More galvanized

I am also trying to persuade Bob, who has always wanted a pond to do one in a 2'x8' or 2'x10' stock tank.
I love the look and the more I think about it it makes more sense: no digging, no liner to puncture, no reaching down into a hole and less drowning risk due to the edge being 2' above grade.
Seems I am not the only one thinking this way. I have researched around and found a few people doing the same including this beautiful example at http://www.mosaic-gardens.com/ourgarden.html
Mosaic Gardens is a landscape design company based in Oregon owned by Buell Steelman and Rebecca Sams.

Raised beds

While I wait patiently for my Landscaoe design class to start I have certainly been reading and researching and brainstorming on ideas.
The NE corner of the garden has very shallow soil due to loads of roots from a row of evergreens that were put in byt he prev. owners as a privacy screen. I have been thinking that this area would be suited to raised beds, so I've been researching raised beds.
BHG.com had a nice plan for making a wooden raised bed. Very simple but everyone is saying that pressure-treated wood is not good etc etc.
I have always really liked the look of galvanized metal so I was poking around for something of that nature - a cattle feed bin or something and I came across this fire ring at Tractor Supply.
It seems perfect to me: comes in 36" or 48" diameter, 12" high. $49 for the 36", $63 for the 48".

First dafs

The days are getting milder: 45 deg today (but windy). Saw the first daffodil of the year peeking out this morning. Very exciting.

Can't wait for spring

I drive by a sign every day that someone put up on a tree saying how many days 'til spring. Today is 24 (I think) and 12 days 'til Spring forward.
Am going nutty waiting til I can plant seeds (next week). Meanwhile my forced forsythia in the kitchen is coming along nicely. It is about to bloom. Very exciting - I am always amazed when I can grow something.

Also signed up for newsletter at safelawns.org

It's a snowdrop silly

Der! Those "crocus" shoots of course were not crocus (croci?). They are snowdrops as I found out this morning when I was rewarded with my first flower of the year. The iPhone kind of made it into a blob drop but never mind. The snowdrops were not very successful last year and I had forgotten that I had planted some here. It coincides with a nasty cold snap that has come back for today.

Snow again

Argh! Yesterday it started snowing again. What a spoiler after a teasing week to 10 days of milder weather and tantalising crocus tips peaking through the soil.

As I looked out my window at work, the largest fluffiest snowflakes that I'd seen all winter drifted down.

When it snows like this in December we get all nostalgic, romantic and full of Christmas spirit. It's all "Oh-ah, look it's snowing!". When it snows like that when we are now less than 30 days from spring, the sentiment is more "Arrrrrgggghhh. More f'ing snow."

It is still on the ground as a dusting at home but as I look out the window at work today there is not a speck left.

And that is how I like it. I have mentally shifted out of winter and into spring and I do not wish to go back.

Seeds are here

Despite abysmmal failures with seeds the past two years, I have decided to give it another go with natives and easy to grow (so they say!) seeds brought from companies who are based in my region (or colder). Two boxes from Johnny's Seeds arrived today. Some of them I can sow direct.
My soonest pack is 8-10 wks before last frost. Last frost is 5/15 so I have 'til end of last week in March. I guess I should've bought some onions etc but with the landscape class happening in March and the ensuing planning (and hopefully some actual doing) I'm loath to start raised beds or whatever for veggies.

Bricks

Made good progress with the bricks. Between a couple trips on the way home during the weeks and a few yesterday, I think I moved about 1,000 bricks (4,000lbs!).

Been Reading

To get through the winter and gather ideas I have been looking through some landscape and garden design books. Here are my faves:

The essential garden design workbook / Rosemary Alexander
This book really breaks down and shows you how to analyse and evaluate your space. I especially liked her pointers about using prominent points on your house to define areas and to work up a grid for the design based on proportions of the layout.

I am still reading this book but it really helped solidify my own design style - tending towards a natural look that includes what landscape types see to call "found objects".





Keith Davitt has two books, they are a little repetitive on material but have some great ideas for hardscaping and patio materials especially. They are "Hardscaping : how to use structures, pathways, patios & ornament in your patio" and "Beyond the lawn : unique outdoor spaces for modern living".



Because I knew I would be getting through a lot of books, I chose to go to the library instead of drop a bundle on books that I may or may not like. Everyday I drive by the New Canaan Library and although I don't live there I decided that that would be a handy place to go. Talk about good karma: New Canaan Library is fortunate to have the Susan McDaniel collection, a collection of books put togther in memory of an ardent gardener by her family and friends. I feel very fortunate to have this resource - it is the best of the best landscape and gardening books - and also think it is a great way to remember someone. For more on this collection read here: http://newcanaanlibrary.org/research/mcdaniel.small.pdf

First sign of spring

The snow has been disappearing at an amazing rate. Even the large heap that I inadventently piled on the crocus (croci?) has disappeared and this morning as I walked to the car I peered closely and saw these 2 shoots. What a spirit lifter.

