The fat camouflaged toady in my blog picture is one lucky amphibian.  Days ago when Cliff was tilling the raised beds with the Mantis, he caught sight of the toad in the clay.  Just the thought made me cringe.  I gently placed the poor stunned toad under the straw covering my garlic.  It was probably hibernating, heard the rumble, felt the earth shake and thought the world was coming to an end.

We did some armchair gardening yesterday.  Chairs came out of winter storage,  were scrubbed, and placed in their spots overlooking the garden.  Weather was breezy and mid-sixty.  My energy has returned and I'm ready to tackle the garden.  Viewing the raised beds from the chairs, I decided how I would trellis the sweet peas this year.

 Cliff is coming down with the cold now so I'll have to have him put in the trellis before he's out of energy and collapses. I dried and saved these peas from last year's harvest.  They'll get soaked in fish emulsion and water for a few hours to hasten the germination and then be planted.  We're due for rain in the morning.
We have a pile of brush at the edge of the garden in the woods that needs to be cut and burned but after seeing the number of birds nesting and making it their habitat, the brush stays.  On my walk to the compost this morning, I startled pairs of colorful rose-breasted grosbeaks, Carolina wrens, titmice, chickadees, and other birds from their home.  It's benefits me that they lunch and snack on garden insects.

The rain barrel is connected again and waiting for rain.

The potting bench is out of the shed

and I'm experimenting with a small hugelkulture.

Hugelkulture is a German word meaning hill culture or mound. It's a no-dig raised bed that holds moisture, raises fertility, and is a great space for growing herbs and vegetables.  The under the mound of soil is decaying logs, brush, twigs and branches.  This is a small hugelkulture near the shed where I may try growing some herbs and flowers.  I hope to make at least one tall one in the garden.

I removed the old moldy gourd birdhouse and replaced it with a new one.  The chickadees are already scoping it out.