I live on 11 acres and gardening is my alternative exercise for the spring and summer months. This place has a little bit of everything...fruit trees, forest, grass, 5 acre Christmas tree farm, nice landscaping near the house, and loads of WEEDS! (By the way, this is my parents' property and it's up for sale...if anyone wants to buy it, let me know - it's too much for me to take care of all by myself and it needs to sell!). Last summer I learned all about irrigation lines and geysers in the middle of the night, mower tractor repair, and the importance of wearing long pants when you're week whacking (leg skin doesn't hold up well to that weed eater string). I really can't say I'm looking forward to all that stuff again this year.

Anyway, gotta love this time of year for planting flowers. I have a bit of an addiction to flowers. Perennials are wonderful, but I love annuals too. You get so much bang for your buck even with those little 6 packs of basics like petunias and impatiens. Some of my favorite perennials are sedum, yarrow, and hostas. Oh, and as an alternative to grass, ornamental strawberry and vinca minor grow like crazy and use less water.

One thing I discovered a few years back are soaker hoses. But you have to get the good ones...the black spongy rubber ones that let the water leak out all over the place. The green ones with little holes don't last. Anyway, just snake the soaker hoses all through your plants and let them run for several hours about once a week (more or less I guess...depending on where you live). Very easy and very effective. Since the water is coming out right on the ground, you lose less from evaporation too!