Waiting for Spring

I can't wait for warmer weather to arrive. I am making a vow to myself to put away the distractions and time killers in my world, those stupid petty things that get in my way of getting the projects done that I want to get done. What a wonderful sense of accomplishment when I get a project completed and then I can relax and enjoy one more part of my house or yard rejuvenated.

This morning I visualized how I would like the pond to be revised. BUT I will only work on the pond once I get the SE corner and the East side of the yard completed... then and only then will I tear apart the pond. The pond is wonderful I don't regret putting it in, however, it has been a time consumer over the summers. As I have tried to revamp the pond several times to make the waterful nicer looking... and now I have a small leak and can't keep the water level up to make it look nice. So this year I need to replace the lining... and if I am going to do all that work I might as well tear out the whole pond and redig the area and fine tune the pond.

I want to put in bog or plant areas that are fed by the pond but they do not leech into the pond. Tired of trying to balance and keep plants upright and looking good in the pond. So I want to put in rock and blog areas around the perimeter of the pond. And dig in a rock ledge around the edge of the pond.. and put in plants and grass around the edge. Put first I need to get other work done... but I want to work on the pond in April/ May otherwise it will be too hot to work on the pond. Lots of work to do...

BUT in order to get it done I need to devote myself to the tasks at hand... to include house work and clearing out the house.. simplify and declutter!!! I want these things to happen this summer and they will..... time to get it together some more on my goals.

With anticipation... love and dirt... Kristi

Not exactly Garden work.

Okay so it wasn't exactly garden work, but it was a step in that direction. I spent a couple of hours today cleaning out the garage... which essentially means I was organizing the garden tools and pots.. so it was close to garden work. I was looking through the list of things I want to do for pre-season prep and hope to get to some of them this coming week. The weather has been chilly but nothing that a coat and some work won't fix to keep me warm.

I bought a yard swing this weekend... hopefully it isn't going to be too big for the area I hope to but it in.. but it will be nice to have. Thinking of putting it in the SE corner. Therefore the next project I focus on is going to be that corner.

Move out the river rock, put in soil, plant vines (later this spring) and put up a trellis and window boxes. Debating if I should put up cedar lattice, white lattice or painted lattice. A splash of color in that corner would be perfect. The plants should be fragrant and colorful so that they can be enjoyed in the evening. Colorful in the corner and then leave the moon garden plants for the perennial, raised bed area.

Love, hugs, and dirt, Kristi

Delays

Not able to get any work done from my list of outside projects that I want to do... Too cold, too wet/dirty, and too much snow right now. So I have been focusing on the house and planning. Not much to "report" as far as jobs completed or moving forward on... so just have to be patient and wait for the weather to cooperate. I do have some other personal things that I am working on that do not pertain to gardening... one is to delve into artistic or creative endeavors; painting, scrapbooking, and papercrafts. The other is to write an artistic journaling format for doing the 12 steps.. a guide for Megan to work with as she is doing her 12 steps. And wouldn't it be great to use it for others also... but that is getting ahead of myself.

Til later, waiting for the warmth of spring.. can only garden so long from the armchair.

With dirt, Kristi

BRRRRR

Okay, this winter we are having winter. Other winters it has been warm enough to spend some time outside digging around in the yard, cleaning and moving things etc. Not this year. This year it is cold... oh well, that just means spending time reviewing and designing for the planting that is coming soon enough.

Making lists and designs of what goes where. AND getting the house spring cleaned so that when the weather is nice, I can head outside without worrying about the state of the house. Painting and so on...

The days are getting longer, slowly. But that is always a promise that soon the temperatures will rise and we will be outside before we know it. On the positive side, it is snowing and cold, which hopefully means we will have rain and warm and not too hot of a summer.

With love and dirt, Kristi

Garden Dreams and Plans

I spent the day looking through plant books for ideas for annual flowers to plant in the garden this year to fill in and add a compliment to the perennials in the garden. This year I plan to use seeds to help offset the cost of plant flats.

East Yard:
* Clean up compost corner. Rebuild the compost container using wood slats so as to keep Lewis out of the kitchen scraps. I avoid putting them in the compost pile because Lewis eats them right up... yep melon scraps to onion peels, he doesn't care as long as it resembles some sort of digestable product.
* Clean out rocks from soil... put rocks around edge of side garden where the rocks are looking thin. Compost and amend soil. Plant SUNFLOWER ASSORTMENT in this area. With plans for this fall to plant a couple of fruit trees; dwarf apples? pear? Yummy. Even thought about putting an arbor tunnel over the area on the east side of the garage and planting some vines.. ie., grapevine.
* In the perennial flower bed, plant annuals and add more perennials. Moon garden theme?
* In south corner.. remove river rocks along fence, add amended rich soil... plant vines. Attach lattice to the corner area to support the vines. Hang window boxes from the fence... alternate from middle supports to higher supports... plant with vines and flowers. (Add another length to the garden hose so that it will reach to the corner for watering the plants in this area). Lush green corner is the effect I am looking for.

