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greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

2008 Garden Plans

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

Whoa, that posted weird! My apologies.

Elle · Hermes

I'm so excited to garden this year! We've finally moved our 'renovations' to the exterior of the house - we removed the huge deck and old patio from the backyard and are currently waiting for our new, much nicer patio to be poured. Then we can bring home this nearly mature magnolia we bought last week to take her place of honor next to the beauteous patio!

Also after the patio is poured, Mr. Elle is building me an arbor over the path to our shed - I'm going to use it to grow my pole beans and clematis on.

We're also going to put some bamboo in 3 or 4 good sized pots to sit on the patio - it's evergreen here so it will look nice all year.

I'm hoping to get a few evergreen blueberries in this year too, but that might be pushing it a bit!

ILoveChoo · Hermes

I have some big plans for outside this year!
In back:
Butterfly garden along one border
a potted herb garden (a few large pots)
some strawberries or blueberries

In the front:
a bunch of random things, which will include my favorite flower of all- hydrangeas!

I wont let myself plan too much yet- you cant really start planting around here until mid-May so I'm forcing myself to wait.

Suasoria · Chanel

Yay for gardening catalogs...

I have two crazy daisies. One is crazier than the other for some reason.

A few weeeks ago we put in some new brick paths in our front yard, after killing the grass:

So we have some room to plant but we won't deal with it until fall.

AND I have tomato babies! I saved some seeds from tomatoes we got at the farmer's market last summer/fall, planted them in little containers a few weeks ago, and now they're sprouting.

Kari · Dooney & Bourke

One word: Begonias!!!

They are so easy to grow and stay pretty spring through late fall here......

jacL · Coach

I hate gardening. BF does the planting at our house. This year he is going to do tomatoes for sure. We share our garden space with the neighbors, so depending on how much room we have, he will also plant onions, green peppers and maybe some hot peppers, cilantro, basil, parsley, and chives.

relrel · Marc Jacobs

My 2008 Garden Plan? To go to my mom's house and hang out in her jungle. Maybe to water our jade plant more often. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Oh, and scabiosa is the funniest flower name ever. They don't even look like scabs!

ETA: My other plan for 2008 Gardens? To be jealous of all you buttheads with gardens.

-- Edited by relrel at 09:15, 2008-04-02

jettie · Kate Spade

Mine plans are just culinary herbs - I planted basil, thyme, mint, dill, parsley, cilantro and rosemary. Also, plan on planting tomatos this weekend. Can't wait to cook with them!

-- Edited by jettie at 02:07, 2008-04-09

Suasoria · Chanel

Bumping this thread to find out how everyone's plans have worked out!

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

The back yard looks awesome. Last summer we put in a privacy fence, so this year I put in beds around it. It is so luch and lovely. The color was nicely balanced and there was color all season.

My herb/veggie garden grew so well that I smile every time I'm on the patio. You would not believe how well my basil grew. I think I may learn to can and make a bunch of pesto. It is so tall and healthy and beautiful. The parsley and rosemary are also out of control. I only planted 2 tomato plants and I pick about 20 Romas every week. Needless to say I've been making a LOT of brushetta.

The fruit garden is a bust. I think it is too sunny, but I also waited too long to mulch it, so I am going to try angain next summer and hope a nearby tree grows enough to shade it a bit more.

I rearranged the cutting garden and re-mulched it, so it is a little bare night now, but it will be great next season.

The front yard, however, looks terrible. I haven't deadheaded the way I should have, and I had a few weeks where I didn't have much blooming. I was so focused on the back yard that I neglected the front. It was also a very dry summer here and I didn't watter like I should have.

Next year I should be able to buy just a few plants to complete the landscaping and then I can just tend to the gardens instead of working so hard to move and split and whatnot. Next year it should be great!

So, who else has garden news?

Suasoria · Chanel

The above project was finished long ago. We also cleared out the area behind the garage that had become a scrap heap of sorts, laid down weed cloth and gravel, and moved all our potted fruit trees back there in tidy rows. We put up an old metal arch/arbor as an entrance and now it looks a thousand percent better.

