Snow

The weatherman said that it would rain today and then turn to snow tonight. But it is snowing - huge flakes that are quickly covering the grass. The deck is white and there are no birds at the feeder. I am hoping that this is winter's last hurrah.

A chickadee and a couple of finches just showed up at the feeder!

Seedlings

Our weather has been more winter than spring - it was only 10 degrees on Saturday morning and 14 on Sunday. But the plastic covers over my seedlings have moisture, not ice (although it did seem to freeze on Saturday morning) and I can see green leaves. We are supposed to get rain, sleet, and snow beginning tonight!

Some of the spring bulbs that I planted are beginning to show green. Each day, I check to see what is happening in the garden. Every hint of green is exciting, even though it will be weeks before the flowers appear.

Landscaping software

I purchased Realtime Landscaping Pro this year to help me with the overall design of our yard. It was a bit of a challenge to learn how to use it. This view shows the trees at their mature size.

My spring projects will include adding the stone border and mulch around the rose garden area and creating the vegetable garden, which is on the other side of the driveway, surrounded by the black wrought iron fence. The weeping tree is a Louise flowering crabapple. I would like to do raised beds for the vegetables, but am not sure how I might create the curved side. I don't want to use landscaping blocks, I would rather use wood.

Spring planting - February 2009

I tried a new method of planting seeds. You can find the information about this planting method here: www.wintersown.org

I planted some annuals and some perennials in late February and put the containers outside. We got 6 inches of snow the next day.

The seeds are coming up, but we are heading back into the 20's for temperatures the next 5 days. Will the seedlings be OK?

Time to stop planting - October, 2008

The grass has been removed and planting has been done around the rose garden.

I planted lots of spring bulbs. Daffodils and tulips and I can't remember what else. My beautiful peonies are now in their permanent spots - and I can't wait to see them blooming.

Almost finished...

All that is left to do is cut some bricks (we did it the hard way with a chisel) and then add sand to fill in the spaces.

I also had to take out the grass around the rose garden and get it ready for planting.

Rounding the corner

The tricky part of laying the path was the corner. The bricks follow a random pattern, but must be kept parallel.

Laying pavers

I wanted a large area near the sidewalk, so I widened the path. I have a curved bench to put in one corner and hope to find some nice planters for the corners.

Digging in...Early September, 2008

Found some great pavers for a great deal, so I decided to build a brick path from the driveway to the front steps. This is about 6 inches deep and the next step was to lay a crushed rock foundation.

Birch clump

A new clump of whitespire birches is added, as well as some shrubs near the foundation. A few lage stones have been placed and one of the two mugo pines was moved to a new spot.

Rose garden - July 2008

Here is the rose garden with the finishing touches - a layer of pavers for the cap, roses and an angel for the center.

Landscaping block - July 2008

What to do with all the landscaping block I took out? Well, I decided to build a circular rose garden in the front.

Here it is with two courses of block laid.

Small steps...

I used some of the edging from the back of the house to edge this small garden. It had been full of river rock and a large yew. It is small, but at least it has flowers!

By the end of the summer, after being pricked by the barberry many times while weeding, I decided it will need to go!

Cleaning up....June 2008

The overgrown shrubs, landscaping block and rock have been removed.

Moving in - August 2007

When we moved in to our house in August of 2007, the landscaping was overgrown. There was landscaping block and 2 ft of rock around most of the house.

Lots of weedy grass, no trees near the house. Not much to work with - a real challenge!