little sprouts

I had the outside of my house painted a couple of weeks ago and because I knew I was having this done I delayed planting my garden so in wouldn’t be in the way of the painters. With it being dark when I leave for work and also when I get home it limits my time to get out in the garden.

Over the past week I’ve finally have planted flowers, herbs, and lettuce in a couple of areas. I still have two other sections to plant; hopefully I can get to it this weekend.

As I mentioned before, I love arugula. I planted arugula on Sunday and 3 days later you can see below the little sprouts that have appeared. Arugula grows very fast which I love, gives a gardener quick gratification seeing your garden grown. In the area to the right of the argula I planted flat leaf parsley, as you can see it takes longer for parsley to germinate.

Arugula

I will let the arugula sprouts grow another inch or so and then I’ll start thinning out the patch. Those baby sprouts have a nice mild peppery taste to them and they make a great light salad with a little olive oil, kosher salt, and pecorino romano shavings. Hmmm, I can hardly wait. I’ll try and remember to take a photo to share.

When I plant flowers in pots or in beds I like to keep to the same type of flower and the same color so that there is a burst of color and it draws your eye to them. One of my favorite flowers that do great during the winter/spring is petunias. This year there wasn't a good selection of petunias at the stores and what there was they didn’t have them in the same colors. It was more a variety pack.

I broke my rule because I enjoy petunias so much that I bought the variety pack, will have to see once they start growing and flowering just what they look like.

Besides petunias I planted pansy’s (orange & blue), basil, oregano, thyme, sage, and rosemary.

Petunias & Herbs

How does your garden grow?

the bounty

It’s a Monday and instead of getting ready for work I’m out in my garden watering, pruning, and picking the bounty. Here is a picture of red grape and yellow cherry tomato’s that have finally ripened. Aren’t the colors beautiful? They are quite tasty too. They have that homegrown tomato smell and taste that you don’t get from the store bought ones. I wish I lived closed to my parents as my dad grows a lot of tomatos and they are big and beautiful. I seem to only have luck with growing the small version but they are still yummy. I think I’ll take some to work for a snack today.

Here is a picture I took of my Star Jasmine vine that was in full bloom in late April. I wish you could smell them, it is just heavenly. I wish the blooms lasted longer but I believe its mother nature’s way for us to anticipate spring and the colors and aroma it brings.

Happy Monday!

how does your garden grow?

I’m very lucky living in the southwest, spring arrives early here and because of our HOT summers our planting schedule whether its for flowers or vegetables is different then other parts of the U.S.

Unless you are a really dedicated gardener and can coax your garden to stay alive in 115º (46C) temperatures, most annual flowers and vegetable gardens are done by June, maybe July if you’re lucky. I love to garden but when it’s really hot I’ll give the plants the water they need and watch them from inside my house. They’re really on their own; they’ll sink or swim depending on their heartiness. Cruel I know but it’s hot.

We plant our ‘summer’ gardens in February and our ‘winter’ gardens in September. Strange but necessary in the southwest. Here are my typical plantings:

February
Flowers: pansies, petunias, viola, primrose, stock, and daisies.

Veggies: eggplant (Japanese & white (this one is new to me, will let you know how it turns out), jalapeno pepper, purple bell pepper, zucchini, red cherry tomatoes, small yellow tomato, string beans, and arugala (aka rucola/rocket).

Herbs: rosemary, basil, parsley, cilantro, oregano, thyme, marjoram, and sage.

September
Flowers: pansies, petunias, snapdragons, sweet peas (planted in fall, bloom in spring).

Veggies: carrots, beets, lettuce (arugala and spinach), and onions.

Herbs: if they didn’t survive the summer heat then I replant the same fall herbs. The only one that is frost tender is the basil.

So blog readers – how does your garden grow? I would love to hear about your garden and what you grow. Do you have a green thumb?

I’ll post pictures when my laptop allows me (see previous post) so you can see the progress of my garden.

Now go out and play in some dirt.