I am sooo ready for spring! (I think)
As a new homeowner/gardener I am excited, but I know the first year is going to be a lot of work.

Naw, it's only work if you don't enjoy it. Do you have big plans?? :)

Year 1 as a homeowner is a lot of work. Take it from someone who doesn't enjoy it!

Heck the first 5 years are a lot of work. Year 6 is when the stuff done in years 1-5 start needing to be redone.

Never ends ;-)

As I like to say "Congratulations on having been purchased by a house, it now owns you." Still, it's well worth it.

Thanks on the congrats! As far as plans, well I want to get rid of most of the "landscape" that is here I think it's called river rock on top of landscape cloth. Then plant lotsa flowers and veggies, I want to put a berm sp? on the front corner and if we can afford it, replace a really old tree that maybe causing problems with our plumbing. We haven't decided what to do with all the small rocks I moved a ton of them from the front yard in to a pile in the back last fall because DH won't let me get rid of it, but I don't want to deal with it every time I want to plant something. So if you call that plans, yes I do but I haven't figured everything I want to plant and where yet though.

Oooh, you're getting rid of river rock? Where do I pick it up? :)

One tip that I learned a little too late is to hold onto things for a while if you can. Sometimes your vision changes and sometimes your money runs short!

I remember a story of a lady who moved into her house, hated the hostas and gave them all away! Then later she realized how valuable (both aesthetically and financially) they were. They can go with any look and can be divided almost indefinitely! They were a resource and she missed them once they were gone. So if you can tuck the river rock somewhere that's not in the way, you might be grateful to have it someday. Or not. :)

If you do want to get rid of it, try Freecycle (if you have one in your area). It'll be gone fast! Freecycle's also a great place to find stuff for your garden and house! Have fun!!! I can't wait to get back out in my yard!

The river rock will probably be kept, but it is a pain to plant anything with it on top of the cloth.

My DIl gave some peonys away last year. I hated to see it happen but I am not the owner of the home. So anyway we finally convinced her to keep the rest and once she found out what she had it made her sick. She ended up buying some later. Instead of asking us what they looked like she assumed it was a flower she did not like.

Glad to hear u r not getting rid of the rock. Bet u will make something neat out of it when u get time. Congratulatons on the new home.

Carrie, Justaguy took the words right out of my mouth. There's always something to add or change. But...I love it! I didn't pull anything out when I moved in, because there wasn't anything here but 4 small shurbs, but I added several gardens. Granted the first 3 yrs cost me a pretty penny to add things, but it was worth it. Then I added one more small garden behind the shed. I planted annuals there. But then a couple of years later I decided I wanted veggies there. 2 yrs ago hubby finally agreed that I could put plants on a small slope on one side of our yard. So I've been doing that, but mostly with divisions from my other gardens. This summer I'm going to do the borders over on most of my gardens. After this summer, I'm hoping to get a little break for a couple of years at least...until I want to change one of the other gardens. :)
Enjoy your new home and have a wonderful time fixing everything up!
Turquoise, where I live we're supposed to hit 60 on Wednesday (the last time I looked). But by next Friday it's supposed to be in the low 30s with a chance of snow. :(

Kat