Blooming Tuesday- Entry Garden - March 31, 2009

We had a huge blizzard here over the weekend with snow and winds 35mph and gusts of 50 mph. Anyone in snow country knows that means it gets crazy!

I was going to show how much my iris and tulips were growing, but you can't see them!

Today I am sharing before and after from our entry garden.

This area is on the north side of our house. It is a little courtyard of sorts. I have struggled with this over the years. Finally about 3 years ago I figured it out! The first picture is 3 years ago when I started.

This second picture is last year and the plants finally starting to fill in. I still have one spot right in the front that I haven't been able to grow much in. I think it was the ice melt we were using and it was all getting scooted in that spot - so this year we changed that, I will see if it works! I added the gravel square because under this tree, the plants really struggled. It added the right ambience to the garden. The pots were a perfect add for a splash of color here.
This is the other side. This first picture was before.

This second picture is after I added a small raised bed last June - wow! That made a huge difference. I need to add some tall plants to the back and get the height up. I think also some hanging baskets would help it with the dimension.

The hosta's love it here! I am anxous to see how they do here now they have been in a season - thes hosta's were starts from other hosta's in the hosta bed. I will show that another time. (The rocks are where water comes of f the house when it rains. They work perfectly.

Thanks to Jean at for hosting Blooming Tuesday. I love this day to look at everyone's gardens and how they are growing and share in this carnival. Check out this link to see other participants http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/

March 24 - Blooming Tuesday

Thanks to Jean at for hosting Blooming Tuesday. I love this day to look at everyone's gardens and how they are growing and share in this carnival. Check out this link to see other participants http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/

We went to a garden show at BYU-Idaho on Saturday. I would lke to share some fun pix from that show with some cute yard decorating ideas.

Look at these darling chairs! So bright and fun - I have seen trellises that match these colors at the nurseries this spring. I think I am going to spray paint my old plastic chairs in these bright colors.I loved these brushes painted and hanging from tree's to match the chairs. You could paint any object and use it for decor and follow a color scheme.



Here is the blue and purple corner with blue flowers

This was an amazing pipe fountain - the water circulated and was colored blue

Here is the orange section - look at thes fun twigs bundled and spray painted orange. You could just throw them away at the end of the season.

An orange wind sock

This was a really neat gate that you could make.

Close up of the corner part

This is a picture looking through the foilage at our daugher and her husband. As a senior she was one of the people in charge this year of this show. (They are going to have a baby in August.) My husband is in the tan shirt - he has lost 40 lbs since January -doesn't he look great! (He has 40 lbs. to go.)

I Raked - 6 Feet At A Time

Thanks to Jean at for hosting Blooming Tuesday. I love this day to look at everyone's gardens and how they are growing and share in this carnival. Check out this link to see other participants http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/

Though I stil have snow in piles in the shade, I have a few spots that have been in the sun and things are coming up! I raked one side of our side yard area and raked all the leaves backa nd there are hundreds of green things coming up! It is cold again today but supposed to warm up the end of the week so I will rake some more.

Here is my picture of Saturday. Along the fence area we are going to get some rock up in the mountins about 30 mins from here and make a raised bed. It needs some height and more texture. We also want to add some lattice to the dividing fence where there are just frames right now you can see.

This picture is last summer of the same area.

This is looking at it from the other direction.

This garden area is a favorite of ours. It is right out the sliding door of our living room. You can see the pond in the corner and in thesummer, it is amazing out there. It is a shade garden and there are hundreds of shade plants.

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6 Feet at A Time
I have a friend who has a beautiful yard and works full time, is a duitiful grandmother, contributes to the community and her church. I asked her how did she keep up? She told me she works 6 feet at a time. She has a measuring stick that is 6 feet long and lays it down. She does that 6 feet. If she has time she does another 6 feet, if not she starts on it the next day.

Project Friday - Bird Houses

Thanks to Rose at Sugarplum Cottage for hosting this. Check out http://sugarplumcottage.blogspot.com/ to see the other participants.

Today I am making bird houses - this will be a project I will do for a few days. We still have piles of snow where there were drifts and my gardenshed is snowbound. My sweet friend Betty and I have been talking about making bird houses for our gardens. She lives around the corner from me and she made this one yesterday, I just have to show it off to everyone.
I will post mine as soon as it is made.

Vegetable Garden - March 9

Thanks to Jean at for hosting Blooming Tuesday. I love this day to look at everyone's gardens and what they are doing that sign up and share in this carnival. Check out this link to see other participants http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/

This week I am still working on my garden plans. I bought veggie seeds and some flower seeds on Friday.

Our local nursery has said that for the first time in 27 years gardening is making a huge comeback and they can't keep in their garden seeds. I decided I better go and get mine. I usually do it in March anyway because I have spring fever by then and it is fun to be in a nursery. I tried to find some herilom seeds because I plan to harvest seeds this fall.

We are in zone 4 so we have warm weather crops and cold weather crops.

The things that will be planted first (sometime in April are:Peas, lettuce, beets, radish, carrots, onions, etc.

The warm weather crops here are things like corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, zucchini, and things I buy that are started like peppers and tomatoes.

I like to dry some of these things so I get extra to do that. I also get an extra bag for next year and tuck it in my basement. I also have a can of heirloom seeds that are canned in case of survival situations.

Last summers garden