It's that time of year again!! My mailbox is stuffed full of the new seed catalogs. Garden tools and gloves find themselves in my shopping cart. I have 13 acres of untouched ground .....my blank canvas..... calling out to me. 
I love getting garden and seed catalogs in every year.....but how I love those old vintage catalogs that use to be mailed. This one pictured above is from 1887 and the vibrant colorful cover makes me just want to work outside all day and order everything they have in the catalog!
I worked on several blank canvases today.... my arms are aching from the tiller... but for now, I will start by showing you my enormous flower garden I have tilled and planned on. I have a large area for a vegetable garden as well, but that will be a later post. I love flower beds tucked around every corner of the house, but I have always wanted a "flower garden" . It took me 3 hours to get this tilled up. {:
This past summer I had a lot of Zinnia. They did so well. I harvested a lot of the seed and I will also purchase more when the time comes. I plan to have a large amount of Zinnia in this garden this year.
I have never tried California Poppy, but I love the way they look. This is a new one I will try this year. Such a dainty flower full of petals. Don't you just love old seed packets? These came from around 1920.
Another favorite flower of mine is the Cosmos. These flowers will stay and bloom all the way up to November. I have more flowers planned for this garden and will decide as I go along. I still have much work to do in it before I plant. I am adding compost that I have worked on all year to the grounds and I still need to put a fence around it so that my chickens will not have a flower buffet. I will also till the ground a few more times before I get ready to plant. 
My next blank canvas is this wire archway that my husband made when we first moved out here. I have tried grape vines, but they did not do well.
Today I tilled on both outside walls of the archway. I plan to plant the decorative gourds that did so well for me last year on one side. They have enormous leaves and would make a great shade for the inside of the archway.
The ground looks like it needs nourishing. I will work on that before planting seed.
On the other side of the archway, I plan to plant morning glory. It is hardy and it's leaves are also beautiful. Ok, everyone....I am sure some of you are getting those seed catalogs in the mail as well..... what are your plans? Where is your "blank canvas" at? Are you going to try to plant something you never tried before? I would love to hear!
22 comments:
Oh, January is certainly the time for it! Pouring through the seed catalogues and planning the yearly garden is the perfect tonic for when Winter starts seeming very long. Those old-fashioned seed packets are really neat.
Have you read "Onward and Upward in the Garden," by Katherine S White? Not recommending it based on her personal life, just her ability to write about things of the garden and garden catalogs.
If we want to plant when the soil temperature allows we have to till in early fall and set the bed up for planting and mulch it. (which I did for a few beds but ran out of time to have all my "naked" beds ready) Otherwise we have to wait well after soil temp allows for planting because of the overabundance of wet.
Up here we also have to be careful of over tilling and breaking down the structure of the soil and the beneficial life forms. This is hard for me because I was born to till and till and till some more!
I wait with baited breath to see all the gardens in bloom and production!
I can't wait to come out and see all of your beautiful flowers this summer! Did you sing while you tilled? lol
I have the fever, (to get my hands in the dirt) but still have a few months until old man winter moves on. The seed mags are coming in, so I still have time to dream (I mean plan) for the perfect garden. I have found, some of those magazines get me in trouble, with honey to do lists. LOL
I know you must be terribly sore after all that tilling. I will look forward to your flower garden photos later this year. We are having repairs done to the front porch/steps and have a big mud hole as our front yard right now. I'm hoping I can make it all colorful again in the Spring.
Wow ! I live across the highway from Lanny and we can't be doing all that tilling this time of year, so go ahead, just keep rubbing it in and making us jealous!Oh, well, we can dream and plan....lovely Kathleen, and ambitious! Can't wait to see the spring and summer pictures.
Your getting me inspired to get in the groove. Can't wait to see what flowers you will plant. I'm still trying to get motivated to clear the weeds from my garden.
Hugs:)
Irma
i do have a large garden area but i've yet to get out and work it. we've been frozen for awhile now, so i need to wait for some warmer weather.
i plan on doing a veggie garden along with some berry bushes. and possibly some flowers around the outside of the area.
Kathleen, your blog was so inspiring today.Cecil doesn't know it yet, but I'm seeking to order a Tiller! We have wanted one for awhile and I want to have "my own garden". it seems he took over the other the big one, I want to see If I can have some raised beds too..13 acres we do not have.. only "Almost an Acre" :o), and we have to use it wisely :o), keep us posted with the events, I love it, Ginny
Farmer Jane, you never cease to amaze me. I have only received 1 catalogue this month, but I too had forgotten how much I love looking and wishing, and wishing and looking.
