Spring came early this year. Then it quickly faded back into winter -- jumping to summer for a couple days and then back to winter. Kind of feels like the changing of the seasons in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
At any rate, I've been trying to get outdoors whenever the weather decides it wants to play nice and get some yardwork and gardening done. We had enough warm days early on that my whole perennial garden is way ahead of the game. Most years the tulips and daffodils are the only stars amidst a bed of still-sleeping perennials.
New tulips growing in the font yard! Love spring color in the front for once!
These are some really cool sort of tulip I planted last fall, though I have no idea what they're called.
This year, everything is coming in strong in the perennial garden at the same time. It's a good thing, too, because I am in need of perennials for a new bed I'm digging out between our yard and our neighbors. It has become overrun with weeds and field grasses and we'd like it to become a perennial / cutting garden. I've been slowly chipping away at digging that out and I've got a sort of divide and conquer strategy to take or divide plants from the perennial garden and transplant to fill the new area.
All the tulips haven't even opened yet and everything is already filling in around them!
The new garden area is a big space, so rather than buying other plants to supplement, to fill in the area more economically, I decided to buy some seeds -- perennials and reseeding annuals. The only problem was that all of the flowers looked so pretty...I may have gotten a bit carried away with my purchases! I sowed most of them last weekend. And yes, I labeled all of my seed plantings with orange plastic knives. Classy, I know.
Oh, just a few types of flowers I planted.
Between the last few weekends, I got a good amount of the new garden bed dug up and planted / seeded. Tom had torn out several shrubs and trees that were overrunning the space, as well.
Yeah. Seriously overrunning. Yikes. All of that shrubbery is now gone!
It doesn't look like much yet, but you just wait!
A few perennials that were already there or transplanted & seeds are in the ground!
Another fun thing this spring has been watching my shade garden grow. We have this beautiful weeping cherry tree to the side of our deck. I had tried growing ground cover around it with limited success and then the weeds won out. So last spring I bought a ton of shade perennials and sprinkled them throughout that area in hopes of a beautiful shade garden. It really seems to be taking off well so far this spring and several of the flowers area already blooming -- some of which I didn't get to see last year because I planted them too late in the season.
A close-up of a weeping cherry branch at sunset.
Shade garden coming in nicely
Another view of the shade garden. The flower petals on the ground almost look like it's snowing.
Forget-Me-Nots in the Shade Garden
Another spring beauty - I don't remember what this one is called!
Flowers aren't the only thing that's growing, though! My indoor seedlings are doing well. The tomatoes were transplanted to larger pots today and all of the greens were moved outside for more sunlight. I sowed all of my spring seeds a couple of weeks ago and everything has begun to sprout: lettuce (from self-saved seeds!), arugula, kale, chard, cilantro, peas, radishes...
...and my one perennial vegetable is growing strong! Asparagus spears are popping up like crazy. I've already picked a few and I think they will soon be in in full force!
Hello, Asparagus!
And, one final exciting thing this spring -- we have a couple of new additions to the vegetable garden -- not vegetables, but fruit! The area around the garden that was previously landscaped has now been planted with blueberry bushes (three half-high varieties) and lingonberries. Yes, lingonberries. It's a thing. Ask the Swedes. They make a great fruit spread -- little round, red berries that grow close to the ground -- I think cousins to blueberries and cranberries -- and who appreciate the same acidic soil as the blueberries. They will be great companions. I am not sure if or how much fruit we will get this year, but they are all three year old plants, so I'm hoping something so long as I can keep the birds and deer away!
There are already clusters of little white flowers on many of the blueberry bushes.
Things are happening fast, and I think it's going to end up being a great year for the gardens!
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ABOUTME
Hi there! My name is Dana and I live in West Michigan with my husband, Tom and our dog Copernicus. I created this space as a place to share the things I learn along this journey I call life. I work in marketing and I'm a sort of Jane of All Trades, interested in all things nature, gardening, cooking, exploring and learning new things. This blog is a conglomeration of my interests, hobbies, life and life lessons. Thanks for stopping by!