Growing from Seed

I really suck at growing things from seed. I have tried the past 2 years and never got anything to survive long enough to go into the garden. I had decided not to try it again, however, I still need to add plants to the garden (my thinking is plant in the front and plan in the back) so I am ordering some seeds from Johnny's. I have learnt that I should by from somewhere with a similar climate, that are grown and tested there and to plant in a soiless medium. Hopefully this will help my success rate.
The decision to try again was motivated by my move into a new office at work (pic). It has a lovely large window and wide window sill and I was thinking the other day where I could put seed trays at home when it hit me - the office window is the perfect place. So I will throw down $100 or so and await arrival.
Although the pic looks somewhat arctic, the snow has actually all melted in the past week.

Measuring the space

So for the class we have to arrive at the first meeting with an outline sketch of our space. This past weekend was mild so I walked off the measurements with Bob's measuring wheel from work and set to on trying to sketch it up.

A couple weeks back we also had one white oak taken down in the back. it was looking very wet at the base and the bark was coming off. Of more concern was that it had grown at a 70 degree angle right over our neighbour's house. At over 90ft tall, it would have totally crushed their house had it come down. So although we don;t like to cut down anything, we made the decision. I had Chris, the arborist, keep me two 4-5ft lengths of trunk for a bench and a water trough project I have in mind.

So I guess between them and the bricks, I am accumulating "things" for the garden.

Bricks

So to distract myself while I wait for the class to start I was looking through craigslist and saw an ad for old bricks in a nearby town. Long story short, I am lugging possibly 1800 used bricks from a house in Wilton up to the house. There is no UHaul big enough to take them all so I am using the Honda Element. I can carry ~ 150 bricks at a time. It;s not the most efficient way per se but it breaks up the work and therefore means that it is manageable for me.

I can't remember how many I have lugged up so far - all the trips blur into one. It might be almost a thousand bricks. 4,000lbs. At first my left arm felt like it would fall off but it has stopped aching and is over the initial shock. My lovely neat brikc piles fell over as the snow underneath them thawed.

These will be great for edging projects and I think I will temporarily pave the area where Bob had the barbeque. It is edged with 4x4s but has just dirt inside. So I will do a down-and-dirty temporary job once we get to March/April. Tamp the soil and lay brick on soil so that the barbee doesn't have to stand on dirt. It will also be a good experiment to see how brick looks back there.

BBG Landscape Class

We have had a week of mild weather and the 10" of hard-packed snow is almost all gone. Also I received confirmation of my class registration and some advance homework - a questionaire about the garden and the need to draw a plan of it as it is now.

I have been looing through copious garden design and landscaping books from R'field ad New Canaan libraries. New Canaan has a fantastic selection in the Susan McDaniel collection. A collection donated to the library in the memory of an avid gardener. I have been gathering ideas of what I like and chomping at the bit with the mild weather to get going on things in the garden before the class.

Landscape Design Class at BBG

So being without ginormous disposable income to lavish on a designer/landscaper for the garden, I looked around at the start of the year for a landscape design class that would help me formulate my own plan. NYBG had a class both at NYBG and in G'wich Bartlett Arboretum had one but I ultimately settled for a class at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It is called "Your Garden Tutorial: Section A: All About the Space!"

I might regret signing up for a class that meets at 6pm Thursdays in Brooklyn when I work in Stamford, CT but the class is all about actually working on a hardscape design for your own garden. So I dropped my $$$ and signed up.

Info on the class is here: http://www.bbg.org/edu/adult/

So ...

... it's almost 3 years since Bob and I bought the house. I have worked on the front garden. I was amazed that after the 51 yrs that the previous owners were here there was no color in the garden, sort of a classic IMHO American landscaping with green shrubs. So over the past 2-3 yrs I've planted snowdrops, crocus, daffs, moved hostas and an azalea, cut back soem shrubs, ripped out the over grown yew and replaced with perennials, reseeded and patched the lawn) in the front and it still needs lots of work.
The great part about a 58-year old yard is that there are lots of big well-established trees and shrubs (10-12 80ft white oaks, one each of flowering cherry, dogwood and crabapple, a hedge of forsythia and 10 ft high rhodies, a pieris japonica, a duextia (sp?), a couple of azaleas, euonymus and mountain laurel).
However, the back has all this greta structure 80ft up but is a fairly blank square with no borders. It was grassless when we moved in and I have worked on reseeding grass, adding lime and leaf mold, getting the 90ft white oaks cut back to let in some light and that's been about it in the back.
So this year is the year to form a Master Plan for back garden so that whatever I do over the next 10 years all contributes to an overall plan rather than be piece meal.
Can I do it seeing as my only gardening experience is growing up with parents and an aunt who have amazing gardens. Well, that is what this blog is all about.

Ugh, no marks for blogging for me ...

... yikes, as we approach our 3 yr anniversary in the house, I am well aware that I have not blogged in friggin' ages. Many apologies - partly we were busy on projects getting the house ready for THE wedding. Does that get me off the hook? So there are lots of projects and photos to update the blog with just need to get around to it. I promise.