Garden News

So much to report and so little time!

Fertilized the citrus trees...



Planted morning glories around the base of trees...



Planted azaleas all along the back. Boyfriend bought these for me for Valentines Day because they last a lot longer than cut flowers! We just planted them two weeks ago because of cold snaps in February.



The bouganvillea is coming back...


And the crepe myrtle tree is coming back. We got this little tree at the arts and foliage festival last year.



I potted the cactus that my aunt Kathy gave me 2 years ago as a housewarming present. This whole time it was in the ground, which is very sandy soil down here in FL. It was also in part shade. Now it is in full sun in rich soil. It wasn't very happy before, but as you can see, it is getting happier by the minute because it just made new growth. See the new light green growth?

Updates

Sorry I haven't been posting often. Here are some updates!

Sunflowers have been transplanted from the Aerogarden garden starter system to the yard. I can't start them outside because the squirrels dig up the seeds and eat them! The sunflowers really cheer things up!





3 raised beds are going right now. One is plants transplanted from the aerogarden garden starter system. The other two are plants directly sown.





An a-frame trellis has been added to the original bed, which was relocated to a different area of the yard. In the a-frame bed are pickling cucumbers and summer squash.







The front flower bed has been seeded with nasturnium and a few bulbs. I moved some of the liriope to the front bed too, to fill it in a little while the seeds germinate.

I also planted morning glory seeds around the bases of trees out back in hopes that they climb!

Instead of cut flowers for Valentine's day, boyfriend has offered to buy me flowering shrubs of my choice. That will be the next project.

Also, I started the upside-down tomato again for the new season!

In the Aerogarden is cascading petunias. They are supposed to grow tall, then spill blooms over the sides of the Aerogarden.

The other Aerogarden is still garden-starting, including more sunflowers!

Happy Spring!

New raised beds!

My wonderful, fantastic, sweet and talented boyfriend built 2 new raised beds for us! I was able to fill one with the plants I started in the Aerogarden garden starter system.

Azalea

I thought I would post one last pic of the azalea in bloom before we tear it up. It's right next to the concrete slab patio which we want to expand and convert to pavers. If at all possible we will try to save this shrub by relocating it. However, shrub removal is challenging due to their expansive root systems. If we cannot preserve the tap root, the shrub will probably die.

Challenges

Here is my unhappy garden. You will notice the most plants are in small peat pots. These plants were started in the garden starter system, and were moved outside. We did not get the raise beds built in time to plant directly into the ground. But this was a blessing actually, because 2 days after they were moved outside, we had a freeze. 2 nights were in the 30s. So fortunately I was able to move all the little pots inside to the garage until the cold weather passed.

But they look kind of droopy and upset now. I gave them just a little drink, on their roots only and left the leaves dry since it's not that warm right now, it's still in the 50's. Fortunately, if I have a loss, I can throw some more seeds into the AeroGarden. I actually have some extras growing right now: at least 2 tomato plants, 2 pepper plants, dill, and eggplant. We will see what happens...

Sunflowers

Sunflowers transplanted from the Aerogarden.

Garden starter system

Week 6.





Now the grow bowl gets placed outside so the plants "harden off".

Tomato, basil, eggplant, dill, borage