I have a few things I REALLY need to finish this year. One, is to get all the HT's in their place in the garden. Another is to dig and get the Florabunda bed finished. Another is to finish the wood borders around each bed. Yet another is to finish getting the few mini/miniflora's that I want and get them into place. My completion date is Labor Day 2015. This way I can cease from my garden labor and enjoy that weekend.

Well, I have to work on my front garden as it has been unchanged for years. It is not quite an eyesore but not a wow factor for my house. I am thinking of framing it with boxwoods and roses, possible D.A. types as I don't want it to formal. I have to start early spring when the ground is soft, which is a challenge for me as I come out of hibernation. (grin).

Well, I have a mixed rose and vegetable garden. My family has been trying to go as green and natural as we can. We got vegetables all summer and don't have to buy them. Since we grow them pesticide free, we hope it is safe as well.

I may experiment with a herb garden. I have never grown one but it may be interesting and fun.

Yep, unfortunately. I say that because it's not something I intended to do. We have to have our entire septic system replaced, tank and leach lines. Not sure how it's going to turn out or which way they'll run it. But I already had to dig out almost 30 roses in a bed that has to be dismantled because it's right in the path of the trucks, and just may well be over the leach field, as we're not sure exactly where it is now. We have to have two big trees cut down, which makes me really happy! There'll be more sunny areas in the back and I can plant new beds!! I'm just debating whether I should dig up another bed near where the huge maple tree is that's going to be cut down. I'm thinking maybe re-doing a bunch of areas once the septic is done. It'll all depend on where the leach lines end up going and where the best sunlight will be once the trees are down too.

Right now we have to finish pulling up the posts in the bed and moving the rocks. Then we have to remove the wire fence pen we built for the dogs, which is partly over the septic area and also has to come out in order to get the trees down. It's all going to be a nightmare once they start on it. The dogs will not be able to be penned in unless we set up a temporary area up above. We had to pen them in because our son and his girlfriend got a dog who's a royal pain in the butt. Big dopey horse of a dog who loves to dig. So I can't have him running loose to dig up the rest of the rose beds! It's going to be interesting until it's all done. But once it is done, I'll have fun re-doing the beds.

My main focus is to enrich the soil and get some worm activity going. My second is to look at the baby and teenage roses every day and to will them to grow faster so they'll bloom in the spring.

I love hydrangeas and would make that the main feature of that area. For spring you could have some bulbs that don't mind the shade and also irises. I have some reblooming irises beginning to bloom in an area that right now gets no sun at all. I can't quite visualize azaleas and hydrangeas together, but hasten to say that I've never seen it. I love some of the simpler camellias that don't look a little gaudy, but I suppose they might be too large for your area. I'm afraid I don't have too many suggestions, seil, since your climate is slightly different from mine.

Ingrid

So many projects! Trees to come down, my veggie garden spot is a hill that needs some terracing, widening a bed or two, time to start digging and planting in the bed spaces I laid out last year. It's year three for my garden, so I am mostly going to focus on strucural projects instead of planting. I want to let my plants leap this year and then take stock of what needs to be done from there.

I have a very shady bed and I've had luck with 1) woodland bulbs for early spring color: snake head fritillaries, aconites, windflowers, squill, and silver bells. Also Virginia bluebells and lily of the valley. 2) foxgloves and columbines, both bloomed for a long time for me from spring into mid summer and the foxgloves especially provided some height towards the back of the bed. 3) hostas are an old shady standby, but I have several that bloom in different whites and purples and they look great even when not blooming. I also somehow ended up with a clump of coneflowers that don't seem to mind the shade one bit.

I'd like to add some bleeding heart and some more fall color, too. It's always right about this time of year I start drawing up the lists and making budgets...

Seil, have you looked at Endless Summer Hydrangeas? They are very pretty & are supposed to rebloom... I just planted mine this last summer so I can't say too much about it yet but it did have tons of blooms. I'm not sure if mine will continue to be blue or switch to pink... I haven't had a chance to figure out what kind of soil I have. When I first started gardening I was really drawn to hydrangeas but roses have really taken the lead this year.

