garden update

Spring 2013

It really does feel like spring in Chattanooga.  The daffodils are blooming, and I finally got out and worked in the yard. (I have the blisters to prove it.)  It may even storm this afternoon.  Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is Saturday the 15th, so I'll save the pictures, but I do want to document what I have done in the yard so far.  Believe it or not these posts are really helpful to look back on.   For example, the fact that I fertilized & mulched my rhododendron last March and it went from one bloom in 2012 to ten in 2013, is a really nice reminder, and motivation, for me to do more of the same this year.


Here are the lists I started with.  I'm doing pretty well on the maintenance, not so much on the projects.

Garden Maintenance

• Move plants outside.  I kept a few plants in a cold room inside this winter, and I need to start moving them out so they will wake up. (completed 3/7/14, & looking good)
• Pick up sticks.  Sounds like a small task, but it's not.  I live in the woods, and we've had quite a few storms lately. (completed 3/9/14)
• Fertilize.  It's time to start thinking about compost and mulch. (roses & boxwoods 3/11/14, lots left to do)
• Pull up grass.  I'm slowly but surely moving to an all moss lawn.  I just work one section at a time.
• Trim out dead blackberries, & mow over blackberries outside the fence line.

Spring Projects

• Build 2 window boxes.
• Add lattice for my confederate jasmine. (planned for this weekend)
• Build structure for my morning glories to climb.  I want to do two fixed posts with a twine spiderweb in between.  This will make it easy to just cut down the vines when they die in the fall.
• A raised bed for vines around a tree.

I've also done a few other things that weren't on my list, but need(ed) to be done.

Additional Maintenance

• Move extra thick leaf mulch.  When they blew leaves this fall they ended up extra thick on top of my Lily of the Valley & columbines.  Where the columbines have seen sun, they are already coming up, so I thinned out the leaves on top of the rest.  Also, the leaves were super thick around my azalea, it needed room to breathe too. (completed 3/9/14)
• Weed.  For the most part I mulch thick enough that I don't have to do much weeding.  But I do have monkey grass and ivy that just keep showing up in places I don't need it.
• Cut back damaged plant growth.  I am devastated that the beautiful snow we had this winter damaged my confederate jasmine.  It wasn't well established, and the new growth did not survive.  I've cut it back to the thicker section at the very bottom, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I also had to trim the dead leaves off my hellebores this year.  I don't usually do anything with them, but I trimmed them back, and they are blooming up a storm with a lot of new growth coming in.  These are the only two plants that needed any help though. (completed 3/9/14 & 2/17/14 respectively)
• Trim the privit.  This is going to be an every year thing.
• Figure out what to do with the rest of my day lilies.  Quite a few are headed to South Carolina soon, but I need to decide what to do with the rest.
• Mulch the Rock Garden 
• Prep beds for spring planting.  This includes homes for my new roses, and my attempt at a cottage style bed. 
• Trim around evergreens in the woods by the road.  I would like to increase my privacy, so I'm going to encourage the evergreens closest to the road to fill out as much as possible.  It's always a slow process when it comes to tree growth, so I had better get started! (completed 3/15/14)