Prairie Rose
Deeply Rooted
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2019
- Messages
- 342
- Reaction score
- 688
- Points
- 162
- Location
- Central Illinois, zone 5/6 line
Just wanted to start a garden thread of my own, so I quit hijacking others threads. Also a good way to be accountable in how often I get out there and work!
My lawn and garden goals this year:
1) Fence in the side yard for the dog. If money allows, fence in the front side yard for him as well.
2) Cardboard, mulch, and edge a flowerbed around the perimeter of my house. No gutters=excellent place to plant water hungry plants. I think. Planting will happen next year, for the most part.
3) New porches! I need three. This is way too ambitious financially, but I'm sticking it in here as something to strive for.
4) Actually finish a batch of compost
5) Make the dog a mud-free area to lounge in. He's worn all the grass off his favorite spots, and is coming in a giant mudball. Daily. I keep throwing straw out there, then raking it to the field when it gets soiled and replacing it, but I need a longer term solution. He's got to have a place in his outside area where he can get up out of the mud.
6) I want to expand the vegetable beds. My four by four squares are awesome, but not big enough. I have four, I want at least 8 more by fall, or to go back to growing in the ground instead of raised beds. Food is getting more expensive here, and I want to be able to grow yearly supplies of some things, and that's not happening with my current setup.
7) Flowers. I am not getting bees again until after I talk to my doctor about allergy treatments for the stings, but I do want to start planting more flowers to attract and feed the local pollinators. I used to have a lot of them, now I have nearly none.
8) My two roses need trellises. I also want to plant one new variety.
9) I would like to start an espalier fruit tree in the bed I put in at the south end of my house fall 2019. It gets great sun, and is sheltered from the worst of the winter winds.
10) I want to clean out the old dog kennel on the east side of the barn and turn my black raspberry bramble into an actual garden patch.
11) A fence around the vegetable beds, or something to protect the seedlings from the deer.
12) Trying to grow potatoes in grow-bags, and sweet corn.
13) Get ahead of the bindweed.
14) More stuff than I can actually list, but want to do!
My biggest goal is just getting out there and doing more. By the time I get home at night I am so tired and sore I usually tell myself I will garden tomorrow and everything gets away from me. I learned some shortcuts last year (drip irrigation, black plastic mulch, etc) that help keep the plants alive while I'm too sore to move. I want to expand on that and be able to do more this year. Also the family friend who mows the grass (Mom and I are both allergic to cut grass) is not going to be able to mow this year for health reasons, so I want to start taking out grass. I absolutely hate mowing; it takes too long and I have never been able to just zen out on the lawnmower, and I am itchy for days afterwards.
My lawn and garden goals this year:
1) Fence in the side yard for the dog. If money allows, fence in the front side yard for him as well.
2) Cardboard, mulch, and edge a flowerbed around the perimeter of my house. No gutters=excellent place to plant water hungry plants. I think. Planting will happen next year, for the most part.
3) New porches! I need three. This is way too ambitious financially, but I'm sticking it in here as something to strive for.
4) Actually finish a batch of compost
5) Make the dog a mud-free area to lounge in. He's worn all the grass off his favorite spots, and is coming in a giant mudball. Daily. I keep throwing straw out there, then raking it to the field when it gets soiled and replacing it, but I need a longer term solution. He's got to have a place in his outside area where he can get up out of the mud.
6) I want to expand the vegetable beds. My four by four squares are awesome, but not big enough. I have four, I want at least 8 more by fall, or to go back to growing in the ground instead of raised beds. Food is getting more expensive here, and I want to be able to grow yearly supplies of some things, and that's not happening with my current setup.
7) Flowers. I am not getting bees again until after I talk to my doctor about allergy treatments for the stings, but I do want to start planting more flowers to attract and feed the local pollinators. I used to have a lot of them, now I have nearly none.
8) My two roses need trellises. I also want to plant one new variety.
9) I would like to start an espalier fruit tree in the bed I put in at the south end of my house fall 2019. It gets great sun, and is sheltered from the worst of the winter winds.
10) I want to clean out the old dog kennel on the east side of the barn and turn my black raspberry bramble into an actual garden patch.
11) A fence around the vegetable beds, or something to protect the seedlings from the deer.
12) Trying to grow potatoes in grow-bags, and sweet corn.
13) Get ahead of the bindweed.
14) More stuff than I can actually list, but want to do!
My biggest goal is just getting out there and doing more. By the time I get home at night I am so tired and sore I usually tell myself I will garden tomorrow and everything gets away from me. I learned some shortcuts last year (drip irrigation, black plastic mulch, etc) that help keep the plants alive while I'm too sore to move. I want to expand on that and be able to do more this year. Also the family friend who mows the grass (Mom and I are both allergic to cut grass) is not going to be able to mow this year for health reasons, so I want to start taking out grass. I absolutely hate mowing; it takes too long and I have never been able to just zen out on the lawnmower, and I am itchy for days afterwards.
.
