Winter dreaming...planning... and scheming

[DixieDreamer]

One of the pleasures that helps pass the dark, dreary, and short days of winter... is the process of planning the next year's garden.

Spread out on the kitchen table vast catalogs of seeds and plants - all promising beauty and abundance. The trick is to weed (pardon the pun!) through the hype and find specifimens that meet your requirements and would augment the existing plants in the garden.

In the vegetable garden this year I have determined that I need:

Brandywine Tomatoes (must haves every year)
Super Fantastic Tomatoes (another must have but VERY hard to find these seeds)
Zuchinni Squash (only 2 plants though!)
Pole Beans
Spinach
Romaine Lettuce
Walla Walla Onions
Bell Peppers

I need to rejuvenate my strawberry patch this year with a little more attention... it was in jeopardy of being torn up altogether... but I love fresh strawberries too much... so I will sprinkle some garden pixie dust and a little more TLC on it this year!

Seriously considering putting in Raspberry canes at the back section of the garden, and a few blueberry plants. The blueberries will be tough as they like acidic soil and our is naturally alkaline... would require a great deal of amendments etc... but boy it might just be worth it.

In the flower gardens....

I am going to get a climbing Joseph's coat rose to add some vertical interest to the far end of the house - in one of my new flower beds I put in last year. Currently that bed is planted with spreading carpet roses (pink) that will create a ground cover that will cascade over the edge of the bed walls. However, it is all low growing. There is a large high wall of the house there... and I thought a climber on that side (or two) would add some height and more color to that bed... without making it any more maintanance.

Saw some tropical colored Verbena in the Park's catalog - Verbena Tukana which look like a great alternative to the tropical colored geraniums I used last year. Again, these annuals bloom spring to fall and produce a low growing mat of plants... which helps hold the moisture in our high heat... and keep the weeds smothered out! These plants like heat and sun.... so they should do well in the gardens here.

Another must have are a variety of Zinnia plants! Again, in a variety of hot tropical colors... to add dramatic color during the hottest, driest part of the summer. Parks' has a great variety to choose from! Not sure which beds yet... but I have alot to choose from!

Still puzzling over the front flower beds... Liked my colors last year - did not like the height combo though... front salvia eventually overshadowed the red verbena.. and blocked the view of the bright yellow daisy's behind it... so if I go with the same color combos... I need my blue spires to be smaller. Hmmmm... any suggestions?

Saw some mini cascading petunias that are definitely going to be a part of my container plantings on the patio this year!

Not planning much by way of changes in the main flower garden this year. I may tuck a few "finds" from the local nurseries in if I indulge in purchases during the spring.

What are on your "must have" lists?

 

[amid chaos]

Dixie...thanks for sharing your ideas. I am at the stage where I am just standing by the window looking out. I am moving my major garden into several smaller ones which I prepared in the fall. The main garden is going back to being a vegetable garden as it was originally.

I am also anxious to see my ornamental grass garden come up it's first spring.

 

[Snowwark]

You have lots of great ideas Dixie, how wonderful that you have the space to execute them . Go for the raspbery canes! My parents had yellow raspberries in their yard many years ago, and I still remember how yummy they were.

I used Zinnias in some of my containers last year and was very pleased with their performance, and you're right, the colour was very dramatic, really punched things up. The Verbena you mention sounds interesting also.

I'm not sure yet what changes I'll make. I do know that I want to grow Morning Glories again, and am thinking of doing them in pots with vertical structures to grow on, like in the pic. This way I can keep them on the deck and enjoy their gorgeous fragrance when I'm out there.

I think I want to pull out some of the Monkshood that's growing along our back fence. The Honeysuckle we planted there a couple of years ago has really taken off, and in the process has crowded out the Monkshood. That's fine by me, I was never all that fond of them anyway.

I would definitely like to try growing more container vegetables this year. We'll see if that happens.

 

[TimNDansMom]

I like the idea of potted morning glories, Kim. I tried some a few years ago and got mainly foliage, I think because they didn't get enough sun where I had them planted. I'm going to try container groupings this year and keep the inground gardens simple. I hope to have a better result visually, this way, than I have been having the last few years.

 

[Snowwark]

Actually Julie, I realized a little after I posted that, that I really meant Moonflowers, not Morning Glories. It's the Moonflower fragrance that I find so enchanting.

 

[TimNDansMom]

Moonflowers are just lovely! Actually, I just found a wonderful forum on Container Gardening: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/contain/ that I've been reading all morning. I'm getting so inspired!

Here's a link to a wonderful backyard container garden from a contributor in that forum: http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=6&uid=566126&. I hope the link works as her pictures are gorgeous! Moonflower containers are in "Flower Time 2"

 

[Snowwark]

Thank you Julie. The container grown Moonflower pic is very much what I had in mind! Definitely on the "To Do" list !

 

[DixieDreamer]

Kim - I love the idea of the vertical growth in containers! I did that with some sweet pea on a mini trellis one year. It was really nice! Hmmmm.... maybe I should do that again as a matter of fact! LOL!

 

[Mamu]

I'm beginning to wonder if under all that ice are there really flower gardens 'waiting'.

It been a long winter here. Considering our first snow storm came in October.

I'm sure the bug will hit me with a vengeance once I return from Florida. The Boston Flower Show will be in March a couple of weeks after we return. I'm sure my blood will be running GREEN by then.

 

[Tulirose]

DixieDee - You are a real enthusiast. I pale by comparison (actually there is no comparison -- I am not worthy of one).

My garden dreaming, planning and scheming consists of me recently looking at some old photos of the yard and then looking out the window, sighing heavily, and wishing this cold would go away.