The upcoming week will be busy, perhaps the busiest of the year. With temperatures in the sixties and seventies, I’ll be indoors only to eat and sleep (and maybe to rest up a few minutes). This is the long-awaited cleanup week, but I’ll also make the season’s first trip to the garden center.

After pulling out several declining hydrangeas and transplanting a large viburnum last week, the gaps should be filled by a handful of shrubs with perennials following in a few weeks. I hardly have a clue what I’ll be planting in this mostly shady spot, but I expect it’ll come to me quickly once I’m in the garden center.

Of course, like other gardeners, I’ve muddled through the chilly winter months, eager to get back to digging. While I’m never overly enthused about maintenance and cleanup, I’ll enjoy the warmth and the feeling of being productive. Anything’s better than sitting around watching snow melt.

The granite stone path (below) to the rear garden is a mess. There’s just enough slope that the stones slide when the ground’s damp, which is most of the winter. Path stones have slid and been knocked cockeyed, so most will need to be reset. This isn’t a huge project, but another few hours to add to the busy week.