Gorgeous spring day

The last few days just have been absolutely gorgeous and I have been wanting to do gardening sooo badly. Unfortunately there are too many other things going on at the moment and no real gardening has occurred as of yet.
Some of our first tulips are blooming and a patch of daffodils is out as well! Very nice, and pictures will hopefully be following shortly.
I did some minor pruning on our hydrangea. I am not entirely sure which kind of hydrangeas it is, but after reading a few websites I am almost certain it is H. arborescens better known as 'Annabelle'. According to the websites I read, you should prune the heads off the stem, it is best to do this in the fall, but spring works also, before it really starts doing a lot of growing. You're supposed to trim it down to wear the life starts in the plant, but if you want the stems to become thicker, stronger and better at supporting the weight of the huge blooms this shrub produces, it is best to leave it about 18"-24" tall at least, so it grows taller and stronger. You can prune it back to the ground if need be though. It is also recommended that stakes or gaze is used to help support the shrub and not all stems break or bend under the weight of the flowers, especially after a rain fall when they are very heavy, which is exactly what happened last year.
This year I will have to make sure to come up with a better support system, and I didnt prune the stems down nearly as far as last year. I only took the heads off until the first buds that looked healthy, so hopefully the shrub will grow bigger and stronger this year.

It's about thyme.. or so I thought

I took some pictures of our front yard, as we can see snow drops and our first crocuses! I am *so* excited about it! Some colour in the gloomy grey muck. Yay spring here we come :) They pics will be uploaded later, as at the moment our hard drive is a little bit too load them onto the computer.
There haven't been to many progress reports as there hasnt been a whole lot of progress to report on the seedlings. A few days ago I saw some tiny leaves sprout up from the thyme container. I was soooo excited! The soil of the pots started to look a little bit dry, so I gave them a bit of extra water. Apparently that was a big no no... The thyme did not like the extra water and died off :( How disappointing.
However, some other plants have started to show themselves. Today we have 2 scarlet runner beans about 15cm tall. It was really funny, they just sorted of appeared from one day to the next. There are a couple of green onions showing, and the basil is also showing a few plants. No parsley yet, nor peas or the other beans.
It is no wonder the thyme isnt doing so well yet. It really likes sun as it is originally from southern Europe and the Mediterranean area. It doesnt like a lot of water...... Oopsss
It should be planted in well drained soil, with spread of about 30cm each and they recommend you dont harvest too much of the plant the first year. It can stay in the ground, but you will have to cover it up with organic mulch to protect it from the elements. After that once it has roots it should grow well and be nice and fragrant and look pretty. I am thinking it might look very nice along our gravel path next to our vegetable garden. Our herb patch might not get enough sun for it to do well. After 3 to 4 years the plant will become woody, at which point you should separate the plant, take it apart and replant it as this will promote new growth.

Sowing seeds

Today I started the first seeds for this season. Yesterday I dug out some of the empty flower pots from the garage and found some potting soil. Today I bought some herb seeds and planted them along with some seeds we still had left over from last year. I planted parsley, thyme, basil and two types of beans, the kentucky wonder , better known as Poppa's beans, scarlet runner and peas and a whole pile of green onions. I bought cinnamon basil by accident. It looks exactly like the basil we bought potted last year but I am not sure if it is the same kind. Lets hope so. Other wise we will have a whole new culinary experience when time comes to eat it.
This year we are planning to stagger our vegetables so they arent all ready at the same time. The next sowing date will be in approximately 3 weeks.
I put the planted seeds up in the guest bedroom in front of the window to make sure that our dearest kitty Isabelle wouldnt start digging up what I just tucked away. I took a picture of the nursery and will keep you updated on the progress of the little guys.