A garden update

Back in April, I shared our plans for the yard this year. Last weekend we had some mulch and topsoil delivered, so Adam added more mulch to our flower beds (especially where we extended them) and filled our raised garden beds with soil (which he then mixed with several bags of manure).

With the danger of frost (mostly) behind us, it was finally time to plant a few new shrubs we picked up - and our garden! We've been keeping the plants outside in their pots, in the spots we plan to plant them, and bringing them inside for the night if it looked like the temperature would dip below freezing (Nova Scotia is at least a month behind Eastern Canada and the US in terms of climate, in case you're noting that you've had your plants in the ground for weeks). Since Adam was in the studio recording all weekend, my mom came to help me (as in, she did all the work while I messed around with the garden).

So what did she plant?

A couple golden euonymous shrubs...

{the larger euonymous was the same size as the two new guys when we planted it last spring}

And this pretty little shrub. I've completely forgotten the name, but it should be sporting some little yellow flowers soon.

{waiting for little yellow flowers to bloom}

Here's how that flower bed looks now:

{yes, our lawn DESPERATELY needs to be mowed - we're just waiting on a replacement part for our mower}

She also added a small spirea shrub to one of our front beds. When I looked over our plans, I realized we meant to add two of these guys, so I'm off to pick up another one soon.

In terms of our overall plans, we've made some real progress.

Side bed:
-extend bed and add new mulch
-add rocks to fill dead space
-add 2 small golden euonymous shrubs
-add divided blue hosta from front bed (we may have missed the boat on this one until the fall)
-add yellow flowering shrub

Small front bed:
-extend bed and add new mulch
-add rocks to fill dead space
-add 2 new spireas (still need to add 1)
-replace rose bush with red japanese maple
-add new holly bush

In case you thought I was just standing around watching my mom work, here's some photographic evidence of my progress in the garden. I used a measuring tape and string to plot my rows and followed the directions on my seed packets in terms of spacing (both for the rows and the seeds).

In the first bed, we're hoping to have peas, beans (yellow and green) and cucumbers:

{peas, yellow beans, green beans, cucumber}

And in the second bed, I planted zucchini, carrots and several kinds of lettuce.

{zucchini, carrots, and a whole lotta lettuce}  

We're also planning to plant several tomato and pepper transplants in containers, so wish us luck!

Did you plant a garden this year? Any tips?