busy day in the garden

there is no food in this entry, it's all about what happened yesterday in the garden at the shack.

this would be my "mexican" patch... hih. you should have figured that out from the pots... this is how it looked after winter and all the snow







all cleaned up







to my amazement, there is some life in there after all. this tree onion seems to have survived fine







elsewhere in the garden... the rhodo seems to have wintered fairly well, as well. summer will tell how well







last summer i busted my butt, and probably the wrist as well, pulling my arch-enemies the rose bushes out, roots and all, at least that's what i thought. the roses seem to be tought little buggers, these have already squirted up!







this is my herb garden, quite sad after winter







the chives in the middle are starting to push up some green, i'm sure the lovage and sage will follow soon







these planters are still frozen solid







snowdrops never fail







that would be certain someone doing what he likes best, tending a fire...







the sun has managed to bring life to my composter as well. it's now going good, it was frozen solid, as well, in the dead of winter







the dog in seeking out the last cooling snow, it did nice and warm in the sun yesterday







though, there are still places in the garden with plenty of snow...







we tried to figure out which hawk this was, and came first to a conclusion that it must be western marsh harrier/circus aeruginosus (ruskosuohaukka in finnish) but now i'm thinking it's northern goshawk/ accipiter gentilis (kanahaukka). anyone care to tell us what it is? please?







coffee-break, with pulla, naturally







certain someone had a different refreshment cooling in the snow...







the very old apple trees... to my knowledge they've never been pruned. it might be a bit too late in the spring to be pruning them now, but the way i see it, doing it now won't be the reason that kills them. and i did promise i'd buy two new apple trees to each one that dies due to pruning







the rabbits... there was so much snow that the rabbits managed to eat branches that are up to my chin now that the snow is gone







i had spent well over an hour pruning with old garden shears (only thing usable with one hand), when certain someone remembers that he bought this handy tool last autumn. the link takes you to fiskars website, they have all sorts of handy tools







all done, and quite bare. i'm hoping to get at least a few more apples than last year







no, fiskars isn't paying me anything... one of certain someone's childhood buddies happens to work for fiskars, and the tools are quite good (which i think is more important)







this old monster gets trimmed next...