I'm in the living room with the windows open to bring in the fresh, cool breeze. The sun is trying to give some light from behind a sky full of clouds. It smells, and feels, like rain. The baby birds are chirping away, in the distance I can hear an airplane. The clock reads 12:34 and all is quiet in my home, a rare moment indeed. With the cool air on my face, the sound of spring outside, and my warm computer on my lap, it's time to update on my haven: the garden.
Side BedI began this near the end of April, and had it pretty much completed by Earth Day [4/22]. I wanted a bed to house some perennials, and maintain some color through the year. This is the first photo of my new side garden, erected from where there was no previous bed:
Then I added mulch, and wow what a difference a little organic matter makes!
I quickly realized that while my bed was nice, it was missing something...more color! Really, more plants. It began with a beautiful Oriental Lily I received from out friends Duke and Hollie for Mother's Day.
Once I planted the lily, I realized how empty the bed looked, mainly due to the lapse in time between the early spring bulbs and the summer flowers, while the spring-summer blooms were going in and out. So it was off to Linvilla and their new Gardening Center to fill in the gaps of space and color with some annuals.
I [read the kids] really love snapdragons, so I purchased more of those. Some went inside with my indoor arrangement [another story], and the others filled the bed outside. I also bought some petunias and dianthus to create a nice splash of bright color that complimented the flowers of purple, yellow, and white.
The "new and improved" side bed
New Annuals
I wanted more general color in the front, and another excuse to buy/plant flowers. This time I let Olivia pick the colors, since they were $.97 for 4 pansies :) They were placed in smaller pots, each on one side of the stairs to the front entrance. With an American flag nestled in the center, they are ready for Memorial Day and a whole summer full of patriotic pansies!
The Potted Pantry
After I completed sowing the seeds indoors for the vegetable garden [including flowers], I had some seeds left over that I could not just toss in the trash. Instead, I tossed them into a small pot I had left over and decided to see what would happen. To my surprise, plants are growing faster in here than they are in the ground!! Check out the plethora of goodies planted in this small planter...
The large leaved plant that is seen in the front is a baby pumpkin plant, and I mean baby in the sense that they are small pumpkins grown for their sweet flesh, perfect for pies, cakes, and cookies! That's my kind of pumpkin.
The large leaves in the center of the pot are leaves of a bean plant. I'll be honest, I have no idea if it's green or white beans. Either way it's beautiful.
The tall, smaller foliage with the beautifully flat leaves is Nasturtium aka the edible flower [a type of water cress with a 'spicy' flavor]. I planted all the seeds, indoor and out, at the same time, and these are the largest so far. I've been thinning them almost daily to make sure the ones that grow can bloom to full potential; they are competing with a lot of other plants in the container.
The green, simply, bipetal leaves are zinnias; each will grow to be a bold, beautiful individual flower. The baby ones around the pumpkin are snapdragons. The bulbs are gladiolus, if I am remembering correctly. I guess I'll find out in a month or two!
Have to end this posting at this. I have not even talked about my vegetable garden! I am loving this gardening year :)
One love,
Sara :)
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