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For us Northern Hemisphere FJers, what are you growing this spring? Have you started seeds yet, or do you live somewhere warm enough that you're actually seeing fruits of your labor? Aussies and Kiwis, how was your gardening this past summer? I'm starting tomatoes from seed for the first time this year! I live in Zone 5A, so I planted them all in the past week. In typical fashion, I'm also selling my tomato starts at the local farmer's market for the first time. I have about 1,000 plants growing in my currently-unused office- the market starts the first weekend in May. I'll share varieties if anyone is curious.

This forum looks a little dead, but the plants where I live are waking up! I'm working on a brand new garden, this year, in the new (old) house. I think the wife of the couple that bought the house when my parents sold it back when I was in high school was into gardening a bit, but then as she aged and her health declined everything got beyond what she could handle. Also, her taste and mine don't line up all that well. So, first matter of business for this year is cleanup. The driveway is kind of long and is lined with a brushy mess of small trees, shrubs, and gobs of invasive honeysuckle. We've got the worst portion of it cleared out but still have plenty more to go. There are two very large trees along there that we are going to leave, but I think the rest is going to be cut down entirely. It's just too messy, too overgrown, and to top it all off the power lines run across there, so I may need to see if the power company will come deal with the tops of the trees at least. Also, at one point, she planted an English Ivy. It REALLY liked it's space. Like, I've spent hours already on it and it is still not all cleared out. There was an ivy-covered vertical thing that looked like it could have been a lightpost, but it wasn't - it was a trellis, with a larger trellis wired to it, with two tall metal poles wound through that, and third and fourth trellises added in later for more support. I found, upon working on it, that the driveway is wider in that spot than I'd thought. And there are boards marking the border of the driveway and the adjacent flower bed. Once the ivy is gone, as much as possible (I went after it with the weedeater yesterday, may try the hedge trimmer this evening) I intend to till that area under and make it my first flower bed. I may put down a few layers of cardboard over top and plant through small holes in that, though, just to try and prevent as much ivy regeneration as possible. I have been picking up clearance plants here and there this spring - creeping phlox, a dwarf forsythia, some variegated boxwoods, and two encore azaleas. I also have flowers started from seed - sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, helichrysum, lavender, rudbeckia and echinacea are some of them. I'm hoping to be able to plant this weekend even though we aren't quite past our last frost date yet. The local compost sale is this Friday so we plan to get some of that to till into the soil as well. I have big plans for the front flower garden, and a shade garden out back, and planting around the little plastic pond that came with the house. There are pathways that need to be redone, a deck that needs help, and lots of raggedy overgrown mess to clean up. Not to mention a row of Pampas Grass that is nearly twice my height. So this is going to be a LONG process. What are you all planning and planting? I've not done a ton of gardening myself before this, just small stuff, but am looking forward to having a pretty space to enjoy!

Because of a combination of climate change and covid-19, we managed to get our garden planted way ahead of schedule! And it turns out that my entire city is doing the same thing - all of the nurserys are having trouble keeping starters and seeds in stock for the most popular item (cold weather vegetables). This year we added a few new sections to our garden, tearing up the sod and removing a rhubarb plant (I hate the stuff). So far we've put in potatoes, corn (we grew a ton of corn last year, in our yard, 61degrees north. We also planted peas, beans, spinach, carrots (here's hoping this will be the year!), and pumpkins! How is everyone else's projects going?