My search for information on gardening in Newfoundland has not been that successful. I decided to start this journal of my gardening experience so that maybe someone else might be inspired to do the same and before too long we would have a myriad of first hand information on gardening in Newfoundland. Not only am I fairly new to gardening, I am totally new to weblogs. It will be a real learning experience for me. I love learning new things.

Last year was my first real successful experience with gardening. I had some unsuccessful years before that - one that I bought seeds to plant and didn't get beyond that. Another when I planted the seeds inside but didn't get them outside. Last year I actually managed to get the seedlings planted outside and watched with wonder and excitement as my flower garden bloomed. I had a wonderful flowerbed full of Nasturiums, Asters, Bachelor Buttons, Violas, and Carnations that I had planted from seed and nurtured into beautiful, abundant flowers.

I started with just a small flower bed by the side of my house near the entrance way. This became so full that I decided to make another small flowerbed at the front of the house and transplant some of the flowers to there. It worked great!

I also planted a very, very small vegetable garden in my back yard. It was only about a meter square. It was a complete failure, but there were lots of factors for that. Maybe I'll share about that in another post some time.

I was so inspired by my beautiful flower beds that I decided to do something in the corner of our back yard. My aunt, an amazing gardener, had given me many plants over the years that I had killed. I went to her and asked for help yet again. She gave me a bunch of perennials that I planted in newly formed plots in the fall last year. When I was out checking things out today I saw that some of the plants are starting to sprout. I'm anxious to see what will develop and learning to identify the different plants.

This past fall I also planted some bulbs. I had bought bulbs in the past that never did make it into the ground, but this time they made it and I've been rewarded with beautiful blooms! I can't believe it. The crocuses came up and started blooming before the snow was gone and I feared they were killed by the snow and frost we had afterwards, but they are alive and well. The tulips have also bloomed in the past week, inspite of the fact that there still is some snow around. In fact, I planted some of the bulbs in my back yard plot and noticed today that they are actually coming up through the snow that hasn't quite melted all away back there! I think I will be planting more bulbs this fall.

Anyway, that's my experience so far, though I've left out some things. Maybe I'll get back to them another time, then again, maybe I won't. I may decide to just move forward and tell you about what happens from now on. We'll see.

Happy gardening!