Men are so amusing !

Take your DH for a walk or drive around town to see what other yards look like. Then enter =:)

Don't feel bad. I've asked people about my yard and how they think I'm doing, and you can tell their little brains are working a mile a minute trying to nicely suggest a few things without crushing my spirit, LOL !

What do 'they' know? If it feels good,DO IT!!! :) Life is far too short to please anyone other than yourself!!

Well put Honalee.

Northspruce, enter the competition if you want. What have you got to lose?

I'd like to hear later how the competition went, regardless of whether you win 1st, 2nd, or 45th =:)

I agree. Go for it, Gil!

I was asked to put my garden on the tour this year too and said yes because i couldn't resist - i did say only on the condition that everyone bring their gloves, shovels and trowels and be prepared to weed! LOL I have a lot of work ahead of me!

I have thought about it before - and even to my critical eye my garden looks quite nice this year - but my main concern is the timing. Whenever there's a contest or a garden tour I'm scared it will fall right when there's not much going on. If the contest was this past week I'd enter for sure... but the once blooming roses will be done by then and the second flush of repeats won't be out yet... argh I don't know if I can do it.

I know DH didn't mean to be mean. He's starting to get interested in the grass and it still has a lot of weeds in it, plus we haven't done anything with the front walk area yet so I'm sure that's what he's thinking of.

Good, go for it......hope they consider when judging, ..a lawn with weeds is a environment friendly lawn.

Hey you two.

Make sure you post lots of pictures for us. Remember wide view pictures too, so we can take in the full effect.

I think that was your husband's humble way of saying you should go out to your favorite garden centers and get more flowers, shrubs, trees, etc. See! It's all in interpretation! :)

Booberry I like your way of thinking. Of course Gillian's husband wants her to tweek the garden until it looks perfect and a shopping spree at a nursery is just what she needs ;)

Booberry- I think you are right! Nothing like a little plant therapy. If she takes him along, he'll really believe it was his idea! ;)

Ha ha!

Gillian, if DH is anything like mine, he'll just sit in the car and wait for you, and then you'll feel pressured not to be there too long. Plant shopping is much better without a man along, LOL !

A better idea would be to leave him at home digging holes for the plants you bring home =:)

Have you decided to enter?

My DH is all on board with more plants. He says it's less grass to mow. He was asking me how long until the front area will be a garden. I think he secretly likes the garden but won't admit it. ;0)

He doesn't even really care if I spend money on plants because he knows I grow most from seed or get them on clearance.

You're lucky, my DH cringes every time I tell him I'm going to a greenhouse or come home with a new plant.

I think the DH's motto is "You can extend the garden, just don't spend any money doing it."

If it would make me happy, and I wanted to spend our life's savings on plants, DH wouldn't care. He may be surprised, but it wouldn't bother him. Lucky for us I'm a little bit more careful than that =:)

Gillian, have you decided to enter the competition?

I'm still waffling. Thinking about it is just making me stressed and hyper critical.

I think you should do it, but chalk up this first year as a learning experience. `See what constructive criticism people have to offer to make your yard even more beautiful.

I wonder if they do tell you what you might do to improve your yard and gardens. It would be interesting, anyway.

They'd tell me to set fire to the whole thing and start over again! LOL

Marcia you were asked to put yours in a tour - it must be beautiful. No fire setting needed.

Parts of my yard, however, could use a bulldozer or bobcat, and I just asked my brother if he has a small blow torch for the weeds between the sidewalk blocks, LOL !

I've thought of a blowtorch too, believe me! My yard is okay - they asked without looking! It was on the tour 6 years ago, but a lot of my beds were new and they weren't as hard to take car of. These were taken on the day of the tour.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Tour Day, 2006

Gil, go for it! Don't worry about the imperfections that you and hubby see, because people aren't there to focus on that. They are looking for the beauty that is there and any weeds are very often missed all together. The morning of the tour, I just went around and did a blitz of any weeds that were blooming or were very noticeable and all was fine. Do you have pots that are looking good that you can move around to fill any empty spots, or highlight a certain area you want? But definitely go for it as it's an experience in its self...nerve wracking as hell, but fun!:)