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lavender_lass

Please share your garden plans for 2013

lavender_lass
11 years ago

I always have fun with this question! What are your plans for 2013? Are you planning a new garden, reworking an existing garden...or just enjoying what you've already created?

I'm hoping to move my arbor out of the kitchen garden (which is just too cold and windy) and put it in front of the lilace hedge, where it will get more protection...from the wind and the deer! Maybe I can finally try a few smaller climbing roses and some honeysuckle to go with the clematis. (We don't have enough frost free weather for climbing annuals.) I'd also like to add a few alba roses in the corner, in front of the lilacs. This garden is outside the master bedroom and I want to go a little 'fairy tale' with all old style, fragrant flowers and herbs.

Arbor, in the kitchen garden... {{gwi:22840}}From Lavender's Garden

Area in front of the lilacs, on the right side of the sheds. This is nice and level, with the lilacs going beyond the end of this picture... {{gwi:639029}}From Lavender's Garden

In the kitchen garden, we plan to fence in the garden and have perennials along the fence (purple raspberries, blueberries and some shrubs and perennials) with annual vegetables and flowers inside. Somewhere we need to add some seating, either a few benches, a table and chairs...or maybe both. It would be fun to make this garden a little more rustic, but I'd still like to incorporate a bit of Peter Rabbit. Ideally, it would be fun to add a garden shed, too!

Here's a view of the area we want to fence in for the garden, which is fairly level. {{gwi:768709}}From Lavender's Garden

So what are your plans? It's so nice to have a break and get excited for next spring :)

Comments (29)

  • Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
    11 years ago

    Hi LL!! So lovely seeing your pictures and I'm looking forward to hearing everyones ideas. My husband and I are renting now. We are allowed to plant but I don't want to go crazy...but I plan on filling in the bed in the front with a few perrenials and petunias ( I just love petunias.) I also might make a bed around the mailbox to cheer up the area. I have a new interest in black eyed Susan's so I think I may plant them with some catmint around the mailbox. And on the back patio I plan on doing lots of pots, that can be moved if we happen to find a home to buy. We are blessed to have a screened in porch as well and I want to have lots of pots there too. As soon as the holidays are over I plan on hitting up the local antique stores and flea marketsfor some old pots and containers for plants. There are an incredible amount of antique /flea marts here and I can't wait to dive in! :) hope everyone is having a good holiday season!

  • ogrose_tx
    11 years ago

    lilyfinch, that sounds SO fun to hit the antique stores and flea markets!

    I plan to take a breather next year and take time to assess my new big flowerbed which was planted this year, see what needs to be moved, what works and doesn't work, etc. I do have roses ordered that will arrive early next year, and have been rooting some stuff I already have to stick in here and there. We finally had a freeze, that will pretty much wind up the garden for this year, am already looking forward to spring!

    Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and blessed new year.

  • girlgroupgirl
    11 years ago

    My garden plans include
    a) attempting to keep everything alive in 2013 (drought again).
    b) plant the containers of plants that have been sitting in the back yard for oh, three years (long story).
    c) have compost incorporated into the horrendous soil in the back upper part of the yard and re-plant a few trees (yay), get the raisin tree from a friend and plant it.
    d) plant a wall of evergreens between myself and my neighbors boarding house (sometimes crack house/halfway house, home of my current stalker).
    e) put in a walkway/drainage area, increase the height of the fence between my house and the neighbors and plant vines, evergreens and anything else that blocks views (read the part about the stalker). Finally plant a foundation bed along that side of the house.
    f) find a LOT of clients because I'm gonna need the cash to get the help to buy the supplies and get all this stuff done!!!

  • hosenemesis
    11 years ago

    You're a brave soul, GGG. I hope your stalker goes back to jail soon, and I hope your screen fills in fast.

    I'm looking forward to everyone's photos for next year- especially photos of annual flowers, since I am not growing many any longer and miss them. My garden is not going to change much in the foreseeable future, so there will be nothing new to show this spring, aside from a few new irises. Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time getting it ready for spring- not much will be new.

    Renee

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    11 years ago

    Took out our goldfish pool last summer, it was getting to be a hassle keeping the leaves from the Robinia tree out plus something was snacking on the fish. The few remaining goldfish we threw in the Koi Pool where they immediately spawned.
    I got the bright idea to save some of the eggs so scooped some egg ladened plants out and put them in a large tub where they hatched. Come fall we moved the baby Shubunkins into the house for the winter.


    After draining the pool we were left with this big gapping hole, what to do with it??? Right now it's being filled with compostable material, eventually it will be topped with driveway chip, a seating area, a container garden, a funky art piece, a fire pit, the wheels are turning :).

