Planning Ahead

It's 11 degrees outside.

It says on weather.com that it feels like -3 degrees. For anyone needing a visual, -3 looks something like this:

And somehow, those daunting icicles really sum up the way it feels, too. They just look so very Brrrr.

I really need to do something about the ice on my house, but instead, I'm planning gardens. And I'm justifying this use of time by referencing the copy of "New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening, Volume One" -- published in 1960 -- that I found at the library book sale a couple of years ago.

It begins with a garden calendar. "What to do in January" is the first subhead, and under it reads "The Month to Plan Your Garden on Paper." So, though the list of things that I need to do is lengthy and daunting, I'm imagining new flower beds.

According to T.H. Everett, who was the assistant director (horticulture) and curator of education at The New York Botanical Garden in 1960, this is allowed.

I haven't broken out the graph paper yet, or begun to map the actual plots out. But I am obsessing about shade gardens.

Finances don't allow for a lot of extras around here, but I did splurge at Meijer's last week and bought the newest issue of Country Gardens magazine (the exciting life I live!). Inside was a garden plan for a shade garden that a woman here in Michigan planted. The article says she has 25 different varieties of Hostas, and these make up the majority of her shade garden, with some coleus, impatiens, black-eyed Susans and salvia thrown in for color.

One entire side of my yard is shade and is currently overrun by honey locust saplings. This is such a gentle and deceptive name for these monsters with their interconnecting root structure that never seems to end and their sharp little teeth waiting to tear skin from your hands and arms. Oh, and I can't forget about all the buried garbage that I unearth every time I try to do anything about the millions of little trees.

So I've decided, beginning this spring, to work section by section to turn this unusable portion of my yard into a lush shade paradise. Parts of it will have to remain jungley, because the dogs really enjoy exploring back there, but I think controlled jungle can be the theme.

I logged on to Better Homes and Gardens' website today and discovered they have a whole bunch of free garden plans. I've never explored this site, but I signed up on it for free and it provides a notebook where I can "clip" different articles and plans. Again, the amount this find thrilled me exemplifies the exciting life I lead. Magazines are not always in the budget, so it's great to have this free alternative.

I can't wait to use some of the ideas on the site to sit down with my graph paper and my colored pencils and plot out some of my own dream beds.

But, it's getting to be that time of day where I have to face reality. I have a job I have to go to, it's 11 degrees outside and it's going to be at least three more months before I can even begin gardening. Trying for the bright side of things -- that gives me plenty of time to plan ahead.