Well, we're greening up around here!
This week my hydrangea started leafing out and I'm expecting the dogwoods woods to pop out any day.
Last week the hosta started peeking through along with my Autumn Joy sedum. 
Everybody I've talked to has "spring fever". The stores are stocked with veggies and flowers and with signs of spring busting out everywhere, I'd say "Spring has Sprung" for sure!
The lettuce is taking off! Everyday now they are adding on leaves in the center. I'm guessing they are going to start growing up at some point or a least that's what they are supposed to. They look pretty healthy and I can't believe the difference a week makes.
The bales are in and of course now I need it to rain. So far that's not happening. Yesterday's 30% turned out to be a sprinkling only, so I need it to rain like cats and dogs. Otherwise, I'm going to have to start watering them every couple of days.
Saw these packages of Zinnia seed last week in Lowe's and scarfed up 3 packages. I think the name "Envy" is perfect for this color. After doing a little research they will not keep their deep Chartreuse color if planted in full sun, so I'll need to find a different spot from where I had orginally planned to plant them. May need another bed...Monty's going to love hearing that. As it stands, I still have another month to go before planting, so I should have time to select the best spot for them.
I got the lettuce beds mulched yesterday. 
As well as transplanting and mulching the Alberta dwarf spruce that I put in my big blue pots. 
Now if I could just decide on what I want to plant in the beds along the front of the houses. Just not happy with what's in there now, maybe I'll switch them out for Indian Hawthorns. This month's going to be busy with trying to get everything planned and ready to plant for the first of May. It seems gardening chores never end around this time of year. Whew!
Yesterday was spent pulling up weeds, digging wild onions, watering the lettuce and deciding what I am going to do with all the hosta I have in pots. Today, I am so tired, no make that dog tired(whatever that means). My poor fingernails look terrible not to mention my aching back...lol.
Here's my new squirrel proof birdfeeder that a guy in Lowe's talked me into buying. Said he was on his 3rd one and that it was really squirrel proof. He even demonstrated how it worked. Got to love those old "birding" type men. He started telling me what to do to attract all kinds of birds, didn't want to hurt his feelings and tell him I pretty much already knew, so I just stood there and listened, nodding my head. But $19.99 later I owned this little baby. It took several days for the birds to try it out. 
This goldfinch was actually on another feeder and I couldn't get up to close with scaring him off, but most are already starting to turn quite yellow! Just click on the picture and it'll make it big enough to see him.
In addition to all the goldfincheds today, we've also had pileated, downy and red bellied woodpeckers on the suet. Lots of bird chatter and action today!
The lettuce is looking great! New growth in the center of each plant all ready...whoo hoo! No, seriously they have experienced very little shock with only their outer leaves yellowing. I actually picked a few of them off before deciding to let nature take it's course and allow them to wither and fall off. 
I also divided my daylilies and replanted them behind the lettuce. Eventually I hope that entire bed will be daylilies. I'm going to buy a couple of yellow ones this year to plant in front of the these (after the lettuce is harvested). The back row is all orange, so I think the yellow will be a nice complement. But, I also like pink, so I may change my mind...who knows!
I'm getting the other bed ready for straw. We have decided to definitely plant a pumpkin vine and a squash plant. I also bought the decorative gourds to try again this year and I'm going to plant them in last years bean bed.
It's coming along, slowly but surely. Monty has gone to get the straw bales for all the rest of the beds. We plan to let them age naturally over the next month before planting in May. No prep with fertilizer will be needed if we go this route and we'll save a little money and be more environmentally friendly at the same time.
Today's going to a nice sun shiny day to just putz around in the yard! Hope you can get out there too!
Ok, Monty finished both new beds this weekend. I had enough of last years old decomposing straw bales to fill one and just enough left over to top off one of the raised flower beds. I now am going to have to come up with something to fill the second new one. I'm thinking of putting a couple of strawbales out there for my gourds and pumpkins. They should have plenty of space to run. Or maybe some cucumbers.
This morning we went to Lowe's and Walmart and were able to score a 6 pack of buttercrunch lettuce and a couple of 9 packs of bok choy cabbage. I plan to plant them as well as the mesclun seeds in the new bed after Tuesday's rain. All three should be ready for picking in the next 40-45 days. Since I have never grown any of these before, I'm excited to see how they'll do and how much I'll actually get to put in our salads. It's an experiment at best!
On second thought, I think I'll go ahead and plant them this evening. That way they'll have a chance to settle in before the rain. Toodles!
We decided to lower our thermostat this winter to see what effect it would have on our Progress Energy bill. Cutting it down to 64 degrees at the beginning of December proved to be quite chilly and we used our gas logs to help out. It was soon apparent after having to order another propane tank 3 weeks into the season, that using our logs daily to help out wasn't going to save us any money. It would take hours of running the gas logs to raise the temperature from 64 to 68 degrees, especially since our home's living room, dining room and kithen are open to each other. No partition walls between rooms means you have a greater area for the heat to dissipate and lose warmth(or at least it sure feels that way).
So, we upped the thermostat to 66. If we needed to turn on the logs to take the chill off, it of course didn't take as long to raise the temp up to 68. We started layering our clothes and have found 66 degrees to be quite tolerable by doing so. I put an electric radiator heater in the bathroom and turned it down to the lowest setting. Surprisingly it has done the trick to take the morning chill off when we shower.
Did we save any money? Well, yes we did. To the tune of $40 less this month compared to the same time last year and we did it during one of the coldest winters our area has had. The proofs in the pudding, lowering the temperature down a couple degrees has definitely saved us a few bucks this winter season.
Waste management systems for dog poo. I'm not sure how long these have been around but I just heard of them yesterday. Monty said Lowe's Home Improvement has started to carry them and for ~ $25 you can buy one.
The idea is very simple and here is a little information taken from a website that sells them:
The Four Paws Waste Manager is the easy and “green” way to dispose of dog waste. The Waste Manager was designed to perform like a mini septic tank. The Waste Manager works “naturally” with rain/sprinkler water and enzymes as a catalyst to speed the breakdown of pet waste. Four free Natural Enzyme Tablets included. Additional Tablets are available for sale separately. 
Since we have a pretty large lot, Monty long ago quit scooping every time Nina does her business. Instead it just lays out there on our lawn until it decomposes or gets stepped in, which usually elicits a loud #@#@. When that occurs he usually takes the initiative to search for and clean up the piles. Maybe having this system ready to go will make it easier to just get rid of it to begin with. No more hurling it down the hill, burying it or worse yet just letting it lay out there.
Sounds like something I should definitely check out.
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