Question of the Day: Sunday, April 16

[gilmargl]

Good afternoon to all of you on this rainy April day here in Germany. Sorry, I'm so late.

Yesterday was warm and sunny, although first thing in the morning I had to scrape ice off the car before I could see through the windscreen. But, it's April, and anything goes.

According to the Internet site "National Holidays", April is the month for gardening and decorating. This is very true for this part of the world - gardening centres and DIY-stores are doing a roaring trade. It would be nice to have some talent for either of these useful occupations, My house could do with both - interior decorating and work in the garden. I'm useless at gardening - the first worm I injure while digging usually puts a stop to all my dreams of even a tidy garden. And decorating? When all my brushmarks have been pointed out to me after doing some painting, I've lost all interest in finishing the job. If only my eyesight were better, (Well, that's my excuse!)

So who's started to work in the garden in spite of late frosts
and who's working indoors on decorating ?​

I know that some of you wonderful people are doing both. I only wish I could say the same for me. But, I'm playing with my 4 cats!

​

 

[susanm9006]

I have started my garden work mostly because plants were popping up and I didn’t want them to rot, and because I wanted to do some transplanting which is easier to do when the ground is moist. But after a warm couple of days we are cold and snowy again so no more gardening until it gets warm again.

 

[rubysmama]

I've started a little gardening, but mostly just raking up the leaves that accumulated over the winter. Not enough of my perennials are up yet to be doing any digging in the actual gardens, as I don't want to accidentally dig into any of them. Another couple weeks, hopefully.

And I know what you mean about injuring a worm. I always feel bad, and hope it's true that they can regrow the part that was cut off.

As for inside, not decorating, but doing a little spring cleaning.

 

[betsygee]

We started yesterday. Spent the day weeding, weed whacking, and trimming overgrown plants around the house. I put out veggie seeds in my vertical planter--arugula, Swiss chard green onions, and radishes. We're getting chilly, overcast mornings here but it burns off and afternoons are nice and sunny.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I’m doing both.

DH just power washed the side of the house so I can plant that soon. I’ll get my potted flowers soon and turn my raised beds that I let rest last year. I’m only doing flowers and 1-2 tomato plants though! I want to find more solar decorations for it too!

Inside I’ve been sprucing up my decor. Its getting old so its time. BFF got me looking at purple depression glass. I haven’t told DH but I want to paint over the green lower wall in the living room. I’m thinking a deep blue.

We are also looking at DIY replacing our carpet with something else. Probably a laminate or something wood looking but it has to be wet/pet friendly. Part of me wants to wait on that; but the carpet is getting embarrassing.

 

[Jem]

Still too much snow to do any gardening, but we've had unusually warm weather the last few days so it's melting quite nicely. I'm actually planning on raking/spreading out some of the bigger snow piles around the yard to help it melt faster...then hopefully it will dry out enough over the next couple weeks so I can start on my outdoor work when I took some time off in the beginning of May.
As for indoors, I'm starting to do a little bit of cleaning.
I don't really decorate for the changing of seasons. I put up Christmas stuff, and have a few lawn/deck decorations I put out in the spring...but that's about it. I want to start decorating more for special occasions and holidays, just haven't gotten around to do it. One of my big projects that will help make that a possibility is actually organizing and cleaning out my storage room so I can access my decorations...it's been something I've wanted to get to for some time now...maybe this year will be the year!

 

[neely]

We picked up 25 bags of mulch at the home improvement store and put it down the other day. As susanm9006 said, temps have taken a dive and light snow is forecasted for tomorrow so no gardening. I used to plant my annuals for Mother's Day but even that has been iffy the last few years.

I'd love to do some interior decorating but the budget just isn't there for it right now.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

I'm decorating my daughters house at the moment. 2 rooms down 5 and a hallway to go. Lol. My house is waiting till next year because we've just had a new damp course and plaster in the living room. I don't have a garden to worry about and my daughters is low maintenance.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I decided to not do a full garden this year because it hasn't worked in the past. I'm going to stick with the containers on my deck. I haven't done anything yet thankfully since we got hit with snow again last night. In the next few weeks I'll buy some tomato plants and maybe cucumbers, strawberries, zucchini, peas and I'd like to try doing sweet potatoes and potatoes in containers.

