Author | |
CrunchyMom Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 03 2007
Online Status: Offline Posts: 6385
|
Posted: March 11 2015 at 2:27pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Today is the first day that it really feels like Spring to me, and I am finally feeling as if it might not be winter forever and I might need to do things in the garden!
I was outside doing some sketching and planning until the baby decided it was nap time, so I thought I would try and get a peek at everyone else's plans as I napped the baby.
I think we want to simplify this year, and yet, some of the things we like the most take tons of space! So, we are trying to decide if we have the funds to build some more beds or if we should just plant a la Back to Eden.
__________________ Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
|
Back to Top |
|
|
JodieLyn Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006 Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline Posts: 12234
|
Posted: March 11 2015 at 3:31pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
So I'm tired of fighting with my back yard. We're putting down shredded bark in a large-ish section that has issues with not thawing out fast enough. Tends to kill the lawn there. The boys want to play in the dirt. If they want to do something on the lawn they use the front yard. Fine I give up.. I'm looking at something like this probably joining up a couple of hexagons here and there.. it won't look like honeycomb And I'm putting in two apple trees and trying out some hazelberts (cross of hazelnut and filbert). And along one side will be an area.. in dirt for the boy toys like dumptrucks and the like. One of their favorite passtimes is digging a huge hole.. so.. they get a dirt pile for the play area
Lots of work to do. And we also hope to do a patio cover that's just slats (not a roof) and grow tall telephone peas, scarlet runner beans and nasturtiums all over it.
The apple trees will be in the backyard and will eventually give shade for the dirt play area.. and apples will grow fast enough that the shade will be there while the boys are still playing in the dirt
I'm hoping to get enough done that even if I don't have plants growing that I will reduce the upkeep needed and get rid of the last of the lawn out there.
__________________ Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
|
Back to Top |
|
|
SeaStar Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 16 2006
Online Status: Offline Posts: 9068
|
Posted: March 12 2015 at 5:41am | IP Logged
|
|
|
We have been pulling weeds and clearing flower beds like crazy here- it's been a week of very spring-like weather.
My dream this year is to grow red bell peppers- one of my favorite veggies.
It will have to be in pots, since the yard here can't be dug up in amy major way. I am wondering if I keep the pots on the elevated deck if the raccoons would come up and eat the plants. They are not shy about visiting the deck and leaving handprints on our back door.
__________________ Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
|
Back to Top |
|
|
countrymom Forum Rookie
Joined: May 29 2014
Online Status: Offline Posts: 93
|
Posted: March 12 2015 at 7:51am | IP Logged
|
|
|
my garden is enormous, but I have a baby arriving in June, so this year all that might get taken care of are the perennials that are already there. I might plant my 50 feet of Zinnias, but then I would have to weed them. This pregnancy has been harder than my last, so I don't know. I do love to sit out by my zinnias with a glass of wine in the evening with my husband, so maybe I will find a way to get them in. I do have big children, but the thinning when they come up can be overwhelming for them. They never know what to do. We also have a huge pile of manure from our steers back by the barn that we need to distribute on the garden. Lots of work to do, as always!
|
Back to Top |
|
|
SallyT Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
Online Status: Offline Posts: 2489
|
Posted: March 12 2015 at 8:25am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I'm going to put my tomatoes in containers this year -- last year they overwhelmed the square-foot garden, and some of them didn't get sun. In the square-foot garden: eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, and lots of peppers, with greens and carrots in the cinder-block-wall holes. I have lettuce and spinach in planters already -- need to do another sowing. The lettuce is slow, thanks to the freezing weather (I put it in, optimistically, at the beginning of February), but most of it has survived. I sowed the spinach last fall, and it's just now reaching a decent size for me to start harvesting leaves.
Flowers: my usual zinnias and cosmos, anywhere there's enough sun. I'm also working on my Mary garden, which already has roses, lilies, black-eyed susans, obedient plant, rosemary . . . It's kind of bald in mid-summer at one end, so I'll do some things from seed there and keep my fingers crossed that the soil's amended enough for something actually to grow well.
Sally
eta: Oh, and I want to put in three more blueberry bushes along my back wall.
__________________ Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
|
Back to Top |
|
|
Martha Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 25 2005 Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline Posts: 2291
|
Posted: March 17 2015 at 7:28pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I cleared all the garden beds yesterday. Cleaned out all the debris, tilled, checked the soaker hoses,...
My garden strategy is very basic.
Buy what catches my fancy off the nearly dead clearance racks.
Plant it.
If it grows - great!
If it doesn't, well it was pretty while it lasted.
So far I've got 2 white azalea bushes for $2 ea. and for 1.25 each pint container I got three lavender plants, one cilantro, 4 different kinds of tomato. And for $4 I got a 5 gal tomato with a ton of blooms and a handful of green tomatoes already.
I plan to plant them all this weekend weather permitting. I didn't have time yesterday and today was busy and the next two days are rain.
The veggies will go in the backyard veggie raised bed.
I'm not sure where I'll put the lavender in the front garden. I'm thinking of digging out a small pond in the front flower garden. It's currently an L shape. Put the little pond in the corner of the L and alternate the azaleas and lavender on the other side of it to enclose it just a bit.
Hmm. Not sure yet. Guess I'll see how it strikes me this weekend.
__________________ Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
|
Back to Top |
|
|
stefoodie Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 17 2005 Location: Ohio
Online Status: Offline Posts: 8457
|
Posted: March 19 2015 at 11:18am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I still have too many trees.
BUT. This year I am determined to take advantage of every possible inch of space I can use and not use the trees as an excuse for "I can't grow anything!". Pray for me please!
The garlic is growing nicely around rose bush in the front yard :D And the bulbs (tulips and muscari I think) I transplanted in the fall are flourishing in their new spot.
Crocuses are out!!
It's pretty cold outside today, but if it gets warmer later, I intend to prune the herb plot and get it a little neater and prettier, ready for spring growth.
Tomorrow, perhaps, I can start seeds. I know, really late. But this is the earliest I can manage this year.
__________________ stef
mom to five
|
Back to Top |
|
|
SallyT Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
Online Status: Offline Posts: 2489
|
Posted: March 19 2015 at 1:45pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I generally score landscaping plants off the Easter altar, after Pentecost! I've gotten a number of lilies, azaleas and hydrangeas that way, some of which have actually lived! Just have to hit daily Mass on the right day . . . They send a number of flowers to shut-ins, of course, but the larger potted plants that need to go in outdoor gardens are always up for grabs.
Daffodils are blooming here, and grape hyacinths are up! And my forsythia is blooming, which always makes me happy. I spent the last couple of days cleaning up in the back yard and putting the last of the old leaves onto garden beds to mulch down. I need to work on beds in front of the house -- our curb appeal factor is sort of lacking at the moment.
Oh, and I planted carrots in a planter the other day. I love to grow carrots!
Sally
__________________ Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
|
Back to Top |
|
|
|
|