What -- if any -- are your gardening goals this year?

My goal is small compared to yours.....but we had our home leveled last year and the flower beds were a mess where the workers pulled out shrubs. Want to get beds back in shape, and get some mulch in them. Also need to rid yard of winter weeds/grass, and plant some annuals. DH and I pretty much putter in the yard, and he does the heavy lifting for me. I love the spring!

On 3/27/2015 nanny24 said:

My goal is small compared to yours.....but we had our home leveled last year and the flower beds were a mess where the workers pulled out shrubs. Want to get beds back in shape, and get some mulch in them. Also need to rid yard of winter weeds/grass, and plant some annuals. DH and I pretty much putter in the yard, and he does the heavy lifting for me. I love the spring!

Your garden goals seem modest and achievable but what about your home? Was it really leveled? Plans to rebuild?

On 3/27/2015 Stella Dallas said:

I've been researching how to grow roses from seeds and I'm going to try it. It's not all that hard but it takes a while. To summarize what I learned, it takes 3-5 years from start to finish. It takes all one season to let a rose hip to completely mature and then you harvest seeds. There are several steps after that but they aren't hard.

A few weeks ago I bought a little miniature rose plant for my DH who was under the weather. I've repotted it once and it's already doubled in size (not hard to do, considering how small it was). Instead of removing spent roses, I'm going to leave a few on so I'll have several rose hips to choose from.

Anyone else have a gardening goal? Or have you achieved a goal that you'd like to share? I'd really be interested to hear.

That's how long it took for us to grow asparagus from seeds to plate. It taught me patience! This year we're expanding our vegetable garden and adding some veggies we haven't grown before (potatoes and shallots); also this year I bought seeds for a new hybrid of squash (cupcake squash). Good luck w/your roses!

ValuSkr, Yes, leveled it. The drought took it's toll on a lot of homes in Texas. Many people have had their homes leveled. Doors weren't closing, and we had cracks in the sheetrock. Better now. No plans to rebuild. I will stay here till my last day, unless I win the LOTTO!!!

On 3/27/2015 nanny24 said:

ValuSkr, Yes, leveled it. The drought took it's toll on a lot of homes in Texas. Many people have had their homes leveled. Doors weren't closing, and we had cracks in the sheetrock. Better now. No plans to rebuild. I will stay here till my last day, unless I win the LOTTO!!!

I don't think I'm understanding what "leveled" means here. I think of leveled as the house completely knocked down - no walls left standing. Is that what you're meaning? If that's what you mean, what are you living in?

My goal is to beat those PIA Scottish Thistles, but then that's my goal every year and so far I've failed miserably. The old quarry land near me, where they used to grow with abandon sending their seeds out on the breeze has now been developed, so I'm hoping this may help.

Also, having a new pool put in my backyard and will have lots of lawn restoring to do afterward and deciding what new landscaping to do around it.

I'm just praying for some rain so I don't have to try to work in bone dry soil since we are in a horrible drought and heavy water restrictions are coming. Garden isn't looking too good and it's only March. We did put in an artificial lawn 3 years ago, thank God! (Live in Southern California)

On 3/27/2015 Jackielee said:

I'm just praying for some rain so I don't have to try to work in bone dry soil since we are in a horrible drought and heavy water restrictions are coming. Garden isn't looking too good and it's only March. We did put in an artificial lawn 3 years ago, thank God! (Live in Southern California)

It's heartbreaking dealing with the consequences of drought. I hope you're saving even your soapy water for your garden as I don't believe the soap will hurt anything since I've been told to and have used soapy water to spray on my plants to eliminate pests.

On 3/27/2015 Jackielee said:

I'm just praying for some rain so I don't have to try to work in bone dry soil since we are in a horrible drought and heavy water restrictions are coming. Garden isn't looking too good and it's only March. We did put in an artificial lawn 3 years ago, thank God! (Live in Southern California)

You took the words from my mouth, Jackielee. My goal is to survive a long, hot summer without enough water. And summer has already started, in the 90's today. It's difficult, not fun. Planting almost nothing new, no annuals.