Welcome everyone. Hope you’re enjoying this lovely warm Saturday. Even though the sun isn’t shining I am grateful that we’ve had a dry day or two after that torrential rain storm. I know there are more storms in the forecast but we’ve got some drying out time in-between.
I was a bit concerned for the garden after that really heavy rain so I went out this morning to see how things looked. This is one of my favorite times of year because everything is coming back to life. The picture above is from one of my lettuce plants. This one is an oak leaf variety and reseeded itself last Fall. It’s a beautiful lime green color and the leaves are about ready to start picking. I grow this one in a big pot.
The Kale plants have grown a lot in the last couple of days. I have to start looking up recipes for Kale. I haven’t tried growing it before and I have a feeling I planted a lot more than we can eat. One of the hazards of gardening.
Here’s a picture of the pea plants that are starting to grow. I plant two different varieties in two different locations. Last year I planted them together and it was a bit of a mess. Lesson learned. We’ll see how it goes this time.
Herb pots are coming back from their Winter rest and parsley, lemon balm and chives are making their presence known.
The strawberry plants are in their own wooden planter box flanked by a profusion of lambs ear that I transplanted last Fall. They really like their new home and are growing like crazy.
I have a rock wall in the back garden as part of the herb garden. This time of year the phlox is blooming and cascading down the rocks. Lambs Ear and Mint are tucked into the crevices and it looks really lovely.
I just cut back the Rosemary plant a few weeks ago. They can get really bushy and the new growth is better for cooking the the older, woodier stems. It’s an attractive plant, easy to grow in this climate and I use it extensively in cooking. Also smells wonderful when you brush by it in the garden.
The flowering trees and bushes are starting to bloom as well. I have an ornamental apple, a tea olive and the azaleas are beginning to flower. The tea olives bloom either in the Spring or the Fall and I have some for each of those seasons. They smell wonderful….a bit like a honeysuckle. The textures are all different as are the colors which add to the pleasure of walking through the garden. We don’t have a lot of land as we didn’t want to have to tend too much. We divided what we have up into areas that seem to work pretty well for us. A vegetable garden, herb garden, some fruits and flowers and not a whole lot of grass to cut. We planted a lot of trees when we moved in so the front is shaded.
I started with a green leaf lettuce and I’ll end with a red leaf lettuce. They are growing pretty well, too, but were a bit hammered down by the rain. I had to pick off some leaves. We’ll be enjoying them in a fresh salad from the garden for dinner this evening.
Enjoy your day and take a walk in your garden or a park and enjoy all the Spring plants.