DixieDreamer
<font color=blue>Instant Human - <font color=brown
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2001
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?
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?