My biggest project for 2015 is going to be filling in the garden beds around the edge of our house and redoing the edging with different bricks. When we moved in the garden beds were filled with poison ivy, hostas that burned from the sun, lots of weeds and yew shrubs. We've finally gotten everything removed (I got poison ivy so many times the first year) and just have one last yew stump that has to go in the spring.

Last summer I planted some old moss roses, strawberry vanilla hydrangeas, and added some obelisk trellises on either side of our front door. This year I'm going to add in some DAs, I planted some allium bulbs in the fall, and I'd like to add a few more obelisks with clematises around to give some height as well and sprinkle in some perennials.

Looking forward to seeing everyone's projects this year!

Michaela

I'm still chugging along with the daily coffee grounds' collection from Starbucks. I think I'll have the beds where I planted bulbs (which is everywhere except the front and side of my house) done in three weeks at this rate. Unfortunately, there's a forecast of 1-3" of snow in a couple days, and temperature highs not going above freezing for a couple days after that. I just might have to put this thing on hold for a bit....

Otherwise, for Spring I want to cut up the last of the branches I tucked away on the side of the garage, and use them to further augment and support the edging I made for the beds last year. I also have to get some metal wire and screw-eyes to string up some horizontal lines against the fence for climber-attachment. I really have to do something about the soil where last year's attempt at seeding a small lawn didn't quite work, but that's also for later in the year. So aside from sorting through coffee grounds and filters as something to do in the garden now, I have just the dreary Winter of everything being asleep.

:-/

~Christopher

Seil, one winder hardy shade perennial that I wish I could grow, if I lived in a cooler zone like yours, would be the hellebore. I think it is such a pretty flower. This isn't the best photo I could find on the internet, but it is copyright free.

It isn't a rose, but sometimes it's called the Christmas rose. Have you ever grown it, Seil? Look at those colors!

Thanks everyone for some good suggestions! And WOW! You guys all plan to be very busy this year! I'm glad I'm in maintenance mode and not construction.

Ugh, Beth, that sounds like WAY too much WORK!

Ingrid, I already have one azalea in the bed so I don't want to move that. I also have a small one that is being swallowed by the 3 rhodies behind it that does need to be moved. I have no idea how they will go with hydrangeas either but I think I'm going to find out, lol.

Avia, several of the things you mention will not winter here, sadly, or I would love to have them! Hostas are my least favorite garden plants. Don't ask me why but they just don't thrill me at all. They just look like big cabbages with little or no bloom. Blah! My apologies to anyone how loves them.

Michaela, those were the hydrangeas I've been thinking about. Since this is front n center to my house and facing a main street, and there is a traffic light in front of the house so I know people stop and will be looking at it, I'd like it to have bloom most of the season.

Oh, Jasmine, how I wish! I have tried hellebores at least 6 times and they have never survived, let alone bloomed, for me. I just don't seem to have a knack for them.

My project is to buiid something for ALM and Eden to climb without spending a dime. And to root existing roses to fill out the beds...and pray that I have the willpower to resist ordering more roses..:)...and to add veggies and herbs..

Seil, I think they are so pretty. Would be a good choice!

Eden, your garden looks so peaceful and romantic. I want to walk around and see all the plants outside this photo. Or sit on that gorgeous bench.

Thanks!

Lovely garden, Eden! What ideas do you have for building a support at no cost?

I have to build an asparagus bed - I have 20 odd crowns in pots at the moment. There was some method to my madness - having them impatiently waiting to be properly planted means that building the actual bed jumped way up the task list!

