It's that time of year again!

The time of year where I have had my fill of the cold and snow and just want spring to hurry up! I don't mind the winter but a day comes when you are tired of being in hibernation mode and you just want to get outside. I also need to get cracking on the garden and until the lingering snow melts, the ground dries up and the weather gets a bit warmer, I can't get outside and get down to work.

When we moved into the house last August, our main focus was cleaning and decorating on the inside, and unfortunately the garden was ignored. Now that the major work is done in the house, I can focus some attention on the backyard so that we can enjoy the outdoor space we have. First things first, the yard needs a good clean up! There is an attempted flowerbed against the neighbors shed and it is overrun with weeds, garbage and dog bones (not the bones of a dog, but bones a dog has been chewing on...you know what I mean!). I need to get out there and determine what is a weed and what is a plant to keep. Once that bed is cleaned up I will look at adding a few new plants.

Hidden under garbage and weeds there are signs of real plant life! I am not sure what the purple plant is on the left, but it looks fairly sturdy. It may be hard to see, but there are the beginnings of some Irises in the photo on the right.

The area behind the garage and our shed needs a good clean up too. It is pretty wild when everything comes to life, in fact until I snapped this photo I didn't even know there was a downspout form the garage roof back there - it was completely hidden behind a mass of leaves last summer!

To get a jump on things I have some seeds starting indoors - an assortment of herbs, wildflowers and tomatoes. My goal is to get some wildflowers into the flowerbed once it is cleared up and to get the tomatoes and herbs in pots and planters on the deck. There is a lone planter built into the deck that is currently home to some sort of bush but I have no clue what is is! The bush looked like it was in agony last summer, it clearly should not be confined to such a small, dry container. I am hoping it has survived the winter so I can relocate it to a more suitable space in the yard...I can then make better use of that planter.

When we viewed this house last May, we spotted a birds nest wedged in a space between an outdoor speaker and a downspout attached to the garage. When we moved in months later the birds were still there, minding their nest. Every once in a while the parents would leave and I would see the baby...it was one HUGE baby bird! I don't know much about Morning Doves, but the massive baby was making no attempt to leave the nest and the parents never stopped doting on it. I didn't mind the doves, but was hoping they would leave so I could move the nest and get rid of the useless speakers. Unfortunately by the time they did leave it was too cold and rainy to get outside and clean the space so I left it, thinking I could do it in the spring. But early one morning a couple of weeks back guess who reappeared?! They are back and have reclaimed their nest...so much for cleaning that space up! They were only gone for about 3 months, and if they make a repeat of last year I will have them hanging around (pooping on the deck) until next November.