 

[strider rose]

i need to water my rose bush with some miracle grow rose food stuff , as for decorating what would i do it with lol

 

[NY cat man]

I'm doing both. I planted the cold-tolerant things like onions, and have seedlings for green beans, cucumbers, butternut squash, tomatoes, and bell peppers started inside. Pontiac Red and Yukon Gold potatoes are waiting in the wings.
Inside, I just laid down a new linoleum floor in the upstairs bathroom, to go along with the new tub and tile surround, and new shower doors. Paint is next, then reinstall the toilet, vanity, sink, and new baseboards. Other than that, I'm not doing much of anything.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Yesterday I got my lazy arse outside and did some yardwork . Very nice !
Being lazy becomes a bad habit ...

 

[susanm9006]

I’m doing both.

DH just power washed the side of the house so I can plant that soon. I’ll get my potted flowers soon and turn my raised beds that I let rest last year. I’m only doing flowers and 1-2 tomato plants though! I want to find more solar decorations for it too!

Inside I’ve been sprucing up my decor. Its getting old so its time. BFF got me looking at purple depression glass. I haven’t told DH but I want to paint over the green lower wall in the living room. I’m thinking a deep blue.

We are also looking at DIY replacing our carpet with something else. Probably a laminate or something wood looking but it has to be wet/pet friendly. Part of me wants to wait on that; but the carpet is getting embarrassing.

Vinyl is wonderful. Durable, can get wet, easy to put down and really inexpensive. I have laminate in my kitchen that my son and I laid and I did a room at my mom’s in vinyl. The vinyl works great at covering imperfections better. The only thing about vinyl that’s a bit hard to get used to is that it has a mat finish - no shine at all and I guess I am just used to shiny floors.

 

[Boris Diamond]

Onions and garlic are looking good. The pepper seeds have sprouted and I will have plenty of plants. I got two grafted tomato plants in the mail Friday, a Brandywine and a Dark Star. Love gardening season!

 

[catdad61]

Working on cat-proofing our deck and building Lunar's catio. I hope she likes it when it's done

 

[lizzie]

Hubby is the gardener in the family,and he has a green thumb for sure!He has beets,wax beans,lima beans and a couple of sage plants in so far...cucumbers,bell and banana peppers and tomatoes will go in next week...maybe a zucchini or two...maybe an eggplant or 2 if I can convince him.I'm the one who does all the canning,pickling,and freezing for winter storage,and I will help harvest as well.

 

[Lari]

I kill every plant I try to grow.

Unless I leave half an onion in a produce bag on the counter and forget about it. Those grow great.

So I leave all the garden/plant things to my husband.

Not planning on decorating either.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

It’s “none of the above” for me! It’s mid autumn here. Never been a gardener, and the village has communal gardens and maintenance men to do the work. The only decorating I’ve ever done is hanging pictures.

 

[Winchester]

The onions and peas were put into the garden several weeks ago. Rick put the potatoes in the other day.
This should be our last cold snap....we hope! He has said that he may not rototill the garden this year, but may manually till; he did that a few years ago when there were no rototillers to be rented for weeks on end and it actually worked out well. He'll probably start planting in earnest around the first week in May. He's the gardener in the family; he actually loves his time in the garden. I make sure that the food gets from the garden to the freezers.

As for decorating, I'm taking down things in the living room today; I wanted to do it on Saturday, but Rick wanted to wait until after dinner yesterday. Painting starts tomorrow (I hope). We've had a Cranberry wall in the living room and kitchen forever and a day; it's been years and we loved it. But it's time for it to go.

This year (please!) for the living room:
AC
Paint
New floorboards
A new floor
A new railing at the steps (we live in a bi-level)

If we can afford it, we'd really like to get rid of our very old couch and recliner, and get several rocker/recliners. Rick has really fallen in love with the rocker/recliner and ottoman in the Shed. Our living room is small and it will make it seem larger without that couch. And get rid of those old drapes and buy blinds instead. We've been putting it off because....cats. They've really done a number on the furniture that we have and the thought of them clawing new furniture is heart-breaking. If we do get new furniture, we'll likely get some kind of covering as well.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

They've really done a number on the furniture that we have and the thought of them clawing new furniture is heart-breaking. If we do get new furniture, we'll likely get some kind of covering as well.

~ Good luck on that ...