Well, I was going to suggest hellebores…they do great in my climate, but I guess that’s a no go for yours. A lot of coral bells struggle with our clay soil, heat/humidity and then wet winters, but the ones I can keep alive, I really love in the shade. Foxgloves and spiderwort are also shade favorites down here. The original Endless Summer seems to be the best of the reblooming hydrangeas for me, but some of the others do pretty well, too…Mini Penny is probably my next best. I’ve been really enamored with the fragrant, deciduous azaleas the past couple of years. My Mary, Camilla’s Blush, Varnadoe’s Phlox Pink and the Confederate Series all do well here, but I’m not sure about your climate for those. I fell in love with Hearts a Burstin Strawberry Bush (euonymus) last year and had to have one…nondescript bush until fall and then covers itself with the cutest berries:

{{gwi:2120149}}

Hi Seil,

I have a rather seriously big potential project on the books for this coming year. I need to finish propagating my irreplaceable, or near irreplaceable favorite and rare roses for a move in 2015. DW and I will be putting our restored century Victorian home up for sale in May. We plan to move back to Western Canada, likely the South Okanagan, zone 6. The project is dependant on our ability to sell our heritage house in a slow real estate market.

This next garden will be my 3rd rose garden started from scratch. The good news is, no more extreme winter protection needed when we move to the warmer climate. The bad news is, I am worried about transporting newly rooted cuttings and also the fact that there are plant quarantine issues I must address with respect to moving rooted cuttings across the continent once again. I am both dismayed and excited at the prospect of starting a new garden, moving rare treasures, and much reduced winter protection requirements in the Okanagan. Life is an adventure, change is inevitable, life is good!

Cheers, Rick

Oh, Rick, I wish you much success with your move and rooting your treasures! Root several of each just in case. And if they don't succeed take fresh cuttings with you and try again there! Good Luck!

Up to my ears in garden projects at the moment!!

I have a raised bed veggie/kitchen/potager garden in the works. I took over my hubby's messy unweeded vegetable garden this fall in protest of his weeding plan which was "my wife will weed it." He just plowed up a strip of dirt near the house and randomly planted what ever struck his fancy from the co-op any random place in this 50x20 plowed strip. The harvest was mostly deer snacks and it looked awful all the time.

I spent December making 14 raised boxes that are now placed with 4" of compost in them. I've got a call into a guy for cedar fence posts for fencing. And I've got my designer daughter scribbling arbor ideas--can you say Crepuscule?

Winter sowing has exploded into my life and and I'm furiously collecting milk jugs to sow annuals for an early spring garden at my side entrance.

Then there is my new driveway work that created a new space in front of the house that needs to be garden-ized. With several spots reserved for roses! But I've got to rent a mini-excavator to did up a small piece of the old gravel driveway that now will be part of that new garden.

Yes, one of my new talents is mini-excavator operation. (I asked for one for Christmas but Santa failed me. When the hubby thought I was crazy for wanting one I told him that he was lucky I wasn't one of those women who wants diamonds. Heavy equipment does it for me!)

Hi,
Seil, I cut down my crepe mrytle branches. I have about 5 or 6 of them. I'll just put two on opposite side and bend them towards the middle. Tie them with twine or wire.I'll just keep adding more branches as I get them. Hopefully they will stand up to the wind...I found out that I can grow celery from the leftover celery "stump"! I just put it in the soil and did the same with spring onions and voila..instant potager! My yard/garden is far from presentable but it keeps my mind busy and occupied. I am concentrating on the left hand side of the garden because that is closer to the street,dont want the HOA to get upset because of the holes I've been digging in the yard. Have fun with yours!

This post was edited by edenh on Mon, Jan 5, 15 at 21:18

Good luck, Rick! Lots of good projects here.

