What We Start With

Part of having a great yard is great preparation.  With the warm weather that we have had lately, there has been ample time to get some prep work done in the yard.

Now is the time to get your upcoming flower beds in order.  Have you tilled them?  Have you added soil amendments?  Have you tested the soil?  If not, it is not the end of the world.  If you have, great!  It will better your chances. 

With everything beginning to pop up, but before everything turns green, it is a great time to look at what you have.  Try to simplify areas that need more work than others.  Don't try to go overboard and overwhelm yourself trying to fix every problem in your yard.

One year concentrate on the yard,the next a particular flower bed.  A beautiful yard takes time and if you do it right the first time, your work will reward you with a beautiful yard.

This year I decided to concentrate on my back yard.  The bed that I am starting with is primarily just dailies.  I plan to change that this year.  I also created new beds and paths that will be built upon this season.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions.  The new beds are partial to full shade. 

The last picture is a bed that I had built last year, but wasn't big enough.  You might recognize the flags in the picture.  They are the ones that I pulled up from when I had the yard marked.  They are great for new plantings that haven't come up yet.  In this case, they are marking hostas that I planted that will begin showing themselves in the next couple of weeks.

With these beds so close to the woods, I have had a big problem with deer eating many of the new plants that I try to plant in this area.  More careful planning would have saved me money last year in finding more plants that are more naturally deer resistant.