Move landscaping rock from future sitting area... grade to a minimal slant.. pour cement, stamp design. Put in a low wall... blocks salvaged from around the yard.. stack and then stucco finish with a cap; stone, tile, or brick finish. Maybe build a planter at the ends of the wall?

Fill in the stream bed with river rock.. puncture the lining so that it no longer holds water, it turned into a breeding ground for mosquitoes and didn't have the effect I was looking for. So fill in with rock... place another flagstone for walking on.

Continue to work on the mosaic paving blocks for the walkway behind the pond.

I could tire myself out just reading the list of things to do... but I hope to have these jobs completed by mid-March.. so that it will be ready for planting by mid-May. And still have time from March to April to focus on the west side of the house so that I can add some raised beds and complete the veggie garden addition this summer.

Love to garden and play in the dirt...
With Love and Dirt, Kristi

Garden Work: Step One

It's time to start working in the garden again. And now is the time to start. In January? Yep in January.

The first step in gardening is planning, planning, and planning. Or is it more like dreaming, dreaming, and dreaming? And then taking those dreams and turning them into plans and then taking those plans and making them happen? Gardening, along with the landscaping piece of gardening. can be a lot of work, in order to motive myself to get the landscaping piece done I need to start with the critical element of dreaming about the finished picture, for that is what sets my gears in motion.

The snow is on the ground and it is cold outside so my outside January projects are on hold. Therefore I am spending my time in the dreaming/planning stage. What projects do I want to aim for this summer? What do I need to do to get them underway? And most importantly what features and plants do I need in order to pull it altogether? With that said... it is the time to plan and dream of my spring/summer garden.

I also hope to include more pictures this year.. before and after pictures so that I can visually record my progress and see how far I have come in the progress of my garden/yard work.

With that being said... I am off to check my camera for previous photos and to check books and magazines and websites for beautiful pictures and ideas.

With love and dirt, Kristi

LET THE GARDENING FUN BEGIN, again.

For me the gardening season always seems to start in January... the holidays are over and it is time to think SPRING. With that in mind I would also like to return my focus to the garden and projects I would like to work on at this time of year...

Let the fun begin:
There is very little I can do at this time of year as far as planting and digging in the garden. Put I have plenty of other things I can putter with... cleaning and organizing are the biggies this month.

CLEAN THE EAST SIDE OF THE YARD:
*Chip branches, yes I finally bought a chipper, yeah!!
*Pile and toss garbage and debris

SOUTHEAST CORNER:
*Prep for planting vines this spring
*Move window boxes, move rocks... fill with soil (now or later).

GARAGE:
*Clean and organize garden tool area.

WEST SIDE OF YARD:
*Remove garden shed.
*Remove old shed floor/blocks

SITTING AREA:
*Prep area for future wall.
KEEP FEEDING THE BIRDS!!!

Weather permitting I will work on these tasks during January... some may carry over to other months... this is not a list to slave over but a guide, I will not get discouraged if I straggle on some. Love what I do and how I do it.

Resources for my gardening tasks are:

"Gardening in the Rocky Mountains" by John Cretti (with consultation advice from my supervisor,Dee, at Tagawas).

Tagawa Garden Center- monthly tips. (http://www.tagawagardens.com/)

When is the "Off Season" in gardening?

So often one thinks of gardening happening only in the few months of the growing season. However, for some of us, gardening is year-round. There is really no such thing as "off-season"... there is always something to do... it is more like a gardening cycle that ebbs and flows with activity.

This time of the year is more about planning and putting down ideas which seems to be the part of gardening that I am exceptional cause I have tons and tons of ideas and I am always planning.. my goal is to complete and sometimes, just start, at least half of the projects I come up with.

It's been awhile since I posted to my gardening journal and with that in mind and the fact that I am once again writing in my journal it is time to reevaluate how I am going to use this journal. I would like to use it as a means of recording progress in my gardening projects... set my monthly goals and tasks.. and then update on how I have managed to complete or tackle those monthly projects. My projects will come from a gardening "to-do" list geared to Colorado gardening and it will also include the personal projects that I would like to accomplish throughout this current cycle or gardening season.

With dirt and love, Kristi