We're in the middle of a busy gardening season. We basically garden all year round as long as it's not raining and there's no snow on the ground. In the blazing summer we've found we can clear brush down in the woods. Lately the weather has been clear and the last couple of days even balmy on our southfacing slope.
If we were prudent and wise we would have stopped planting now and I would (finally) have gathered cuttings and suckers and seedlings for the propagating beds, and then proceeded to rose pruning. Instead we're still digging and planting. We have a narrow grass terrace we made years ago with dirt we had brought in, and with its good soil and drainage and sun I thought it might be suitable for warm climate roses. So we're digging a bed on the downhill side of the terrace, pulling out Bermuda grass and vowing to poison the elm whose roots are invading it, and terracing it up a bit with tree trunks held in place by rebar stakes. Finally I have a place to put some of my Tea and China babies. They'll be interplanted with mostly aromatic subshrubs, and I think sweet and Parma violets might also be very happy here.
In addition to all the plants I still have in pots, I have insanely proposed an order of fifty-odd baby trees and shrubs to arrive this month, and am working on a second order ditto. It's getting late for planting. In our unirrigated garden it's far the best to get plants in the ground by the end of the year so that they have all winter and spring to get established before the summer drought begins. I spent all fall planting varieties that we already had in the garden, including a large quantity of dullish hedging shrubs, because I wanted to give the garden more form and definition. But then I looked around when the work was done and realized that I had hardly added a single new variety of plant to the garden, and began to feel very deprived; I also developed a longing for jasmine, of which I have only J. nudiflorum. So the orders are for some new, some not necessarily new but beautiful plants for the garden, like the twenty or so lovely Cornus mas, and some important shrubs like hazelnuts, necessary to anchor and improve the soil following the Great Elm Massacre.
Also I see some chores I need to get around to some time. I need to propagate Salvia officinalis 'Icterina', a beautiful and tough plant, because I see mine are getting ratty and aren't renewing themselves. And I have a lot of (mostly mediocre) tall bearded iris scattered through the garden that need to be dug up and divided and their soil amended. They were planted back in the days when I didn't realize just how heavy our soil was, and this will be a chance to rework it. And I have a great deal of cleanup to do down in the shade garden and in the woods below it.
Melissa

I've been doing a lot of planting lately for my mom. I've put in over a dozen roses the past two weeks for her that had been grown out for a season in two or five gallon containers. Hybrid Musks for a long stretch of wall, Tea-Noisettes for another stretch of a different wall, and a few other roses in dedicated rose beds and mixed borders.

The recent rain has made for good planting conditions. I try to get things in the ground the day of or day before rain is predicted. Fall and winter are probably the best times to plant roses here so I'm getting in what I can when I can. I have three more to plant, down from twenty a month ago. Essentially all of the major foundational planting in their yard remodel is done save for removing a Birch tree and getting in one or my user-namesake trees (Arbutus unedo).

I'm in the middle of designing a new brick pathway for their front yard as well that I should get a chance to work on in February hopefully. I have the terrific luck of looking forward to both county and federal jury duty in the coming weeks of January which should keep me less busy than usual.

I wouldn't call it major, but I'll be setting 4 pillars in concrete to train various climbers up in their backyard soon as well. Cornelia, Reine des Violettes, Phyllis Bide, and Mme. Berard are to be the pillared roses. There isn't a ton of vertical presence in the garden at the moment, so I think it should help draw attention up in a way that was lacking before. I may try to train an Henryii clematis up with RdV for a nice white and mauve combo.

I'm sure other things will come up, but those are the only bigger things I have planned for 2015 in the garden so far. My garden is mostly in need of time to mature as opposed to change. As things fill in I may notice problems with my design that mandate a large project, but it's too soon to say.

Jay

I have all new beds in the front. Like Beth I had major digging in my yard and had to move a lot of roses. They also removed several large junipers from the middle bed in my front yard and I have a rose garden planned for that. I wanted to work on it a lot over the holidays, but things came up and the weather was not cooperative at all, but the rain is good for the new sod.

I was able to dig up some smaller parts of the new rose bed to plant the bulbs I bought. I didn't get to do exactly what I wanted. The clay was so wet, but I added in a lot of a peat moss/vermiculite mix so it somewhat resembles soil. I will probably have to dig these all up after they (hopefully) bloom and then replant them.

I have a bunch of roses in pots and 9 coming from Palantine. It's going to be a busy year. Right now I have to move many of those pots into the garage/basement because of the cold we are expecting. UGH.

