If this past weekend was any indication, March is coming in like a lion. It appears the April showers have gotten an early start as well.  We are glad we got things cleaned up a bit before the rain came. According to our gauge, we got well over 2" of rain in less than 24 hours. All this precipitation is great for the garden.

Last Summer we gave our huge Japonica bush a heavy hair cut. The question for us is, what are we going to do this Spring to fill in the space? We considered planting annuals, but doing the same work every year does not seem to be the best way to go. It is a bright sunny spot, so the suggestion was to turn the empty spot into a cutting garden using perennials.

We considered heading back to Logee's to see what they could offer. Another possibility was White Flower Farm in Connecticut. White Flower Farm came highly recommended from readers who sent us comments after reading about Logee's. While we did not end up getting anything from either place, we were impressed enough with White Flower Farm to add them to our list of potential field trips for this year.

Success came from a more local source. On a recent visit to Home Depot, the interns came back with these "Special Buys." Considering we once paid $20 for one day lily plant, $17 is a great price to pay for a whole collection. The Home Depot collection has a dozen plants for less than what we paid for one. The lily collection has twice as many plants as the day lilies. The best of the three had to be the gladiolus collection. At 120 bulbs per box, it is just an amazing value. We don't have any gladiolus in the RainyDayGarden, so these bulbs will be a great addition.

The lilies came packed in loose peat. Some of the plants have already sprouted shoots. We will need to get them into the ground soon or they will waste all of their energy trying to get out of the bag. In contrast to the lilies, the gladiolus bulbs all appear dormant. Regardless, all of them will be in the ground by early April.

For those interested, starting a city gardens can be tricky. One never knows about the quality of the soil, the ease of the drainage, or how many rocks are hidden below the top layer. We have had some success growing things in our limited plot outside. However, as many have discovered, planting a garden is oftne easier than taking care of one; so much to do, and kind of all the time.

This year we thought it would be instructive to start a city garden from scratch. Gardener's Supply Company is an excellent resource for all the things needed to get one up and running, er, growing. Their site is very helpful for planning, especially if you kind of know what you want to accomplish, but don't know exactly what all you need.

After lookng around we decided the "Plant It and Forget it" garden best fit our gardening style. The supplies arrived last week. As soon as the rain stops, we'll be setting things up. It the meantime, we'll unpack everything this week and take a closer look at the gear. [Permalink] -Spring Prep