cap, gilligan, ginger .. and marianna ... or however you spell it.. the yellow tipped one .. i just closed the dB and am lazy .. lol yes on low glow.. the OD is bennetts??? [of which i cant tell the difference between it and golden candles] ... one of the sherwood selections hiding behind.. and one of the blue J pines .. and a VERY LARGE nudie larch on the left .. look close .. ken

Dawn, boy are you right about the weed growth! I've been pulling weeds from one of the beds for a week now, and they keep coming up. We all know it's a never ending job, right? Henbit, Speedwell (blue flowers), Spring Beauties, Dandelions, and another white flowering weed have been blooming for a few days now. The early Daffs, as you said, are gone, and the mid-season Daffs are blooming like crazy. They had a nice cold winter to spur their growth this spring. The Redbuds are just bursting to flower now, and the pears are done. The Malva zebrinas are growing now, as well as the Rue. The Centaurea Montana Blue and Silene - pink flowering) are putting out new growth, and spreading at that. I see green leaves emerging on the Lavender Munstead, Rosemary, and Fennel. The fall Asters are popping up everywhere - I'll have to do some judicious pulling there. The Monarda is up about 1".. I see no signs yet of the Butterfly Bush and pray that it made it thru it's first winter. The Phlox x 'Wanda' is greening up and should put on a nice show the middle to latter of April. I have lettuce sprouting, but no sign of the snap peas. I may not get much of that if it turns hot too quickly - assuming they even come up. I did plant quite a lot of it to climb up the fence in the backyard - we'll see. Don't have any violets blooming yet. Birds are singing like crazy, woodpeckers are rat-a-tat-tatting on the trees, and bird love is in the air. I hope everyone has a lovely spring! Susan

Beware of building much within reach of the fir trees. The fools who built this place planted a row of firs along the property line, three feet apart & ten feet from the house. I've had large branches break off and tear out my power line from the house. It's probably just a matter of time before a big one comes down, butt first, and punches a hole in the roof. Also, buildings that aren't in shade don't rot as quickly from the ever-present moss. One very important thing is to have the projects that need the most of your time close to the house. A friend of mine has her greenhouse & garden quite a walk (on her 5 acres) from the house, so neither get the attention they really need. Chickens, too, since you need to check them twice a day or so. Also, if there's a predator out there at night, you don't want to run to the far corner of your property. And, like it or not, there are people who aren't adverse to stealing a sleeping chicken or two for dinner. If you're building raised beds and going to have a chicken tractor, make them the same size. In the fall, you can set the tractor over the beds and let the chickapoos clean up the leftover vegetation and bugs, and manure it a bit. I usually leave it there for a month, adding straw periodically (plus a cup of scratch sprinkled in it so the chickens fluff up the straw looking for it). When it's 6-12" deep or so, I lift off the tractor and let the bed set over winter. Few weeds can grow through the thick mulch, so in spring, all you have to do is fork off the straw and plant. The soil doesn't need to be tilled, just plant. Sue

GGG- That's a really good plan, to have rotating beds that can be screened. How often do you have to rotate...every other year or longer? Even up here, they recommend some crop rotation, which is another reason my "potager" would not be big enough. The idea of a rose/herb garden just sounds so "old world" and kind of romantic :) I think it would be a great place to sit with a friend and have tea. It would also have the advantage of providing great fragrant flowers and herbs for potpourri. When you have no garden six months of the year, it's nice to at least have some dried flowers and fragrance in the house...and it would make great Christmas gifts! I think the garden is going to be more utilitarian, but I do plan to have a few beds near the house. On the west side against the house will be for the tomatoes and melons, and in the back there should be room for a long skinny bed for the mini-veggies for the nieces and nephews. I think the big vegetables (corn, potatoes, broccoli, squash, etc.) will have to go behind to potager. I like your idea of "rooms" so maybe we can have the small beds, the potager and then the big garden...the kids are going to love it :)