It’s the last day of winter and already this gardening season is an interesting one. Two reasons: 1) the community garden upheaval renovation and 2) the bizarrely warm late-winter weather. Let’s talk about the first one first.

Removal of the community garden’s decades-old railroad-tie plot dividers happened last fall. In their place went gorgeous granite curbing. Gorgeous, until it became clear the granite dividers were too tall, making them a hazard for our older members to step up and then down into their plots.

Solution:

We are shipping in and adding a compost-loam soil mix to each and every plot to raise the soil level by up to 4 inches. That’s a lot of soil, and if a plot keeper has perennials, that requires digging and moving. In the very least, it requires every gardener to get into the garden early and at least clean up debris, move any garden hardscaping, and prep the plot for a facelift. And ya know, everyone has been more than accommodating. There’s been a real sense of community and common good in our community garden around this issue. Warms the heart just thinking about it.

And this leads me to weather.

The more-than-wonderful mid-March gardening weather made all the necessary garden work a welcome activity. We had record-breaking temperatures last week, and this week calls for more of the same. Winter, we hardly knew you.

All the warm weather has encouraged my garden to begin the awakening process. Headed into my plot fully expecting to just tidy up and remove debris, I found I had to do more problem-solving than I expected. And it was of an oniony nature.

Early Chives

Who even thinks about chives being perennial? But they are, and all four clumps that dot my garden were green and growing, 3 or more inches tall.

I dug up one clump and tucked it into the top of a 6-inch tall mound of dirt (when the new soil is spread, this mound—and the plants tucked in on top—should be well above the new soil level). I placed an overturned milk crate over another chive clump for protection. And a third clump I planted into my carrot box. The fourth clump I figure can try to survive on its own. Let’s see what happens.

Early Garlic

Oops, I forgot I planted 6-8 cloves of garlic last fall. They are about 6 inches tall already. To protect them from the added soil I placed my two rectangular wooden frames around them. They might get covered with some soil, but for the most part they should be fine.

Shallots

I swear I had removed all my shallots last fall. Apparently I hadn’t, as I found two bulbs sprouting away. I had these two join the chives on top of the soil mound. They can commiserate.

Leeks

No, these didn’t sprout up early. They survived the winter. And I brought them home as my first harvest of spring. Or, technically, my last harvest of the winter.