getting giddy

no, not gettin' jiggy.  getting giddy.  i'm getting giddy for spring to spring already so i can put my/our plans into action.   i have been dreaming, planning, scheming our front yard transformation for years now.  we moved into our current house in 2005, and have already accomplished so much inside and out.  but the front yard still beckons.  last year our project was the addition of a totally rockin patio and sitting/retaining wall.  while hubs and i collaborated on the design, he was the department of execution, while i was on toddler patrol most of the spring/summer/fall.  needless to say, my envisioned perennial garden got exactly nowhere.  that's all good, as i'm amazed with the way the wall and patio turned out.  but next spring is mine.

our front yard...in progress

the almost finished wall

i've got plans for my perennial garden that i sketched up based largely on the tenants of the excellent book
"The Ever-Blooming Flower Garden: A Blueprint for Continuous Color" by Lee Schneller. this book is especially insightful if you live in northern new england, as she gives a nice, manageable list of plants that grow well in our area. the plans of course will change as soon as the excavator shows up, but it's nice to have a bit of focus.

yes, i said excavator.  wah - nervous for that!  we have some grading "issues" in our yard.  we also have essentially zero topsoil.  so one of the first items on the spring to-do list is to hire an excavator to do lots of scooping.  next on the list will be to move some existing perennials back into the space, but in a much nicer fashion.  my hubs insists that this will be easy, what with all the new topsoil.  here's hoping.

in addition to the perennial garden that i hope to get started in april/may, along with some transplanting of blueberry bushes, apple trees, some pear trees, and the kitchen sink, we have high hopes for some raised-bed veggie gardening.  my goals are to establish some strawberries (the boy can't get enough), get some tomatoes rockin (mostly roma for sauces), and like, all of the cole crops.  that's all i can allow my pea brain to get latched onto at this point, but if things are going well, then i'd love to add snap peas, leafy greens, cucumbers, winter squash, and melons.  yeah.  dream big or go home.

i think my mantra throughout this process will be that a garden is never really "done" and therefore anything can be changed.  sigh.  that makes me feel better even now.

but for now, we are still buried under multiple feet of snow.  so i have to remain patient for a few more months.  i think i'll go paint the guest room...