Monday Inspiration~ Every Bloom Matters ~

 The gardens are slowly coming out of dormancy and so am I! I feel like a kid at Christmas. The anticipation of winter clean up, sowing newly acquired seeds and seeing the farm in bloom again is nothing short of exhilarating. I should take up jogging or something to get rid of this nervous, giddy energy I'm feeling! While the ground ( and I ) continue to thaw there are plenty of things to tend to in order to get a new season off to a running good start.

PRUNING

Anything that grows on new wood can be cut back now. This goes for roses, some varieties of hydrangeas, perennials and ornamental grasses. The harder you cut them back the better.

 It's also a great time to divide over crowded perennials and pot them up to share with friends or neighbors. My largest border is quite over-grown and over-due for some pruning and thinning. 

One of the things I'm doing this season is adding some smaller raised beds in the bare spots of my large perennial borders so I can trial new varieties without giving up prime growing space in my raised cut flower beds. I'll keep you posted on the progress there.

Bee Balm patch ready for thinning.

COMPOST

Order in some organic compost to top off your raised beds and replenish your existing established borders.You'll be rewarded ten times over. 

 The Little Red Hen House, bee balm ( Jacob Cline ) and Culvers Root ( tall purple spike plant)

English Lavender, Sunset Cone-flower, Butterfly Bush, ( Black Knight)

English lavender, yarrow, Russian sage and ornamental grass.

 There's nothing like good old fashioned cock a doodle do for the garden. If you're fortunate enough to have a chicken run ( and coop) to shovel out a couple of times a year then you won't have to order in as much compost. You can also purchase it by the bag at  your local nursery or agricultural center.
Chicken poo in the run composts quicker than the shavings inside the coop. The compost I shovel out of the run can safely be applied over the top of existing beds or turned in to new areas. Pine shavings from inside the coop are best added to leaves, twigs and grass clippings in a sunny spot where it can decompose a little longer before adding it to the garden. Cleaning the coop is a given every spring and something I look forward to and so do the girls!

 There's nothing prettier than a healthy garden brimming with electric green foliage and beautiful colors. Having flower beds and borders in addition to annual cut flowers for cutting creates natural biodiversity in the garden and makes for some fun flower arranging opportunities!

Sunflowers, hydrangea, sedum, dahlia and grass plume.

California poppies, ( front row) bachelor buttons, ( middle row) cosmos, ( back row ).

 It all starts with healthy soil. You wouldn't send you babies off to school or an important event without the proper nutrition and expect them to do their best. Your garden sprouts deserve the very best environment you can give them because every bloom matters.

How is your spring garden prep going? Share your plan and progress!