Follow Us!
† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
|
It has been a while since I have been out in the garden...it has been SO cold, but it is beginning to warm up and I am excited!
Never underestimate the joy of a power tool! Especially, a cordless lithium ion variety! Every February I struggle with the task of cutting back all of my ornamental grasses. I have close to 20 in my garden and they are wonderfully low maintenance, except for in February when they all need their crew-cuts. I have tried various methods over the years: Weed-eater with gator attachment, Scissors, Chainsaws, Saws-Alls and finally…A hedge Trimmer! I have found that to be the best method, but I didn’t have one, so each year I was on a quest to borrow one or use a combination of the above mentioned list to accomplish the task. Well, this year I bought my own hedge trimmer and I could not be happier!
This handy little guy helped me get so much done in one day! I cut back the grasses, trimmed the abelias and cut back the camellia…
all with a great deal of speed and ease – woo hooooo! I even had some time to put down some fresh straw:
While working in the yard and taking advantage of some
beautiful weather – I took notice of some early signs of spring:
The Petasites is popping up:
Looking forward to those daffs:
The promise of a peonie:
The "fall" garden I planted last year is now growing! HAH! Guess it will be an early spring garden...
We get a glimpse of spring every February, but can always
count on it getting cold again…so while I had a bit of spring fever, I headed
over to the nursery to take a look-see and of course, I can never leave empty
handed, so I came home with a beautiful “New Dawn” rose. I will put it at the
back fence to peek through the loropetalums that I put in last year. I also hope to put down pine straw in the back this weekend....
Happy Gardening!
-soapHOUSE
Put out seeds for my fall veggies this weekend. It has been nice and in the 50's at night but in the 80's during the day - so I am hoping for a good start. I don't usually have much luck with fall veggies as we tend to get slammed into winter super fast here with not much warning. Maybe this year will be different!
I put in:
Artichokes
Spinach
Purple Cabbage
Regular Cabbage
Broccoli Raab
Leeks
Kale
Mesculin Mix
Swiss Chard
H
ere's Hopin'!
So, back in the late summer I planted all sorts of wonderful fall veggie seeds. I was so excited! I even did a lot of research on companion planting and was going to implement that for the first time. Well, the week after I put in all the seeds, my city issued a complete out door watering ban. No water=no veggies :(
There it sat....a pile of dirt full of seeds waiting for something to help them reach their potential. Well, we have started to have quite a wet winter and the seeds are starting to sprout. I know its way too late...and I won't really get anything from them, but its fun to see them doing something!
Here
is a pict of the veggie garden that could...
Hopefully the rain is making a dent in our drought situation and we will be able to water again come spring...
We had our first hard freeze the other night, so I spent the next afternoon clearing out the tender annuals that turned to wilted lettuce after the cold. It was a bit disappointing because the trumpet tree had a ton of buds on it just ready to burst, but the freeze took care of it. On the other hand, it was nice to clean things up a bit.
Here is what things looked like before the clean out:
Pretty sad, really...but much better after cleaning it all out!
That sweet potato vine gave me a real run for my money, too! Quite a root system! And, lots of mammoth "potatoes"!
All of my other fall projects are pretty much on hold due to the total outdoor water ban. So, I have been working hard on the inside of the house. Lots of painting and decorating and still finishing up the kitchen project.
I did notice that our local garden center has all their bulbs at 25% off, so I may check those out this week. I would like to add some alliums to the back yard.
Unfortunately I have had to totally give up any hopes of a fall veggie garden...due to the drought. No water = no plants :(
Maybe next year.
† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
