Missing This?

With the end of last year a blip in the rear view mirror, I must say I was allowed to do pretty good with meeting most of my goals. I was able to finish both Old and New Testaments with time to spare. I went over 20,000 Hindu squats and push ups with time to spare.

What I didn't do so well in was in the areas of gardening and foreign language. Guten tag? What's that?

Since the weather has been so lovely the past 3 days, I'm sure you've got to be ready for the yard to go from this:




To this:





(Who's that in my yard?)



So what better time than now to yak about last year's landscape?

As mentioned previously, I was able to successfully grow the following from seed:
blue fescue grass, malvia (which produces multiple nice pinkish-purplish/white flowers and broad green foliage shown above), shasta daisy,and another plant I haven't identified because I forgot to mark what it was after it was planted. I saved all my seed packets, so once it flowers I hope to be able to identify it.

I also was blessed with green beans, radishes and snap peas from seed, but not enough to really enjoy in abundance. I'm planting more this year. The tomatoes and cauliflower are visible in the vegetable bed to the right. I am going to expand this bed greatly this spring, God willing.


I'm hoping to expand it northward up the slope up near the fence.


I also got some great marigolds from seed as seen below in July. Also visible are a new golden privet, a new boxwood, a new prunus, blue star juniper and a new Russian sage (mostly decorating in or around the new bed, which is out further from the house than the older bed in front).


Also got some multi-colored Bachelor Buttons from seed and was able to save some of this year's crop for more seed.


The oriental lillies turned out nice.

Just opening.



Full bloom.

I was unsuccessful with Scottish moss, bellflower, coneflower and a couple of others. But I still have seed for the flowers, so I will be sowing indoors (maybe this weekend?).

Partly due to a lack of weather cooperation, but mostly due to the fact I was lazy and underfunded (ran out of supplies), I was unable to finish my terracing project. It was too dry to dig until October, then the rains came, then the cold, then the ice and snow, yada yada yada...and I'm not done.

Here's the mess of a problem I've had. I took out a very old rose bush and a trellis and was left with this.


Love the trash can view. This had to find a new home.

At the base, I didn't like how the sidewalk ended, so I cut out some sod and eventually replaced this with small pavers to finish the base of the retaining wall.


Preparing the paver base:


I'm going all the way up the slope with a terrace of small retaining walls, but as I mentioned, I'm not done. Hopefully this year.


As I've leveled and shaped the slope, I've been able to move a lot of the dirt to the back, which I'm going to use to start a pond/water fall. Probably not this year.

Finally, what thoughts of spring and summer outdoors would be complete without these little guys? Hummingbirds anyone?

See that little sucker on the left of the feeder?






Aren't you glad it's winter, and that we don't have to deal with all these things right now?