Sustainable Garden Beginning with Tulips and Daffodils

We love our yard but we don't necessarily love what it can cost in time and man hours. Without a doubt we are in harder times I hear about it every day, it seems like so many of us are feeling it one way or another.  So my thinking is to take a step back, access my spending habits and try to zero in on where I can achieve the same or similar results and spending less.

So with these frugal times a step we are taking is to “garden with a purpose”.  The idea for us is to capture the season with fresh vibrant colors of various flowers and plants. With a yard that has so much landscaping and only two busy bodies to care for it, the plan is to get all the seasons colors without all the high maintenance that can be involved. So we have turned to perennials Tulips and Daffodils and the ever-blooming shrubs. 

First thing first.  Sunday afternoon after my honey and I (but mostly my honey) finished with the raking of the oh-so many never ending leaves, you know the ones that fall relentlessly with no end in sight... Yep those ones!

We had a lot of work to do but not so much want-to-do yard work to be done and we wanted to make time to do some gardening before our backs gave out!


One bag at a time!

I broke away to handle some inside chores that needed to be done and by the time I had gotten back outside, my honey had gone through and dug out ALL the unwanted grass and many weeds that we had fought with all season long.  I have a pretty good feeling they will try to come back next year but definitely weaker in numbers and that makes a huge difference when you are doing it all by shovel.  I am so very fortunate to have this man with the know how and skill to make this home all run smoothly.  Now if only I could do something about these backs of ours!

From there we went to work digging holes and planting the bulbs into the soil.  Our idea was to plant them closer to the edge I am hoping they will look good there.  I think we probably planted about 100 to 150 tulips and daffodils.  We covered them back up real nice and firm and then our part was done.  Now we just have to wait unit the spring of 2011.  Patience has never been my strongest point but for some reason I finds me often! I will have to post pictures.