Spring Flowers

Moss Rose

Lime Zinnia

Sweet Potato Vine


I am not exactly sure what this is. The leaves of the plant remind me of lamb's ear, but the flowers are not the same.

My first Cosmos flower of the season.

Fruit Trees in the Garden

A little update on how the fruit is growing. The peaches are holding on. A few seemed to have escaped the bugs and are unblemished.

The fig tree has put on quite a few figs. They are delicious fresh. I prefer to eat them off the tree. They make yummy jam as well.

The pears are slowly growing. I am hoping to have enough for some pear preserves or pear honey. I would really like to put up some pear halves as well.

Staking Tomatoes for Less

My container tomato plants are staked with tomato cages. When we were gifted a bunch of tomato plants for the garden, I knew I would not want to buy that many tomato cages. My budget simply would not allow it. The tomatoes still needed to be staked. We used old tobacco sticks, heavy duty twine and twist ties.

First dh buried the tobacco sticks and strung the twine making two to three rows up the sticks.

Next we gently pulled up the plants and used twist ties to loosely secure the stalks to the twine. The stalks will continue to grow so no matter what you use to secure them keep it loose.

Main Garden

Many of my plants are in containers, but I do have a main garden in the backyard. Here are some pictures of what I grow there and how everything is doing.

The first row is a mixture of watermelon and cantaloupe plants. The watermelons are just vines, but we do have several small cantaloupes.

The second and third rows are mostly tomato plants with a few zucchini plants. We have several small tomatoes.

The third row is yellow squash. I prefer the straight neck as opposed to the crookneck squash. We have been eating some squash already.

Row number five is cucumbers. I do not need any dill pickles this year. These are for eating fresh and perhaps some yummy sweet pickle relish.

The last row is okra which is in need of a bit of thinning out. The best way I know to eat okra is fried. I can handle it is soup but not stewed. I am thinking some pickled okra might be a good thing to try this year.

Up-to-Date Garden Pictures

Here are the pictures of the garden that I took over the weekend. I have more but am saving them to go with other posts.

Eggplant

Tomato

Butterfly Garden

Middle of May Garden Progress

As promised here are the pictures from the middle of May to show you the progress the garden has made.

The Butterfly Garden

Sago Palm

Eggplant

Tomato Plant

How Fast Does Your Garden Grow?

I have garden pictures spanning the past month. I thought it would be nice to take them one section at a time. First up are pictures from the beginning of May.

Here are the peaches on our peach/plum tree

The butterfly garden

Sago Palm

Cleaned Out Flower Bed

Computer Problems Over

I am happy to be back online with no problems now. I ended up having to reformat the hard drive, but everything is working smoothly again. I know everyone complains about their slow computer. When my neighbors complained, I let them use my computer and was always told "mine is not so bad after all". It was aggravating, and I did lose a few programs. I had tried everything else. I could have taken it somewhere to be checked out. The cost of that would have been more than the cost of the two programs. I am not certain that the outcome would have been any different.

I am pleased to say that I have posts lined up for the next week. I apologize for my absence and hope the computer will cooperate from here on out.

Growing Tomatoes

I do not claim to be a gardening expert. I lean toward the method that if it does not the first time just try something different the second time. That is how I discovered that Celebrity tomatoes grow best in my area. I do grow other types including an heirloom variety. Over the years I came up with a few other tips.

First when planting the tomato plants, remove the bottom leaves. If you notice all along the stalk are "hairs". I plant the stalk as deep as I can. Roots will form all along the stalk giving you a healthier plant.

Tomatoes need at least 6 hours of sun and a good amount of water. During the summer here I often have to water my plants twice a day.

One common tomato problem is blossom end rot. The bottom part of your tomato will rot while it is still on the plant. One solution that has worked for me is milk. If I have some milk that has spoiled, I pour it around the tomato plant. The calcium helps prevent this type of rot.

Tomatoes are an excellent container plant. I do cage mine to give the plant some extra support. I used a mix of compost, manure, and a little potting soil.

Last year we picked our last tomato for eating just a few days before New Years. I realize not everyone has such a long growing season. With a little care and attention, you can have beautiful tomato plants and delicious home grown tomatoes.

Growing A Pineapple Plant

I recently saw a medium sized pineapple plant in a store for $15. I suppose this is not a bad deal. If you enjoy eating fresh pineapple, you can get a plant for free. A few simple steps all are that is needed to grow your own plant. I did some research and then adjusted it a bit.

When you cut the top off your fresh pineapple, remove as much of the fruit from the top as you can. Next pull off an inch or two of leaves from the bottom. The third step is the important one. Set the top aside for two or three days to allow it to dry a bit. This will go a long way to prevent the top from rotting. I let mine dry a bit too much, but it was still fine. Next set the pineapple top in water. I used a pint mason jar to hold mine. Wait for roots to appear. I had good, long roots in a few weeks' time. Finally plant your pineapple plant.

