Second Year in my Garden

The second year in my new Garden I found myself wanting to devote more time to working in the garden and patching the bare spots and doing more than just quickie weeding frenzies, which is what the first year was all about. I wanted to "bond" with my garden and make it my own.. instead I felt like a caretaker of the garden.. tending the garden for the previous owner. I wanted to make it my own.

I have moved around many times in my life and almost every place that I have lived, I end up putting in a garden.. a veggie garden; flower gardens are a luxury and can only be put in after the essentials of the garden is taken care of first. This is the mentality of being raised by a parent/ grandparents of the depression era.. so every time I broke ground it was spent preparing and weeding and maintaining a veggie garden, who had time for the enjoyment of flower gardening?

As I spent another year in my new Garden, I realized the yard was already prepared. I had a veggie garden already dug and fenced in.. AND I had flower gardens throughout the yard. It dawned on me what a wonderful place I had taken possession of. The yard had SO MUCH going for it. I wanted to work it and make it mine.

The second year I again planted the veggie garden and tried to keep up with the weeds. And once again I was spending too much time on the river and at my boyfriend's instead of getting time in my garden. I was making notes, mental notes, of what all was in the garden.. the diversity and variety of the micro environments throughout the yard. So much potential. The summer came and went and I was only able to work to keep the weeds at bay and maintain the yard. I tried to put down sod in the backyard but with the dry weather it burned up and died. No such luck with the sod. My first year I put in a concrete patio area and realized it wasn't wide enough to accommodate a patio table/chair set, so this year I added bricks and extended the patio area into an "L" shape.

So I put away my garden tools and once again vowed to spend more time in the yard, next year.

First Year in my New Yard

In late summer of 2003 I found a home for my family. It had the right number of bedrooms, and with three kids, that's not easy to do without taking out a second mortgage before even getting the first one... I peeked into the backyard, shrugged and made the comment that it was a work-in-progress. The backyard had little impact, no grass/ weeds instead. What I didn't immediately notice were the shrubs and potential of the yard.

My first year of gardening was a year of discovery. I really didn't spend much time digging around in the yard. My then current relationship took up a lot of my time as we went rafting and spent time working on his yard and helping him with his needs over mine. I would take brief moments to dash over to my house and weed without really seeing what was planted. Because of the short amount of time that I had to work on my yard this first year, I felt overwhelmed instead of appreciative of what I was working with. I pruned the roses and tried to plant the veggie garden. Since I was gone at stretches of time and the weather was extremely dry things didn't go/ grow/ well at all.

I ended the summer with the promise that I would spend more time in my garden, "next season".

Springs Frustrations

Okay, I didn't plant my tulips that didn't make it into the ground last fall.. I am going to keep them in the fridge and hope they make it to through the summer so that I can plant them this fall. So far, so good.

Every other day we have been getting enough moisture to keep the ground wet and the air cool.. too cool and damp to get out and work the ground. Anytime that I have a day off it is either snowing or raining.. I can't get any yard work done!!!! All I can do is look at the work I wish I could be doing. I was able to tackle the front yard.. raked, fertilized, and reseeded. But then it snowed and got cold, so I don't know if the grass seed will germinate or if it is too cold. The fertilizer should be good however.

Last week I spent sometime demolishing my waterfall setup in the pond, put in a waterfall tank set up instead of just rocks.. but I didn't get it high enough over the pond for sound effects and looks, so I want to redo the redo I just did. I am going to put in a two stage waterfall area.. dig the waterfall tank higher and back about two/three feet, have the waterfall fall into a small water holding area that will then spill into the pond.. I need to pick up some liner and maybe some more rocks.. this will bite into my bog garden area.. but I can "live with that"... Tonight at work I am going to pick up some more pond liner and when I get a chance dig in for the revised waterfall set up.. hope this is the final revision. Cause I want to get the plants established around the pond this year.. plant some groundcover and plants.. and get some grass around the area, so it doesn't look so barren around the backyard.

Til the weather clears I guess I'll be blogging instead of bogging.

Spring has sprung

The snow has finally melted, seeping into the ground, with greenery bursting through with promises of flowers to come. I have been out a couple times now, doing spring cleaning and it is such a wonderful time to be out digging around the potential of the season to come. I enjoy the pleasure of the promise.

I am going to plant my tulips that didn't get planted and hope for the best. They have been in the fridge for the last twelve weeks, so they have recieved the consistent chilling that they need in order to bloom. So cross my fingers and hope. I am generating my list of seeds and plants.. and I know as I walk the aisles at the garden center I will also do impulsive choices, but thats the fun of it all.