The vegetable garden never went anywhere - I planted some tomato seeds I'd saved from some heirlooms I got at the farmers' market last year, but I was so busy I couldn't get them into the ground until July, so they haven't thrived. But I still had some peppers and an eggplant from last summer, and kale from last winter, so that was fun. Basil and herbs are all doing fine too.

Recently I planted a bunch of arugula and spinach so we'll have salads in a few weeks.

But a mystery: our gardener stopped showing up about two months ago. We've called his cell and he hasn't responded. It's not at all like him. We've known him for almost 10 years and he's like a friend. We've been there for him through the birth of his son, a divorce, the time he had his truck and all his gear stolen, he was there for us when our house was burglarized and other traumas...I'm really worried about him and we have no idea what to do to find him.

Elle · Hermes

I hope your gardener is okay, Suasoria!

Our veggie garden did way better than we'd hoped - we've been up to our eyeballs in zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, and chard for the last couple months. I also just planted some spinach and arugula seeds for salads, and started a fall crop of basil. We bought the blueberries, but they have no home as of yet. In february, we're getting cherry tree to plant. Since we only have room for 1, we're getting one with grafts of 4 different kinds of cherries on to the one tree!

We ended up repaving our driveway, so after that we put down the sideyard we share with the neighbors to mulch with some easy-care plants in it. The neighbor is also putting a fountain there

. We just took out some more of our grass in front in favor of mulch, so it all has a much more tailored look now.

Bulbs! Costco has a bunch of bulbs at awesome prices, so I got two kinds of crocus, two kinds of daffodils, and two kinds of alliums to spread around the yard. I planted 170 bulbs in all!

I'll have to take some pics to post later ....

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

Elle, I bought the Costco Crocus and Daffodils a few years ago and they have been wonderful! I never have problems with their stuff, but the bag of 100 daf bulbs was so cheap I wasn't sure about them. Next spring your yard will be a beautiful show!

Elle · Hermes

greendiamond wrote:

Elle, I bought the Costco Crocus and Daffodils a few years ago and they have been wonderful! I never have problems with their stuff, but the bag of 100 daf bulbs was so cheap I wasn't sure about them. Next spring your yard will be a beautiful show!

Ooohhh! I'm so glad you had good luck with them! I too was really excited to see that many bulbs for so cheap, though didn't stop to think about what an undertaking planting nearly 200 bulbs would be . Oh well - with bulbs most of the work is in the planting itself, and now I will have lovely flowers in the spring!

Have yours naturalized at all? I'm hoping the clumps will expand themselves in a few years ...

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

My dafs have naturalized a LOT! The crocus not so much, but I also bought the snow crocus, the teeny-tiny ones, so it will probably take a few more years for me to even notice if they have naturalized much. I also bought some tulips from Costco, and they didn't do as well as the Dafs. I don't know if a critter dug them up and ran off with them or if I had some stinkers in the bunch or if they just don't look that many next to all those daffodils.

I want to get some more bulbs this season and add to what I did before. I'd like some different dafs (I bought the all yellow ones) and would like variety. Plus, I really want some of those almost-black tulips.

But, yesterday I got a big bag of siberian iris bulbs, so I'm super excited about those. Iris are one of my favorites!

Elle · Hermes

Yeah, we have waaaaay too many critters around for tulips to be safe, unfortunately. I could have planted them in wire cages, but it seems like so much work for a flower that supposed to be 'easy'!

They had some really nice dafs when I was there last week - I got a combo pack that has a light yellow double and a peachy double in it

. Hopefully they really go to town their second year!

pollyjean23 · Marc Jacobs

While I wouldn't say that I planned my 2008 garden/lawn, it looks great. My husband got sick of doing the aerating, fertilizing in addition to normal, every day maintenance, he hired NaturalLawn. It looks very nice--all green and fluffy--thanks also to the steady rain we had this summer. We're still not allowed watering our lawns though.

Suasoria · Chanel

I can't imagine planting that many bulbs. Not too many pop up again for us because it doesn't get cold enough. We have really good luck with hyacinths, muscari and freesia - highly recommended!