I just wanted ya'll to see what a blank space I have for gardening. Everything will get planted and has a place in my yard/gardens.

As you can see, I have started my winter sowing. Yay! The big brown patch is, of course, my veggie garden. We're going to make it bigger yet again this year. I will be planted all around that slab. Nothing goes to waste if I can help it, lol.



From the little red building to a road you can't see yet is mine. Basically there are trees outlining my property.


I'm ashamed to say you can see my tomato plants from this year against the fence line. Yes, I'll clean up that fence line at some point. I have to make room for a bed of raspberries and more things.


More space for more flowers!


This is where I will put at least 2 basil bushes and more flowers. I used it last year for my herbs but I'm going to expand that so it'll be filled with flowers.


I have black scallop ajuga and hostas planted here. The hostas are going to be moved and the ajuga will be thinned.


The telephone pole will be planted with a Passionflower vine (hopefully) and then surrounded with more flowers. I always plant something there. My kitchen windows faces that pole and I have to look at something pretty since I spend a great deal of time in my kitchen year round. Along the edge of the rocks I started a flower bed. I have no clue why my hubby tilled another spot right in front of it. Currently there are 3 veronica's there.


This is a part of my shade garden. It's really deep shade come summer. Where the two trees with fencing are there was a well. We filled it up this year. I'll take the fencing down with that wood and plant there as well as in front of the little shed looking thing.


In front of the brown shed I have hostas, ferns and 2 peach crisp coral bells. They actually do well there for some reason. But I want to move them. I think. I want to pull up those bushes to the left of the brown shed. They are just a pain for me. Foxgloves maybe?


This year hubby is getting a hedge trimmer. I want to line those bushes with a flower bed. The first year we planted a garden here, we had our cantaloupes and watermelon in front of them. People actually came and took them. Needless to say, no more veggie/fruit gardens in that spot. My property line goes to within 3 ft of that drive you see. I want to line that gully/ditch with flowers. I'm really considering some daylilies.


I have some Blue Mist bushes winter sowing that I want to plant here.


Now this is my fave spot. Here I have two tea rose bushes in that corner spot with a pink/yellow honeysuckle bush. I'm moving the bush to the fenceline this year and a great deal of what I get here will most probably go in the corner spot with the roses. I have my cleome and the lavender I got from dnd, that will definitely go here. on the larger part of the corner in the back facing the house. In front of those I will put my smaller trades. I thought about that beautiful salvia I just got in the swap from Jimard for the opposite side of the cleomes. We'll have to wait and see I suppose.


The front of my house. I really want the snaps to go there with maybe some catmint. I haven't gotten everything planned out yet. I'll get there though.



This is my hummingbird feeder spot. I hope I score the snap vine from rick to put here. Then I'll put more around those. Probably the zahara zinnias.



And this is just a portion of my front porch. I have 4 whiskey barrels which one of them has a Oh My! rose tree. Perhaps celosia will go in that one. One of the barrels will definitely contain some snaps. And of course I have even more planters for the porch. From that swing, when you look at the corner bed when the sun is setting with my cleomes, oh my goodness it was gorgeous last year. It's a repeat for me.

And that pretty much does it for me. I'll post more pics once I get things planted. Now ya'll see why spring is just too slow for me, lol.

Dnd, it won't let me edit to put a title in there. Can you do that? If so, just put Bare Beginnings. If you don't mind. I know you are busy. Sorry for the trouble.

Oh Goodness .,, bare Ground ,,, My see's everything from Zinnia Garden to tropical rain forest ... YA Hoo

Lol right? I am definitely loving gardening this year more than ever.

So envious! My backyard is probably just slightly bigger than your porch! Which is why I have so much to offer. When I get seeds I only need a few and lots of places send hundreds of seeds! Might as well share the rest.

Wow, NICE! Big and flat and sunny!

Ummm ... if we say pretty please ... I wish you could put one sunny square foot into the swap! How many seeds would I trade for an extra square foot of sunny soil? How many seeds do i HAVE?

Lol. Sold! That is something I do love about this yard. Until the rains come. Those ditches you see on the side of my house? Well, last year and last saturday they overflowed. They are well over 4 ft deep. Everything in town drains down to my house. In any direction.... I lost tons of plants/seeds last year because of the rains. I replanted my veggie garden 3 times. The 4th time it needed it, I said no way. Enough is enough.

I was wondering how your drainage was, since it seems so flat.

Ouch - when you ARE the low spot for the neighborhood, you don't have many options.

Is there a town sewer or storm drain you can lead the flood waters towards?

