Gardening

Even though it is (still) January, in my neck of the woods, it is perfect weather to start planting.  We have had some hold overs from our spring 2013 plantings.  Some plants were just planted in the wrong season for this area and are now going bonkers with growth.  I learned a lot of lessons last year and hopefully we will be a bit more successful this coming season.

We primarily use what we have available on the property.  Like I said prior, it is family property that was a dairy over 50 years ago.  It belonged to my father's parents who eventually sold off most of the land to the size it is today.  We have one major issue that we have had to contend with, gophers.  It is because of them, for the most part, we can't plant in ground.  Well that and the soil here is primarily clay and not fun to work with.  So we have built several raised beds, have multiple old water barrels cut in half being used as planters and a couple more unusual raised beds.

This is a little planting bed beside our back porch.  Front, from left to right, aloe vera, container of carrots, jalapenos (blue pot #1 - trying again as I killed off the last plant), cilantro (blue pot #2 - one lone little seed sprouted a few weeks ago which was left over from the prior year), random basil growth. The brown pots in the back under the window are currently empty awaiting a new planting.  We are going to attempt to move the lantana bush to another location.  It is great at attracting bees, but I'm planning on putting some other flowers in to do the same job.

Behind the Aloe vera is the main basil planting (that stuff will take over every thing if you let it), then some rosemary and mint (in ground) the little white pot behind the carrots has sage.

In the black container on the left are tomatillos.  I'm really surprised they survived but it is producing like crazy. The black container on the right are tomatoes. I thought for sure it was going to die off during the winter, but it is just as happy as a lark.

Then we have our newest soon to be plants (hopefully).  I'll list out the various seeds we are starting later and yes those are various dairy containers that we are using. while I am sure that someone might argue with that usage, my environmentally conscience hubby says its ok and the seedlings will only be in there long enough to be replanted elsewhere.  Reduce and Reuse :-D

I hope you are having a fantastic day!

Mrs Bissinger