You know I'm going to have a really big reply to this one....
I was watching "Gardening by the Yard" with Paul James last weekend on HGTV and he was talking about how he prepared a bed that had heavy clay. All he did is spread some compost and then mulch over it and left it for months. If you can afford that kind of time, it softens the ground and encourages earthworms which enriches it even more. I have mostly sand, not clay, so my challenges are much different.
So far, what I've accomplished this year:
Dug up the containers of spring bulbs from the trench against the foundation on the side of the house. Put the containers in front to enjoy the flowers and layed down mulch and topsoil in the trench. Once the bulbs were done, I put them back in the same place to prevent any weeds from growing there. I'll be laying sunflower seeds all along the trench in a week or so.
The Lollipop Asiatic Lillies Rusty planted last fall have started blooming (white with deep reddish pink on the edges) and the first Coral Sunrise Asiatic Lilly opened today (orange in the middle fading into pink on the edges). I still have the "Pastel" mixture of white, yellow, peach and purple lillies which have yet to bloom. I timed it so while one color was fading, the next wave was starting.
My pink rosebush and yellow rosebush are both in bloom. My three pots of daylillies are budding, they should be blooming in about a week.
I made three pots of "Elephant Ears" and one of them has broken ground. They're growing really slow. I'm going to be mixing in some low growing plants once they really start growing.
I made three pots of yellow, white, purple, blue and brown daisies. They're all in bloom now.
My prickly pear cactus doubled in size from last year and is budding, they should be in full bloom in about two weeks.
I mulched the lilly bed and the rosebushes with red cedar. I'm going to be setting up my little white wire fencing around once I figure out where I'm putting everything. My landlord's landscapers broke some and then ripped them out of the lawn. I was not happy.
But they also took the rotting wood fence down so the place looks SO much better.
Still left to do in the next couple of weeks:
Bring the other plants outside that are currently in my living room: four different kinds of coleus, two pots of Plumeria, two pots of Cymbidium orchids, and a Ficus plant.
Start all my Morning Glory seeds in pots and train them up the stakes I bought on sale last year. I found a really cool way to get them to grow in any direction I want. Just tie clear fishing lines wherever you want, and they'll grow up them. You can't really see the fishing line so it looks like they're growing in midair. I can't wait to see how this looks.
Plant sunflower seeds with bamboo stakes to tie them to as they grow. (this year I'm planting four different kinds, including the giants that grow to 10 feet tall)
Mulch the rest of the flower beds and put more fencing up so the idiots don't hurt my plants.
I'm planning next year's garden already. That's how you know you've got problems.
How does that work then? 