Spring Lovin'

You may have realized by now that I LOVE spring!  Flowers, new life, the green coming back, the warm weather.  Everything about it rejuvinates and motivates me to get moving.  I took a stroll (again) around my yard this week, and here are the treasures I am devouring while they last.

Peonies about to bloom!  These were in bloom when we looked at this house last year (on May 10 to be exact) and I fell in love.  I've never had peonies, but I am a proud owner now!

My freshly planted tomatoes have survived the cold weather thus far with the help of recycled milk jugs to protect them at night.  I am excited to watch them grow!

Here is part of my stash of tools, I have so many tools I can hardly keep track of them all, but I use these a lot.

The beginnings of my beautiful Peace roses! 

Cherry blossoms mean only one thing...CHERRIES!!!!  I hope to get a lot of them this year.  We have lost a good portion of the tree due to disease and broken branches in the winter storms, but we hope the healthy parts prevail.  The cherries last year were divine.  

There has been quite a bit of pruning this year...  

The pear tree (upper left) has had grape vines taking it over for a few years, and it needed to be thinned out badly.  I cut out a bunch of branches, but it was definitely hard to stick the just the recommended 30% per year.  I wanted to make it perfect...but these things take time or I could kill the trees.  

Apple branches littered the ground (upper right) as I thinned that tree immensely also.  Now I am left with a massive pile of grape/pear/apple/cherry/spruce/walnut clippings (below) until June when the city dumpster gets dropped off.  I might just fill one up all by myself.

I finally spruced up the Spruce.  He he...get it?  But yeah, I spread out 4 yards of compost throughout the flower beds, and cleaned up most of the pine needles and organized the pinecones a little.  

(I figured that since I will have an endless supply of pinecones (sprucecones) I may as well use them somehow.)

 Now, the tulips!  Ahhhh, how I love tulips.  They are so happy and refreshing and beautiful!  It's a shame they don't last longer.  I am indebted to the previous occupant of my house who planted these beauties.  They sure brighten up my front yard!

Just to put it into perspective...this is a before and after of the garden.  The photo on the left was taken last September, before I worked on it too much.  The photo on the right is how it looks now.  2000 glorious square feet of loamy garden-ready soil!  

If you can find the pear tree and the swing set in both pictures, that will help you visualize spacing.  The neighbors have added those tall trees on their side of the fence so it looks even better!

 Here's to a lovely gardening season!