Snow, snow, go away...

The remnants of the snowman I made last month are still hanging on!  By tomorrow I'm hoping he'll be completely gone. He's worn out his welcome.
   
I bought seeds of early vegetables yesterday. I'm going to give carrots one more try.  They get about an inch long and then stop.  What am I doing wrong?  If anyone grows great carrots, I'd love to hear how it's done.

One of our goals this year is to tear out more lawn and enlarge the vegetable garden.  Unfortunately, there isn't much lawn left.  It was a half acre of weedy grass when we moved in.

We decided that the best thing to do was to turn most of it into perennial gardens.

Now we want to increase the amount of produce we can grow without giving up any of the areas that are already established.  Ralph is building a cold frame that will go where there is currently a horseshoe pit.  We're also going to experiment with vegetables in containers.  I grew a miniature zucchini plant in a container last year and it did well.

Our other goal this summer is to get our gardening business going.  I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up!  We are anxious to do in other yards what we've enjoyed doing in our own for so many years. 

Besides weeding, pruning, deadheading, designing, garden renovations, and spring/fall clean-up, we also create unique garden art.  I call it jewelry for the garden.


If you need help with your garden or need some garden jewelry, call Petal Power Gardening at 262-893-7249 or e-mail petalpowergardening@gmail.com.

Petal Power

Petal Power Gardening will be open for business in April if Mother Nature ever decides to show winter the door.  Right now we're getting a beautiful snowfall.  It looks like a Christmas card.  There is a 2-foot snowbank where the crocus will be coming up.

My husband and I are always anxious to get out in the garden, but especially this spring because we plan on working in lots of gardens!  After 20 years of transforming our own yards and helping our kids make their yards beautiful, we've run out of yards to work in, so we've decided to go into the gardening business. 

We find inspiration everywhere we go.  This is a tiny but gorgeous park in St. Paul.  There is a stone and metal sculpture behind us, which interested Ralph, since he makes metal yard art.

We visited the Minneapolis Arboretum - a very cool place.  Besides a variety of garden areas, they have a hedge maze and this awesome hut made of vines.

 

We found an incredible sculpture garden on a road trip along the Mississippi River.  I wanted to take this guy home to put in my garden.  Maybe he would keep the rabbits away.

 

 

We have enjoyed creating a peaceful haven on our half-acre suburban lot.  It was a wonderful venue for our son's July wedding a few years ago. 

 

We look forward bringing the enjoyment that we experience in our yard to other people. If it ever stops snowing!

 

 

While I Wait

The weather here in southeastern Wisconsin hasn't exactly been a gardener's dream.  The snowman I made after a storm about three weeks ago is still hanging in there.  At this time last year, we were working in the yard.  I'll have to be satisfied a little longer with remembering how the garden looked last year.



Giant globe thistle looks great with poppies.



 

I don't enjoy planting bulbs, but fortunately my husband doesn't mind.  So this is the view I get to enjoy in spring.  I think the only reason he wanted to plant bulbs was that it was an excuse to buy another tool - an auger that attaches to his cordless drill for making the holes without bending over.  Whatever works!


I'm planning what seeds I want to try this year. Last year was a bad year for trying to get seeds to germinate. I couldn't keep the soil moist enough. Most of them never even sprouted, and those that did dried up before they could get established. I got five sunflower plants out six packs of seed. But I know I'll do it all over again. Gardeners are the most hopeful people there are. We're always sure it will be better next year. Isn't that what the dust bowl farmers said year after year?!



 

  

Waiting for Spring

Gardening in southeastern Wisconsin is full of surprises, challenges and pleasures.  One of the things that is so rewarding about gardening here is the very fact that we can’t do it whenever the mood strikes.  We wait impatiently for months, looking longingly out the window and through garden magazines.

 

 I continue to tend perennials that I overwinter in the house. On a gloomy, rainy March day, blooming geraniums are a reminder that winter will eventually end. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even my garden gnomes are getting tired of snow.



It's time to decide what vegetables to plant, what new perennials to try this year, and what annuals will go in the window boxes.  Let the gardening season begin (soon)!