Wait, it's Spring?!

The weather hit 80 today.  Wait, what?

Daffodils, and a side of the garden I need to work on

It's been so wet and cold this April- I've barely been able to get out and clean my flower garden, and we won't even speak about my vegetable garden.  If it wasn't raining, it was cold.  If it wasn't cold, it was raining (or snowing...).  It wasn't fun at all!

So today, it was warm...and mostly sunny.  We were absolutely lucky since the surrounding areas were being hit with thunderstorms and tornado warnings, and literally, it was bright and sunny.  Giving that, when the kids were napping, I was able to get out and work on my garden a little.

One side done...

My yard is HUGE.  And quite frankly, when it comes to flowers, I have no clue what I'm doing.  Like seriously, I think I might be in over my head.  I have seven areas that I consider to be part of my flower garden. Six of them need clean up.  After today, I have about 45% done.  Luckily, that 45% was the hardest part.

Most of what I've done has been to remove all the dead (or dead looking) stuff, and try to remove some of the leaves just laying there.  No clue if it's right, no clue if its going to kill stuff or not.  I'm approaching the entire process in a "if I don't kill it, it's a success" frame of mind.

The side I did today...

I've slowly started to actually learn what each flower is.  So far my favorites are the Hyacinths.  So pretty, and man, they smell so awesome.  The previous owner was an award winning gardener.  A little intimidating...I wish I could've met her and made her write out care instructions, haha.

 Still, it's pretty cool to have my own gardens.  I was thinking while I relaxed outside with the kids that it was amazing how happy flowers made me, how pretty they looked, and how annoyed that ALL of my garden wasn't looking so pretty.  I have also become pretty awed by bulbs.  I planted nothing last year, and yet I have so much growing.  I've had to make sure to remove anything dead carefully, since a few times I've discovered things growing off the dead stuff.  (Can you tell I don't know what I'm doing yet?  I still lack the vocabulary!)

Probably my favorite flower area.

I'm hoping that I'll get a few more nice days this week so I can finish up the flower areas and get to my vegetables.  I haven't even started there, other than the occasional stray thought.  I wanted to go big, but I think I'm going to have to show self-restraint and stick with simple.  Maybe just a few basic vegetables, and a few basic herbs.

I did have a nice surprise though.  When we moved in last Fall, I planted my container Rhubarb in the ground, and covered in some mulch.  I figured if it grew, great!  And if didn't, that was fine too.  But it grew.  And it's growing nicely.  Every time I check on it, it's bigger.  I think that's pretty cool, and I'm looking forward to making some Rhubarb pie, either this year if I'm lucky, or next year.

YAY RHUBARB!