Finally, after months of one of the harshest winters I can remember, spring is full blown in the south eastern United States. Tulips are blooming, trees are green, and allergies are flaring- at least where we are! We went back home last weekend and enjoyed a lovely Easter dinner with my family and got to see many long, lost friends. We also got to see my not-so-little brother go to his senior prom. And now we're back and ready to garden! The weather here has been awesome lately (I'm blogging from the front porch), so it's a great time to get outside and do some spring chores.
The seedlings have been doing okay. The peppers and herbs are looking great, but the tomatoes are lacking the strength I hoped they would have by now. We may still try and plant them, but we may also have to buy some plants to supplement my home grown seedlings. Gardening is certainly one big experiment most of the time, so sometimes you just have to accept defeat and move on to the next plant.
The plants that Beth and I put in the garden 2 weeks ago are looking great! The broccoli plants are thriving, and most of the seeds we planted have sprouted and are on their way. Our compost is looking good and doing it's thing too. Funny thing about home-made compost (and store bought for that matter), no matter how much you turn it, some things just don't decompose. For example, last year I didn't turn it much over the winter, and come summer I had full blown tomato plants growing in my compost pile from some tomatoes from the year before. This year, even with Beth turning it more frequently, we managed to get two pumpkin plants growing in our garden beds from undecomposed seeds. I think we'll let them go for now and see what happens. We may be adding another vegetable to our collection this summer!
Beth also cleaned out the flower bed that I had planted for the last 2 years (thanks Beth!). We planted some onion starters on the ends of the bed, and once it's past the freeze date for area, we will be planting flowers in the middle. The flower bed is actually one of my favorite parts of the garden. Mr. Growbot and I had planted it on a whim the first year we did a garden and it provided so much beauty to the backyard, not to mention that the birds and the bees loved it and we had freshly cut flowers most of the summer. It was certainly a rewarding surprise.
It may be a couple of weeks until I post again because of some upcoming weekend plans, but the frost-free date for our area is coming up quickly, so the next post should be a big one. Looking forward to it!
-Mrs. Growbot
