Spring Planting

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." - Audrey Hepburn

The first weekend of May, we planted our garden!


We browsed around a few home improvement store garden areas, trying to decide where to purchase our seeds and plants. We ended up choosing Lowe's this year and our plants have been great so far!

We had this pot that our neighbor gave us when he moved out - I thought it would be perfect for our bay tree (which needed repotted from last year), however, it had no drainage hole. Since bay trees need good drainage and don't like soggy soil, Ike chipped out a hole in the bottom of it for me. :)

We had three succulents which have survived from our wedding. (Sadly we had many, many more from our wedding that died before we knew how to care for them). These three have grown tremendously since! We added a fourth last summer (in the stone container) which over the year had become a bit overcrowded in its container.

Our original plan was to simply move the existing succulents into larger containers to give them all room to breathe and grow. As we started, we started finding little "baby" succulents hiding underneath their mother succulents. Isaac searched youtube for vides on how to propagate these babies and before we knew it, we were on our way back to Lowes to pick up a bunch of tiny terra cotta plants! We ended up going from four succulents to seventeen. We are not sure if they will all make it, but so far so good! :)

Our banana pepper and bay tree

Our pussy willows - they made it through the winter and are looking great!

Our cherry tomato (Sun gold variety) surrounded by sweet basil.
In the middle pot, Red Mustard Japanese Giant.
As I'm looking at this photo (from the day we planted) I'm amazed at how much they have already grown.

 Lastly, lavender and rosemary growing in the window boxes.


Other things we planted (from seed) this year: French marigolds, wildflower hummingbird mix, and more lettuce.

 

Last year for my March birthday, Grandma Funk gave me an amaryllis bulb. I planted it last summer and while it grew to have long, strong, green leaves, it did not bloom all last summer. I almost gave up on it, but I liked the green through the fall and winter, despite how simple it was.

Seemingly randomly, in early March this year, it bloomed! Nearly a year to the day after I received it last year, it bloomed! And it was stunning - definitely worth the wait.