Authors in Bloom Blog Hop with Giveaway: The Joy of Gardening Plans

This is the 7th Annual Authors in Bloom Blog Hop and we are thrilled to be part of it. Today I am going to talk about how much easier life becomes when you discover garden plans.

When we first moved into our newly constructed home nineteen years ago, it was a blank slate. This girl with one of the brownest thumbs ever had to figure out what to plant and where. There was lots of trial and error. I planted shady plants on the sunny side of the house. Plants that needed sun on the shady part of the house. I walked through Home Depot looking at bushes and plants and thought they would look nice in my yard while giving no thought to how large they would get or how they would look best.

Then I stumbled upon Better Homes & Gardens list of garden plans on their website. Using a plan, I planted a mailbox garden. Then used similar plants to decorate the opposite side to hide the utility boxes. Found a great plan for the shady side of the house and made that side beautiful. While the yard is still a work in progress--the voles ate most of my hostas last year--there is enough beauty to make this gardener in training happy.

What are some sites you use for garden plans? Any tips for this gardener in training?

GIVEAWAY

I am giving away a $25 Amazon gift card open to any follower of the blog hop. 

1. Must be 18 years or older to participate.
2. To have a chance to win you must leave a comment with a valid email address.
3. Extra point if you follow @ccmalandrinos on Twitter. Leave a comment to let me know you followed. 
4. Tweet "I entered to #win in the Annual Authors in Bloom Blog Hop https://bit.ly/2EYZzP7 #giveaway #AuthorsinBloom" for 5 extra points. Leave a comment to let me know you followed.
5. Prize will be emailed to winner. 
6. Giveaway ends April 27, 2018 at 11:59 pm (EST).
7. Host not responsible once prize has been emailed. 
8. Void where prohibited.

In addition to this prize, other hosts are giving away prizes and the GRAND PRIZE is a Kindle Fire and a second prize of a $25 gift card. Only those visitors who visit EACH and EVERY stop are eligible for the grand prize ereader and gift card. Eligibility will be verified by hop’s end.

Visit more hosts for more chances to win. Good luck!

Taking Time for Mommy Thursdays

Right now it's hard to think about gardening. Last night the sleet came down in heavy sheets and around 4:30 AM it turned to snow. Now that the temperature has risen we have a couple of inches of slush that is being turned slushier by the pouring rain. Hopefully the trees and their branches stay where they belong, because that blustery wind is blowing things everywhere.

Gardening, while hard work, is also very relaxing. Now, before you get to thinking that I have a way with flowers, let me tell you I have the brownest thumb of anyone I know. And while I am a creative person, I need a garden plan to make my yard look decent.

In 2010 I won this great book from The Complete Idiot Series titled, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Year-Round Gardening. It's also available in Kindle format now, but this is one of those books I like to have in paperback. It opens with a discussion on how you can fool Mother Nature and grow flowers year-round. I'm not sure I'm up to that task, but Part 2 of this book caught my eye. It talks about starting with healthy soil. The soil around here is awful. The one year I put in a vegetable garden, I couldn't grow root crops because of all the rocks. Even after I tilled the land and removed many of them, the soil remained too rocky--and therefore too wet--to grow root crops properly. Without proper aeration I have spots that stay mossy most of the year.

I've been composting for years, but I wonder if I am doing it right because I can't say that I have added much to my soil. There's a section that gives me the basics on that too. The book is full of information about growing from seed, feeding and fertilizing, maintaining outdoor covered gardens, gardening indoors under lights, growing with greenhouses--would love to try this, and even the basics of what to do after the harvest and storing crops in a root cellar (I grew up with one of those).

I haven't read all of it yet, but I think I'm going to do my best to get through it by March. I want to put in a vegetable garden this year using raised beds. I have a perfect spot for them. The Lil Diva wants her own plot too, so raised beds seem to be the way to go. I also have big plans to change the bushes in the front of the house for something that will make Christmas decorating a bit nicer and easier.

Do you have a flower garden or a vegetable garden? What is your favorite flower? Do you have any gardening tips to share?