I want to plant perennials, and when I buy, I am going to buy no less than three plants of each. And for annuals, I am going to fill the yard with plants. I should also consider seeds.. but I have only a marginal success rate with seeds.

Can't stop Planning

Maybe that's why I am wanting to get out to the garden, so I can stop coming up with new plans and more "work" for myself. As I look through books and see the multitude of ideas, I see all these things that I can incorporate in my garden/ yard.

SE CORNER:

Build an arbor in the corner that's at least two feet over the existing fence/ posts in triangular form with beams overhead. Move rocks and plant vines and flowers along the fence.. this will provide shade and privacy to the area.

Trim lower branches from the evergreen.. amend soil and plant shade plants under the evergreen.

Build a wall/ trellis privacy screen at the end of the patio. For privacy and shade. On the cement slab coming off from the kitchen install a wood deck/ platform.

The list goes on and on... I enjoy planning and hoping to make these plans a reality. But the longer it takes for spring and actual yardwork to arrive the more plans I keep adding to my list of things to do.

Kristi

Spring is getting closer: Back at Work

I spent yesterday working at Tagawa's. Deadheading and cleaning up the plants. Watering the flowering bulbs and bonsai. What a meditative great feeling. The part I dread is when a customer asks me a question about a plant or other such thing and I feel completely at a loss. I respond from my vague memory and hope I am answering correctly. After they leave I go back and check my answers, which, thankfully, were for the most part, correct. Only a few blunders. BUT, I want to have it come from confidence and surity!!! I want to feel strong in the answers so that I know that I am helping. Only then will I feel 100% great about my nursery job. So I will spend time studying the books on plants and getting to know them. Researching and memorizing the information. Listening and learning.

I remember Dee saying that it will take a couple of years before it comes naturally. I need to give it some time, but also make the time to study and learn as much as I can about plants. Cause I love my job and enjoy working there I want to do my job the best I can and at the level of quality of the others that work there. In just one year I learned a lot about plants, but want to do a better job at helping customers with their questions and concerns.

The scents and the visual appeal of the greenhouse was so refreshingly wonderful. Love it.

Last year I thought about wanting to incorporate houseplants in my house, this year I want to make it happen. Thinking of how to do this as my house is not very accommodating for plants. What I am thinking of doing is setting up a "plant wall".. with shelves and lighting so that I can grow plants in my house. Orchids would be nice.. standing alone and majestic. Then cluster some on a shelf with grow lights. Hanging plants in several areas. Lots of things to plan and do.

Spring is coming.....

The end of February is here.. or close to the end of February. Spring will soon be here. The tree in front has buds. The snow cover is melting (2 months of snow, that's a first for my experience with Colorado winter). Crocus are popping up. Rain is in the forecast instead of snow!! The signs of spring are coming. AND I am working at Tagawa's again this season!!! Walked through the greenhouse on Monday.. the smells and sites are wonderful.

And as I look out over the yard I see many different things that I will need to work on....

POND:
* Dig and restack waterfall. Siphon off pond.. remove fish? pull back liner and dig out the shelf area for the waterfall. Level and reinforce this area, replace liner. Consider getting a waterfall tank from Tagawa's and restack rocks around to camoflouge the tank.
* Reposition and amend "deck" off the pond. As the dirt has settled and is resulting in a slope so I will need to reinforce this area to level the pavers.
* Build up area of the pond that is not level with the other side so that the pond doesn't drain when it is full. SE corner?

BOG:
* Plant plants for the bog area. Water consistently. Taller plants than last year. Reed, cat tails. Bog plants.

POND Area:
*Plant ground cover around the edge intermingled with flowers. Shorter this year than last year.. the ones I put in last year were too high. Lower.. no more than 8 inches. Pinks... ???

PATIO:
*Lay the remainder of the patio.

These will be the first jobs of the season as soon as I can get out into the garden/ yard.

I want a garden that is lush and green. Flowers and cozy corners. Would like to get some higher walls and overhead arches added to the garden which will provide the feeling of rooms and privacy.

Alongside the above jobs, I will want to work on the veggie garden as this also has top priority. See previous blogs to see what I have planned for the veggies.

I am anxious to get out into the yard and start getting things planted and growing. Watching the progression of it all coming together is exciting. I want to make the yard inviting and welcoming to myself and others. Getting antsy to move from planning stage to doing stage. And this year I should have a little more money to get some of the supplies I need for making this happen!!