How does your garden grow??

Seeing as how good ole Phil the Groundhog has seen his shadow and we only have six weeks left of winter, I'm reading up on starting a garden! I've never really had a green thumb, but the springs and summers of my childhood are filled with many memories of tomato vines and strawberry picking and apple trees and rose gardens and on and on. I was surrounded by some amazing women with the horticultural gift.

So after having kept a couple house plants alive for more than 12 months, it's time to move into my garden. The husband and I have lived in a really great little rental house for going on three years. One of the reasons we moved into this place was because of the incredible yard--actually it's three full yards. The front yard has some hydrangeas. The side lawn has pecan trees, rose bushes, and some other flowering trees I can't identify. The back yard has an enormous magnolia tree right in the middle, providing shade for our house (saving us a ton in electricity costs when it's 100+ degrees outside). There are rose bushes, irises, fig trees, and lots of ivy.

I have to figure out a way to plant what I want to plant so that our dogs don't destroy the garden...but I want to plant tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, arugula, dahlias, tulips, fragrant verbena, sunflowers, lots of herbs, and on and on...


Domino, which sadly is soon to be no more, has these great garden layouts online. They're based on the gardens of Oscar de la Renta and are really smart and pretty. Thanks to Jackie at peppermags for blogging on these great garden designs!


Here are some other great links for the beginning gardener (or if you just need to brush up or ask questions!)

The Germinatrix...This was a great gardening Q&A blog featured on Domino's web site. I'm not sure how long it'll be up, but go there and take notes!!

You Grow Girl...This is a really revolutionary site--people trying to change the way the gardener/human relates to plants, emphasizing environmentalism and laid-back gardening. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Garden Harvest Supply...Thanks to Leatherneck Joe for the tip!

Hastings Garden Center...Check out all the great info under the "Garden Wise" tab; be sure to look at their potted garden layouts.
Enjoy exploring and planning. I'll be dreaming up big gardens as I stare out into the Monday rainstorm.