This is the umpteenth post about gardening, but I thought we could begin again. What's everyone doing outside these days?

Our gardens have been cleaned out and mulched. Yahoo. Now I'm focusing on planting the annuals. It's a little early here. They say to wait until after Mother's Day weekend to avoid a freeze, but I'm hoping we're beyond that.

I've been planting containers for the patio. We're gearing up for a graduation party for our oldest son in a few weeks so I'm psyched to get everything in shape. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

What are you doing?

My first bulbs and cherry tree are fading. tulips are standing tall. perenials are waiting in the wings.Grass is mown and paths weeded.It all starting.I feel blessed to be caretaker of my garden.
Mountain ash

Just finished my rain dance as we are low this year thus far. However, planted more daylilies, black eyed susans, cone flower, zinnia, marigolds, and lantana. Planted a mandeville in pot last night along with a trellis and started white cosmo seeds. Should you have room in your prayers, please pray for rain!

I'm not much of a yard person...but I have a big yard...my neighbors are actually planting a garden in the back of my yard...they don't have a place to plant one...they're doing all the work...and I get to watch it grow...and eat veggies from it...they're also tilling a place for me to plant neighborhood zinnias...how lucky is that?!

Mitzky, what an inviting cozy niche! It would be interesting to see a recent picture to compare.

What a pretty curvy path and the colorful petunias. They are Petunia's right or are they Pansies? I know most flower names in German…since my gardening endeavours first started when I moved over here.

You have given me ideas what we can do in the area where we just cut 5 huge pine trees down. Are you happy with the wood chips (or whatever you call them)? We were considering putting them in that corner too, since there isn't too much sun there.

OMG, Jane! Send those neighbors over here...You must feel like a ranch owner. Do you sit out on your swing with a big floppy hat on, sipping a cool drink and watch them? Tee hee…

Mitskty,
Your yard is lovely! Thanks for sharing!

Jane that is soooo lucky to have neighbors do all the work and still get to enjoy the fruits of their labor!

Hannalore, we took down a bunch of pines here too but we did it 2 years ago! I find it so funny that we are doing the same things to our yards when we live sooo far away from each other!

My front yard is basically done for this year. Only have to do maintenance now. Yippee! Took us 3 years! I'm receiving compliments like crazy from the neighbors, who I might add were the same people who yelled at us when we took all the trees down. I guess they didn't think we were going to replant anything.

Of course you are never really done but for now, I'm very happy with it! We even have some decent grass growing!

Backyard is a whole 'nother story! We've got 3/4 of an acre so I'll probably need another 3 years to get that part looking good! So anyway, I've been working back there, weeding and preparing a flower and vegetable bed. Just taking it section by section. Eventually I'll get it looking as good as the front.

No mitzkity. I think it's wonderful that you post photos. Hey we live in the digital age! I'm so glad you want to share, because I do too! Infact I just discovered that you can create a slide show in photo bucket. I put a few pictures together of our views from our house. Hope it works.

I think the pictures might be interesting, because I don't think they allow poppy fields in the States, do they?

Slide show of my view from house and garden

Hannalore, what great views you have! I loved the slide show.

Your yard looks so inviting mitzkity, I'd love to see what it looks like now.

My first posting! I read the article in the Baltimore Sun about this site and decided to investigate. When I saw the posts about gardening, I had to look further. My back yard was a plot of grass when we moved here 17 years ago. I started in one corner- dug up the grass and made a little flower bed. I planted some daylilies from my grandmothers yard in New York. Then the kids outgrew the swing set so my father helped me take that down and I put in some raised beds for vegetables. Well, over the years the daylilies needed to be divided and things just grew. The grassy area is a lot smaller now and the flower beds go around the whole yard. The flowers and trees are a haven for the dog and me and the birds who love to visit and sing for me. After I dug the last flower bed, my husband said he hoped I was done- not a chance! Even after working all day, I love to go out and dig in the dirt- it is my relaxation. No one bothers me out there!!!

Mitzkity-I loved that camping story and thank you for the nice welcome! I have a new digital camera and am still learning how to use it- I will post pictures when I figure out all the cables and how to get the pictures into the computer.
I went to the flower mart in Washington DC today at the National Cathedral. What a wonderful way to spend such a grand day. Weather was perfect and my friend and I strolled the grounds and took in all the beautiful things to see.

Mitzky, what wonderful counselors you had as a child. Shows how experiences like that are implanted forever in a persons memory. Thanks for sharing.

I'm looking at your garden pictures and in particular the Asparagus Fern. I've never seen that before, looks exotic. What a lovely view from your deck. We have butterfly bushes too. Everything looks so well taken care of and very well planned. Thanks for posting the link...really enjoyed it.

Oh and last but not least it was so nice "seeing" you and your Hubby, and all those UNBELIEVABLE cars!!!

Hannelore, lovely view! What do they w/ the poppies, are they harvested? Mitzkity, love the hot rods!

Welcome Flowerqueen!
Msky, that car on the front page is awesome!

Hello Flowerqueen. Are you an expert gardener?

Love the pictures, ladies. One day, when my garden is in bloom, I will show you that, even in Minneapolis, you can have a great backyard get away. Well, maybe pics in July.

No yard here. Sigh. I really do miss working in the yard. I loved all the pictures of your yards and area. Hannelore, can I come visit you?

Oh Dianne, I would love to have you come visit. Hey, I did mentally register that about your guest room too.

