Garden cleanup in the East Border

High 56 F
Low  49 F

My second attempt at a post!  Don't you hate it when you have it all down and then lose it!  I think that is my April Fool's joke for the day! The above picture is of a portion of the east border as it appeared last June.  It has been cold and rainy here with the temperature finally creeping into the 50's for today.  We have had almost a half inch of rain today.  Last week I did a bit of raking in the above border.  It is southerly facing and starts to perk up before the others so I try to clean it first.  I see no signs of foxgloves or foxglove seedlings now and will have to replant them.  When I did rake, the lawn came up with the leaves which means that another spring chore will be re-seeding parts of this area.  It needs some soil amendments anyway but where will the time come from?   Here is what it looked like before the raking.  It just shows how quickly the gardener's hand print disappears from the landscape.   The pine  boughs were covering the heuchera and they seem to have served their purpose of keeping the plants from heaving from the freeze/thaw cycle of spring.  I still have a way to go in this garden but this end of it does look a bit tidier and the hellebore is blooming.  That plant always looks good! This is a closer view of the raked area.   Everything is so bare and brown. Just a few bits of green color.  I did spot this Scilla coming up with a spot of bright blue emerging.  These scilla were originally planting in the garden around this crabapple, just visible in the foreground of the bench, and every year I rake this area after the scilla flowers are done blooming and the seed heads have formed.  You can spot a trail of scilla across the lawn where the rake carried the seeds.  I will see if I can't get a shot of that in a couple of weeks.  Great spreaders!  I had the tools out and used my new dirt knife for the first time. I think I love it.  It makes quick work of weeds and roots and it does have a serrated edge for cutting.  It looks pretty sturdy and a bit lethal doesn't it?   I did spread some Chickity Doo Doo, a new line I am selling to garden centers.  It is just what it claims to be but I always like to test a product.  We shall see how it works.  It does have an OMRI label and should be a good soil amendment as well as fertilizer.  The other tool, the pruners are a brand called Wolf Gaarten from Germany.  I actually like them better than Felcos.  Do you have any new tools for the garden this spring season?