Over winter, we can forget just how hard gardening is. Bending, squatting, pulling, hauling ~ it’s definitely a workout. My batwings are feeling stronger already.  My husband said that gardeners need winter training just like baseball players need spring training to get up to the task and back in shape. I have to agree with that. Problem is, I didn’t have winter training and, like lots of gardeners, I overdid it a few days during the past two weeks. Now that I’m a bit long in the tooth, I don’t bounce back as quickly and it takes two days to recover from one day of overdoing heavy work. Take it slow out there, gardeners.

The Moon is waxing until the Full Moon in Libra on Friday, so there’s a few good hours of planting time for vines during Virgo and flowers during Libra. Leo and Virgo are barren signs; Libra and Scorpio are fertile.

Leo is the worst sign for planting. Stick to general clean-up tasks on Sunday and Monday: weeding, removing pests, picking up fallen limbs and sticks. If planting time is just starting for you, you can use Leo for prepping your garden: uncovering new growth, getting new mulch and other things you’ll need on hand as the season begins. If you’re in deep trouble with overgrown areas, gather up the kids or hire someone to help and be the leader of your own yard crew.

Leo is a wonderful time for decorating with garden ornaments. Leo likes drawing attention to special focal points in the garden that make it special. If there’s a spot in your garden that you adore, are proud of, and pay special attention to, that’s probably your Leo spot.

Leo and Virgo Moon days give us about 4 solid days of rest in the garden ~ if there is such a thing! By rest, I mean that neither one of these days is very good for seeding, planting, or transplanting. (Vines do love Virgo, though.) If you’re not sure about some gardening chore (I always need help with fertilizers, for example), Virgo is a good time to study and dig into the details of what your soil and plants require. It’s also an excellent time to make choices on what works and what doesn’t in your garden. If you’re continuously tending the wrong plants for your area, use Virgo’s discretion to make wise choices when it come to choosing the perfect specimen.

Libra is a wonderful sign for planting flowers. Just remember the rule of planting annuals in the first and second quarters and perennials and biennials in the 3rd.

If you grow roses, one of Libra’s flower, you’ll notice that the leaves are greening up and buds are appearing in the warmer climates. My first rose to bloom this year is a peach colored miniature rose that I put in a container with my coral azaleas. Gorgeous!! The little rose was dragged around the yard by a very playful puppy I fostered for several weeks. I found it laying on the ground out of it’s container and just stuck it in with the azalea and returned to chasing the pup. As roses do, it rewarded me with an absolutely stunning bloom.

That’s a reblooming azalea in the pic, by the way, which stays in bloom almost continuously. Some of the flowers have faded. I should have deadheaded them before the pic, but…I didn’t.

Scorpio rounds out the week. Never pull weeds during Scorpio because they’ll come back tougher than ever. Scorpio is a fertile sign, so the waning Moon is a great time to set out perennials and biennials or to divide those that are already established. Now that’s a tough job!

Enjoy the garden, enjoy your week, and don’t overdo it!