    The plans for the rest of the garden are to add more vegetables wherever I can find space, I grew one plant of that new novelty tomato "Indigo Rose" this year, the skin turns almost jet black where the sun hits it, when cut it's red inside, looks great in salads. I really like it as I don't like really sweet cherry tomatoes and it's not.

    I have LOTS of Iris in holding areas that will slowly find their way into suitable spots mixed in amongst everything else. Also the lower end of the long bed between the shed and lathhouse has to be renewed, in other words everything has to be dug out to get rid of, you guessed it, that darn couch grass.

    Annette

  • luckygal
    11 years ago

    This year my garden got a complete weeding, eradication of self-seeders, mulching, and all fences redone. However ran out of time to replant so I need to move quite a few overgrown perennials to the bare areas. My lilies need to be moved early, ideally I'd have moved them late summer but it didn't happen.

    I made a start on the labyrinth I've wanted for years so that is a project to be finished next spring. I've rethought the landscaping for the outer yard but would like to make paths with the same bark mulch, seed clover and pasture grass, and perhaps some wildflowers in a few areas. They will have to be things horses won't eat because I want them to graze this occasionally rather than mowing. Lamb's ears is the only plant so far I've found they don't eat. I'll continue making compost and will improve the 'lawn' areas which have been neglected.

    Here are the 'mulch mountains' I had hauled in - 4 dumptruck loads.

    We used most of one load of the mulch for the garden but the rest was leveled with a Bobcat into a 50' circle. It still needs raking and stones laid for the path.

    If time and energy permit I want to make some changes to the garden house DH built me several years ago. It's a great place to store garden accessories but I would like it to serve more purposes. Never did paint the loft as well as it needs a better stairway/ladder for access to the loft. I also want to hang curtains and decorate it a bit.

    'Normal' garden maintenance, containers, and any new plants I find will need doing. All that, in itself, takes a lot of time.

    As usual my "to-do" list is likely longer than can reasonably be done in the time but better to aim high, isn't it!

  • girlgroupgirl
    11 years ago

    Luckygal, did you move all that by hand? That's a lot of mulch. I'm still working on the mulch from the HUGE oak I had to have taken down, but I'm 3/4 or so of the way there!!

  • luckygal
    11 years ago

    Girlgroupgirl, my garden helper and I probably moved almost one dump truck load of 16 cu. yds. which equates to a LOT of wheelbarrow loads. One day I moved about 25 wheelbarrow loads just for a path to my garden house and later added more. My entire garden has been thoroughly mulched now which has never before happened. I hired someone with a bobcat to level the rest of the mulch for the labyrinth but it still needs leveling by hand raking. I hope the natural precipitation over winter will help pack it down and I'll start this as soon as the snow melts in spring.

  • koszta_kid
    11 years ago

    Divide and give many plants some plants away.. Mulch and mulch and mulch some more.Read more plants that can stand drought-if we have another year like last. Buy more soaking hoses. And self-watering kits for containers. Sending out long list of annual seeds. Paint fence,

  • schoolhouse_gw
    11 years ago

    Will attempt to get that new stone wall in the sunken garden built this coming summer (did I just mention summer?), the same one I've been planning for the past three years. I might remove some more older phlox and replant new stock, add a few more shrubs or trees along the property line, some winterberries, hollies, one or two new redbuds. I didn't do any planting there last year as I wanted to see how the earlier plantings were filling out the spaces. Now that it is winter, the view is very ugly; so must think more in terms of shrubs and trees that hold their foliage.

    The privet arch lost a large, old trunk on the inside during the last big wind storm. I know that it helps in the long run because new growth gets more sun, but it's a gaping hole for at least three years. May not plant a veggie garden and am toying with the idea of letting the plot go back to grass; but then what happens if I change my mind and get the urge to plant lettuces again? Will have to think about it. Right now it's under a thick layer of leaves which keeps grass and weeds off.

  • chloeasha
    11 years ago

    I've gone in and out of this forum for years... happened to catch this topic and thought to reply :)

    Well i have a newish garden now, second year. Balcony. Shade. :/ I'm working towards a cottage-y balcony though, with visions of vintage sheet tablecloths and vases of flowers. I went with a theme of "fragrant" last year while I was thinking, and bought a lot of spring and fall bloomers (summer is too hot to go out there with too many mosquitoes from the rice farms (except to water!)).

