Peppers & Eggplants

Planted today in the southern (left) raised bed: Rosa Bianca Eggplant, Listada de Gandia Eggplant, Serrano Pepper, Ace (Bell) Pepper, Jalapeno Pepper, Poblano Pepper.  Unfortunately, the bed has been completely taken over by fire ants, so I guess we'll see what happens.

There are 3 spots left in that bed (onions in 1 of those spots right now).  I will probably plant my seedling peppers there once they get big enough (Purple Beauty Bell, Goat Horn, Jimmy Nardello).

The north (right) raised bed will probably be used for beans and possibly some of the extra tomato seedlings I have.

Cucumbers will eventually be planted in the elevated planter being used by sugar snap peas right now.

I still have 3 bag containers to use. I may get a few more eggplants.

Spring Planting Time!

It is time to get just about everything planted for summer.  That means getting the raised bed prepped.  I've got a couple of bags of compost to add, fertilizer to mix in, and winter plants and weeds to rip out.

This lettuce will likely be the last winter crop I harvest.

Cilantro in bloom with Varied Carpet Beetles... pests indoors but pollinators outdoors.

Some of the spring plants are close to producing.  The sugar snap peas are starting to bloom.  And the potatoes will hopefully be blooming soon.

Can you find Starla?

The largest tomatoes are in bloom and the Black Prince plant is the first to start fruiting.  There are a few more seedlings left to plant, and the Calendula is doing well with the larger tomatoes.

Black Prince is the first to fruit, but Cherokee Purple isn't far behind.

Native Nurseries was fully stocked with basil, so I added Sweet Genovese (Italian basil), Thai, and Lemon basil into the herb garden with the African Blue.  There's room for a couple more plants here and there.  I have some Zinnias started from seed that I might add if I don't find something sooner.  I might also get more basil to plant with tomatoes.

I pinch off the tops of the main stems on the basils so the side growth will make a bushier, more productive plant.

The zinnia seeds are very productive.

I bought a red penta to attract pollinators and hummingbirds.  I have an extra pot, so I will probably buy one more.  They are definitely good at their job.

As for the native plants, they are all awake except for the Fringe Tree, which isn't going to bloom but will have plenty of leaves soon.  The Coral Honeysuckle has shoots of new growth and leaves; the Ashe Magnolia is opening its few, small leaves; the FL Flame Azalea has its leaves out; and many of the plants I added last year seem to be coming back, including at least one Butterflyweed, the Purple Coneflower, the Beardtongue, and the Golden Alexander.  My wetland native plants are also coming back (Scarlet Hibiscus, Pink Swamp Milkweed, Cardinal Flower).  I lost my Stokes Aster though.  I'm not sure if it only survives a couple of years or if the conditions weren't right.  It had 3-4 nice blooms last year, but I saw no sign of it this year.  I recently planted a Passionflower Vine (an offshoot from my parents' plant) and a Columbine, and there's a lot of Coreopsis coming back (Lanceleaf and Leavenworth's). The Oakleaf Hydrangea looks like it will have a bloom or two.

Columbine, Passiflora, and Coreopsis in the native plant area.

Oakleaf Hydrangea blooms developing.

Scarlet Hibiscus & Cardinal Flower (Pink Swamp Milkweed is there, but not obvious).

My next tasks will be to pot the last of the tomatoes, get the raised beds ready for planting, and figure out where to put everything else.  It's a scramble right now. 

Planting Tomatoes

I planted 4 more tomatoes today... two Paul Robeson and two Black Cherry. I just have two Jaune Flamme tomatoes left to plant (they need to grow more). I have a grand total of 9 tomato plants this year, and I opted to plant them all in containers. That worked well last year since I was able to move them as needed.  The containers are also deeper than the raised bed.

I bought a couple of red and white trailing verbenas and planted them to help fill out the new herb garden.

Herb Garden & More

I made a 3-tiered herb garden from galvanized metal tubs/buckets from Tractor Supply Co. 

The bottom is a 16.75 gallon tub, the middle is a 4.5 gallon bucket, and the top is a 2 quart bucket. I drilled holes in the bottoms for drainage. 
 

Each level is set up on the backside of the container below...

Too lazy/busy to bother scraping off all the stickers, which were stuck on very well.

I have it about half planted w/ moisture-loving herbs/plants including: African Blue Basil, Curly & Flat-leaf Parsley, Chives, Calendula, and hopefully a few short Teddy Bear Sunflowers will come up from seed.  I'm hoping to get more basils soon, and one may be the "feature" plant on the top tier. Or I may find something else to put there.

I also bought another (non-variegated) lemon thyme and added it to the raised dry-loving herb garden.  It has rained a lot over the past 36 hours, so they're probably getting too much water.  The potting soil I used for them is much sandier though, so it should also dry out quicker.

I started some marigold and zinnia seeds today.  The marigold seeds came for free in the mail as part of some insurance company's self-promotion.  Very thoughtful, but no thanks on the insurance, haha!

Native Nurseries has so many different tomato varieties in right now, as well as peppers, eggplants, squash, etc.  I bought some peppers (Poblano, Jalapeno, Serrano, Ace sweet bell) and two eggplants (Rosa Bianca, Listada de Gandia) since my Rosa Bianca seeds failed. That means I need to get my raised beds cleaned out and a bit of soil added again very soon.  Tractor Supply has straw bales, so I may try adding some straw mulch and see if that helps the raised bed plants.

The first tomato to bloom is the Black Prince.  It's supposed to be an earlier variety, so I'm letting it go ahead.  Both it and the Cherokee Purple have grown quite a bit since I got them and can go ahead and get to fruiting.  The Berkeley Tie Dye has also grown but was much smaller when I bought it.  I also have the tomatoes I grew from seed (Black Cherry, Paul Robeson, Jaune Flamme), and I'd like to keep two of each.

The pansies and violas are going through another bloom, but they are about played out w/ the hot weather we've had.  I'll probably trade them out for petunias or something similar in another week or two.

True Spring

Sometime within the past 48 hours, both the FL Flame Azalea and the American Beautyberry plants started opening their leaf buds.  Looks like the flame azalea won't be blooming for another year.  At this point, it may be just getting too much shade, but I don't plan to move it.

American Beautyberry

Florida Flame Azalea

I drilled holes in the dry-loving herb planter yesterday finally, and got the plants I have added to it.  I may have to replace the sage, unless it starts growing better.

I have a plant stand for the porch and moved the scented geraniums and the wet-loving herbs there for now.  I will re-pot the mints and probably keep them there, and get the planter for the wet-loving herbs ready soon... I have an idea for it and am waiting for some more plants to become available (basils mostly).  I also have some more Calendula seedlings waiting, plus some seeds for small sunflowers, zinnias, and marigolds. I'm not sure what will go where yet.

The seedlings are coming along.

The onions I bought are going crazy.  I will probably pull them before they make good bulbs, but they should work similar to bunching onions.  I also have a handful of bunching onions left in the raised bed that are forming blooms, so I'm keeping them around to watch.

The carrots in the middle are also growing quite quickly.

The sugar snap peas keep growing. I need to check some dates and see when they'll potentially be making pods.  I hope it doesn't get too hot for them.

Finally, the potatoes continue to grow.  They look great up top. I just hope they are making lots of potatoes, too.

Natives, Herbs, & Peppers

I re-potted all the peppers today.  They are still fairly small (but have some true leaves) but should start bolting up if the weather stays in the mid-80s some days!  I have: 1 Purple Beauty (if it's true), 2 Jimmy Nardello, and 6 Goat Horn. I'm planning to buy a Serrano, possibly a Jalapeno, and a Poblano or 2.

I can cross off some herbs from my list.  Hopefully I can get them planted sometime this week.

Peppermint, Spearmint, Lemon Balm, Curly Parsley, Flat-leaf Parsley, Chives, Lavender, Variegated Lemon Thyme (my fav!!!)

I still want to get some basil (Thai and Italian), Thai mint, and probably sage to replace what I have from last year.

The native plants are showing signs of life.  The Oakleaf hydrangea is putting out light green, super fuzzy leaves.  And the Scarlet hibiscus is coming back up after I chopped off all the dead stems in the winter.

It is still pretty windy.  I don't remember it being so breezy last year. It also seems to shift a lot, so it's really trying for the taller plants, I bet.

Pile The Potatoes

Added a lot of dirt to top off the potato plants. Will continue to fertilize them about once a week.

I also harvested the two cabbages before they get too warm.

No rain last night, although it was forecasted, so all the tomatoes and seedlings got some water from the hose.

Little Tomatoes

I re-potted the last of the tomato seedlings today.  I have quite a few of each variety I grew this year.  Some of the peppers are almost ready to re-pot, probably next week.  There's no sign of the eggplant seedlings I planted w/ everything else... I may have to buy plants if I want them.

I fertilized the potatoes & carrots, as well as the tomatoes.  The potatoes need more soil piled on them very soon.

I have some herbs that need potting, probably together (a planter w/ dry soil lovers and a planter w/ wet soil lovers).  For the wet soil lovers, I'm not sure if I want to use one of the large containers I have now (all are currently busy) or buy more.  I will probably try to wait and push some plants out of the existing ones... the cauliflower needs to go, and I can get rid of the extra peas I planted there, too.  Plus I like the idea of using one of the metal tubs as a permanent herb garden.  I have one more long elevated planter I will use for the dry soil lovers.  I just need to drill drain holes, which I hate having to do.

I need to clean out the raised bed soon.  There's a bit of nice-looking small lettuces still there, but it's getting too warm for them to stay much longer.  Some of the older lettuce and tatsoi is starting to bloom.

Dove

A dove decided to take a rest on the tomato seedlings today...

Taken through glass and screen. The first guilty look.

Was able to get closer.

It finally flew away when I got too close.  It has been very windy today, so I also wanted to make sure it wasn't injured. 

A viola volunteered in the yard.  It's probably from the current plantings.  I imagine some seeds have blown all over the yard.

Springtime

The weather definitely seems to be turning the corner to spring. The cold-weather plants are waning. A good example is the tatsoi, which was so beautiful only a week or two ago and is now turning yellow and looking wilted.

The most-mature tomato seedlings I purchased a week ago are trying to bloom already.  I pinched them off for now so the plant can concentrate on growing.

    

The Berkley Tie-Dye is shorter, and I buried it more.  It should develop a good root system.

The potatoes are growing quickly now that they're up.  These are the Red Pontiacs, but all look similar right now.  I've given them a couple of feedings of phosphorus-based fertilizer to see if they develop roots (potatoes) better this year.

The spring carrots and onions are looking good. I thinned the carrots just after this.

More onions...

The sugar snap peas are doing fine.

The seedlings I've grown are all looking OK.

Starla likes to "help."

One last look... the remaining cauliflower plants are heading, but I suspect I will only get a couple of sprigs.  The weather's getting too warm; winter was too short.