Since Val got us all started off i will jump on in as well. I spent Sun in the yard cutting down the tall grasses and clearing out dead leaves and was surprised to see what was growing all ready as our front yard has been covered in snow most of the winter. you can look at my 2011 thread to see what it looked like in full bloom last yr.
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t1712-jenn-s-gardening-thread-what-will-this-summer-bring-2011


here are the chopped Karl Foerster grasses, in front is my iris and lily garden, i don't think the irises will be as great as last yr as i divided them all in the fall, nice to see if what i did worked and gave them more room to grow.


Project #1, remove rest of the rock and build a flagstone path next to the raised bed to the back yard/ or for now the fence, on the right hand side next to the house i want to do a garden bed one flagstone brick tall with some drought tolerant grasses so i don't have to water against the foundation of the home.


raised bed has snow in summer flowers that dont look dead so im not sure what to do with them so im not cutting them back, also have my Russian sage bush the one in the front thats all branch and a yellow flower green bush behind that, they were looking sad at the end of the yr so i hope they come back this yr, fingers crossed.



this a my #2 project for the summer, remove the rest of the damn rock and get my raised bed built and plants planted as well the flagstone walk way.


my love and joy front garden bed with my weeping mulberry tree.


wish i could tell you whats all in it but i will tell you just about all these were bought on the clearance rack at lowes and are all Perennial Flowers. if you really want to know once things bloom i can check to see if the tag is still with it


front bed close up of green


tulips popping up

Also on front yard talk is replacing the crappy edging with either stone or something nicer looking that the weed whacker does not eat up, any suggestions? im all ears.
might make the front garden bed larger in the replacing of the edging....
oh i can make the time for the work and i really do love playing in the dirt i just wish it did not cost so much $, most if not all of the flagstone has been picked up on craigslist so that helps some and i find free stuff. Oh the back yard is a whole another story and will do that another day.

Wow, you've got big plans for this year. Can't wait to see how it all comes together!

We're putting in new edging around our garden borders also but we are also undecided. I'm sure you remember our HOA denied the curbcrete. We are still considering doing the curbcrete in the backyard since the HOA wouldn't know about that. Thinking about doing some sort of nice concrete block or stone in the front and possibly backyard. I'm interested to see what ideas you have and what others might suggest for the edging.

not the garden but part of my inside plants!



Just had to share this, Ken bought me this poinsettia 4-5 yrs ago and it still blooms every march i love it but noticed that i think one section of the plant is dying
when i tell people how long i have had it and that it still blooms they always ask me what i do and i just say water it

my orchid also has a new stem and i think its going to bloom! it has not bloomed in about 1.5yrs so i replanted it last spring and have been waiting....

Lol It blooms in March?! Not bad how long it's lived for in a pot indoors. Would it not survive if planted outside?

yep every yr it blooms in march! its to cold to plant outside. i dont think its gonna die anytime soon, still has 2 good sprouts out of 4

Ok, here are the seeds i need to start inside!


and i bought another raised bed to have more room this yr in the veggie garden


strawberries coming back in the original raised bed



and my large lilac starting to bud

oooo i just planted some patio tomatoes today can't wait to get my raised garden built. i dont think i will have as much room as you to plant. we're testing our waters this year and maybe next year do a big one in the back yard

I'm giving Jenn some roma tomato, sweet basil and chive seeds for her garden!

Well i got out yesterday morning and fertilized the grass,trees/bushes and the flower gardens and watered everything, i don't know why but i LOVE doing yard work, something about knowing you did all that work and get to see all the life coming back puts a smile on my face (our yard was all DIRT when we moved in), now 3 months from now i might be bitching about the damn weeds or the lack of rain but for right now i LOVE it
here is what i found yesterday!


first bloom on the phlox


first pics of the growth in the back yard now that all the leaves are gone


lilac and iris garden


my weeping birch


my god help me shade garden/dog trample


miss kim lilac


for the front garden


first color in the front bed, love daffodils


tulips growing good now


clematis is coming back!

Last day of snow?....




last yr i posted our last snow fall on March 28th. we will see what mother nature has in store for CO this summer.
Oh and my seeds are really taking off, question for who ever knows, when you start seeds and you put more then on in the area and they all start to grow at what point do you "kill" the others so only one is going per seed spot? i have that indoor green house seed starter set.

oooh!! which clematis do you have? I'm kind of a clematis junkie....I have 6, and have bought 5 for my mom over the past 3 years.

jbealer wrote:

Oh and my seeds are really taking off, question for who ever knows, when you start seeds and you put more then on in the area and they all start to grow at what point do you "kill" the others so only one is going per seed spot? i have that indoor green house seed starter set.

I never killed off the others - I just planted the pod right in the ground, and it just took off. I know that's what it says to do, but if they're all growing at the same rate, I just left it - and it has grown to healthy plants. The only thing I had a hard time growing were the chives and green onions. The roma tomatoes and basil that I gave you always took off.

claudia, i think its ok to do that with what your growing but i cant have 3 cucumber plants fighting for the same spot, or the big zucchini and pumpkins. you end up with 3 plants fighting for water and sun and what not and you could end up with nothing growing because of it. i was thinking once i get them in the ground and see what happens as far as growth then pick the strongest one.

Gladah
its a "nelly moser" Clematis

jbealer wrote:

claudia, i think its ok to do that with what your growing but i cant have 3 cucumber plants fighting for the same spot, or the big zucchini and pumpkins. you end up with 3 plants fighting for water and sun and what not and you could end up with nothing growing because of it. i was thinking once i get them in the ground and see what happens as far as growth then pick the strongest one.

With what you're growing then, I think you kill off the ones before you plant them in the ground. (At least that's what I remember it saying on the packaging for the pod/greenhouse thing.)

My seeds

tulips showed up

Beautiful!

Oh, I like the other flowers - what are they called? they would go perfect in the lower retaining wall with the rest of the low plants I have in there!

where do you get those seed starters?

are you talking about the phlox, claudia?

Is that what they are called, phlox?
i have to get some!

snrose wrote:

where do you get those seed starters?

Home Depot or even Lowes or any gardening store. They come in different size pod count too. You hydrate the disks that will grow into those pods that you see in the picture. Then you place 2-3 seeds in each pods. A plastic cover comes with the kit along with instructions. They're pretty inexpensive.

seed starters were like $5 something at walmart, $12 something at home depot crazy that it was the SAME thing... but i have also found HD to be cheaper on some garden stuff when walmart all about price shopping.


Claudia yes its phlox and mine stayed green all winter and it grows like a weed over the years, i got all mine off the 50%off rack at lowes the last 3 yrs, find it hard to kill, but its a spring bloomer then stays green. i have the dark pink one out back that i posted the pic of just the one bloom earlier, its crazy bloomed now.

miss kim lilac in the back, seems its a late bloomer since its over in my mostly shade garden


weeping birch has leaves that means its on its way to growing this yr as it has been through its 2nd winter



lilac in the sun corner in the back (costco score)


other phlox in the back


day lilies in between the grasses are coming back (another half dead deal from lowes)


on the left is the burning bush with the something ash i think bush in the back right (first thing we planted when we moved in, gets white flowers sometimes) this area is on my to get done this summer list.


clematis really taking off (costco score)


and a front shot

Looks good!