A few topics I would love to receive your feedback on:

1)When planting, how do you amend the soil? I have read so much on the topic and there seems to be a strong belief that if you only amend the soil in the hole you are digging, you will not encourage the roots to extend any further than that hole.

2)Do you always stake new trees? This always seemed to be an obvious yes but again I have heard many experts state that it doesn’t allow the tree to build strength early on … a little tough love I suppose. I plan on adding a bunch of River Birch trees this Spring so anxious to hear your thoughts.

3)Fertilizer – this topic often gets violent in many forums. I never use it on any shrubs, trees or perennials as I’ve learned they don’t really need it (actually I’m just lazy). Am I missing out at all?

4)Yuccas? – always despised this plant for some reason (the blooms mostly) but I am starting to come around on the design potential

5)Grasses in design – I have been reading every book by Piet Oudolf this Winter and he seems to believe grasses are much more of a specimen/contrast plant than as a plant to be grouped together. I planted a hedge of Miscanthus Gracillimus and Morning Light but I am starting to wonder about the design appeal of it.

That is all for now … weather in the 40’s today is starting to melt the snow and I may pour boiling water on the snow myself to speed up the process … and I hear the footsteps of March Madness coming … woo f’n hoo!!

I can read the same gardening magazines over and over again yet some how I come at it with a different perspective each time. I am also so easily influenced by each garden designer’s perspective that I continue to search for my “style”. It is frustrating yet exciting at the same time. But I think I got a little closer to moving in the right direction thanks to one simple statement I recently read in a magazine.

Last night as I watched the snow pile up, watched the most recent Lost episode frame by frame (amazing what you find the 2nd go round) and read the same Fine Gardening magazine for the bazillionth time, I came across a statement that fit me to a tee (and most plant lovers I suppose). The article was “Liven up your long border” by Jimmy Williams and the statement was this – “The plant collector’s mania always fights with the designer’s restraint, with the plant collector often winning”. Did you like read my diary Mr Williams? THAT IS MY PROBLEM and you know what … it ain’t gonna change any time soon.

This past year I finally came to grips with the notion that you can’t force a plant to live under your conditions – which for me is brutal clay and wet soil that can stay for days. Find the plants (especially the natives) that prefer your conditions. This was a big step for me and something I will follow forever. However, I still cannot give up on the trips to the garden centers where I go without a plan in mind other than to look around. This inevitably leads to purchases of plants I have no room for or those that don’t fit with what I’ve already got. You know the drill after that – I’ll move this here, that there, I’ll put that in a pot, get rid of that and now I can fit these new grasses right there or maybe over there. This process repeats itself all season and I end the gardening season the same way – this winter I’ll figure it all out.

I hope by taking the time to document my every redesign step in this blog will help me become a more patient gardener who actually has a plan and sticks to it. Or maybe it will be more of the same and you can laugh at me. Either way, I am going to enjoy the hell out of it.

Gonna stop with the “Day 1” and “Day 2” titles … not sure why I did that. Stupid.

I have had this thought for a long time that always sounds great while laying in bed at 1:00 AM or during a flight or during a conference call …

… And that is to start a business (well just me) of simply maintaining landscapes for those people who care enough that plants bloom as expected and don’t look ratty but don’t want to do any deadheading, shearing or dead leafing. I hear a lot of people who freak out in the spring and don’t know what they have to cut down and not cut down so they don’t lose any future blooms. This seems to be most common with those who got the “builder’s landscaping package” which looks good at first but then goes to crap. Also, people aren’t aware of the potential second blooms that are possible or a new flush of foliage that makes all the difference by mid summer.

And most importantly … I DIG DOING THE GRUNT WORK. I’ll credit Tracy Disabato Aust with that. Her “Well Tended Perennial” book changed my whole outlook on things and as cheeseball as it sounds … the pruning/deadheading process is like an art form. Sweet.

Now will people pay for someone to do it – probably not – and that is when I give up. But dammit I still sort of think so in the back of my mind so I ain’t giving up completely.

On a side note … to all one of you who are reading this (thanks Jodi) … going to way upgrade the family camera soon and really want to post a ton of pictures of my adventures this growing season … even photos of what I killed or put in a ridiculously dumb location.

Ciao … and hope Jake sends home Vienna tonight … don’t ask

Foot of snow … this is when the deciduous shrubs look phenomenal … ordered a bunch of redtwig dogwoods that I wish I had planted sooner … gotta get the kids out in this snow soon and try to focus on playing with them and not stress over the heaving perennials planted way too late in the Fall … good times.

I SUCK AT GARDEN DESIGN.

There we go … now that I got the admission out of the way I feel much better. Seriously, for as obsessed as I am about gardening/landscaping/horticulture/plant googling, I really suck at it. But this year I am determined to at least take a step in the right direction. I figure if I document my distorted logic I can at least learn from it and hopefully get ripped on by other anonymous readers (wishful thinking).

So … I plan on blogging about my off-season purchases (zone 6 NJ by the way), planning, relocation of nearly all existing plants (near 70 according to my Excel plant list which is probably going to be a template used by you all in the near future), new plantings, clay battles, deer battles and most importantly the search for time to do it all (Husband/Father of 2/Corporate khaki-guy).

Consider yourself warned as this will be ridiculously riveting and addicting.

Now gotta run and watch the same DVR’d episodes of Gardening by the Yard … and maybe the Lost premiere one more time … poof