I've got green on the mind

I have received a dozen Burpee catalogues in the past month.

It'll be my usual Spring. Make sure the forsythia are ready by the front of the house and the roses are ready along the sides (alternating red and pink). Then of course there are the marigolds and tulips which I am hoping do better this year than last. I could just stick with the gladiolus since that has never failed me.

Up until this year the gardening has been more or less a side line deal but having retired last year I will have added time on my hands...do I risk planting new breeds of plants? Will zinnias get along with petunias and snapdragons?

Then there is the back where there is a smallish vegetable crop of string beans, tomatoes, eggplants and squash. That has always managed quite well, and I have decided to never try the spinach again since it turned to seed far to quickly for me...maybe try the rhubarb again...it was good back in the early '90s.

Retirement is such a great time for gardening!

Zinnias go almost anywhere, in my opinion. Rhubarb is so fun! Consider planting marigolds around your vegie garden as they help keep bugs away.

I say go for the new plants! Experiment......

I plan on hiring the same lawn mowing service that I used last year.

Joy.

Maybe put up a tomato plant....

I get Burpees and a commercial seed suppliers catalog (Rohrer's Seeds) Its amazing the differences in price mostly because Rohrers packs bulk and we save a bundle . Last year, we were going to be gone most of the summer so we didnt garden, this year, although well be gone, our son will till and take care of the garden , since he will want to stay home and work. Weve already been talking about varieties of things. Ive started a few small things like onions and parsley.
For us, the real start of gardening is about groundhog day. Its a time to start early seeds indoors and get the hot frames warmed up

This is my first year of experiencing this, really, and I'm right there! Having no money is a slight impediment (what catches my eye is always the pricey stuff), but looking to beef up that incline/ side yard with more shade-loving, erosion-preventing plants. I like the White Flower Farm website's layout for research and dreaming, so have been spending some time there even if I won't buy stuff there.

Haven't seen the gardening catalogs yet, maybe this will be the week. I'm hoping our big rhododendron survived. I get the sinking feeling that it didn't. Ah, well.

You're feisty today..... Good idea. You can throw your home made, preservative free tomatoes on your cheese burgers.

Farmerman, I can't seem to get the hang of seeds. Partly because I don't have enough sun inside or outside for them, partly because our growing season is just too short, here. Good luck with that!

Soz, I feel for ya! My landlady paid for the plants and stuff I bought (most of it, anyway). You could do yard maintaining - pruning and splitting can often (if you've got the right stuff) provide new plants to use to fill in gaps. White Flower Farm is a lovely website/catalogue, but they're expensive......

Jes - What mightn't your rhodie survived?

Well, the rhodie was transplanted a coupla years ago when we ended up with tree roots (prolly rhodie roots) shooting into a water pipe. It was okay last year, but now it looks, as we say in Yiddish, shvakht (kinda shaggy and less than healthy; think Charlie Brown's Christmas tree). Perhaps there's good growth once we prune it.

The rose bush (in the back) is looking good. The one in the front is fine. It's a lot smaller but still okay. I'm also assuming that the tulips, crocuses, hyacinths, irises and tiger lilies are okay.

We, too, cannot do the seeds thing. Not even when starting them indoors. I bet that has to do with the growing season here.

Growing season here SUX! Sigh.

So, you moved the rhodie 2 years ago? We had 2 really dry summers, but a good wet autumn. Let me know how it does.....

Well, it's that time of year again.

The time of year when I take a plastic carrier bag with me when I walk the dog.
Let me explain......my dog (female) pees on one particular part of my lawn and kills it dead. Every year it's the same thing, scarify with a little electric thingummywotsit (this contraption removes 90% of the moss and dead thatch from the lawn), apply mosskiller/grass feed stuff and lovingly water.
Watch lawn turn a lush green during May, just in time for the dog to start her "which bit can I kill off this year" project.
Run around immediately after dog, watering the affected areas thoroughly.
Sit back during the next few days and watch little dead patches appear, knowing that by the Autumn, there will be another square yard or so that needs replacing.

So, like I said, it's carrier bag time again.

At this time of year, the nearby golf course (where I walk the dog) replaces at least three tees with new turf. The old turf (in very good condition, and excellent quality) gets stacked in the nearby public woods, in order to rot down and eventually turn into loam.

I casually stroll along until I have spotted a turf pile, fold one up (green side out....less messy) and pop it into the bag.

One walk a day for two weeks = approx two square yards of lush green lawn repair for the coming year......until the dog spots it, of course.


Apart from that, I am re-digging the entire left border of my back garden, splitting all those plants that should have been split last year, emptying one of my well rotted compost heaps into it and re-arranging the whole thing.

In the front garden, IF I have the time, energy and inclination, I am going to do what I have intended to do for a long time, and make an English cottage garden out of what is rather a boring square piece of lawn and a couple of straggling roses.
Mind you, I said that LAST year.........

Whew, I thought for a while there that the bag was for dog pee. Couldn't quite imagine the mechanics of that one... or at least really don't want to.

And perhaps a row or two of pepperoni pizza. To preserve the soil, I do crop rotation. One year cheesburgers, next year, pizza.

Soz--

Getting a urine sample from a female dog is easier than you might think--and it saves $40 by making intrusive vet techniques unnecessary.

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I don't know whether any of you profited from Brecht's offer last fall for $25 worth of free plants?

This spring Gurney's (www.gurneys.com) is offering $25 worth of plants for free if you order by 2/15/06 and Michigan Bulb (www.MichiganBulb.com) is offering $20 worth of free plants if you buy $20 worth. They also have several pages of "buy one, get X more for free).

There's an ice storm blowing up for tomorrow and I intend to sit down with my catalogues.

noddy - there was no catch? On the 25 buck freebie? I had been wondering. Seemed too good to be true.

Lordie, could you maybe post some pictures of your garden when it gets going? The back garden project sounds fun.

Soz...have you met your neighbors yet? Come springtime, ask them for cuttings, etc. of plants in their yards. It's the best way to get good advice about what grows well in a new neighborhood, and it's a great way to get acquainted, too. Maybe you have something that's overgrown in your yard you could trade?

This is how I learned about gardening.

we were sitting around the supper table drinking some nice chai and looking over the seed catalogs just this e'en. The kid wants to grow a half a field o gourds to sell to the gourdcrafters around here (theres a club and members use these big dried gourds to make craft items, some of which are pretty damn incredible.
Im gonna have to buy one of the big PTO tillers to fit on the back of the tractor if hes serious.
At the Rohrers site you can buy seeds up to 45 pound bags.

I got involved with gardening last year mostly as a way to keep Mo busy. We built beds and bought some good dirt and just started planting harem-scarum.

We learned that just about any seed you throw at the ground here will grow into an edible plant. Seriously. Last year he spilled a package of snap pea seeds and we had beautiful peas for months.

We'll be finding out what we're planting next weekend as we are throwing a garden party for Mo's birthday. Everyone is to bring him a gift of seeds to plant in their honor.

Great birthday theme! I envy your mediterranean climate!