Bloom Where You're Planted-Urban Gardening in Philly: First Day In The Yard

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

First Day In The Yard

This is my first day in the yard since winter and It's starting to look like spring but still very cold. It's nice to be in the yard and lots of bulbs have emerged to my surprise. My favorite hyacinths, were not planted in the fall, but I see several that came back from last year and I'm thrilled. Still have to wait to see what else made it and wasn't eaten. If my anemone, cream irises, and fritillaria are gone, I'll be upset. There was only time today to look at what was coming up so tomorrow afternoon will be a full day outside planting pansies out front and getting started in the yard.

It's time to take the chicken wire up. It'll have to be cut because bulbs have grown through the holes and taking it off would damage the foliage. It certainly served it's purpose and will return in the fall. I want to paint and fix the iron fence before more plants fill out the flower bed. I'll see how much can be done. The peony has already broke ground. Today I bought broccoli and lettuce plants. Last years soil needs to be emptied and the containers washed first before planting them. Lugged home 3 bags of soil today. I'm excited to see what improvements can be made to the yard this season.

That little patch of crocus has been there since I moved here. It took years for them to multiply from 1 to 5. My bird feeder was on the ground when I came out. Not broken or rotted like I thought. The string broke. Possibly could have been the squirrel gnawing at it. It's been a while since I added seeds to it because squirrels and birds I didn't want to attract were eating more seed than other birds. I wanted to attract cardinals which we have a lot of. I used to see blue jays in the yard. Robins come frequently but not to the feeder. They pick insects from the ground. They don't seem too afraid of humans. We had a wood pecker for years. I haven't heard him yet pecking away. I do hear the sound of a dove every morning and we have tons of what I call sparrows or ghetto birds. Although not pretty, they're song birds and make beautiful music. They take over my yard and feeder though and have bird drippings everywhere. One year I had a swing in the yard . It rained one night and the next morning they all flocked to the water in the canopy of the swing. They were really enjoying themselves in the water, but they took over my yard and I stop putting food in the feeder. The squirrel visited and I saw him in every position imaginable trying to get seeds from the feeder. I have seen humming birds in the yard but they are only attracted to certain types of flowers.

Haven't taken down that Christmas wreath yet. The box wood has been in the pot for a couple of years. I think I'll put it in a container this year. I have 2 containers, one will go on each side in between the containers already there. They're wood so I'm going to spray them with a water repellent and line them with plastic first.

My acanthus doesn't look good but my aunt told me it's just dormant. Hope so.

Last fall I planted ornamental grass in the center. No signs of life yet. I have pansies for now. It'll be interesting to see if the squirrels eat the plants this year. One word, cayenne pepper. Seems to be working in the pots outside. I'm learning that some perennials don't do well over the winter in containers and don't come back. I learn a little more each year.

Dicentra (bleeding heart) is already coming up. It's amazing that the soil gets depleted each year. I guess there are living organisms in it. I'll top it off with fresh potting soil.