Nice 'n Clean, and Awaiting Seed

This past weekend brought in some cooler weather for us, and *gasp* RAIN! Yeah! I'm sure some of you might be like, "Yay... Rain..." but it was SO wonderful! It's been months since it rained here, and a year since I've even heard thunder. I found myself not minding being awakened at 5am on Saturday morning to the oncoming rumbles of God going bowling. Yes, at 30 something, that's still what I think about when I hear thunder. Rain just seems to make everything feel clean and fresh. Nice and new. It's helped relieve some of my anxious feelings about beginning the next season of growing, and has me feeling more gung-ho about getting seeds in the ground. This weekend's rain helped soften up the dense clay that's surrounding my raised beds along our deck/patio thing (ugh. I never know what to call it), and I was able to easily break it up, and add soil amendment and grass clippings. After last week's heroics in the front yard, the pointy shovel saved the day again! I'll be planting Hyacinthus, Crocus, and Chionodoxa in the spots between the raised beds. The Hyacinthus will grow along the base of the patio thingy, and I'll intermix the Crocus and Chionodoxa. There's a lot of purple there, but I think it'll lend a nice contrast to the green that'll be growing in the beds, and the red wood behind them. I didn't take a pic of where they'll be growing, but you can see an older pic here. I found those bags at Costco two weeks ago. I didn't realize what a bargain I'd got until I stopped by Lowe's (for a handy shovel), and saw the same varieties for almost double the price! Speaking of bulbs, my order from Peaceful Valley arrived this weekend. I ordered way too many, but I got to this task a bit late, and some of the other sites offering smaller quantities were sold out. I will either cook with what's not sown or I'll be experimenting with how garlic and shallots grow in different areas around the yard--probably the latter because that sounds a heck of a lot more fun than the absoluteness of cooking with them. Here's what I got: California Early White Garlic, French Red and Dutch Yellow Shallots. Happy Dance! Cha! Happy Dance! Cha! Oh! Warm welcomes to Just Jenn, over at Gamine's Garden. I'm glad you're here, and thanks for reading!