Spring is in the Air!

Spring is in the air and I can't wait to get gardening. We have been touring the yard lately to see what survived our wicked winter and what didn't. The forsythia is in full bloom but need some pruning to regain their shape. We bought a few more full grown plants to start the hedge row on the other side of the house and we have some cuttings in water hoping for them to root. The clematis has green leaves starting to show and the rose bushes are full of budding leaves. The columbine came back this year as well and so did the dianthus that Amy gave me for my birthday. The daffodils are up but only one bloom so far and lots of buds. The hyacinths are half way up only a few more warm days and they should be in bloom. Now I am not sure if the hydrangea that Sarah gave me for my birthday is going to make it. Sorry Sarah but the snow was bad on that side of the house. We put out those little blaze orange flags out by all the small stuff so no one will step on them or mow them over. The lilacs are looking ok. The small one in the front took some damage but I think it will recover. The herb garden is looking green with lots of plants coming back. The strawberries survived for the most part, may need to buy some more to fill in the gaps. I haven’t seen any signs of the hosta yet so not sure they will come back. The tree out front has some buds on it but hasn’t done anything yet. It is still bendy in the branches so I don’t think it is dead but it too took a hard snow drift. Once the snow had melted some we had to re-stake it since it started to lean pretty bad.


We have some big plans for the yard this year. We started some sunflower seeds inside with Josie that needs to be transplanted. I was thinking about putting them between the pussy willow and the lilac out back. Brian started some pepper seeds that looking good and we have some watermelon seeds that have sprouted that Josie planted. The last frost date for our area is the last of April beginning of May so still not time to put too much outside. We also plan to replace the generic black plastic boarder we have around our gardens with brick in the front and some type of wood accent in the back. We currently have willow panels around the self watering pots off the deck. They panels are too tall for the herb garden so we have to find something that is shorter and will look good with the willow. In the front we want to build up the front flower garden a little with a 2 or 3 brick high retaining wall (that side slopes). Dad has some left over brick from one of their projects that he is willing to give to us to use. So that will help with the cost of the project. Just have to figure out the logistics of building the wall. We also want to use brick for the little bed that surrounds the light post out front. I have tulip bulbs in there that have started to come up. I also hope to get a sandbox for Josie this summer and hope to get more use out of her sprinkler play mat this summer than last. Feel free to drop by to lend a hand digging holes or stacking bricks!

Tree!

For those of you who haven't seen our yard in a while I thought I would post some pictures of how things have been coming along. Plus we just bought and planted an Eastern Redbud tree in our front yard. It is a native tree that has pink blooms in the spring and provides great color in the fall as well. We bought the tree on Saturday and we planted it the next day as early in the morning as we could. You see the day we planted the tree had to be one of the hottest days this summer. It was a family even, planting the tree. Brian and I would tag out on the digging because most of our soil is rock. It took a lot of hand "pick axing" to get the hole deep enough through all the rocks. Josie helped us too by putting the rocks we dug out into a bucket for redistribution later. Towards the end we got out a wash pan with water for Josie to play in. She was very thoughtful and would dip a washcloth in the water and then wipe our arms, back of the neck or whatever she could reach. Helped us to stay cool. She was even sweaty and she wasn't doing much.


Once the tree was in and we pulled out the hose to water it is when the fun began. Josie likes to put her hands in the hose spray while we water the plants. So this time I set the nozzle to the mist feature and I misted her and she loved it. Normally she doesn't like to get totally wet but today she had a great time running in the mist. Once the tree was initally watered I set the hose to mist and locked in the on position and set it on the ground. She had a great time running through the water. She also picked up the sprayer and started misting me and Daddy. Which we didn't mind too much since we were plenty hot. So we all ended up soaked, cooled off and had our first tree planted. It was a good morning.

This is a good shot to prove to everyone that yes we have grass now!!!

Here is my front garden

And here is my foggy friend.