My NYC Terrace Garden Spring Cleaning: Opened 62 Presents, Welcomed 2 New Arrivals

BEFORE:

AFTER:

AND A LOT OF FUN IN BETWEEN:

Yesterday, April finally relented and gave into Spring. Perhaps she heard me bring up the "cruelest month" quote from T.S. Eliot the other day, and said, "oh not that  bit again . . . " because yesterday's spring-like weather certainly made up for any ill feelings regarding April. I was able to unwrap all my herbs, plants, shrubs, and trees that had been fitted in winter-gear early last December when they were winterized. It was like unwrapping Christmas presents — 62 of them.

And I was blessed with two new arrivals (at the suggestion of Juan V, gardener extraordinaire, who has been mentioned in previous posts for his "trivet installation" and "turning table skills").  When he came to help me with my unwrapping today, he brought me an "Alfresco" mix of truly wonderful salad greens (red and green leaf lettuces with arugula, endive and radicchio) that boast a "Mediterranean flavor and feel," which I felt compelled to try with some  Greenmarket Olives, Pere Joseph cheese, and a Tom Cat baguette accompanied by Jovly — an off dry Vouvray — that I've just been to introduced by Nancy, a wine shop owner, whose exquisite taste in wine has never let me down and has been included in a previous post.

Here's hoping I have better success with salad greens this time around. Many years ago I had a "salad bar" theme,  attempting to grow salad greens in little containers, hoping my dinner guests would enjoy picking their own salad as much as I did (as indicated in the post that describes Juan V's "turning tables", and in case you missed it in the "referral" above: here is that link once again).

Upon reflection, those "salad bar" salad greens look a lot more timid than today's newcomer, or is it that I've become less timid as an urban gardener? In any event, some folks might say that my early garden years were my "salad days" (a  phrase that you may recall Shakespeare's Cleopatra using to say her affair with Marc Anthony was real — unlike her "salad days" with Caesar  when she was young and unreflective ), but I highly doubt those were my "salad days" in the way that Cleopatra describes such days, as I have never been young or non-reflective.

However, I think my newest arrivals will do just fine. They look pretty confident in photograph above the "salad bar" photograph, and even my Paeonia suffruiticosa (Tree Peony), seems to be staring at them in awe.

Happy Spring to you at last, dear reader, and I'll keep you posted on any new garden images that I add to my web-site, where you can find my collection of invitations that preserve a moment in time, event program covers that enhance any occasion, and greeting cards that are about more than communication. 

Please, dear reader, feel free to let  me know how your garden grows.