Friday, April 4, 2014

Spring Cleaning Check List

Can you believe it's April already! It's hard to believe this year is already going by so fast! I think it's partly hard to believe because we've had such a long winter. Winter seems not want to leave us! But with each day passing it's getting warmer, staying light out longer, we know that Spring is indeed here and Winter will have to leave us! 

Garden Season is about to be in full swing! Here's a check list of items that need to be done by now: 

Prep your beds! Give your garden beds a little freshening up by tilling in compost or well rotten manure.

Have your hedges pruned!
This is the time of year to cut back for new growth. March is the perfect month to do this, but our Spring is a little late arriving so we are slightly behind. If you plan to do this, do it quickly before it warms up too. However - you should not prune brushes or shrubs that bloom in the Spring. Those should have been done last fall. If you cut or prune Spring blooming plants you'll be cutting away all of the flowers that were suppose to bloom this spring. So be careful of that and wait until after they are done flowering to prune or cut them back. Here are some good links to check out on Pruning: Better Holmes in Garden  and This Old House: Do's and Don'ts of Pruning

Do a little Spring Cleaning by clearing up brown dead foliage away from the plants. This foliage provides a nice blanket throw winter, but now with Spring arriving we want to clear it and make room for new growth! 

Rack up the dead leaves or debris  that could have blown into the gardens during winter. 


Cut back your ornamental grasses to about a few inches above the ground. This clears away the brown dead grass and gives room for thick green grasses to grow in. Your ornamental grasses will look healthier by doing this. 



Hope this gives you all something to do now that Spring is here! 

Have fun getting dirty in your Garden! 

Until Next Time! 


Sunday, February 16, 2014

Garden Storing Tool Ideas

Hello Garden Friends! Sorry it's been so long! One of my New Years Resolutions is to stay more on top of my Garden Blog posting! 

It is mid-February right now and I don't know about you, but I am so looking forward to Spring! We have had such a bitter cold and long winter! Yesterday we had a lot more snow than expected and are expected to be in a Winter Storm warning tonight. 

But enough of that 'cold' talk... have you all been planning what you'll be planting in your garden this year? I'm hoping to have a nice produce garden. Instead of going over board and planting a whole bunch of different things, I'm going to try and have a productive garden. Something that has the basics that I use quite often in the kitchen and something not too big that it gets away from me. 

I came across these cute pictures and thought they were really clever! I want to incorporate the mailbox for sure!