We'd all like to hear what everyone's plans are this year! When we hear of your plans, that gives us ideas about our own projects.
I'm not going to be planting much this year, other than my annuals and a few veggies. Once again, I'm going to plant my veggies among my flower beds. This worked very well for me last year. Veggies are just as cheap as annuals, give off color and provide food. Now, I have 7 very large beds in my yard, so marrying the both, flowers and veggies are very economical for me. The pay off is great also... you get real food during the Summer! There are many veggies, that are decorative during the Summer, while producing food. How cool is that?
As I sated previously, Rocky will get his own tomato garden this year. I'll fence off the others. He only eats the tomatoes, and only when they're ripe. I figure 3 plants and he'll be in heaven for the Summer!
My big garden project this year is going to be improving the drip system that we have over the 1/3 acre. Some zones need more water than others. I have to get out there and add a new sprinklers and drizzlers here and there. I also want to add another hose bib to the pvc hose bibs that I have around the house. This is something that the original owner started and I just have expanded. It takes a little maintenance each year, but it gives you more than one place to attach a hose. This is a big deal if you own property and have only one or two outdoor spigots. It's very inexpensive also!
My big goal this year is to keep the water usage down. We live in a drought area... high desert. That's a real big deal here. Our water bills, like electric and gas are growing by leaps and bounds. We've had a dry Winter, so it will be interesting to see if I can keep the water bill to a decent average and still keep everything alive here.
Please, when giving landscape and gardening tips, make sure that you mention your area of the world, or better yet, fill out your profile! This is another area where your local does play a big difference!
Maureen
Also need to get something planted the entire way around the home. Our home is "evergreen" colored with white skirting. The white looks so bright next to the dark green so I am considering a mixture of blue rug juniper and dwarf Alberta spruce (away from windows) to tone down the white of the skirting and provide protection from the weed eater and mower. These would also provide color in the winter when everything is dead and ugly. Now if it would only warm up and dry out.......[/img]
Here - since we just moved here--to eastern Utah - altitude abt 6000 ft, mostly high desert climate with TONS of wind - our main concerns this spring/summer are getting our outbuildings, patios, porches, pergolas, trails and gravel in place. We are, however, planning on planting some vines and shrubbery out front (330 ft) for a living fence--and we have a few trees that we wanted to get started in a someday to be an orchard area. 