It's Spring!

You know it's spring when I start filling up the blog with plant and gardening pictures. I wanted to get an early start on cleaning the flower beds because I have a lot to get done before the excruciating hot weather and humidity start and I become a hermit (yes, more so than now).

So far I have cleaned the biggest garden and the left side garden. I made the mistake of cleaning the big garden all in one day. After six months of no yard work, I was sore for three days afterward. At least I'm broken-in now (although I was feeling pretty broken).

Here a shot of the back garden all cleaned up. The shot is taken on an angle to include the back corner garden which is still not awake (if you click on it you'll get a bigger view):

There are some tulips coming up in the center and the hostas which I've been growing for over five years are breaking ground already.

Here is the side garden. The black eyed susans and purple coneflowers have started. And of course there are tulip tips coming up here and there.

This is wear most of the work will come in after I've cleaned all the other flower beds (another side, back corner, back stairs, by small shed, and front yard). I'll be adding a yard of soil along the back to bring the ground back up to the neighbors and then I'll put back the flagstone path I removed last year. I'll extend the garden forward a bit to give the hen & chick border some room. To the left out of shot are some cedars whose roots are showing so I want to cover them with another yard as well as the trees on the other side of the yard. If there is soil left over I'll top off some of the other gardens. Then I want to lay down new mulch as it's been a few years. Finally, I want to re-edge all the gardens. I'm hoping to have this all done by the end of June. The sooner the better because it will already be stinking hot by then.