Hyacinth Care

I did a bulb exchange with a friend and got some of these. I think I might try to grow a couple inside but it looks like the rest I can plant now in the fall and have some wonderful flowers in spring.

 

Planting hyacinth flower advice for outdoors

Hyacinths should be planted in early fall. This way, they have enough time to grow an abundant group of roots before winter.

You should pick a spot that has full sun to the north and light shade to the south. You should use rich, moist, well-drained soil. Prepare your soil well using plenty of organics making sure to mix a complete fertilizer with the soil. Plant the bulbs flat side down, about 8 inches deep. Make sure to space them 2 to 3 inches apart.

Care for hyacinth plants outdoors

If you live in an area with severe winter and spring frosts where the ground freezes, as part of proper care of hyacinths you will want to mulch the bulbs for protection.

Some additional hyacinth flower advice is that as your hyacinth plant bulbs poke out of the soil and start to grow, some of them might need stakes, particularly double hyacinths, which can be top heavy.

Source

DIY: Succulent Plant Tower

Isn't this a wonderful idea? I saw it at Craftberry who was inspired but a West Elm planter and made her own! Isn't that great? I love doing stuff like that!

Garden Update

So things are coming together in my yard! You should see it now! Wow! I haven't taken new photos yet but here's how it looked a little while ago. It's quite the jump from what it was! (here's the older post if you missed it) 

The start of what I hope to be a lot of berries in the summer!

Blueberries

Raspberries

Zucchini

Strawberries

We were a little worried this grass wouldn't end up coming up  because we had frost a couple more times, but it made it!

(This is to try and keep Ollie out of the dirt while the grass roots....it didn't work)

A little yard goodness

(All my containers full of water from the rain. I figured my rain barrel isn't big enough so I'd fill whatever I could find!)

I know I haven't posted a yard update in a while so I thought I'd give you a little something until I have one for you.

This vine is slowly growing...It's an annual so it better hurry up!

The amazing poppies growing in our front yard. They are so bright and beautiful. It's pity they don't last longer. 

We had my mom over for dinner and it was so wonderful out we ate outside.

Broccoli coleslaw with bacon!

BLT dip

And a little Hawaiian wine

Projects In My Backyard: Idea 1

Hanging mason jars for around my deck, by my garden

Ok, so I'm really get into gardening and getting my backyard in order and making it ours. I love plants way more then Marshall does but he still wants to have a lot of input...but that mainly means running all my ideas by him and getting approval which is fine by me.

So I thought to keep myself sane I would do a posts on all the projects I want to do. Here's the first idea! I want to put them along the fence, when you first come into the yard, on the side of the house. Maybe put tea lights in them? What do you think?

My mom, gardening vicariously through my yard

As you know my mom is wonderful. She's always there for me and is always giving, always has good advice, is very encourage and is just all around fun to be around. Other then Marshall she's who I spend the most time with. I just have so much fun with my mom, she's my best friend.

My mom used to be really into gardening and loves doing it. She has a condo now so she doesn't have much space to work with. When she comes over I often wonder what's taking her so long to get in the house and I look out the window and she's started working in the front yard pulling weeds or prettying things up. She loves helping me make my yard wonderful and I love the help.

The other day she said "You need a hanging basket for by your front door" and the night went on to us going shopping for some plants and her putting together a basket for me. We found a basket in my garage (left from the last owners I think) and she worked with that.

It turned out pretty great right? She's not totally happy with the basket so I'll do a little update post when she finds something she really likes. But that's my mom for you, always giving, always helping, she's just all around a wonderful woman and mother!

DIY: How to get rid of aphids

One of my hibiscus trees got aphids and I wanted to try and save it. I've tried this and it seems to be working so far so I thought I would share it with you all! Much better then buying some sort of chemical that's for sure!


What you need:

- A spray bottle
- Mild dish soap
- Water

1) Mix 2 teaspoons of the dish soap with luke warm water in the water bottle. I used a larger water bottle so I used just a little more soap.

2) Spray on all of the affected parts. The soap will dehydrate the aphids.

3) Trim away the severely affected parts.

4) Repeat as many times as needed.

I'm in love....with succulent plants

I have a huge love for succulent plants (if you haven't noticed this already!) and I'm slowly working my collect up (plants can be expensive!) so I thought I'd make a sort of want list post about them.

I have one like this but it's more purple.

I am yet to see this type but I think as soon as I do I'll buy it on the spot! I love the colors!

Check these out! Aren't they beautiful? I would love to make one of these but I don't think that it would be quit warm enough here for that.

I have a couple of these too.

If you love plants but can't seem to keep them alive because you forget about them then I think these plants are the ones for you. Put them in the sun and ignore them and you're good to go! You can water it maybe once a month if you want and they still grow!