What are your plans this spring?

[simple life]

So just wondering, what is the first project you are all going to do come spring?
I am already thinking of what I need to do in order of importance.
I am going to do the harder less enjoyable stuff out of the way first and then do the fun planting stuff after.

I am going to put in a fence around the vegetable garden.

I hope my new and improved chicken coop will be built by them but if not, that is high priority.

I am going to keep searching for some great rocks to put around the border where my new bee hives are going to be.

So obviously I am also getting new bee hives so that will make me a new beekeeper. I have been busy ordering supplies and painting the hives the past month or so.

I would like to finish paving the driveway as well.

The last pain in the butt thing will be to finish the stone walkways in the garden.
I want to do some big time landscaping in the back yard.
Over the last couple of years I have planted around 50 or more shrubs along the front and sides of the house but I need to do much more in the back.

I started planting shrubs along the fence this year and want to continue along that side of the yard.
I noticed that the shrubs I already put there give the chickens a great place to hide, last time a hawk came they dove behind those shrubs.

Last but not least I want to finish the flower garden I started this year.
There was a patch of grass about 12-15 wide and 24 or so feet long in the space between where the driveway begins and the backyard starts.
It abuts the fence.
I ripped all that up and planted about 50 perrenials there so far.
Depending on what comes back I will reassess and add to it.
After I did that though I realized I had some space along the driveway where the house and walkway to the side door is and I started tearing up all that grass over the summer and planting there but didn't have the time to finsih it all.
That is around the same size as the other area I ripped up.
This way when its all finished there will be a flower garden that starts at the beginning of the driveway and wraps around and goes right up to the house.
I have two old white rockers against the house where I sit and watch the world go by and I will be right in the garden then.
My husband will be happy since he won't have to mow all these little strips and patches which is a big pain, I will have increased my weeding by leaps and bounds.
I think it will be worth it though, that area has always bothered me but I just never knew what to do with it.


Then its going to be the easier stuff, planting seeds and vegetable starts.
So now that I have all this planned, I am sitting here waiting for spring to arrive. I get so impatient to get out in the yard and work.

 

[Rosalind]

1. Take grafts from my neighbor's peach trees.
2. Plant resulting peach trees and the fruit trees on order. Unwrap weatherproofing from existing trees.
3. Start veggie seeds indoors, then move them to the cold frame.
4. Demolish the previous owner's compost heap, re-use the wood for something else, weed and mulch, and plant landscaping roses in that part of the yard.
5. Depending on if the structural work on the house EVER gets done dig up the current perennials around the front of the house and move them elsewhere, then build a rock wall in the front yard and plant roses and evergreens.
6. Fence the veggie garden thoroughly, re-do the paths with gravel, top-dress with compost, build a bunch of trellises for the beds.
7. Go fishing before everyone else catches all the fish.

 

[Suess]

OMG. There is so much I need to do.
I need to build some sort of fencing around my areas within the garden as the chickens have discovered a taste for....everything that grows.
I am going to put netting up a fence and try to grow my melons up the fence this year (I saw it done at a fashion house...can't explain what it really is, but I saw it twice before).
Then I am going to till in some good ol' fashioned chicken poo where I want to grow the corn this year. Let it sit, then turn in a bit more compost, and plant my high nitrogen needers.
Create a berry patch somewhere in my yard!
Plant the apple tree into the ground.
Buy some more fruit trees.
Get my oleander out, and some banana trees in
talk my husband into taking the gazebo out that was built by the last owners who really had no idea what they were doing. Good ideas, just not really the best structure or placement.
Then plant plant plant and grow seeds in the sun room windows.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I'm overwhelmed.

I'll be working straight through this winter, any days I can. I'm trying not to think about spring.

 

[setter4]

We took down the swimming pool so I now have a nice big extra garden for spring.

 

[setter4]

My husband will be happy since he won't have to mow all these little strips and patches which is a big pain, I will have increased my weeding by leaps and bounds.
I think it will be worth it though, that area has always bothered me but I just never knew what to do with it.

I have 1 word of advice....MULCH!!
Seriously. I used more mulch this year than ever before and boy was it a time and labor saver

 

[Reinbeau]

Natalie, somewhere in your plan put in herbs. Thyme, oregano, bee balm, some mint, chives, agastache, you've already got lavender, but all of these are going to help flavor the honey you get from your hives. Herbal honey is to die for! Maybe along that strip, just outside the kitchen door - it's the best place for an herb garden, so you can run out and snip what you need for dinner - just a thought!

My first priority out there is to put up a fence around the veggie garden, the girls will have a field day out there this coming season. Then I've got that new herb garden out front to plant up, I want it somewhat formal but I know me, it'll get out of control if I don't watch myself! Plus I have to attend to all that I let slide this season, too many irons in the fire! I'd also like to get the back walkway to the garage/driveway straightened out, so I can someday plant a lawn out back - that'll be interesting with the girls around, too, but it has to be done. There's a strip on the other side of the driveway I want to grass in, too, it's easier to mow there than to fight the weeds (yes, I know, mulch, but it just doesn't work well over there, I'd rather mow).

 

[vfem]

my goodness you guys are busy!

I couldn't contain myself, we needed to start on things now. Too much to do and not enough spring to do it then. Try to make it so the summer is weeding and harvesting.

I have a few pots going in the house for hibiscus and petunias (they'll be nice to enjoy in the kitchen for now). I ordered 20 more packets of seeds yesterday. My husband and I got the raised veggie garden built. Put up a half fence at the end of the driveway and planted morning glory seeds there. He bought me an arbor for next to the fence for Christmas. Which we'll paint this weekend so I can put more lights on it.

We got some more fence to put around the raised garden in the spring (I need to fill that with dirt still). There are pallets of stone marked down at the landscaping place we want to pick up and have to built the gravel and stepping stone patio out by the pond. Though we won't do that until spring. We got my daughter's playhouse built, but we need to add the deck to it still, then plant her very own garden around that. Her swingset will get built before Christmas if he comes like it was ordered to be here... but holiday shipping you never know.

I have plastic jugs (like 20 of them) outside prepped and labeled and filled with seeds to sprout in the spring for transplant. I still have 20 more jugs to do when the new seeds come.

I just want to spend spring transplanting everything I can, but I still have 3 flower beds to prep for that!

I'm hoping this is the busiest spring ever... and that every following spring I will have soooooooo much less work to do. I love a good garden, but its going to be more work creating them from scratch. I'm already tired thinking about it!

 

[sunbury chick]

Setter 4,

I got rid of our old above-ground pool also.The big dead spot where the pool was made a perfect place for a fire pit.

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[sunbury chick]

Vfem,
Do you have a compost pile?