Spring planting 2012

Saturday Chris and I decided that it was time to plant our spring garden. So while he watched the two kiddos, I went to work. Let me just say how I miss being outside with my feet squished in the mud with gloves on my hands as I reconnect with the life force that is Mother Nature! I swear I could feel the plants in the back yard call out greetings to me as I walked around watering. It was like a buzzing in my head, an excitement of all the living things around me clamoring to tell me about what they have been up to.I think I may have even laughed out loud in glee!

So I transplanted my jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, oregano and basil. Here is a picture:

The tomatoes are in the back, the jalapeno peppers are in the front, followed by the bell peppers. Behind them are the basil and oregano (it got cut of by the camera)

This is a beautiful azalea bloom. We planted these around the pond that Chris dug out.

My beautiful rose bush got it's first two blooms! I have had this bush for three years, and every year it keeps giving me more and more roses. They smell so sweet, are so bright and grow pretty tall!

My blueberry bush is already starting to get some blooms. This one yielded one crop last year, but my fingers are crossed that it produces more this year. I am buying two more at UT's GreenFest, so it will have plants to cross pollinate with.

And here is a side view of my tomatoes :)

That is all for now!

Herb spotlight- rosemary

This is my second installment of my spotlight feature, where I take certain herbs, flowers or plants and just talk about it.I am going to try to stick to Florida friendly plants, so my southern followers will be able to take what I write and use it in their own yards :)

So today I want to talk about rosemary. This is the first thing three years ago that I planted and had it actually survive! Everything else had wilted away and ended up in the compost heap, but this little herb stayed strong. It's another perennial, as are most herbs, so make sure you put it somewhere that you want it for years to come. Plant it in the early spring so it can become established before any cold sets in. It can be grown in a container on your window sill or right in your ground. Be careful, giant 6 foot wide 5 foot tall rosemary bushes are not unheard of! They prefer lots of sun, and don't like to be fussed with. If you forget to water it, rosemary is a very forgiving plant :)

Rosemary has very pretty dark green pointed leaves. The fragrance is unmistakable: it's bold, heavy and very perfumey, almost like eucalyptus. Just brushing your fingers along one will get lots of plant oils on your hand.

It has many culinary uses. I like to put a few sprigs of fresh rosemary in scrambled eggs, but it is also good in lamb, chicken and potatoes. Medicinally, it's used sort of like mint, in that it is believed to help improve memory function and stimulate circulation.

Rosemary is a great starter plant. It is beautiful, fragrant, loves the Florida heat, tolerates some drought, and hates to be fussed with. So head out to your local nursery and pick up a plant or two today :)

Local gardener on the news

Here is my friend on the news talking about her gardens!

Some photos of life in my yard

Tonight I thought I'd share some photos of what I have waking up in my back yard :)

Here is my blueberry bush. I am not quite sure what these white buds are, as this wasn't productive last year. I think they may eventually turn into blueberries.

This one surprised me! This bush is about 2 years old. It produced quite a few flowers last year, but it has grown much taller in this past month. I looked at it and saw that I had two blooms that were forming. I didn't know roses could bloom this early! Anyone have advice on how to help the plant not collapse under the weight of it's blooms?

Just showcasing my beautiful wind chime I got at mystic goddess :)  it's one of the smaller, lighter sounding ones. It literally goes "tink tink tink" I love it!

My romaine lettuce! I thought it was dying, so I didn't bother to plant it. But look at it! Imagine if I actually had it in the ground!

This is my squash and zucchini plant. I thought the cold snap got them, but then they just started to sprout these yellow flowers? Does that mean they will fruit soon?

 This is a lone jalapeno pepper plant, going strong!

This is my crazy pot of beefsteak tomatoes. I want to plant them so I can put a cage around them, but I am waiting until the danger of frost has passed (the keen eye will have spotted a squash plant in there too ;)

Here are the rest of my peppers. On the left is green pepper and on the right is jalapeno. They ae doing great!

So that's what I've got going on. What does your garden look like?

Make your own cleaning solution

Cleaning products are a necessary evil. You need to use something to clean your house with, but I for one do not like the nasty chemicals found in many of the ones sold in stores. They smell like chemicals (not fresh to me) and aren't very good for the environment. Now that I have two children, I don't want them to be exposed to all that stuff if I can help it. So I sat down and looked up how to make my own cleaners. Much of the ingredients were things I had around my house anyway. I decided to make an all purpose cleaner to use on my kitchen counter and table. Here is how I did it:

**Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of white distilled vinegar
2 teaspoons of Borax
2 teaspoons of baking soda
Enough hot water to fill your spray bottle
1/4 teaspoon of Castile soap or 1/8 teaspoon of natural dish soap
A few drops of essential oil

Mix the vinegar and Borax in your spray bottle until dissolved. Add hot water almost to the top of your container. Add your soap and essential oil and give it a good shake to mix it. You don't need the essential oil, but as I stated in my last blog lavender has natural antibacterial properties. Plus it masks any lingering vinegar smells. Voila! You now have yourself an environmentally safe, all natural all purpose cleaner for your house :)

Herb spotlight- lavender

I want start posting occasionally about specific plants. Some of you reading this may be thinking hey, I know all I need to about gardening! Well just sit back and relax, and I will do my best to entertain!

Today I want to talk about my favorite herb: lavender. There is nothing like the smell of fresh lavender after the rain. It is a perennial, meaning it will come back year after year. It prefers a warm climate, since it is native to the Mediterranean area. The less you fuss with it the happier it will be. Water it every 3-4 days or so, and give it 6+ hours of sunlight every day. If you are kind enough to it, it can get 40 inches tall and even be used as a hedge. Otherwise it's just as happy in a pot on your front porch.

Lavender has culinary uses. It is very versatile, as it can add to the flavor and appearance of a dish. I think it has a sweet taste, almost bitter if you use too much. Use it in sweets and desserts, or in dishes like Indian or Chinese if you want to give it a surprising sweet kick.

Lavender can also be used medicinally. It is believed that smelling the aroma of lavender has a calming effect on the nervous system by lower blood pressure and triggering calming chemicals in the brain. Many products on the market exist that are marketed as "calming" or "sleep aid" that actually contain lavender. Lavender can also be used for it''s antiseptic properties. I know I add a few drops of lavender essential oil to my daughter's wet cloth diaper pail, and it not only freshens them but also kills bacteria on them naturally. You can also dry the flower heads and use them in potpourri.

If you decide to grow lavender, know that it is extremely hard to start from seed. The seeds are as tiny as a pinhead, and do not germinate easily. I got mine from a local nursery. Make sure it gets plenty of sun, and do not over water it.

Until next time friends!

Garden under construction

I came home today, and to my surprise, Chris had hooked up our rain barrel and drawn up plans and started building a water area in our back yard! We had received a pond from a friend of ours, and it has sat in our back yard for about two years now. I am glad we will finally be able to put it to use! The space faces east and gets the morning sun until about 12:00. Here it was being built:

Here is Chris and Piper in a carrier:

Here are the plants he picked out, azalea bushes, yellow and white shasta daisies, and delpheniums:

This is our vision of the space:

I think we will keep the pond as just an ornamental thing for now. We still have to install a rain gutter over this area to keep it from eroding every time it rains. Also, that border is temporary. We will probably buy a plastic or stone border and make it the same shape as the pond. I love how misshapen and  unusual it is.

While he worked on that, I got my 18 bags of rich compost and soil and started adding it to my two raised beds. Chris bought a drip hose, so that we could snake it through our veggies and water them without soaking the leaves and eroding the soil.

Spring gardening is in full swing!