In full bloom!

I had some gorgeous iris bloom that have not bloomed in a couple of years. My roses have bloomed. The basil in my herb garden bloomed. There are Asiatic lilies and gladiolus coming up all over the flower garden, and the kitty memorial garden has really filled out and is blooming beautifully.



My broccoli, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, okra, squash, and zucchini are all getting big. The strawberries are doing well and I think I only lost a couple of plants but I am not pulling them up yet, because they may just be slower to put out foliage than the others.

My corn is about 4 inches high so I am finally planting it this weekend weather permitting (it is supposed to rain so we'll see what happens). The eggplant is still too small to put in the ground, I am afraid if I did it now it would not make it because they are so delicate at this point, so I am going to give them another week or two to grow.

My pink girl tomato plant has several blooms. I am so excited, I can't wait for tomatoes to start coming in! Also my blueberry bushes have lost all of their blooms and replaced them with actual blueberries!





My kids planted butter beans at school and so I need to make room in the garden to plant them as well. Don't know how much we'll get from the 2-3 plants, but I think it is sweet that the kids want their bean plants in the garden!
My yard is also in full bloom, mostly clover...because of work and weather it's been almost 2 weeks since it has been cut, but my husband will be getting to that tonight or this weekend if the rain holds off. I like the clover flowers though, they are pretty. Reminds me of the days in my childhood sitting amongst the clover making clover chains and crowns and jewelry from the flowers, and every so often running into a lucky four leaf clover.

Hidden Gardening Benefits

One of the benefits of gardening is having fresh, organic, healthy produce available during growing season. Another benefit is getting outdoors and being active. By being outside you get Vitamin D from the sun and by being active you can lose or manage your weight. I am not saying that gardening will make you instantly slim, I have some extra poundage so I can vouch for that, but gardening will burn calories, and eating the fresh produce is way more healthy than processed or fast food.

One hidden benefit I discovered was getting the kids to eat more vegetables. My kids have never been the kind that dislike veggies, but they are more willing to try something that they have had a hand in, including the garden. They are very excited about trying eggplant and the rainbow blend carrots that they helped plant.

We've incorporated both flower and vegetable gardening into their activities. Gardening with your kids also provides some great teaching moments such as learning about seed germination, parts of a flower, plant cells and reproduction, the water cycle, nutrition, and environmental issues. We started planting with my kids as an Earth Day project and since we've started to upgrade our gardens and they are bigger and can do more, they help with everything from planting to watering, weeding, and harvesting.

So far this year my kids have planted cantaloupes, and eggplant. This weekend we plan on planting sunflowers, and strawberry plants, and if the weather cooperates, we should get more of the seeds planted in the starter pots.

The weather was nice enough Wednesday to get my garden path lights out. I really like how they turned out.

First Seeds Have Arrived and Herbs are Planted

The first of the seeds that I ordered have arrived! Carrots, I got a rainbow blend for the kids to have fun with and a tender sweet variety also. The kids planted cantaloupe and eggplant in their little pots yesterday which are in my kitchen windowsill. I should get my other seeds and plants this week according to UPS tracking.
(Carrot photos courtesy of Gurneys.com)


I planted my window box herbs yesterday (which are actually on my front porch rail, not a window). I will post a pic later if it stops raining, and I can get a pic of them. I planted cilantro, basil, rosemary, mint, and oregano.
I would like a couple more herbs, but I don't have room in my window box, so I'll have to decide how I want to plant them. Probably in a clay pot on my porch, maybe a hanging basket.