I like winter but I’m really, really looking forward to spring because I can’t wait to start my garden. This house was sold to us in April last year but we couldn’t move in until July and by then it was already a bit too late to start a garden. But this year, I’m going to have a whole year to grow whatever I want! Yippee!
My plan was to turn the backyard into a vegetable garden, but I’ve changed my mind. You see, a couple of weeks ago, I very ambitiously bought seeds to grow 11 (!) different varieties of heirloom tomatoes off eBay. I thought filling the whole backyard with tomato plants sounded like a boatload of fun and a half. But then common sense kicked in and I realised that it would be way too much work, especially for a novice (not to mention lazy) gardener like myself. So I’ve decided to be less ambitious and just plant 3 or 4 varieties this year and see how it goes. I won’t even plant them in the garden. I’ll plant them in 5-gallon buckets instead because I read that it would make the plants easier to maintain. I will also put them on the deck so I don’t procrastinate too much when it comes to watering because they need a lot of water to grow!
Now for the backyard, I think I’ll just focus on making it look easier on the eye since the previous owner did pretty much nothing to the backyard. No flower beds, no plants, nothing but weed-infected grass. I’m going to put in some lovely flowering plants. In fact, I’m going to start growing them from seeds some time this week using the winter sowing method. I’ve never done it before so it’s going to be an exciting experiment! Basically, you just plant the seeds in plastic pop bottles, put them outside the house and then forget all about it until spring. By then the seedlings should be ready for planting on the ground. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do the forgetting all about it until spring part due to my obsessive nature, but the rest sounds pretty easy. We’ll see how it goes!
Another reason I’m really looking forward to spring: I can’t wait to see our cherry tree blooming! Cherry blossoms are so pretty. That is assuming that it’s still alive. Dormant trees make me wonder sometimes.
Oh, I know that 99.9% of my readership has no interest in gardening but just bear with me, mmmkay? 😉
Are you kidding? I love gardening! I too like winter, but after mentioning my garden in a post a few weeks ago, I’ve had the itch to get things going in there.
I like to grow vegetables. Any flowers I have are mostly perennials so I don’t have to buy new ones every year.
Tomatoes are easy – just make sure you stake them before they get too big. The only other piece of advice I have is to stay away from cherry tomatoes if you’re going to plant them in the ground.
They are delicious and you get tons of them – and they also reseed very easily. Two years ago I planted some and last year I ended up picking out hundreds of baby tomato plants from all the tomatoes that had fallen on the ground. I never had that problem with regular sized tomatoes.
Make sure you post lots of pictures 🙂
I’m allergic to outdoor. I rarely pay my balcony visits unless it’s for smoking hahaha
i like your gardening posts. sometimes i feel the urge to grow things but have yet to follow through. knowing you are doing so makes me happy!
Heirloom tomatoes are terrific. I have a friend who has some land and I keep telling her to grow some heirloom tomatoes, but she’s never had any so she doesn’t realize how wonderful they are.
Maybe I’ll just get her some seeds and let her plant them.
Enjoy! Spring is just around the corner.
I love gardening too! And can talk about it for hours. We have an allotment here in Leeds and grew all sorts last summer – in spite of it being a very very bad growing season. The best thing was sweet corn. Tomatoes died cos it was too wet – I’m hoping this summer will be better. The best thing for a garden that you have regular access to (ours is 10 minute walk from our flat) – herbs. If yr growing tomatoes, you’ve got to grow basil to go with! And mint (in a container or it will colonize everything) and cilantro and parsley… yum. Good luck! It’s such a great pasttime.