DEBBIE-DABBLE BLOG: April 2023

I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot

George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Friday, April 28, 2023

Early Spring Back Yard and Front Yard Update, 2023

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

I am now posting TWICE a week !!!

I will be posting on MONDAY and FRIDAY!

As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....

Today, I will be sharing my Early Spring Back Yard cleaned up and set up for the Summer, along with a Front Yard Update...

In my last post, I shared my Early Spring Patio and a few changes to my Fairy Gardens.......

Click HERE if you missed that post!!

We have had the Grand Pups with us all week as my Son and DIL are in NYC....

I had to laugh at this pic because Azumi almost looks like a big cat!!!

I am taking down the Easter decorations this week so at least I will have all that done and packed away...

I am glad that I got all my outside work done when we had record breaking heat last week....

That record breaking heat though has caused trees and some perennials to bloom much earlier than they should....

The Phlox on my slope are starting to bloom which usually does not happen until the first week of May.....

The yellow blooming perennials are supposedly called "Bonfire" Spurge....

They blew over and reseeded themselves from the townhouse on the end of our row.....

There is also quite a few Columbine plants that also reseeded on the slope from my neighbor's yard....

I have been taking out some of the Columbine and Bonfire Spurge and transplanting them in the flower bed down by the mail box....

And in a few pots in the back yard to transplant elsewhere later on.......

When the phlox are done blooming, the sedum will bloom with it's yellow flowers....

The area of the slope closer to my side on the right is where Joe used a lot of weed killer to try to fend off the onslaught of weeds from the slope when my former neighbor lived there and never took care of her side of the slope....

We did plant some phlox, sedum and hostas last year to fill it in again.......

The Hostas that I took out of my MIL's yard over 35 years ago and transplanted on the slope are popping up and will grow to the size of shrubs!!!

This azalea on top of the slope in the flower bed that runs along the side walk in front of our row of townhouses, is always the first to start to bloom, usually in the first week of May!!!

Looking down at the slope....

I wanted to take and post these pictures because all week our temps have been around 60 degrees which is below normal for us.....

And starting today, we are predicted to get quite a bit of rain...

The low temps and rain chances will persist well into next week....

So I am not sure how the slope will look in a week from now as I fear this is the best it may look with the phlox blooming....

I am glad that I took the time to get the Front Porch and Yard along with the back Patio and Yard set up and ready for late Spring and Summer....

However, you can see that I will not be buying and planting any of my annuals at least until mid May or even longer into May because of the threat of frost....

Today, I will be sharing my back yard after clean up and set up for the Summer.....

Remember that I live in a townhouse with a back yard the size of a postage stamp....

Because of that, I removed all the grass and turned the back yard into a large flower bed with paver pathways and a Patio extension....

I put down a fresh coat of red mulch, straightened all the scalloped brick borders of the walkways and put out all my garden art and statues....

This is the walkway I put in last year that leads to the small shed in the back corner of the yard.....

These pots will be planted with annuals like begonias and impatiens...

Perennials are planted in this flower bed along the fence....

On this side is a Columbine that I transplanted from the front slope and Missouri Primrose which will bloom with yellow flowers in June....

On this side, the asters are popping up and will bloom in the Fall....

Again, I will be planting all my pots with annuals in a few weeks....

My purple leaf plum tree is doing well after it looked dead a few years ago and I cut it way back....

I decided to transplant a hosta in this pot this year.....

I am planning to use some perennials in my larger pots instead of annuals....

Every year, I set up a Gnome Garden in this area of the back yard....

I split up the pieces this year since we have the grand pups a lot and I wanted to attempt to give them more room in the yard to do their business.....

I used some of these larger Gnome pieces in this Fairy/Garden galvanized tub...

And put these out in the yard.....

Thart is sedum that will bloom in the Fall to the right....

This sort of "pathway" behind the table and chairs on the Patio are where the grand pups do their business....

The hostas are starting to pop up....

This birdbath is the one that I used in the front yard but I decided to move it back here....

A Columbine and a day lily......

We do not use this back gate as you can see that the slope behind it and the trees make it nearly impossible to use it for any type of access....

I took the 2 large rectangular planter boxes that were in the front yard and put them on the 2 steps and will plant impatiens or begonias in them....

I moved the birdhouse, that I always used in the front, back here and I spray painted this watering can..

A pretty blue.....

I also planted a columbine and another hosta in these pots....

A Black Eyed Susan was planted in this galvanized bucket last year so we will see if it comes back....

Impatiens will be planted in the wheel barrow.....

The lilac tree, that Joe trimmed as a large branch of it was pressing on the back fence, is blooming at least 2-3 weeks early.....

A day lily and a hosta along with some Missouri primrose are planted here...

Looking across the yard at the arbor....

I will be planting the flower bags hanging on the arbor with impatiens....

More Missouri Primrose....

Annuals will be planted in the watering cans and in the old bird bath and bird cage.....

Asters and Missouri primrose.....

My Fur Baby Memory Garden....

Sedum is growing here which I most likely will have to thin out....

I hope that you enjoyed this little tour of my tiny back yard which I call my Cottage Garden.....

I will do another post again when all the annuals are planted in my pots and some of the perennials are blooming....

I hope you will stop by to visit again on MONDAY for my next post!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......