TheBanyanTree: Spring in New England

[Sharon Mack]

The weather here is still cold and gloomy.  We had about a three day
stretch where it hinted at spring but no such luck, not in New England. 
Mother Nature just likes to mess with your head.  At least the snow is
gone, but who knows.  We have often had heavy snow in April. One year we
had it on Memorial Day.  Killed all my tomato plants.  My friends
scolded me and I have since learned...you DO NOT plant anything until
after the first of June.

My landlady and good friend Eda had decks built on each of our sides of
the house.  They are big, spacey, beautiful decks.  They were built last
November (we had a warm spell) and will be needing to be stained and
protected at the end of summer. My youngest son, Patrick, will be back
and I will most certainly put him to work with me.  I am actually
looking forward to it.  I like doing things like this.

The workmen who bulit the decks did a good job but they were NOT too
good at clean-up.  Now that the snow is melted and the rains have come
(spring is commonly known as mud season here in New England) I have
noticed that they dumped a ton of  sand and soil from where they dug the
holes for the posts, down the riverbank.  It has, of course, begun to
erode badly.  I think I will rake it and plant wildflowers in it.  They
also were careless with the cement and there is a huge hardened lump in
the middle of the back yard where they were working.  We'll have to
break it up somehow (anybody know how to do this, let me know) and dig
it up.  What a mess!

I planted day lilies on the hill going up to the road last year so that
I don't have to mow it and they are all coming up.  Hundreds of them.  I
am so excited that my idea worked.  I hope to be able to rake the leaves
that have gathered on the hill this weekend, cold or not, and give them
some breathing room.  We have no large trees in our yard but leaves blew
in from the trees on the riverbank and are littered on the hill. I am
getting excited about getting out in the yard and doing my gardening
thing.

We planted three trees in the side lot.  I had told Eda not to get that
particular kind of evergreen because they are not hardy enough for the
crap soil that GE put down when they did the PCB clean-up and removed
the top soil, but being the owner, she got them anyway.  Then someone
gave her some bad advice about how to plant them and she took it over
mine.  They did not realize what kind of soil they were dealing with so
their advice would have probably been ok with some other yard.  One tree
is dead, dead..... and the other one is kind of dead and probably with a
good pruning will be ugly for awhile but will survive.  The third made
it...surprize.  I will get out there and feed these babies soon and the
dead one will be dug up.

I have a young boy of 17 who helps me with the heavy stuff.  His name
is Marco and he is the hardest worker I have ever seen.  Of course, when
my son returns he will be out of a job but he will be another year older
and graduating from high school and will be going on to college, so I am
sure he won't mind.  He is the cousin of my son's best friend Paulie who
died this past June.  You may remember some of my writings about Paulie.
 Paulie was very specail to me and Marco is becoming the same. He will
probably be taking care of the house and dogs if I come to the Banyan
Tree gathering this August....unless it takes place after the 15th, then
Patrick will be back and he can do it.  Patrick remembers how he and
Paulie used to rag on Marco when they were kids.  Marco is now as big as
Patrick.  It's funny to see them together.  They still laugh and get
silly about the days when Paulie and Patrick were the big, cool guys and
Marco was a skinny twig of a kid and all the awful things they used to
do to Marco, teasing him and being the typical older guys.  

Thursday Patrick will be here late from Baltimore where he currently
resides.  We will leave very early Friday morning to go and pick up his
brother Philip.  We will have Easter dinner on Saturday and return
Philip on Sunday.  He has rehab on Monday and I have to work.  Things
have quieted down, at least with my boys and I am looking forward
(again) to Easter with the boys and some of our closest friends...good
food and good wine.  Then next weekend I will get out in the yard and
let the fresh air (and hopefully with some sunshine) blow these cobwebs
right out of my head.  Winter litter.... just like what is in my yard. 
Erosion and hard places, but they will be remedied as spring forces its
way and summer follows behind and the wildflowers and day lilies bloom.