I've been waiting until Spring officially arrived before starting this thread, and it's finally here. In my part of the country, we were blessed with a glorious warm and sunny day on this first day of Spring, and have had mild temperatures all week. It was especially welcome after one of our snowiest winters on record.
I've had a bad case of cabin fever and have spent as much time outside this past week as possible, discovering what plants have survived the winter and thinking about what to plant this year. We have crocus, daffodils and primroses blooming, and the forsythia are just about ready to burst into bloom. I'm starting to see a faint hint of green in the trees, too.

I'm eager to start planting seeds in the vegetable garden, but it's way too soggy, and we want to top the beds off with several more inches of composted hummus before we plant anything. I plan to order some supersoil this week so I can get the Swiss chard started, and whatever else that can be planted early. This year, besides the chard, we're planting bush beans, yellow wax beans, beets, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, spaghetti squash, radishes, and a few lettuces. I'm getting a rhubarb patch started, too.

I have a few herbs that I like to plant in a big strawberry planter on my back patio, and that makes it handy to go out and snip whatever I need while I'm cooking.

I'm not sure what flowers I'll be planting this year, but one annual I always make sure I have plenty of are impatiens. They're my favorite!

So let's hear how your garden grows.

I don't own my home, only rent, so we don't want to invest in landscaping when we'll be moving in a few years. However, there are 4 or 5 tulips that pop up every year in our back yard and are random yet pretty.

My dad gave me a "mat" that he thought you put on the deck and flowers grow but I knew there was something fishy with that! It needs some topsoil so I may go get some tomorrow and put the mat (contains seeds inside the bidogradable shell) out tomorrow.

That and the basil plant I bought today that's in my kitchen are as garden-y as I get!

Been working on it... so far strawberries, onions, petunias some beans are in.

I have to work on herbs next week.

A.

Yay! I'm so glad this thread is going! This will be our 4th year with a vegetable garden and we're glad we finally got to get things going yesterday. We were all ready to head out to the garden center to buy some supplies and get the soil amended, but it was snowing when we woke up Saturday morning, so we had a lazy day instead.

We ended up heading out Sunday morning and got all 200 sq.ft. of veggie garden amended and turned over. The soil looks great this year. Dark and loose, very uncommon in our climate.

I'm taking charge of the veggies this year so hubby can have a break. I'm planting zucchini, yellow squash, lettuce, spinach, sugar snap peas and cascabella peppers. I'll plant tomatoes in pots if we ever get some decent plants in town. I also do chives, italian parsley, lemon basil and dill in pots in our bay window. We'll be eating like kings soon!!

bump!

Well, if we are going to do this, we should let everyone know where we live. Reading back I am very jealous of folks who got an early start. I am in USA Zone 4 - think Wisconsin.

Our spring is very early this year. I have crocus in bloom just as my snowdrops finish. There's lots of sproutage out there although things are very dry for this time of year. Strange as we are usually still frozen at this time. I have spinach that survived the winter in my raised bed and some parsley that is greening up. Peas were planted a week ago and I may put in chard and radishes today if I can find my seeds.

What's happening in your plot?

I bought some turnip and lettuce greens to plant this weekend, I hope . Then, on to planning the rest. I can't figure out what's most important and worth it...(definately need tomatoes, cukes, squash, peppers, but we tend to throw a LOT of beans away!)

Twynn, I am the same with beans. Every year I tell myself I'll plant just a 5' row and then replant three weeks later but I just keep on planting and have way too many. Of course it's just at the time my neighbours have too many too! It'd be helpful if I'd plant just one kind instead of yellow, green and purple.

We have 3 kinds of beans to plant this year, and I hope we can keep up with them. We have green, French green, and yellow wax. I love beans, and I'll freeze what we don't eat.

I hope it's a good year for the garden. Last summer was a battle against the elements, and the poor veggies really struggled to survive in the swampy soil.

I'm in Zone 5, BTW.

I bought a flat of assorted seedlings this morning at the nursery, and spent a satisfying afternoon getting them planted. I have Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce all nestled in, and now I want to sit in a chair right next them and keep guard over them.
Jake is working on a greenhouse cover for frosty nights, and once that's done I'm going to plant my radish, beet and carrot seeds. I guess it will still be another several weeks until it's safe enough to plant tomatoes and the rest of the veggies, but it feels good to have a start on it, anyway.

Sure is different this year! From my May 2009 Gardening Journal I swear my tulips and daffodils have grown six inches in the past two days. The long range (14 days) is for above normal temps.

I planted two beds with sugar snap peas, chard and kale. Apparently turnips are growing from last year's leftovers too. I love volunteers
In perennial land my pulmonaria and bloodroot are in bloom.

Spent the last few days pulling weeds, cutting back all the tropicals that froze (hope the bananas make it!), got the roses all cut back and they now have little spouts on them and so do the crepe myrtles. I now have piles and piles of stuff that needs to be bagged and it's a mess!

Many of my herbs made it through the winter and are coming back strong. Except for basil that I replaced yesterday. Got some mexican heather to plant in pots down the front walk and some zinnia seeds for another area.
I am also going to try to use sweet potato vine for a ground cover in the rose garden since it takes over pretty quickly...if it's a mistake, it's easy to pull up.

My legs are killing me!