I will admit that mine is not as pretty (yet!) as the purchased plant. However for the same price I can buy 5 pineapples. That will give me five plants to grow and five delicious pineapples to eat.

Fruit Trees

We are trying to increase the amount of fruit we grow. We already had a decent sized pear tree on our land, but it never did much since it was overshadowed by a pecan tree. Since the pecan tree was not a good producer and was where my new greenhouse will be, DH cut it down. Now the pear tree can get more sun, and hopefully we can get more pears.

Earlier this year I shared a picture of our peach/plum tree. It was loaded with plums that as usual blew off with the first spring storm. We do have peaches still. They are a bit buggy as I am still searching for an organic way to keep the bugs off. For this year we will eat around the spots.

Lastly is our smallest pair of trees. Pictured below are two kumquat trees. I started them from seeds. We have a long time to wait before we are rewarded with kumquats.

Gardening Progress

I apologize for the lack of pictures today. I took a bunch, but the computer will not upload them. Hopefully I will get the kinks worked out by tomorrow. This past week in spite of suffering from a cold I got the garden planted with help from my dad and my DH. We planted cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, watermelon, and cantaloupe plants. My cousin gifted two dozen tomato plants from the nursery where he worked. They were leggy and needed planting. Those went into the garden as well. I hope to have pictures of this and the rest of the yard/garden later this week.

Blooms

With the warmer temperatures and spring rains, the flowers and plants around the deck are really growing as is most everything in the yard. I thought today I would share a few blooms.

The first is a nasturtium. Each year I have grown these from a package of mixed seed. It is always exciting to me when one blooms since the color is a surprise. Here is the latest one.

I love how these petunias have little stripes of white on each bloom. In the background is Lucy overlooking her domain.

I cannot remember the name of these. I chose them mainly because they grow tall and will attract butterflies. The small purple blossoms are lovely.

The last blooms are the ones I am most excited about.....raspberry blooms. My new raspberry bushes are blooming. I expect I will only have a small handful of raspberries this year, but it will be a good start.

Vegetable Update

In addition to the tomatoes that I planted about two weeks ago, I planted two bell pepper plants last week. The tomatoes are already growing. I am sure the healthy amount of chicken litter I added to the soil has been an encouragement.

I like to start the zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, watermelon, and cantaloupe seeds in small cups which can be transplanted into the garden. The cucumber seeds are not sprouting well. All of the squash came up. Most of the remaining seeds sprouted. You can already see some plants that are larger than the others. Those would be the zucchini, of course. I can already tell that I am going to be searching for recipes to use those in.

The last picture is not a vegetable, but it is a definite sign of spring. In the south the legend is that once the pecan trees begin to bud winter is officially over. For the most part this has been true. While I am happy to see the cold weather end, I am not looking forward to the pollen that will quickly follow these first leaves. I suppose this is a small price to pay for the wonderful shade that will be provided.

Garlic

This year is the first time I am attempting to grow garlic. I was not certain where the best place to plant it would be so I chose two different spots in the yard. I put some by the herb garden and the rest in a sunnier location near the deck. As I mentioned earlier one area was growing very well while the other appeared to be stalled. Perhaps garlic bulbs enjoy a bit of friendly competition. The less productive set now appears to be outgrowing the first. I am sure the differing amounts of sun have something to do with that.

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By the herb garden (shadier)

By the deck (sunnier)

The Perfect Getaway

In the evenings the cats and I love to sit in the backyard. I take a book, magazine, or perhaps a letter and settle into one of the Adirondack chairs. The cats either gather around on the deck or in the grass. I think all of the plants help make the deck a nice little getaway at home.

I added a few new plants this year. DH picked out this collection of coral bells. The names of the varieties are delightfully delicious: Creme Brulee, Key Lime, and Mint Mocha.

While I have no idea where he picked up the two plastic stands and cannot even remember what the original purpose of each was. They make perfect plant stands. I am hoping that over the next few months the ferns grow full and bushy and hide them just a bit. The pot in the front has trailing verbena. The three plants in the back should grow one to two feet tall with blue and purple flowers.

Pictured below is JJ who was following me around the yard until he found something in the grass to stalk.

Can You Guess What This Is?

While I was wondering around the yard, I spotted this on the side of a building. Can you guess what it is?

I stepped a bit closer for this picture.

Have a guess yet?

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Finally I zoomed in and took this picture.

It is a large mass of tiny baby spiders. Fortunately I do not have arachnophobia. Instead I am imagining all of the bugs that will be eaten by this large family.

Spring Blooms

Yesterday's post contained a picture of a hanging basket of a chenille plant. I thought perhaps everyone might not know what it looked like. Here is the large plant that I took the babies off of a few weeks ago. This one needs to be repotted, but I have to purchase a prettier pot first.

Also here is the first Amaryllis bloom of the season. I have a bunch more buds, but this one opened up first. I think the coloring on the blossom is amazing. It is a true vision of beauty.