Spring

April 20, 2008 by Jai
Filed under Hogar

Spring has finally caught up with us here in the Northeast US and I’m so excited! The first signs of spring are coming up in my front garden. Mi jardin is still a work in progress but I’m excited to begin work on it. It’s a nice and relaxing way to spend some time outdoors and a properly planned garden would increase the value of your home. I am a Better Homes and Gardens reader I subscribe to the magazine and spend time on the web site. They have great design planners online where you can enter how big you’d want the garden and what shape and what you’d like to plant in your garden and have a handy little printout.

I’m a huge lily fan. Not only are they beautiful (in my opinion) and come in so many different colors, but they also are very hardy. They multiply for you year after year. Especially if you’re a first timer you should stick to hardy plants that might be ok with a little abuse or neglect. Once you’ve graduated (and haven’t killed anything) you can move up to more difficult plants.

Here are this Mami’s tips for Gardening: Remember your zone! All parts of the US (and everywhere else) are zoned for planting. These zones are universally used. I’m in zone 5 so plants that can only survive in Zone 6 and on would not be ideal for my garden. They would die with the harsh winters. I try to get plants that are hardy to Zone 4 so that I know they’d be ok in my garden. Wear protective gear. I protect my cabello (hair) with a handkerchief and make sure to wear sneakers when I’m outside. I also make sure to have good gloves on. Only buy from reputable stores. To get the best plants you should definitely stick to gardening stores. I made the mistake of buying two shrubs from Walmart last year. Sure they were cheap but they both died on me and I know it wasn’t anything I did. I have bought online from Springhillnursery.com and am very impressed with their quality. When they show up the plants might be a little smaller than expected but they sure do grow quickly! I bought a beautiful purple butterfly bush and it was not even a foot tall when I got it. By the end of summer (three months later!) it was twice as big! I also like to get something that’s not as popular or that you wouldn’t see in everybody’s yard. And I’ve never seen such a dark colored butterfly bush. I will definitely post before and after pictures of my casita so you can see what a difference a little gardening makes. Feliz Gardening!