I’m very glad I put out my rain barrels when I did. In the last twelve hours 1.2″ of rain has fallen in my rain gauge. The four barrels are at least half full. That’s 100 gallons of water that won’t cost me a dime. None of the plants will be too thirsty for a few days anyway. It’s still raining now.

The storms of the past few days, mostly wind up until last night, didn’t cause much damage. A few sticks and limbs down was the worst of it. I don’t think any plants here will show any adverse effects.

My only concern is for a few rows of late planted seeds. My hope is the ground will dry out enough that they will germinate. If the ground stays saturated for too long the seeds may rot in the ground.

Now I’ll just wait for everything to dry up. Those sticks and limbs can be chipped and shredded and used as mulch for the raspberries.

I’ll see you in the backyard!

This is my favorite part of the spring season.

My garden is nearly all planted. All that is left are the pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn and a row of sunflowers.

The landscape project I was working on has been completed.

Now I have time for the fun stuff. Watching it all grow!

It is also time to begin the smaller projects, I’m planning an arbor to grow birdhouse gourds on. I want to build a raised bed to plant more raspberries in. I’ve also been working on a couple of rain barrels. I have lots of project ideas.

I’d better hurry before the weeds start to grow!

I’ll see you in the backyard!

There are times we forget things. What variety of tomato was our favorite last year? What was the name of that plant by the garage?

Here’s a suggestion to help with that.

When adding a new plant to the landscape, note its location and name on a sheet of paper. Keep the paper in a three ring binder. Take the tag from that new plant and punch or drill a small hole through it. It can then go in the binder as well.

You’ll not only have a name and location, but all the information pertaining to the plant. The best part is it will be all in one place.

This same procedure will work in the vegetable garden as well.

I’ll see you in the backyard!

Today I was finally able to complete my work in the raspberry patch.

It mostly consisted of transplanting those I had rooted in late last summer.

A trailing raspberry can be rooted by burying a branch in the soil. It will produce roots and can then be separated from the mother plant.

Those plants were cut loose and dug up. They were then replanted in a mix of soil and compost,

I then added a fresh layer of compost to the established plants. They then received a layer of mulch. In this instance, it was grass clippings.

An added note: Upright growing berries produce additional plants from their roots. these can be transplanted by carefully digging them free of the mother plant.

I’ll see you in the backyard!

Welcome to The Backyard Gardener. I hope you will enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it.

My goal is to help everyone get the most out of their gardening experiences. It doesn’t matter whether you are growing vegetables or plants, wondering what perennials would work best in that shady spot, or have other questions about anything else; I’m here to help.

Here is a sampling of things I’ll be including:

• At the Garden Gate (page) – To answer your questions and offer helpful tips
• In the Shed (category) – Covers hand an powered tools; includes tips for care and maintenance, and purchasing suggestions
• Birds and Bees (category) – Here you can read all about beneficial insects, birds, and related items

There are many things I hope to cover throughout the year; but much will depend on your questions and requests.

Spring is upon us, so I’ll begin with typical springtime projects. When summer arrives, I’ll cover ways to get more abundant harvests from our gardens. As fall approaches, it will be time to harvest the last of our plantings, and hope to extend the growing season as long as possible. That will also be the time for lawn and yard cleanup, and preparing our tools for winter storage.

I hope to finish the year off with topics such as: choosing and caring for a live Christmas tree; decorating; and gift ideas for the gardener.

I’ll see you in the backyard!