I am looking forward to the finished product. I love the archway - by the way. Gords and morning glories will be great there.
I just have a few small flower beds here, but that just makes me enjoy your gardens all the more, Kathleen. Sounds like you have some exciting plans made! I'll look forward to the months ahead. :D
I think the first seed catalog of the year is better than Christmas presents....I can spend hours dreaming of my gardening adventures....I with that my reality was as productive as my dreams!!! I love Zinnias even the green ones with some Belles of Ireland....very pretty. I can't wait to see your canvas come to life!!!
I love those old seed packets. They are so inspiring. I was asking my hubby when we were going to start tilling. It's getting about time. In another 6-8 weeks we can set onions.
I've been using my dad's tiller. I found a good one recently at a moving sale, but passed it up. Wished I'da gotten it now... Can't wait to see your gardens! I'm SO ready for spring!
If you need anymore ideas for your arch, have you thought about passion flower? It grows well here in Texas, grows fast and has beautiful blooms...
January!! Working the ground? I'm sorry, hard for me to imagine. Here in Canada we have a couple feet of snow yet and just this last week we had wind chills of -49 Celcius (-52 F).
It's not quite time yet for us. We will only be doing those things in early to mid May.
I was wondering if you grow Virginia Creeper out there. That would look awesome on your arbors.
I grew a couple wildflower patches last year. I bought the seeds mixed and they included a mixture of California poppies, Zinnias, Cosmos, Calendela, Baby's breath, Larkspur and more. All your favorites! Yes and you guessed it....I collected a whole lot of seeds!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. In summer I love doing gardening and photography, so I am missing photographing all my gardens right now. I can't wait to post some garden articles again.
Every gardener is also a dreamer - we dream of all these beautiful or tasty things coming from our labors and God's provision of sun, rain etc. It is the etc. which often kills off my stuff - am doing all containers this year. I'm planting Moonflowers and Cypress Vine - have had problems with morning glories overwhelming everything else (I was dumb and put them near my roses). :::sigh::: almost better than Christmas - seed season!
Oh I love this post, those catalogs get me daydreaming ! My latest catalog is the David Austin Rose catalog, if I could I would buy every pink rose they had!
This year we are planting a few pink camilia bushes and white azaleas. I want to plant a peony bush as well. Zinnia always do well down here as well as dianthus, and this is the time of year to plant pansies. Such happy little flowers!
I saw lily of the valley bulbs at Lowe's the other day but I don't know how well they would do in our soil. I would love to plant bluebells...see you got me started! So much to plant, so little time!
Have a happy Monday!
I'm not planning on a flower garden, but I do hope to have my first vegetable garden. How do you keep your chickens out of there? I really want to have one, but I need a plan to keep the chickens and guineas out of it.
I am jealous....oh, dirt! Oh tilling, oh....sigh, longing deep within me.
Where do you live? Can I come smell the soil while you work?
Linda
I am happy of the increasing daylight as well. Chores in the dark via spotlight and headlights loses it's charm quickly.
It sounds like you have been very busy and hard at work in your garden! What a great hobby and homekeeping talent! I know it will be absolutely gorgeous. :)
Still too cold here to do much more than planning and dreaming-and I'm doing both! Like you pouring over the catalogs wanting to try everything I see. My husband and I are planning on expanding our garden area-so I'll be giving up some of my flower beds-but I think it'll be worth it! Love the seed packets you showed and can't wait to see how your garden grows!
Dear Kathleen,
I love your vintage seed catalog! Oh, the colors, and those roses are so gorgeous! We want to purchase a few old pink roses to plant this year. My husband recently planted some heirloom sweet peas. We are a little late in getting them planted, but hopefully we will see them bloom before the heat arrives. I want to plant a lot more flowers in the existing beds we started for them, and add more flowers to our vegetable garden, so it will be like a French Potager. I love Cosmos and Zinnas too, and they grow well here.
The plot you tilled looks wonderful! I can imagine how your arms ached! It is so exciting to have a new spot to plant seeds and anticipate the beauty and joy they will bring. I look forward to seeing all your pretty flowers in bloom!
Thank you for sharing! I am so inspired by you!
Blessings,
Paula
Post a Comment