BEFORE MY ARMS GET SO STIFF I CAN'T TYPE

VPH really did most of the "heavy lifting" this weekend, starting on Thursday.  Luckily his school vacation (have I mentioned he teaches?) coincided with the first truly lovely days we've had this spring.  Call us wusses, but we're not gardening unless it's over 55 and sunny (or over 65 and cloudy)!

He got rid of all the leaves along both sides of the house on Thursday (believe it or not, we actually have more grass this year than we did last year):

For one reason and another I didn't end up helping very much on Friday despite taking the day off of work specifically to do so.  But on Saturday I jumped right in and cleaned up the Endless Summer hydrangea:

My next task for the day was to get this garden cleaned up:

 

First VPH vacuumed up the leaves for me:

 

But then I cleaned up all the old grass and day lily foliage by hand and weeded the rest of the bed (I hate marsh marigolds so much):

So much nicer, but I think I'll wait a little while to put down fresh mulch:

I also planted a bare-root clematis in front of the right-hand trellis.  I had planned on planting two, one in front of each trellis, but when I opened up the package only one was in there.  We'll see if the one I planted actually grows.  I may have to buy more mature plants down the road. 

I just love sitting on the patio looking at all the happy daffodils (the tulips look to be a day or two from blooming):

I did find a remnant of the wildflower garden, a lupine, growing in front of the row of bulbs and I decided to leave it and see if it actually blooms for me this year:

Speaking of unexpected flowers...this is right smack dab in the middle of VPH's bastard garden.  Anyone know exactly what it is?  About 6-8 inches tall and in such an awkward spot I couldn't bend over to see if there was a scent.  It sort of looks hyacinth-like to me:

 

The sad looking broken bamboo fence is now down, soon to be replaced with a 6' tall x 16' wide reed fence and VPH has cleared all the leaves from this area (the hostas are hiding under all the marsh marigolds):

The forsythia is in full bloom:

I think this mum is coming back, but I think it's highly unlikely that I will go to the trouble of finding a sunny place to keep it and waiting all the way until the fall for it to bloom:

The Branford fern is all fiddle-heads: 

 

The cute little astilbe (and yes, the perennial shade garden needs weeding and mulch desperately):

 

Today (Sunday) I planted up 3 new containers with shade perennials for the side of the house by the grill where the trees were removed.  Bare-root hostas and astilbe predominantly, though you can just see the creeping jenny that overwintered in a hanging planter on the top right (creeping jenny has turned out to be just about unkillable in my garden):

 

I can't say yet if I'm going to like this area or not.  I'm planning impatiens in any blank spots for all the containers and we still have to put the grill back.  In a month or so I should be happier:

There is much work still to do.  Including locating and probably transplanting all the perennial herbs like this woolly thyme:

Finally cleaning up the vegetable garden and prepping containers for new plantings:

And the biggest job of all...assembling the new shed, which VPH and I are both dreading.  It's in this box (now covered by a weighed down tarp), the foundation is in a box in our kitchen and its anticipated location will be the site of the current ripped shed at the back of the garden:

Our plan is to assemble the foundation on the gravel patio, get an accurate measurement and then build a simple gravel base surrounded by 2x4s just like the gravel patio, build the shed on our nice level concrete patio, and then move it to its final location (which will hopefully be level).  This will be our most ambitious plan to date and you can clearly see why we're not excited about doing it.  It may quite possibly be put on hold until SS2 comes home from college and can help out.

Comments

[shelley]

I'm loving your blog. I too live in 6b and look forward to reading about your gardening adventures.

[Mummer]

I'm tired just reading about your Spring clean-up! Our turn will come on Earth day - John and I will plant 5 coco-plum as a backdrop for the bubbling fountain plus flagstone bed (it will include some color interspersed among the rock) that we'll install. Oh boy, that's my most ambitious project so far. John says he loves manual labor.... going to Petsmart later, to get a tiny plecostomus for my mini-pond. It's become grubby-green.

[Heather's Garden]

Shelley -- Thank you! Where are you gardening? 6b covers a lot of ground.

Mom -- I love the way a fountain looks, but that one summer of a 1/2 barrel water garden with fish was just too much work.

[Carole]

Hi Heather,
Keep up the good work. You've made quite a lot of progress. Wish I could say the same in my yard...It will have to wait til July like it does every year. Hope this rain isn't getting you down. It's suppose to be cloudy or rainy most of the week. We're getting a shrub order tomorrow and I know it'll be downpouring when it gets here. Well just got yelled at by not so patient husband for blogging. Got to go plant more impatiens.
Take care,
Carole

[Heather's Garden]

Carole -- I would never be able to garden if I ran a nursery. Isn't it like the cobbler's children going barefoot? It was such a dreadful day today, I can't believe that the past four days were so beautiful. I'm so happy we were able to get so much done before this awful weather hit. I'm looking forward to Friday and Saturday and some more outside gardening and maybe I'll come visit your nursery on one of the rainy days until then!

[Carole]

Hi Heather,
Glad I checked back...I remembered you like to comment back on your site. Today was a real wash out but I got a lot done. Well sort of. We got in some shrubs before the rain and got them priced...GOODY!!! the place is still not to my liking...by the week before Mother's day it should look better. It's amazing how it comes together somehow. And yes it is like the cobblers children with no shoes sometime. I've gotten used to it in the last couple years, and though I had a hard time excepting it I now realize it's ok and I don't have to "have it ALL".
Take care,
Carole
PS So that I don't miss your comment just email me or leave a comment on my blog. Thanks

[Melisa]

I really enjoy this blog. I'm in zone 6b too. I'm going to try to start my own blog this year, inspired by you. I have never blogged so I hope it's easy to figure out. Hey, how long have you had that endless summer Hydrangea? (Just bought one, interested to see how big/how soon...)
Thanks!

[Heather's Garden]

Melisa -- I got your email too, but I'm so flattered, I don't really know what to say other than thank you. You should definitely blog, I'd read it! The endless summer hydrangea was planted 2 years ago. It really has grown a lot which is surprising because we planted it in just about the worst spot one could plant a hydrangea. Dry, sandy soil and nearly full sun. I think the coffee grounds have really helped. That and VPH feels very possessive of it (one of the first things he planted) and waters it pretty regularly.

[Melisa]

If you use facebook, I'm Melisa Hassebrock Brown. You can look me up, I took and posted a lot of gardening pics on there last night. You might enjoy seeing the pics of mine like I like seeing pics of yours. Going to ask around and find out how to do a real blog, but for now, I'll keep the facebook updated with garden photos.

[Mary-Ann]

Hi, I happened across your blog from a random Google search! I thought you'd like to know that your mystery blue flower is a bluebell.

Mary-Ann

[Heather's Garden]

Mary-Ann -- I'm not convinced it's a bluebell from the photos I found on-line. It could be...but I'm not sure.

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