy snow in early December we thought we were all set, but it warmed up enough to melt all of it, and then it got really cold for an extended period.

( The fate of the perennials )

Meanwhile things move on apace. The peas are all up, as are the ten(!) kinds of lettuce. I planted seeds of two kinds of cosmos and five(!) types of zinnia yesterday. We've cut down the two dead cherries from the "grove" in front (this is always more work than one would expect); the Great Tangle next to the driveway is all cleared out and mostly tilled -- now we have to figure out what to put there to keep the evil plants from reinvading. Always more to do.