Intro

[katertot]

Hiya! Several friends of mine have moved over from livejournal and I'm hoping the communities are a little more active here than there. Judging by the date on the previous post, I'm out of luck. But it can't hurt to try. :)

I'm in central Iowa, the weather is cold, and I've recently ordered a whole bunch of seeds from rareseeds.com thanks to them matching sales for charity a few days back. I've got several garden areas, mainly a vegetable garden plus a bunch of neglected flower beds. (Thanks kids!) I'm excited to revamp at least one of them this spring, something I've been saying I'll do for a few years now. I've got zinnias, cosmos, and tomato seeds on the way, including a couple of more interesting colored zinnias.

In the meantime, hopefully the owls and hawks around here do a good job on the voles this winter, they are becoming quite a nuisance!

What are you most looking forward to this spring?

Comments

[ozswede]

My poor garden is under a deep blanket of snow, fast asleep until April at least. I am in a rural area, so deer digging up my expensive tulip bulbs is something of an issue in winter, as well as wild hares ringbarking my young plum and cherry tree. I have wire netting set up around the beds, so we'll see.

My raspberry canes and red and blackcurrant bushes are cut back, ready for the new season. Lilac bushes trimmed back and hedges left for the birds to shelter. Bird feeders dominate in winter and there's lots of flying to and fro even in the bitter cold.

In the meantime, I'm reading the seed catalogues and planning the raised beds for vegetables, herbs and masses of flowers to last from spring until autumn. A lot of what are considered perennials in many other places are only annuals up here so far north. My garden is set up to attract birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators.