Sprouting

I went by the plot today to check on how things were going. The last we’d seen were that the carrots were up and the potatoes were thriving.

This is the shed where anyone in the garden can use tools and organic fertilizers and pesticides. It is super organized with printed recipes for making the pesticides or fertilizers, too.

My mom’s onions have been up for awhile and are doing great.

We’ve got five tomato plants that we bought from the store. Chris got a bit overzealous with some orange oil for bug prevention and the next day two tomatoes looked to bite the dust. So, he replaced them a couple of days ago with two new plants and they are looking great. We were lucky to find a couple heirloom varieties, too. The tomato seed we started at home still haven’t sprouted so I am hoping they will just magically come up one morning. Hrmph.

My mom’s potatoes are also doing really great and I foresee lots from this harvest! Growing up my parents did potatoes quite a bit so I will be learning from mom as she harvests them this year.

A few nasturiums are coming up on the edges of the plot.

We are going to have to really thin the carrots out when they all come up! Have you seen how many come in a packet?

An okra seedling making a debut.

At one end of the plot we broke it down into several small sections of herbs. I *think* this is the cilantro, but we will just have to wait until they get true leaves.

A shot of some of the plots, including my brother’s, the one with all the onions.

Back at home a few things are blooming such as these snowdrops in the front beds.

And of course the dandelions are beautifying spring.

I spent a good bit of time this afternoon working on another bed out in the backyard putting in caladiums. Now that after 25 years of living in this house all of the trees have finally grown up and so my parents have a lot of shade. Caladiums make great shade/part shade plants and this one particular bed can be a bit of a pain to plant. Anyway, the dogs had to come out and sun themselves while I was pulling weeds. This is Isabelle, she’s getting old and is partially blind.

And then there is Daisy Lou who is the baby and an attention hog. She spends lots of time outside when the weather is good, mostly being teased by the squirrels that run from tree to roof to fence, torturing the poor pup along the way. Someday she might actually get one.