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Spring time in Montana can be a bit maddening. We don’t have four distinct seasons. Rather they tend to blur into each other. And before you fully realize that you’re in summer, it’s already started to fade into fall. It means I’m going to have to develop a much keener sense of the seasons when thinking about outdoor planting for new growing seasons.
As winter fades into spring, we’ve been hit with what I believe is an unprecedented amount of winter storms over the past couple months. But there was a decent enough break in between them that I was able to nab some groovy before shots of my garden before going nuts on altering it.
The Vegetable Garden
I’ve mentioned previously that my soil is pretty terrible for growing. It’s compacted clay with not much in the way of nutrients. So last fall, in an attempt to fix that, I planted a bunch of cover crops in this spot to help break up the soil and add some much needed nitrogen into the mix. The plan is to build a 6 inch tall raised bed here and bring in healthier soil and additional compost to fill it. But I still need a decent foundation. That purple container is full of my compost that I started late in the season last year. I haven’t checked it in a while (you know, because it was under inches of snow!) so I’m hoping it’s full of broken down organic matter. If not, whatever is in there is getting tilled into the ground anyway!
The Shed
So! Many! Rocks! Quite a few of these river rocks have been re-purposed for garden bed borders, but there’s still a ton of them left. I feel like a post on Craigslist would eliminate not only the rock, but my personal labor of hauling these suckers. However, I have vague future plans for the front yard that might involve for rock borders. So I’m hanging on to them for now. I had been moving them to the front side of the house, but I realized if I’m going to sod that area, I might want to find a different spot for them to collect so I’m not have to move them a third/fourth time! 
Last year, I planted tulips, daffodils, and hollyhocks on the most visible side of the shed. You can’t see it in this photo, but as of today, the tulips and daffodils have shot up and are doing quite well. It’s only a matter of time before they get some blooms on them. I’m not as confident about the hollyhocks though. I’ve never grown them before, but I did learn just a little too late last year that they really don’t like being transplanted from pots because it disturbs their taproot. Guess what I did? Yep, started seeds in pots and transplanted them. So we’ll see what happens.
The Back-Side of the House
Get a load of that river rock border! I love it so much. The design choice of creating a grassy peninsula was simply because I had extra sod that I did not want to waste. But part of the plan to hide this ugly fence is to plant large shrubs or trees in the corners, so that interesting design might not be noticeable later down the road.
And speaking of that fence, we don’t have immediate plans to replace it even though it’s probably needed. We share it with the neighbor and are planning on selling this house in the next couple years. So we’re thinking we’ll make some cosmetic updates and plant some pretty things in front of it to distract the eye.
The Back Fence
I really underestimated how much garden bed space I was creating last year. On paper, it looked like so little. But in reality, it’s going to take quite a bit of time and money to fill these. I put down some mulch last year, and that made a huge cosmetic difference. So even if I don’t pack these beds this year, they’ll still look tidy and presentable. This is a part to full shade area, so I plan on planting a few fun, shade tolerant perennials. I also need to finish the rock border and mulching in the corner.
The Front-Side of the House
Man, the snow on the ground sure made me forget how much work was underneath it. Pure weeds, rocks (including the pile I put there last year), landscaping fabric, miscellaneous crud… This is the area I’m hoping to sod this year. I’m not as enthusiastic about it as I was a couple months ago. And due to some upcoming happenings (more on that later), I’m not entirely sure I’ll be able to finance it. But I can prep! Prepping is pretty much free, but it’s the worst part of the job.
So there you go! I’ve got a few smaller projects around, but I’ll get to those pictures some other time. There’s going to be a ton of work this year, but I can’t wait to see how everything evolves.