    I've been tucking seeds into my pots now. I have various perennials all over the place, but of course there are dreaded bare spots. Who wants those?! I've been tucking peony poppies (p. somniferum/paeoniflorum), columbines, and scented violets around. I'm thinking about ordering some more nasturtiums even though they fail here because I just can't let go lol. Thinking to also order a few more columbine varieties. I have some herbs and alpine strawberries on my list. I ordered a sweet autumn clematis that I plan on training to cover one side of my balcony (it's recessed) and then over the french doors and on to the ceiling. I think a "cave" of green would be kind of cozy.

  • mrtoad
    11 years ago

    A bit ambitious:
    Add low voltage lighting
    Create a method to make watering easier and more efficient
    Paint/stain all wooden surfaces
    Replace water feature
    Paint/stain terracotta
    Most important � extend the planting season -

    lunch meeting tomorrow with gardening friend - to make the plan

  • Annie
    11 years ago

    I've really enjoyed all your posts.
    Much like GGG, I am focusing on just trying to keep everything alive again this year as we are still in severe drought too. Lost so many trees and shrubs this past year, even some old trees. As for what's growing, I am waiting to see what emerges this spring, take stock and go from there.
    I have been continuing to water through the Fall and now this Winter to keep things alive. Thus far everything looks fairly good, all things considering.

    Have several garden projects to build. Currently working on creating a structured walkway from the driveway to the back gate. So far it looks pretty good.I rolled some of those big heavy Quarry stones and blocks over to create a more formal walkway. Then blew all the leaves in that area into the new growing bed that created. Still toying with ideas for what to plant, but definitely going to plant some of those juniper shrubs. Probably a Taylor Juniper tree toward the back corner of the bed near the Carport wall to frame it and add greenery in that barren spot. It keeps a column-like shape and doesn't grow too tall - about 14 ft. tall (here) but only two-to-three feet wide. It is VERY drought hardy. Originally from Nebraska. I have one I planted two years ago as a test trial and it has done extremely well. The Evergreens will soften and create a visually cooling affect there in summer and remain green in the winter. I have to add quite a bit of good topsoil and haul in some composted mulch or rotted chipped-wood and more leaves to amend and improve the soil there and build it up, as it slopes fairly fast from the carport down to the roadway below the house. Perhaps one or two large containers with Succulents. Thinking of some grasses in the bed behind the evergreen shrubs to soften, add a little height, and different textures. As I said I am still toying with what to plant. But everything has to be able to take the southern sun, heat and dryness there in the summer. The good thing is that one of my faucets is close by. ;)

    That is my first garden project. I'm sure there will be others.

    We are trying to get all the dead stuff dug out, cut down and burned now while it is cool and semi-moist. We won't have that option for very long as the heat will start earlier this year. We are having yet another VERY mild winter and very dry too. Only one dusting of snow and it was dry and not even any measurable rain fall thus far. It is supposed to be drier and hotter this summer. I cannot fathom how it could be drier and hotter than it was last summer. Jeez!

    Keep all these ideas coming. You give me lots of super ideas. Can't wait to see them. I hope you guys will post pics.

    ~Annie

  • seamommy
    11 years ago

    I'll be starting from heirloom seeds this year instead of buying plants of unknown origin. Hopefully the heirlooms will be more heat and drought tolerant and will survive the horrible summer that is being predicted. I prepared my veggie garden last fall and have started peas and carrots. I plan to continue enlarging the veggie garden a little bit at a time with each passing season until its large enough to support our needs.

    I have a few flats of stella d'oro lilies going in the greenhouse and hope to avoid having to buy flowers this year. I have some seeds saved from last year for columbine, larkspur, bluebonnets, sunflowers and a few others I can't recall right now cause they're out in the shed.

    I want to revise some of my older beds and clean them out. One of them has a bunch of japanese maples in it, but they don't show up well because everything else has gotten so overgrown out there. And a small pond in a sunny location needs to be taken out completely and filled in with good soil and compost.

    Garden paths need to be cleared. In paticular the one next to a patch of bluebonnets will have a lot of small bluebonnets coming up that will need to be transplanted early before they get too large.

    As soon as Christmas is over I start thinking about gardening again and it annoys me no end that the stores don't have all the gardening stuff out again by New Years Day! (Heavy Sigh)

  • irene_dsc
    11 years ago

    I have a lot of ideas, but definitely more than we have time or money to do!

    As usual for the last few years, I am prioritizing edibles over ornamentals. The big expenses I want (other than veggie seeds) are:
    - new strawberry plants (my bed is 4 years old), which will get swapped with the herb bed.
    - a few new asparagus plants (to infill, now that I saw that I can get individual plants at Pinetree. I want to try the Purple Passion variety.)
    - replace my peach tree and apricot tree that did not survive, with new peach trees (Redhaven). Tho if we have a very dry winter, I may skip those - I am nervous about drought, and keeping brand new trees alive through one. I tend to be better about watering the veggie garden than anything else.