Wow, Rick - I had to Google map your destination - that really IS way out west! I wish you the best of luck with a good sale on your current house and I know you'll keep us posted as you prep and make your move, right?
Reading down through everyone's posts, I realized that I do not have any major project in mind for the upcoming season! Just having finished two years of intense work on my re-located garden, I'm in pretty good shape since I filled in all the areas I intended to, and I have sworn not to expand any further. I guess my job this year will be to pay close attention to everything I have newly planted by feeding the soil and watering regularly - and sitting back and smelling the roses for a change. ;-)
Anne

I have the ones left from last year, thanks to DH's surgery in the spring and my injury in the beginning of fall. So, God willing, I will complete my pink roses bed behind the carport that faces east and will finish the hummingbird/butterfly garden on the west side of our house. I have some roses coming for the pink bed so it ought to give me some incentive.

My big someday project that I had hoped to start this spring but probably won't, is a special tea noisette bed along the west side of our property. I dream about this one.

I also have one of last year's projects hanging over me, to replace a broken and fallen pillar in the front garden for a poor climber now without support. I always planned to connect all 6 pillars with thick ropes, swag style. Hopefully, I'll come round to it this spring.

Also in the front garden, I need to rebuild the raised bed for the Apothecary rose and Rosa Mundi next to the herb garden. This means that I shall have to redo the tiny herb garden, now totally neglected and overgrown, or the contrast to the neat (eventually) raised bed will be too great.

The colors are pale because the picture was taken at 21.15 on July 7.

Oh, my, now I feel like such a slacker compared to all of you!

Endless Summer Hydrangea does well in our garden.

Don't know whether I really have Nikko blue or not--it has never bloomed! I'd going to find out if wrapping it in burlap will help the old wood make it through this winter....

Last week I cut down and did what I could to kill the stump of the big zapote, guess time will tell if I was lucky on that one.

In the area I plan on putting in the two new pears mom would like.

I have a spot picked out for either a weeping Santa Rosa plum (needed as a pollenizer) or for an August Pride peach for some pepper season peaches. This leaves me drawing a blank as to where to put the other 3 trees I want so I will probably wait til I decide. A Burgundy Plum, Atomic Red Nectarine and a Shiro plum.

I need to buy some more asparagus crowns since we only get a few spears at a time so it is hardly worth cooking just enough for one.

I need some strawberry starts and to move the blue berries, I think I will have my son help with that. And of course where to stash Abe Darby in some one elses garden-my boss sprays so he should be happy there.

For the roses, I need to propagate and like Ingrid will those babies to grow grow grow.

Due to the Bobcat, I need to decide what to do for a bigger out door run. This will require moving something but it turns out one citrus tree that is now very hard to find and might not appreciate being moved and my guy loves the fruit. So I am putting a hold on that thought for right now.

And I still want to build a bigger small garden shed by the veggies and have an attached green house.

But first I need to finish up the big house projects that we have started so I think that garden shed will be for another year. since I plan to build them attached I might still do the green house since I have the wall material.

I am posting an update of my coffee grounds project. Yes, I'm still getting a 13gal can-full every day from Starbucks. No, I'm still not done -- but I'm nearing the end! I wanted to cover areas where I planted Spring-blooming bulbs before they start coming up, and leave the other two areas without bulbs until Spring.

These first pics were taken almost two weeks after I started, back in November. The first few show what was covered, and the last few show what was yet to be covered. I put a thick layer of tree leaves down first, and the grounds went on top.

{{gwi:326260}}

{{gwi:326262}}

{{gwi:326264}}

{{gwi:326266}}

{{gwi:326269}}

{{gwi:326271}}

{{gwi:326273}}

Today I took some more pics, starting with where I left off with the last set. The darkest patch is what I put down today -- it dries in a day or so to a lovely milk-chocolate brown.

This area is taking longer because I started putting the grounds down in a thicker layer -- dumping it by the bucket and smoothing it out a bit, rather than scooping it with a trowel. Where I put down a thinner layer in the first set of pics, leaves are already rising up to the surface, so that made me think I could get away with a thicker layer. In Spring, I'll start adding grounds to that area to bring the level up more.

