Almost ready!

I spent last week-end getting the backyard flower/garden bed ready to go.  One end was full of rocks and crud, which our landlord was planning to dig out and replace with non-cruddy soil.  I decided that it would be easier just to weed it, mulch it, and put big containers on top of it.  No waiting for the landlord and no dealing with the gophers!  Here is the result:

Before

After

Once I was done with that I decided that some pruning was in order!  I have never had rose bushes, or much of anything, that needs pruning.  So, I hit the old Internet up for some pruning advice.  I learned that here on the coast you don't actually have to prune your roses.  That being said, all the leaves and blooms were on the end of some really long and naked stems.  Time to prune them back a bit.  I also decided that the lemon tree should really look like a tree not a shrub!

Before (taken in October)

After

In the process I discovered that lemon trees have thorns!  Who knew?  And man, was it ever hard to cut that rose bush back!  It had lost most of it's leaves and was looking pretty scruffy, but it was still hard to make the cuts.  I didn't intend to remove all the leaves, but they all had that leaf mold on them.  I guess it is very common out here since it is so damp.  The only way to get rid of it is to strip all the leaves off and dispose of them so the new leaves don't get it as well.  It also forces the plant to go dormant, since that doesn't happen naturally here due to the temperature.  Hopefully the pain pays off and it come back really pretty!  My next target is the Wisteria:

All the leaves did fall off for the winter and it hasn't started to bloom yet, so I guess now it the time to attack it as well.  This thing is all over the place.  It has climbed over the fence and attached itself to the neighbor's trellis even!  Not sure that's what they intended for the trellis.  I have no idea what to do with this thing.  Obviously planted in the wrong spot, since Wisteria are climbers and grow to be enormous.  I guess I need to decide what I am trying to do with it.  It looks really bad with no leaves!  However I am super excited to see it bloom, since I really like Wisteria and have always wanted one. 

There are a couple of holes for plants between the existing plants.  And now I have to make my final decision on what I am going to plant in the big pots!  My original plan was to have some ornamental and some veggie plants.  For sure there will be an orange tree.  I am so tempted to just have a row of citrus trees back there.  What to do? 

I haven't been a fan of the 5(!!!) flowering plum trees that the landlord planted in the backyard so far.  They make it a bit challenging to actually USE the back yard, which is tiny enough already! They are just about ready to bloom though, so maybe my mind will be changed...

My rhubarb is coming along nicely.  And 2 of my asparagus have started to sprout as well.  I sort of forgot to water them, which is a pretty big deal here, especially since we have gotten almost no rain this winter.  Oops!  Rhubarb is indestructible though, so I'm not worried about it.  Not so sure about the asparagus. 

Now I just have to get back to Home Depot and buy a few more bags of mulch and I will be all done with the not so fun prep stuff and read to start the fun stuff!  And maybe I should start some seeds inside, so that I am ready to start planting.  Our outdoor planting date is February 15!  Our average temperature is 60 right now and will gradually creep up to 70 by September.  The night temp is about 50, which will warm up to about 55 by September.  So, not a lot of variation in the next few months.  I am still getting used to this...