Gardeners have a lot of friends such as birds, bees and ladybugs. Add cows to that list; or, at least, what comes out of them. Manure is the best thing ever for your garden.
It can be applied to lawns, perennial borders and vegetable gardens. It feeds plants and enriches the soil. It promotes strong, sustained growth.
Use composted manure. It doesn't stink and it won't burn plants. Fresh manure should be avoided. It does stinks and the high ammonia content will burn plants.
Bulbs are blooming throughout the garden. Everywhere you look, there are clumps, colonies and carpets of them. Daffodils are putting on a great show. Sky blue Siberian squills carpet shady areas. Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa) has survived and thrived after the last few snowfalls.
The striped squills (Puschkinia) are slowly colonizing the whole garden. Just a few dozen bulbs planted 20 years ago have multiplied into the thousands.
On the patio, it's the fragrant hyacinths that have taken center stage. After they finish blooming, the potted bulbs will be transplanted into the garden. They'll bloom again next year and for many, many years after that.