Dianne, if you want to weed, I am not quite as far away as Hannelore. I don't have a guest room, however. But, I usually have a good bottle of wine around!

Me wanna see too !!!!!

Aren't there any more gardeners here? Or if you don't have a garden, is there any particular park that you love to visit? Tell us about it...and post pictures if you can. If you can't post, then paint us a picture with words.

I love to weed! I know, I'm crazy. Okay, I'll admit this. I was so anal about my yard in Ohio and Nashville that I would use a pair of tweezers to get the small weeds between the bricks. Nuts, huh? So Anno, I'd be glad to help you work in your yard!

Dainne, I use a spray product for that...and if I could remember the name of it, I'd tell you. See? It's that memory/recall thing. I've been using it for years and can't think of it. This is awful. I can't remember. I'll look in the shed and post tomorrow. Anyway, it works perfectly for the little buggers that grow in the cracks.

We had the yeard weeded and mulched and soem teeny weeds are already peeping through. But I'm like Dianne. I like to weed.

Hannelore, your view is lucious. Did you do all that planting?

I was talking to one of my gardening friends at work and she keeps a garden journal for each of her gardens. She writes down what she plants where and what is attracted to it and how it does and takes pictures every year so she can see the changes. Then if soemthing doesn't do well she writes that down and moves it someplace else. What a cool idea.

I've been patiently waiting for my iris to bloom so I can post a picture. I'm loosing my patience. Every day I think, oh yeah, it's gonna bloom today. I get home from work. Nope, no bloom. It's driving me CRAZY.

The retirement home we just bought in AZ is already landscaped with desert plants. Low maintenance but already, I'm thinking I want a few garden boxes. I must love stress or something! I love to watch veggies blossom and grow.

My neighbor planted a garden in my back yard...with permission of course! And he tilled me an area to plant Zinnias...they're just starting to come up...I'm like a little kid...can't wait to get out there every morning to see how many have sprouted during the night!

And in a few weeks...fresh blossoms for the house!

That's one of my favorite morning rituals too. I can't wait to get outside to see what has blossomed/pooped-up overnight.

TVC, I love watching pooping flowers too! Now that's an interesting concept!

LOL Dotsie!!!! Yeah, pooping flowers are the best!

I've got a new article up at my site that might be of interest,
http://www.gardenandhearth.com/GardenCooking/Gardening-Tips-for-Baby-Boomers.htm

Oh and the comments section at G&H is now live so if any of you have ideas to add, please go right ahead!

Do poppies poop?

Only if you feed them to much!

It's great to see everyone's pictures of their garden spots...and hear that we're all out there digging in the dirt. I am actually going to put plants in pots this year and arrange them on my bench. The front yard is slowing growing into the garden I'm designing for it. Of course, it's slow grow because I only have a small budget for plants. But the weeds are always free! :-))

Jane, do you get to eat the fruits/veggies of your neighbors garden? What a great idea.

We got our yard in tip-top shape for our son's graduation party so a few weeks ago so I continue to maintain and enjoy the beauty. I've got lots of pots of petunias and boy do they smell good. I used Miracle Gro and they are taking off like crazy.

What's growing in your garden? Daisies are popping up and the hydrangia bushes are blossoming amidst the dianthus, peonies and spirea...however you spell it.

I've got babies growing in my garden!
Baby tomatoes, baby zucchini, baby peppers and baby eggplant!

Yea!!!! Such signs of hope...:-))

Yum! My yard isn't big enough for a veggie garden. We keep trying tomatoes and peppers but it's tough to keep the squirrels away from them.

chocoholic, have you tried container gardening? It's big in the city here.

TVC, I can't wait to hear your recipes when your babies grow up!

Casey, weeds are only wildflowers growing where you don't want them to grow!


My roses are already suffering from the heat - 102 today. My potted cactus on the front porch bloomed the other day and has tons more buds. The pot is also home to a family of geckos that come out at night. Last night they were 'talking' to each other. I couldn't get a good picture of them, but I'll keep trying. Most of my wildflowers are done though a couple are hanging on. Summer here isn't good for growing things, so everything will rest now until our 2nd spring, which comes right before fall!

I am so happy that we are finally getting some good rains here in Jax, FL. It is so wonderful to step into my back yard and see the green grass and the flowers thriving!
It was so bad a couple of weeks ago my daughter and I actually saw a lizard drinking from the dogs water bowl! No kidding!
gerrbeck

We got the loudest thunderstorm of our life last night. It seemed to crack right over our house. Amazingly enough the baby slept through, but Hubby and I were stuck to the ceiling. I think I got a little heart attack from it...well it felt that way. It stayed almost half an hour, pouring buckets and cracking and blitzing.
There was only one thing we could do. Have wild sex? No ...raid the refrigerator. hee hee.
This morning our garden looks like everything grew over night. I just love that fresh dew in the morning, walking barefoot through the grass.

I have grape tomatoes coming up like crazy in my planters on my patio. They are as sweet as can be and there are hundreds of these tiny sweet tomatoes. I also have green peppers and some onions. I miss being able to have a big gasrden but with the sand and leechie here in the desert, planters are all I can handle.

My daylilies are performing wonderfully and we've finally rain! Tons of it!

Ladies, what types of edging do you use? Plastic, brick, metal, wood, etc.

Also, have you a raised garden bed, and if so, what material(s) do you use? i.e., stone, wood, faux stone or wood, etc.