Its almost that time of year again

And based on this winter,  i have no idea what to expect.

It was an odd winter.  From the hail storm last summer to now.

There was no snow until after Christmas and before Christmas it was very warm.  We had a few medium snow storms which were followed soon after by rain which melted it away, then more warm spells. We did have a cold snap or two which wasn't very kind to the plants where the ground was bare.  I had been trying to plan for some winter pruning but with the unusual temperatures i was not convinced that the plants were dormant for certain and that another unexpected warm set of days would wake them up.  I did get the grape pruning started Friday and i totally pruned the Stanley Plum.  i think i got all of the black knot eruptions but had to cut it back so severely. The big pruners weren't enough and i had to use a small cross cut saw. Then i coated what was left with a fungicide product called Fung-onil.  The weather was just below freezing and the spray on product was thickened at that temperature (more like a splatter than spray) so i ended up applying much of it with a medium sized paint brush. I covered as much surface as i could and put extra care towards the fresh cuts.

Regardless of the weird winter,  i'm going to start seeds soon. I may actually get sweet and hot peppers going on time as well as eggplant. I'm also going to remember to plant okra.

I have made a number of small seed orders so far but it will be inventory time before i go any further.

As far as the rest of the outdoors, the edging is a complete mess.  I'm seriously considering replacing it entirely. Something like this:

The plastic edging simply isn't tall enough to sit deep enough and hold steady,  but hubby thinks it won't look nice. I might try it on a smaller bed and expand on it later if he gives up.