GARDENING 101...

Good morning girls. Wow, what a wake-up call a new garden was to me! I've just always added plants in with my other garden spots, but I had the bright idea of creating a whole new flower bed this year. Thank goodness I talked to my friend Connie first, I had no idea of all the steps you have to go through first! Her gardens in Tennessee are outstanding, so I knew she would be the one to go to with questions. Guess I thought we could just til it up and plant, but OH NO! First of all, off comes the top layer of sod, well as of now I'm half way done with that (after getting a HUGE blister). THEN, since we live in the village, that sod all has to be bagged and put out to the curb and are those bags HEAVY! I planned on getting more done tonight, but since we live in Michigan, it's supposed to rain again! Maybe that's a good thing, the wet ground will be easier to dig up. When this part is done, then it's on to the weed killer process. Connie, then can I plant??? This old log bird feeder has been a tradition of my Dad's. Everytime somebody in our family gets a new house, he used to build them a log feeder. He isn't able to do that so much any more, so this one is very dear to me.

Thought I'd share a "before" picture of where my new garden is going. I'm digging out a semi-circle in this corner. I just keep thinking about what the end result will look like!

My bittersweet is going crazy this year - hooray!!! There's nothing like real bittersweet in the fall. One year we had hired a yard crew to clean our backyard and they chopped it all down! I could have cried.

My poor hubby has been working so hard to try to get those blasted moles. See the bare spots in the yard!!??

Now, my questions is, has anyone started Sweet Annie from seeds? Abbey and I stripped some Sweet Annie and put the seeds in these little pots to see if we could get it started. I never have any luck by just planting it in the ground. Help!

My Rosie dog decided she wanted to get her picture taken to share with you too. She is such a big, old, gentle soul and I don't know what I'd do without her. There's nothing like the companionship of a loyal dog. She loves me unconditionally, is always so happy to see me, snuggles every evening with me in a big chair and is sad everytime I leave. As my dad would say, "She's such a sweetheart."

Well girls, time to get ready to open the shop. I'd sure appreciate any advice you might have on Sweet Annie! Have a great day...