If you noticed a dearth of garden posts this year, yes it's been neglected. I hadn't stepped foot in the poor patch of dirt since last fall not even to clear out the spent plants much less this spring to make space for this year's plants. But the other day I finally faced my mental block head on and stepped into the garden. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed myself. Yes me, the black thumb had a good time and in the great outdoors at that. Those who know me will know exactly how much of a stretch that is.
First, I checked on the herbs. I was surprised at the amount of plants that had overwintered. The rosemary my neighbor said would grow like a weed and take over my yard is doing exactly that and I'm giddy. My vision of being able to plant some in the front of the house and rid ourselves of that awful pampas grass might just come true.
The sage is doing well, all silvery green and bushy. I lopped off the blossoms that had sprouted in hopes of keeping the herb plant portion going strong.
No I've not taken up headshrinking in my spare time. Just a carrot that overwintered and is looking quite um, rustic. I found it along with two onions from last season, eureka!
I had heard that strawberry plants send off multiple runners that grow into more plants so last year when my seed didn't sprout I bought one plant. One teeny little strawberry plant that gave us a total of seven or eight strawberries all season. Meet my proud garden mom, she's sent off runners galore.
When taking these pictures most of the berries were still green but now we've picked a few handfuls of small berries and the plants are full of blossoms.
This lemon balm is the plant that won't die. It's hard to tell scale from the picture but it's about 3 feet across and I'm about to hack into it if any of my local friends want a bunch for tea (very calming kid tea by the way). I need to keep it from blocking the sun to the German thyme plant that cowers at its feet.
The oregano is also alive and kicking too. I just wish I had found some of the smaller leafed Caribbean oregano to add to the garden - this is the larger leafed Greek oregano.
I threw a bunch of swiss chard seed into the plot last year which came back as a volunteer plant this year.
Finally, my pride and joy - the blueberry bush. I spent all summer last year watering this baby on a daily basis since I'd heard that fruit production is dependent on how much water the bush receives the previous season. Seems all the effort was worth it. The blueberry bush is full of fruit and I'm jealously guarding it from the birds.
My high tech defense mechanism? A CD on a string. I hope it works because I remember the birds last year divebombing the bush as I watched in horror from a window.
Alas, there was a casualty. The smaller bush from last year didn't make it when a colony of ants set up their home in its rootball. Darn ants and their knowledge that I refuse to use chemical measures to rid myself of them. Well I've got news for them - it's called diatomaceous earth and I know how to use it.
Oh and just for kicks. If you've ever wondered what my hardworking, white collar techie husband does when he lets his hair down, here you go.
Nah, he does play computer games but in order to keep the neighbors from coming to our front porch with pitch forks he does this thankless job all summer long. Boy is he ever glad we moved out of Florida or this would be a year round thing.
First, I checked on the herbs. I was surprised at the amount of plants that had overwintered. The rosemary my neighbor said would grow like a weed and take over my yard is doing exactly that and I'm giddy. My vision of being able to plant some in the front of the house and rid ourselves of that awful pampas grass might just come true.
The sage is doing well, all silvery green and bushy. I lopped off the blossoms that had sprouted in hopes of keeping the herb plant portion going strong.
No I've not taken up headshrinking in my spare time. Just a carrot that overwintered and is looking quite um, rustic. I found it along with two onions from last season, eureka!
I had heard that strawberry plants send off multiple runners that grow into more plants so last year when my seed didn't sprout I bought one plant. One teeny little strawberry plant that gave us a total of seven or eight strawberries all season. Meet my proud garden mom, she's sent off runners galore.
When taking these pictures most of the berries were still green but now we've picked a few handfuls of small berries and the plants are full of blossoms.
This lemon balm is the plant that won't die. It's hard to tell scale from the picture but it's about 3 feet across and I'm about to hack into it if any of my local friends want a bunch for tea (very calming kid tea by the way). I need to keep it from blocking the sun to the German thyme plant that cowers at its feet.
The oregano is also alive and kicking too. I just wish I had found some of the smaller leafed Caribbean oregano to add to the garden - this is the larger leafed Greek oregano.
I threw a bunch of swiss chard seed into the plot last year which came back as a volunteer plant this year.
Finally, my pride and joy - the blueberry bush. I spent all summer last year watering this baby on a daily basis since I'd heard that fruit production is dependent on how much water the bush receives the previous season. Seems all the effort was worth it. The blueberry bush is full of fruit and I'm jealously guarding it from the birds.
My high tech defense mechanism? A CD on a string. I hope it works because I remember the birds last year divebombing the bush as I watched in horror from a window.
Alas, there was a casualty. The smaller bush from last year didn't make it when a colony of ants set up their home in its rootball. Darn ants and their knowledge that I refuse to use chemical measures to rid myself of them. Well I've got news for them - it's called diatomaceous earth and I know how to use it.
Oh and just for kicks. If you've ever wondered what my hardworking, white collar techie husband does when he lets his hair down, here you go.
Nah, he does play computer games but in order to keep the neighbors from coming to our front porch with pitch forks he does this thankless job all summer long. Boy is he ever glad we moved out of Florida or this would be a year round thing.
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