Sunday, March 15, 2015

Let the 2015 Garden Season Begin!

After such a cold spell in February, with more snow than usual, I am so excited that the weather has warmed up into the 60s and 70s the last couple of weeks.  Next week, I heard something about highs in the 50s, but that's better than the 20s.  Spring is almost here, and I have lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, potatoes, and a row of asparagus planted.  If it does well across the street, I'll plant more next year.

I took some photos of the yard Saturday evening to make note of what's going on.  I have taken the top layer of leaves off the flower beds, and taken down most of last year's plants.  I have some piles across the street where I put them in case there are insects inside the stems overwintering, and so the birds can continue to eat the seeds.


It's so good to see some green on the plants that come up this time of year.  This is prairie smoke geum.


I decided to leave these coneflowers for the birds for awhile.


I like the fuzziness of the newly emerging pasque flowers.


The golden alexanders are up.


A couple clumps of pasqueflower in a different spot are blooming.


As I was cutting plants back, I chopped some of the stems and threw them around for mulch. In this area, the mulch we had was chips from the silver maple that had to be cut down a few years ago.  They are pretty much decomposed.  I put the grasses I cut back in the path.  I wonder if it will be slick when it's wet.


Phlox pilosa:


Zig-zag goldenrod:


This is the east side of the house.


I think this is an agastache or catmint, but I'm not sure because of the color.


Phlox divaricata


I don't know the names of the hellebores that I have, but I discovered them from others' blogs.  They are such a welcome early spring bloomer!



Short-toothed mountain mint:


I actually have been doing the garden clean up over a few days.   At first, I was propping some of the seedheads here and there for the birds, until I decided not to take down the ones in the curb area quite yet.


Looking toward the south, I am so excited to see what things will look like in a month!


The weather sure has been off lately, with us in SE Nebraska having warmer temps than some of you in the south.  Still, the spring season will still probably come for you sooner, and we will get to see the progression of it heading our way and north, as we find the time to look at others' blogs instead of spending so much time on Facebook.  (Maybe I should be speaking for myself.  Am I the only one who has been spending less time blogging?)  Oh, and there will be more time spent outdoors as the season progresses!  Yippee for spring!

19 comments:

  1. I can imagine the regular big work after every winter is over. So if you can't remove all those dead plant matter, will they be bad for the succeding emergence of dormant plants? If i am in temperate climates like yours, i might not be able to make gardens each time, as i might be lazy in some years to clean the leftovers.

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  2. Good morning Sue ~ It is always a treat to see your gardens emerge after their long winter sleep.

    Happy Spring ~ FlowerLady

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  3. Sue, can you believe it, 86 degrees today? I'm really trying to keep myself restrained in starting my tomato plants for another couple weeks but this weather isn't helping. I've been cleaning up Terra Nova Gardens from the disastrous year I had last season. Weeds took over the garden in a big way but it seems to be cleaning up quicker than I imagined this year. I've spent three days cleaning up the raised beds and getting ready to start preparing the soil for planting. I still have a lot of setting up to do. I've started getting the rainwater catch system ready for rain. Yeah, where's the rain. None in sight for March. Last year was really wet Spring. This year .... well .... not so much so far.

    My tulips and daffodils are up and growing along with the Iris. Grass has a little bit of a green tinge to it so Spring is definitely under way. Every year I have to do some maintenance to the swingset in the back yard. Everything is up to snuff so that anyone who plays on the swingset will once again be safe and sound. I have some projects .... OK .... a lot of projects on the list to be completed this year. It just good to be outside scratching in the dirt, don't you think?

    Have a great garden bed cleanup day.

    P.S. And it's time to go play in the dirt.

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  4. This is what my garden looks like beneath the 2 ft of snow remaining...sadly we did not get the warm up everyone else got...so I am still in the grips of winter....it is wonderful to see all the new growth emerging Sue.

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  5. Love the pasque flowers, I don't have any of those.I

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  6. Wow, Sue, you've really been busy!!! I'm encouraged to see that you've gone ahead and removed last year's plant stalks (and are keeping them to let the insects mature and the birds eat the seeds - yeah!!!). I've been wondering if I should go ahead and do that. It seems a little early, as far as the calendar is concerned, but the daffodils are beginning to bloom, so the garden is telling me that it's time. Like you, I put the remnants of the garden elsewhere on the property to let the insects emerge and the birds continue munching the seeds!