Or are you going to have to build up really really RAISED raised beds?

In theory, you could build berms or dikes all around your property to try to redirect flowing surface water away from your spot, but then you'd be like Holland: surrounded by and towered over by water.

(shudder)

In the veggie garden I had my hubby redirect the lake to go downstream to the ditches. It was the only way I saved what little I did get planted and replanted. We actually made history last year with the rain fall. It had been over 100 years since it had rained that much in Oklahoma. We also came out of the drought. It rained from March straight and I do mean every single day, until July. This year is not supposed to be that bad. There are places in my yard that I have no choice but to build raised beds. We actually have concrete under grass. Sigh. If you look at the houses in the background of my pics, no gardens. Of any kind. Suppose that tells you that folks round here could care less about gardening. Whether it's for eating or enjoying. We just make the best of it.

KarenHolt said:In the veggie garden I had my hubby redirect the lake to go downstream to the ditches. It was the only way I saved what little I did get planted and replanted. ...

With enough earth-moving equipment, you could create low and high spots within your yard. I was going in the right direction, talking about Holland's dikes!

KarenHolt said:
... Sigh. If you look at the houses in the background of my pics, no gardens. Of any kind. Suppose that tells you that folks round here could care less about gardening. Whether it's for eating or enjoying. We just make the best of it.

Hopefully, seeing your yard transform in just a year or two will inspire some neighbors to grow either veggies or flowers. Then you'll have people to trade seedlings and produce with. You could give away tomatoes the first year or two, then give away tomato seedlings the third year!

Assuming that you aren't washed right out to sea before then.

I always say to tie plant labels to the top branches, with string. Use labels that float. That way, when the water is chest-deep, you can still read the labels.

I never thought of that, but by george, you're right! I remember standing in the pouring rain at night during one of the ditch/sewer overflows and wishing I had a fishing pole. I was gonna reel em back in.

Harvest fruit with a fish net!

RickCorey said:Harvest fruit with a fish net!

Brings to mind Clownfish , that would taste like Fruity Gumdrops .

Makes sense I would wit that ..

I do have sympathy or impathy for the feeling of high water .. Half way up a car door and no lawn , no garden ,, been there

My sister bought a used car once, with some funny problems. Our dad finally found rust where no rust could logically ever have formed.

Eventually we figured out that the dealer never disclosed the time that the car had spent UNDER WATER during some flood. She got her money back.

oh booo
But ,,, Sister did learn ... vinyl can rust ,, Not the best of learned lessons

RickCorey said:My sister bought a used car once, with some funny problems. Our dad finally found rust where no rust could logically ever have formed.

Eventually we figured out that the dealer never disclosed the time that the car had spent UNDER WATER during some flood. She got her money back.

I'm glad she got her money back!

Maybe with the water problem look into Back to Eden garden. You use wood chips and it will soak up the water and disperse it. There's a film on it. (It's a Christian man's relationship with God and how he listened to Him, and he gardens that way as a result) Great film. I'm going to try that method this year at my community garden and hopefully at home the following year.

Wel it's been two months since the swap. Seeds have been received and winter sown since the beginning of Feb. We have also managed to get some beds tilled in anticipation of flowers and veggies. Of course, the vegetable garden is only waiting on frost to be planted. However, we have managed to get the Merit corn planted.


corn planted 2 weeks ago in Feb

We've had a really mild winter this year. Veronica, hostas, my Oh My! rose topiary have already begun to leaf out. I have a blue bedder salvia that is coming back as well as a really pretty coneflower I bought at the nursery last year. I wish all my ws'ing was ready so I could start planting out. I'm that excited, lol.



Rose topiary leafed out.



Coneflower leafing out with some other thing growing. It is apparently pretty hardy since it's been there since Nov and gets bigger. If anyone knows what it is, give me a shout.

Today Rachale and I made rock runs! We managed 2 of them. We rode the back roads until we found what we were looking for. We build 2 rock gardens (the first layer) and lined 3 other gardens and started the hummingbird garden. I'd say 4 more trips and we'll be finished. On the bright side, I gained 2 more gardens to plant!



Humming bird garden



Zinnia front garden (first layer)



Backyard hosta garden (first layer)



Belindas Dream rose tree moved, garden lined with rocks



Yellow rose tree moved, garden lined with rocks



Front bed lined with rocks.

I suppose next week Rachale and I get the beds finished. Now all I need is soil. What am I saying? Ialways need more than just soil, lol.

Karen That should all be really pretty , nice sets .
Happy Flowers , Happy Plants ,,
Makes Happy People