    Also, we expanded dd's border last summer, and it could use more plants. She has gotten very excited about making it more of a butterfly garden, so we are looking at getting a couple butterfly bushes (the non-invasive kind, hopefully!), and planting the milkweed seeds we were given at a local Monarch Festival.

    I also want to get another hydrangea next to the one I already have, and move the daffodils to the front yard.

    If we can swing it, I want to take down the huge spruce at the front corner. That would allow much more front and side planting - I won't do much with that unless and until we can take down the tree.

    We are also talking about experimenting with a cold frame or hoop house. Dh found a sort of tent structure that looked easy to erect, at least for a season extender. (He isn't very handy, and we don't really have tools for actual construction, alas.)

    Plus, some re-arranging of the bed behind the house...

  • Annie
    11 years ago

    Irene,
    I would give anything to live where Spruce can grow. (lol) I miss their beauty and fragrance.

  • docmom_gw
    11 years ago

    I've been in my house over a year now. This summer I'll see which of the new perennials we planted last year made it through the year and see how fast my transplants are filling in. I have great plans to do quite a bit of winter sowing, but I haven't managed to get started yet. Before I know it the winter is going to be over. Wouldn't that be a shame! I've got a large yard with lots of potential and hopefully many years to work on it. Its' the process that I enjoy even more than the results.

    Martha

  • oklahomarose
    11 years ago

    Great thread. I'm also super-freaked out by the ongoing drought in the middle part of the country, as some other folks have mentioned. Here are (just a few) of my goals for the coming season:
    1. Keep everything alive
    2. Get more realistic about the limitations of my climate. (And try to see that as a positive.)
    3. Devise a watering system that is low-cost and effective and less labor intensive.
    4. I want to savor ever single balmy day of spring and quite fretting over the fact that my garden is not as lovely as I want it to be.
    5. I am going to buy a rose arbor.
    6. Continue adventures with old roses.
    Happy dreaming, everyone.

  • koszta_kid
    11 years ago

    Dh making rain barrels.More soaking hoses.Friend going to chip some pine trees get it free.Says will be 3 pickup loads.Trees are disease free.Just cost me some beer and fried chicke+tatter salad

  • auntyara
    11 years ago

    My plans for this year are...

    #1 finishes cleaning up the down trees from Sandy.

    #2 finish off the damaged trees from Sandy. lol

    #3 dig up mock orange I planted in front yard before it's too late. I didn't realize they get huge and it still hasn't flowered. going on 3yrs now. Very disappointed in my choice. I'll plant it near the woods.

    #4 plant a row of tall ornamental grass in the side field for privacy. it's not my property but the owner said I could plant anything I want. :)

    #5 make things look neater and more inviting to visitors.

    #6 don't get annoyed or overwhelmed that not everything is going to look perfect.
    :) Laura

  • koszta_kid
    11 years ago

    I got to divide and give away many plants. Found a site to donate to storm victims. I got plants given to me when we had major storm in 98.+ lot of people from BHG site sent me plants when mine got sprayed(new) guy weed kiler-farm field next to me. So time for me to share.

  • memo3
    11 years ago

    Hello Cottagers,

    Other than a veggie garden I don't plan to do too much this coming season. I'm still working on the exterior remodel of my home and have roofing and a yard fence yet to install. I lost two large trees to the drought this past summer and need to replace them plus plant a few more. I also plan to edge the new fencing with a rose border on the outside of the fence. I had a large patio installed last summer and would like to do some work on my patio furniture and repaint it, make new cushions and then spend some time decorating the area and adding potted plants and such. It will all depend on how much moisture we get over the next few months though as to how much planting I'll do. No sense in throwing away good money if it's as dry and fire-y as it was last year. We lost over 80,000 acres to spontaneous combustion fires last summer. Canyon land and prairie. It was quite frightening and it came within a few miles of my town on two sides. Two other towns to the west in my county were not so lucky. We'll have to wait and see how it goes.

  • squeakmommy
    11 years ago

    Hello, all,

    New to the Cottage gardening forum myself. We are completely renovating our front beds and are shooting for a turn-of-the-20th century cottage look. Our house was built in 1917 (old for our area!), so I plan to include some things that are considered (by many) old-fashioned. We are ripping everything out, except my rosemary and Zephie rose, and putting in hollyhocks, foxgloves, delphiniums, two Austin roses, a blue hydrangea, daises, coneflowers, black-eyed susans, irises (later this year), maybe some Heuchera, veronica, columbine, and catmint (rather than the classic lavendar - the request of my kitties).