{{gwi:2120150}}

{{gwi:2120151}}

{{gwi:2120152}}

{{gwi:2120153}}

{{gwi:2120154}}

I did some math. One day's haul is equal in volume to about two bags of Bovung dehydrated manure -- maybe closer to three. Coffee grounds have an N-P-K of 2.0-0.36-0.67, while the Bovung is 1-1-1. So it's not exact, but let's just say that they're similar.

One bag of Bovung costs $5.77 plus tax. So that's equal to about $15 worth of Bovung. Multiply that by the 70-something days I've been collecting, and that's about $1000 worth of free nutrient-rich "stuff" for the garden which would have otherwise gone into a landfill.

:-)

~Christopher

Congratulations Christopher. Your garden looks beautiful. I love the style of your garden and house. It reminds me of New England style. I could be wrong. Please update us when it blooms in summer.

Just wondering, isn't some of the roses to close to the tree? I always read that roses don't like root competition from trees and shrubs. Just curious.

Hello Cristopher. Starbucks generously gave me enough used coffee grounds to fill a 5 gallon container. I plan to mix it up with alfalfa ($11.50 for 50 lbs at a feed store). I'm hoping the coffee will improve the aroma of the fertilizer in my garden as well as improve my soil, so people will actually want to stop and smell the roses, ha ha. Have you done this before with coffee grounds? I was wondering how much to add and found this blog on coffee grounds for roses. Thanks for sharing about your project.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coffee Grounds and Roses

JJPeace -- the roses in the bed with the arborvitae are (from the garage on the left to the fence on the right):

"Secret Garden Musk Climber"
'Charles de Mills'
'Georges Vibert'
"Sombreuil" (the Climber, not the Tea, against the fence)
'Cardinal de Richelieu'
"Darlow's Enigma"

Three are once-blooming Gallicas that are rather more tolerant of root competition and poor soil than are modern repeat-blooming roses like HTs and Floribundas. They also have vigorous roots which spread by suckering -- just the sort of thing to battle arbor vitae roots.

The other three are vigorous climbers -- they may not be quite as vigorous there as they are without competition, but they're growing well nonetheless. I really piled the "good stuff" on the soil back there to help them along. In any case, most of the feeder roots on long-established trees like these extend further away from the base than where I planted the roses. I have 'Orfeo' just a few inches from the base of an old Callery pear (which I hacked back, and used its limbs to build my log edging). That rose came as a band in April 2013, and now has several (I think 6?) canes over ten feet in length, snaking around in what's left of the tree. So...it's working so far.

:-)

~Christopher

This post was edited by AquaEyes on Wed, Jan 21, 15 at 23:06

jasminerose4u -- I don't have the space for a "mulch pile" so I just layer stuff on the beds. The leaves went down first, a few inches thick. Then the grounds on top, an inch or two thick (though now I'm putting them down a bit thicker). I was aiming to put it down in the cold season so it'd start breaking down as soon as it warmed in Spring.

I'm noticing that -- at least now, while it's cold -- rain gets through a thick layer quite easily. I also live where we get an average of about four inches of precipitation each month, year round, so perhaps it simply hasn't gotten the chance to "bake into a crust" yet.

I wasn't aiming to mix it with other stuff -- I wanted to see how it worked on its own first, since it's free for the taking (albeit one can per day). I wanted to raise the surface levels of the beds, so this is acting as "bulk filler" right now, with the added benefit of having some nutrients. I'll throw down some organic rose fertilizer in Spring as the roses leaf out, but otherwise I want to see how far I can go with "free stuff" that would otherwise go in a landfill.

:-)

~Christopher

Christopher, I will incorporate dry leaves too. I have plenty of those :) I hope you will post updated photos of your roses this spring.

I would not use a lot of coffee grounds in the garden, at least not on top of the soil, because caffeine is considered toxic to birds. I put tea leaves and coffee grounds in the compost heap where they will be diluted.

Wow, Christopher, that's a big project! I'm curious, what does the coffee grounds do to the acid level in the soil?

