My spring
garden this year consisted of lettuce, okra, red and blue kale and basil in the
raised beds.
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| Basil |
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| Kepler with the sprouting Kale and Okra |
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| Lettuce |
I
decided to go with containers for some plants this year. They are easy to maintain and you can
move them around if they need more or less sun. It is also handy if you have bad weather, say an approaching
hail store, to move the plants to safety.
I would not be a happy camper if all of my hard work ended up being destroyed
by hail or high winds!
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| Black Tomatoes |
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| Costoluto Genovese |
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| Nice ripe Serrano Pepper |
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| Chinese Eggplant |
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| Banana Peppers |
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| Habanero Peppers |
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Okra in Bloom
My potted plants included seven
varieties of heirloom tomatoes, heirloom Chinese eggplant, and four varieties
of hot peppers. I also had a few
herbs (chives and chocolate mint) in smaller pots. I plan on planting more herbs in containers soon.
I planted
more flowers in the beds as well.
I went with flowers that do well in the shade as my two flowerbeds are
under trees and receive very little sun.
Zinnias, columbines and a mix with chrysanthemums, Echinacea and twelve
other shade-loving flowers grew quite nicely. I like to make sure there are plenty of flowers to attract
insects for pollination. I know
this was part of the problem when I first started the garden. I will now make sure I always have
something blooming near my veggies.
It is also nice to have a few cut flowers inside the house in a vase.
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In
addition to the flowers, I added a hummingbird feeder on a shepherds hook that
belonged to my Grandma in the middle of one of the flowerbeds. I love to watch them dart around the
yard sipping nectar. I always think of Grandma when I see them. She loved hummingbirds.
Everything
grew like crazy! We have actually
had some rain this Spring unlike last year, although we were in Stage two water
restrictions for most of the season.
I saved
up my pennies last year and was able to purchase a 65 gallon rain barrel. It was well worth the money. Plants
prefer rainwater to city water and it is free. I only wish I had about six more barrels!