    I've not seen any sign of my pasque flowers yet this spring, so I'm afraid that I may have lost them. We're actually south of their native range, so I know I've been pushing my luck in trying to grow them at all.

    By the way, I love the rich photo you're using as your blog background right now. I can almost smell the good smell of soil as I look at it!

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  7. It's lovely to see the garden waking up from it's Winter slumber.. I do love Spring :o)

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  8. Wow, spring really has come to your garden, Sue! I have hellebores about to bloom and some spring bulbs popping through the soil, but no perennials showing up yet, so you are ahead of us. I'm so glad you showed the photo of the Prairie Smoke Geum--I will be looking for it in my garden this year, if it does come up, and now I'll know it's not a weed:) You asked about the leaves I was raking up--I do rake up most of mine, because they're not shredded (I wish they were), and they're so big that the tulips and daffodils are often covered up by them otherwise. I take them to the compost pile, so eventually they do get returned to the garden. Had to work today, so I'm just resting a bit at the computer before heading outside--it is 70 here today and too beautiful to waste!

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  9. It is so fun to see everything start coming back up. I worry too about the plants I'm not seeing yet.

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  10. The birds are eating well in your garden! So glad spring is coming a bit earlier. That means that we will soon be able to enjoy seeing your garden in full bloom! I hope you'll visit us on this week's Maple Hill Hop!

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  11. You will probably be hooked on Hellebores now. They are quite addictive. Isn't this time of year grand? I can't wait to get back to my garden and find out what's ready to bloom under the mulch. As you say, "Let the garden season begin!" Cheers!

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  12. You're about a week or so ahead of us, I think. Snow has just now melted. Signs of moles in our yard. I'm NOT happy about that. Who knows what damage they already done under the surface of our flower beds?!? My husband did a little trimming of small trees and bushes today and burned down the burn pile. It's time for me to get out there with a rake! After being sidelined a year ago with a broken hip, I AM eager to get out and about this spring.

    I enjoyed the photos in your post. They're the nudge I need to get GOING!

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  13. Busy time of year at your place, and everywhere. Discoveries daily appearing in the garden. Do you forget some plants the way I do and get a thrill when something emerges?

    I think Social Media is starting to overcome regular blogging. Not only are bloggers making fewer posts, visitors seem to not make comments -- maybe blogs need a 'Like' button.

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  14. Everything seems to be coming along nicely in your garden, Sue. I remember last year talking about Virginia Bluebells and I'd be interested to know if yours have started to spread at all yet. Mine haven't broke ground yet so it is hard to tell. I really like the pasque flower pictures! I tried to find some locally-sourced ones in my area to buy, but haven't had any luck yet.

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    1. I was tickled to see the Virginia bluebells coming up a few days ago, but it doesn't look like they've spread much. The clump may be a little larger, though. I'll have to check last year's photos.

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  15. I'm excited to see my Virginia bluebells up already and actually making flower buds this year, they were planted last year. I'm also excited to see how much my 3 goldenrods spread this year. I originally got 6, the two smaller dwarf ones and the scented one didn't make it. But I'm happy for the ones that did. I am doing garden cleanup too, I really need to cut all my old grasses off. Fun to see what will develope!

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  16. Hi Sue, Everything looks wonderful. How exciting to have plants coming up! The Pasque flowers and Hellebore are catching my eye....I might need some soon.....or as soon as the snow is all gone and the earth thaws. I haven't been blogging because there's nothing "gardening" to blog about for quite a while here in SE Massachusetts. Looking forward to seeing your garden come to life!

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  17. Yes, I agree that it's great to see green things growing this time of year. That was happening in my garden, too, until we had a little snowstorm last night. But I know it will melt fast now, so it's not so bad. Aren't the Hellebores wondeful? Even though they aren't native, they aren't difficult to control and they support the early pollinators. Your Pasque Flowers are a welcome sight, too. Happy spring!

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  18. You are ahead of me there. I have no spring vegetables planted, but then again, it's been winter again for a few days. But next week will get near 70, so maybe this is the final bit of winter. My agastache comes up purple like that, but turns a bright green as it grows.

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