Spring ’21 garden gear up is in the works. Books are open for garden planning inspiration. A shade garden is the goal.

March blew in and things are starting to calm down around here. The temps are warming up just a smidge, and the snow that has blanketed the ground since around Christmastime, has finally begun to melt. After winters like these, it’s always a treat to see the grass, even if not green. Yet.

The garden is waking up, too. Coming out of its REM sleep, but not quite ready to fully be awake, it’s dozing and hitting the snooze button for a couple more weeks. Kinda sounds a little like me too, although my snooze button is set for nine minutes. Spring is on its way, and up here in the northeast, patience is a virtue.

It’s right around now that I begin diving into my garden books and start planning. Spread out on the garden house floor, I thumb through inspiring pages, one after the other. I keep all the books open so I can try to blend all the ideas into a hopeful few for us. Perfect for a daydreamer like me.

Stating the obvious here, I love to plan. I’ve started opening up the potting bench area in the garden house. Adding a little more storage and dusting off the pots, being careful to keep a little dinge. After all, it’s the look of weathered pots that bring added beauty to the plants they house. Soils have been added to and mixed in the bin, ready for me to sow some seeds. Soon. Soon. I step back, analyze, and tweak a little. More tweaking to come, natch. I’m in my element.

The shade garden is centered right in front of my thoughts. I mentioned this garden goal at the first of the year, and I’m seeing it though for spring. The designing and the planning is fun for me.

And challenging.

Where I’d like to plant it under and around perfect tree, is the goal. However the gorgeous ferns and hostas along with the flowering ground cover is just downright delicious to the unwelcome deer that wander through, and that ballsy woodchuck that seems to be smarter than our have-a-heart trap. It’s an odd area to put up a fence, but something along those lines is necessary. Perhaps a classic iron park fence? Needs more thought, more inspirational books. I’ll ask my friend Liselotte, who is a gardening expert, her thoughts. I’m open to any and all suggestions, my friends.

I’m planning a wild flower garden too. I received a gorgeous packet of seeds for my birthday in January, so this little vibrant garden is going to be like an ongoing birthday present through spring and summer. Great way to think about it, right?!  I’m thinking on the southern-facing side of the coop may be just the spot. It’s a blank canvas there, and begging for color. Yes, this is where my wildflower garden will grow.

I’ll be sowing the seeds for the vegetable garden soon, and I’ll share all of that with you as well. I’m devising a new map for that garden, and a few DIY garden trellises are in the works too. The goal here is to grow more plants, but not to overcrowd. I think I’ve got a good plan.

This is the beginning of my gardening thought process. My inspiration. I’ll try a few plants on for size this year and hope they fit well and into next year. Until the freezing nights are behind us, the garden books will remain open, and I’ll keep tweaking the plans along the way.