Marianese -- I haven't seen any problems thus far. Before I started putting the grounds down in the back, I was tossing onto the front "yard" the small amount of used grounds I generated myself. I also toss leftover food from Sammy, my amazon parrot, there for the birds to eat. If the family of sparrows which feeds there daily has been eating any grounds along with the sprouted seeds from Sammy, they don't seem to be showing any ill effects. Based on toxic levels for caffeine in other species, I'm thinking they'd need to actively feed on just the used grounds for there to be any noticeable effects. I'll keep this in mind, but I also know that once Spring comes around and the earthworms get active, those grounds will disappear fast.

Seil -- Most of the acid in coffee grounds winds up in the coffee. Additionally, the acid is organic, and breaks down easily. I'm using it mostly because it is a free resource, and because it has a decent amount of nutrients. I built up the soil level in the garden via composted mulch being applied thickly on top of the native soil. My idea was to keep adding as much bulk organic matter on top as I can find before resorting to another big mulch delivery. The coffee grounds would otherwise end up in the trash. Tree leaves are picked up by my town a few times in Autumn, and are shredded and added to the town's compost facilities. But I managed to grab quite a bit from my part of the street before they could.

:-)

~Christopher

ETA -- I found a little something about birds and caffeine -- see link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crows and Caffeine

This post was edited by AquaEyes on Thu, Jan 22, 15 at 12:17

I am continuing with my lawn removal and perennial rose garden project. Finally got my bulbs planted. My aim is for colour year round and not just relying on the rose blooms. I am now at 211 roses and sadly must stop with my rose purchases.....sigh

I ended up planting 3 pears, 2 plums and 2 peaches and 1 each Apple, apricot and Plumcot.

The blueberries are moved as well as some clearing, transplanting and new varieties in the cane berries. I still need to get some more strawberries

Let hope we get that promised rain next week

Since I have palm trees and oak trees growing up in the middle of my rose bushes along with some roses reverting back to rootstock, I will be digging those roses out of my backyard bed. That means putting in new soil and amending it with compost, earth worm castings, organic fertilizer, bat guano, etc., before I put my new babies in the ground.

I am also getting plants coming up from the greenbelt area behind my house and am wondering (its either this year or the next) whether or not to put a root barrier the entire length of my back yard fence. UGH! Had to do that in the front yard with the fence I share with my neighbor last spring.

If I do this, that means my narcissis will be gone for the most part along with some other bulb plants as they border the fence. It will also be expensive too.

While I am digging things up, the electrical lights I have on my planters are not lighting up. Time to be replaced. I have tried the solar ones but they don't put off enough light for me.

I also need to get rid of my weaping santa rosa dwarf plum tree and my nectarine tree. The Santa Rosa is diseased and needs to go. It has lived out its life. The nectarine tree never produced good nectarines so I am thinking of getting a fruiting quince for that spot.

I am still waiting to see if I need to replace my varigated lemon tree as the freeze two years ago did quite the number on it. It was a waiting game all last year and I will see how it does in the spring.

My Myer lemon is also not doing well and I may have to move it to a different spot where it gets more sun. It did fine in this location for two years and now not so good. It is in a large pot so moving it shouldn't be too bad.

I will be moving my passion fruit vines to where they get more sun and hopefully more fruit next year. That means moving the veggie part of my garden (these are all in pots).

On the side yard there is a dying Japanese Maple tree that needs to go. I am thinking of replacing it with a purple crape myrtle similar to the one I just trimmed yesterday. It should provide enough shade for my more delicate Austin's that prefer a bit of afternoon shade during our hot summers.

My Pink Muhly grass needs to be probably removed in the front. It borders my and my neighbor's yard. She never takes care of her side and so crab grass has gotten into it and I can't seem to get rid of it. So, looks like I will have to start from scratch again. She just replanted her yard, so I am hoping I can get rid of the crab grass once and for all.

Whoooose! I am tired just thinking about this (although it is exciting) and then there is the every day work of keeping up with things, getting rid of dreaded oxalis, etc.

Next year, I am hoping I can finally afford my patio pergola, but I think that will probably be another couple of years down the road.