A Hard Days Work

So, this Sunday my husband gave me $200 and said "Go work on the garden." Sweet! I proceeded to make three trips to Home Depot (once was because I forgot something). Coincidentally, they were having a kids planting expo, so Indiana got to get his hands dirty and learn how to plant a flower!

So anyways, I ended up doing two projects. First, I secured my arbor. It was actually harder than I thought it would be, and I think I may have to fix it. I have an area next to my shed I wanted to kind of border off and make into a "reflection" area. So I put the arbor in the front, and planted 6 Indian Hawthorns and 3 butterfly weeds. I am hoping to put a table and a few chairs, and eventually either a fire pit or water garden in their as well. here is what it looks like:

I planted morning glories and moon flowers at the base of the arbor. They should grow and vine about 3 feet up into the arbor. We were trying to decide whether to put the water garden or fire pit inside, so that is why they are piled in the middle. The second picture is of my Indian Hawthorn. The third one is the butterfly weed.

I also dug a pathway in the front. I bordered out about a foot and a half from my front walkway, and planted alternating petunias and pansies. I threw in a few snapdragons as well. Then I mulched it all. Here is what it look like:

The wooden border is temporary, just to keep the mulch in.

I also planted my aloe vera, two blueberry bushes, and finished adding manure and organic compost to my two garden beds. Here they are:

Aloe vera!

My blueberry bushes. They like highly acidic soil (4.5-6.0) and my soil is slightly acidic already. But I put a bunch of peat moss into the soil, since it is supposed to be acidic. I know this is going against the old adage "go with what works and it will cause you less work" but i REALLY want blueberry bushes! Let's see how it goes.

2 beds, ready to be used!

And lastly, I bought four herbs from a local nursery a few weeks ago. Three lavender and one rosemary. Here is a picture:

The first three are the lavender, and the last one is rosemary. I will plant them in the ground this weekend.

This Saturday is my big planting day! I am going to plan out my rows, and sow most of my seeds. I will be planting onions, cucumbers, green beans, corn, carrots, lemon balm, dill, rosemary, basil and lavender. I am also planting my zinnia, dame's rocket and larkspur. Fingers crossed for a sunny day!

Spring is coming!

In Florida, the first signs that the Earth is waking up are starting to be visible. My gardenias and jasmine are slowly starting to turn green again. Trees are beginning to blossom. Early blooming flowers like roses and milkweeds are showing color. In short-- bye bye winter! I went around my yard and started to take pictures of all the signs of life I could find. Here they are!

My dwarf rose bush has started to bloom! This is the tree that my husband accidentally mowed over back in November. I am glad it is coming back. The flowers smell so nice.

This is the rosemary I bought from Lowes last year. It is doing so well. It's almost a small bush now. It is so fragrant!

This is the front bed I planted last year. The front bush is hibiscus, and the other bushes are lemon lime plants. The dead flowers are annuals (silver fog and pentas) that I need to pull up and replant something else.

My beautiful magnolia! This March I will have had it for a year. No blooms yet, but I wake up and check every day. I have a feeling it will happen when it warms up a little bit.

These are my three gardenia bushes. The one in the middle is perking up well. Even the one on the left I thought was dying is getting some leaves. The one on the right looks a little droopy :(

My jasmine vine. It still has yellow spots and looks kind of sick, and has stopped growing. I will see how this does.

My flower shaped thermometer, and my flower pinwheel I got in tarpon Springs, Fl.

That's all for now!

First set of plantings

It's getting to be planting season in sunny Florida! Spring is just around the corner in my neck of the woods, so on Thursday 2/10/11, I looked through my little book of notes about gardening, and picked out the plants that needed to be started inside. My hubby got me a black container with little pits in it (like an egg carton) so I decided to use that. I picked the following to plant: calabash tomatoes, tigerella tomatoes, pink tomatoes, California wonder sweet peppers, oregano, and sage. It has been almost two weeks now. I keep the lid on, and leave it outside during the day. It produces almost a greenhouse effect. Here is what they look like now:

The top two 9x9 squares are oregano, obviously not sprouting. The two 9x9 squares are all my tomatoes. They are sprouting already! The third square down on the left is oregano. They are some of the smallest seeds I have ever seen! They are sprouting up well! And that last 9x9 square is sage.

I can't wait to see how they come out!