Tenley Nelson - CRR Staff

This April there is still snow everywhere, except under the spruce trees and along the steeper south bluffs. Breakup is delayed and after a long winter it is to the irritation of every gardener to realize all the spring chores will be compressed into a smaller window. Considering that I did not get very much prep done ahead last fall with the September 21st snowstorm, this spring looks to be a doozy for me.

In early April, I spread some potting soil from greenhouse pots onto the northern and highest section of the garden where I put up my low tunnels every year in the hopes of encouraging the snow to melt out. While the sun is working on that, I have been organizing the conex.

Again, thanks to the September snowstorm my garden conex was a disaster. I literally tossed everything in there before the flakes started coming down as I was planting garlic and did not have time to put things away nicely. In September with the long winter stretching out before me, I figured I would work on it then.

Spoiler alert...that did not happen.

Now we are well into spring, and I have been climbing over piles of garden crap for weeks to get to the materials for seed starting stored all the way at the back. My totes of seed starting soil were stored in the greenhouse under the screen tables (along with other garden crap) and as the trays of starts started to expand so too did the need to organize both the greenhouse and the conex.

The greenhouse in its temporary location in our driveway was shoveled out all winter and now sits next to a 4-foot berm of snow. I did not want the water melting into the greenhouse to refreeze all the totes of soil in place, so they needed to get stacked into the conex. To do that I had to tackle the conex mess first, and I needed some building materials.

Last November, I took apart the pig pen roof before we had any real snow accumulation and salvaged all the wood from that project. We cut up and burned the logs in the house stove this winter and while that might sound disgusting, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the logs did not smell like pig poop. We made the pen out of green poplar logs in 2014 when first clearing the new garden site and by the end of 2021 they were starting to degrade from weathering, pig chewing, and the wear and tear of moving it to a new site every year.

I do find it particularly delightful when you get a bonus product out of a deconstruction project. Even more so when one of the bonuses is keeping your house warm!

With the stack of “free” roof lumber to work with, we came up with a plan to attach boards with U-bolts to the conex tie downs and then add horizontal boards for a tool rack. This was accomplished after some fiddling around and some minor grumbling from the person who thought just through bolting would be easier and faster. Call me crazy but I just do not want more holes in the steel shed than came with it already.

The tool organizer worked out beautifully. I screwed 1-foot sections of 1 1⁄2” abs pipe to the boards and slid the tools into place. The only problems I encountered were a few tools with bigger handles (2” abs needed) and that I have accumulated way too many tools. I need to make another 3-part frame for the other side to hang all the little stuff like loppers and hoses up high.

We also have been purchasing 27-gallon totes all winter whenever making a Costco run and I organized frost blankets, irrigation pieces, soil amendments, pots and more into the totes which can stack three high under the existing shelving we modified last fall. I have some more tweaking to do but I feel a burst of happy feelings every time I pull back the heavy steel door and step inside. I can walk unencumbered all the way back, nearly everything is labeled and organized, and I am no longer in danger of poking my eye out with a pitchfork or breaking my nose with a rake. Progress!

Now that the conex is mostly organized and the 10 totes of soil (minus the two in use) moved via snowmachine sled with the last of the driveway snow, I have begun work on the greenhouse. It is hard to organize anything when it is sloppy slushy snow every afternoon outside and a giant puddle inside.

My plant starts travel from the south-facing house windowsills across the yard every day to sit on screen tables in the greenhouse and get direct sun as well as six-plus hours without having a plastic lid over the top. Just the past few days with the warmer nighttime temps, they have stayed in the greenhouse overnight with the woodstove perking along instead of travelling back into the house. Spring is really here and we have our house back from transplantpocalypse!

Mid-April is the time the bulk of my garden transplants get started and I will be a little behind this year after a week trip Outside to see my folks. With all the snow and anticipated extra short spring, I am not too concerned about a 10-day delay. I will be lucky to prep the garden this year on any schedule resembling “normal” timing.

From my garden to yours I wish you an easy breakup, quick snowmelt, and warm soils. Happy Spring!

More from Tenley Nelson:

Off-Grid Seed Starting

May In the Garden

June In the Garden

August In the Garden

September In the Garden