    I am looking forward to sitting on my porch this summer and enjoying all the yummy smells and our bees buzzing happily in the garden. Sigh ....

  • rigelcaj
    11 years ago

    It's the time of year for big plans, right? I've got the beds around the house pretty well organized (famous final words, I know), so it's time to tackle the lump of a garden in the middle of the yard. It's an odd place for a garden, but was there when I moved in, and I'm just going with it. Plan: replace the spirea, bee and lemon balm, orange lilies, daisies and black eyed susans with pink roses, delphiniums, peonies (in fall), maybe some phlox, probably some iris, to go along with the forsythia, lilacs, azalea and bleeding hearts already in it. Move strawberries and blueberries from the bed next to the house to the area formerly known as the sandbox, now being filled with manure and soon to be fenced, and maybe electrified (take that, rodents!). Extend raspberry patch! Oh, and my latest brilliant idea: install an arch at the entrance to my breezeway, for the honeysuckle. How much of this will actually happen remains to be seen, but it's fun to contemplate!

  • backyardgrown
    11 years ago

    I have so much to do. It makes me anxious every time I think about it. L's mom died last April and I kind of just gave up. Bermuda grass hell. OMG

    Once I get that cleared I can focus on planting more perennials and some favorite annuals.

    I have come to terms with the fact that I can't manually get rid of all the weeds. I have come to a tacit compromise with myself and have started minimal application of Roundup. I just can't do the manual weeding as much as I would like. I'm only 37, but I have tendonitis and the heat makes it worse.

    I'm putting in shrubs this year, which I don't love, but my garden needs more evergreen. It's depressing in the winter.

    I've already started direct sowing and weeding every chance I get. Daffs, hellebores, leucojum, tea olive, tulip tree and vinca are already blooming. The camellia put on a sad show over the winter so I'm giving it a good prune and some fertilizer this spring.

    Other than that, I'll put in whatever strikes my fancy and makes my garden look more cottagey. (is that a word?)

  • mrsgalihad
    11 years ago

    My first goal is to get my plants moved from the old house to the new one. We moved from PA to Denver in 2007 and have been renting since then. I don't think I have been on GardenWeb since we moved.
    I did bring a bunch of things with me that first spring. This spring we are buying a house not too far from where we have been renting. I need to dig a holding bed as soon as we close and start moving my stuff. I have a few things I would like to find a permanent home for before digging (like lavender) but most things just need to stay alive. Also the house needs paint so I won't be doing any foundation beds until after that happens. I hope to spend spring and summer digging and mulching and preparing for next spring.
    Oh, and there are fruit trees. :) We'll have apple, pear and plum. I think one of the apples is going to be a bit of a sacrificial victim of my learning to prune. Really I don't think I could make it worse short of killing it.

    The last two years I've been only barely motivated to do any gardening. Getting ready to buy this place and have my very own yard to do with as I please has really brought my energy and interest levels back up. :)

  • mosswitch
    11 years ago

    After the horrible drought and heat of last summer, this spring I'm going to take stock of the plants that not only survived but did well, and plant more. Lots of succulents, perennial geraniums, echinaces, heuchera, native wildflowers. Even tho I love them, fewer ferns, astilbes, and other moisture loving shade plants. I just plan on refining the garden and filling in with plants that are less water-demanding.

    Sandy

  • organic_kitten
    11 years ago

    Well, I had planned to not add any big plants, mainly some perennials and a good many annuals. Then Vintage gardens announced their closing, and 6 new roses (so far) are coming here to live. Since they will be bands, I will be growing them in pots to begin with which gives me some time.

    We are cutting down two Bradford pear trees. No choice, either we cut or the power company will, so at least a couple of the roses will wind up there.

    I am also planning to reduce the size of iris beds...much less bed and more scattered plants. Iris are too much work in the heat of summer since they don't like mulch.

    I have already spent many hours in the garden, weeding and mulching since it becomes so very hot and humid in the summer, and I am going to do much more routine care of the roses this year; not hit and miss.
    kay

  • NanaDeb50
    11 years ago

    I don't usually post much, but I've been reading on this forum and learing so much for quite a while. Later this spring , we will be moving our mobile home. I will have a blank slate to play with. It is very exciting and terrifiying at the same time. I do have a lot of stuff I will move there to start. Evergreens and shrubs, mostly. Since it will be late spring before I can start moving things, I will probably not get much done before summer sets in with a vengence. I'd like to eventually have a long mixed border along the border of my yard. But I expect that to take several seasons of planning and planting.

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