teddebayer's Blog

Welcome to my garden! I can't believe how many blogs have been started already.I've never had a blog before, but have been told I need an LJ, so here I am. I'll try and keep this mostly to gardening, but be forewarned that I can go on a bit, so pick and chose what you read. And now to introduce myself. (gee, I hope I'm truly going about this the right way...is there a wrong way to go about this?)

My name is Lori and I'm a stay-at-home mum of one 4 1/2 year old, precious little boy. We moved into our house one year ago this past October. Before that, we lived in a condo complex where the lawns and grass were taken care of for us. We has 2 small flowerbeds and I enjoyed them. Before getting married, mum and I lived in a different condo complex with the same set up. Our land isn't extensive, less then 1 acre, but I do want to make it nice. There's a small flowerbed out front. The only perrenial in it, when we moved in, was a holly stick. I'll have to take  a pic and post why I call it a holly stick. Its really rather pathetic looking. I've added a rose bush, several mums and a few other perrenials in that bed. Last year, I took out some grass and started a teeny butterfly/hummingbird flowerbed along the back of the sunroom. I did it all manually and taking out the grass was really hard. But the flowers flourished, especially my butterfly bush, and we were treated to several butterflies last summer.

I have a few goals this year. Last summer, we bought a spreader at a yard sale. I don't think the hubby will be using it, so I think its up to me. I'll be looking, on the forum, for some tips on product to use on grass and the best seed to plan on a hill that's in the shade.  I'm also looking to start my first veggie garden! YEAH! My in-laws have a tilling machine that we can use. I don't know if we'll be doing it, or if my fil (father-in-law) will offer to do it. I also want to till a flowerbed in the front. Neither of the areas are big, so he just might. And if he does, I'm gonna let him. One less thing I have to worry about doing right.

For the veggie garden, I scoped out an area last summer that appears to get sun most of the day. It'll be a rectangular area, a bit longer then wide. I'll share the measurements when I make them. I'd like to start out with corn, tomatoes, stringbeans, I think cukes and pumpkins this year. I've been forewarned that the pumpkins will take a lot of room. Unfortunately, I bought the seeds before I got that warning, so I'll do my best.

Our front lawn is a hill, a rather steep on. Its a bear for the hubby to mow, as he uses a push mower, but he's found some ways to make it not so bad. I'd love to make the whole hill a flowerbed, but we can't afford to do it all at one time. We have steps that come up to the front door (obviously). Our existing flowerbed is on one side of the steps. There's a strip of grass on the other side of the steps and then we have a carport. This year, I'd like to till the upper part of that strip and start a flowerbed over there. I want to transplant some of my mums from the other bed and get a flowering, weeping cherry tree (I think that's what it is) and put some plox under it. The neighbor on the corner, has on in their yard with the phlox and it looks really nice.

So those are my plans for this year. I look forward to using the forum for lots of info and tips. I know I'll need it. I like to garden and have done well in the past, but I don't really have much experience or knowledge.