I did another walk around the property last week. I took some nice photos then, and a few again last evening. I noticed the Bleeding Hearts and had to pull the camera back out.

This has been a pretty good Spring so far. It’s been relatively warm and sunny. It hasn’t rained in a while, but that’s being taken care of right now. I think we are supposed to get a full day of rain today with showers on and off for the next few days. I’ll take that. It’s good to see the grass and flowers soaking it up. Next week is supposed to be sunny and warm in the 70s. After the rain, that’s the perfect condition for new growth. I can’t wait.

Anyway, here are the latest photos. Enjoy.

By the way, if you would like to see probably the best pictures of the Columbine flower on the internet, you might want to visit, “A Close-up View of the Columbine.”

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So what did you do for Earth Day? I spent about four hours spreading compost around on top of some lousy soil in an attempt to add organics to sandy “dirt.”

I’ll tell you…when I first took a look at the five yards of compost sitting there on the grass, I was excited. I couldn’t wait to get to it. But after a few hours, the thrill wore off. I remember staggering over to take a break by leaning on a tree. It didn’t help that all I had in my system was a cup of coffee. After I went inside to eat a bagel, I found enough energy to get the job done.

Five yards is more than I thought it would be. The pile didn’t look all that big, but when I got into shoveling it, the volume really became apparent. Good thing we have more than enough lawn area to cover. I completed everything I wanted to and then some.

So, what did I do? Well, I basically threw some Neseed grass seed on the bare dirt areas and then covered those areas up with about an inch of compost. I know everyone recommends about a half inch, but I really needed to add some goodness to the, what I like to call “dirt.” I don’t think this dirt could grow anything without adding something to it.

After I did that, I just spread about a half inch to an inch to the rest of the lawn along the road. I first spread it out with a hard rake and then a leaf rake. It looked so good and black. Now that it’s dried out a bit, I may head back up there and rake it out some more so the grass shows through.

I can’t wait for a few rains to come by so I can see the lawn grow through this stuff.

Oh yeah…where did I get the compost? Well, since I live in Connecticut, I gave Collins Compost from Enfield a call. The charge $25 per yard with a $90 delivery fee. The reason it was $90 is because we are about an hour away. I think we are at the edge of the delivery zone. It’s good stuff. If you want compost, give them a call.

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It’s an interesting question because I haven’t seen all too many earth worms around this year.

So far this Spring, I have screened about ten wheelbarrow loads of compost. I am not sure I have seen any worms in any of that compost. The strange thing is, I screened many wheelbarrow loads full of compost last Autumn and I had more worms than I knew what to do with. I had a grand ol’ time throwing that compost and those worms all over the lawn. Hmmm, what fun for the soil.

Holding a worm that was found in compost in my hand

Today, I screened another load of compost. I still didn’t see any worms. I began thinking something was wrong, so I went inside and searched for, “when do worms come out” and “when do worms become active in the Spring.” I found a few interesting results.

The first result that caught my attention was called, “Frequently Asked Questions About Earthworms.” This web page offered a lot of good information, but I am not sure it answered my question. The second page that caught my attention was called, “Earthworms and Crop Management” and gave me a better clue. This page said, “The best time to observe or count earthworm populations is early- to mid-spring (often April in North Central states), or late fall (November).”

Even after reading all this information, I am still confused. It’s the middle of April and all I have seen in the way of earth worms so far are the ones that come out after it rains. There are thousands of them. Most of them are really small though, so I am assuming they are young.

I guess it’s still too early for worms. Perhaps the soil is too cold and they are burrowed down too deep. I am going to keep my eye out for them because I really like to spread them across the yard when I spread the compost over the grass.

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About a week ago, I took a stroll around the property taking photos of various flowers, leaves and buds. It was nice and clear that day, so the pictures really came out nicely. The only problem is that there was a breeze that was a bit more powerful than I would have liked. Other than that…perfect day.

Here are some of the photos I took. I edited some out so I was left with only the best ones.

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