Spring has Sprung: Garden Projects Post #1

This winter was one of those winters. The type that drags on and on with no hope of ever surrendering to the coming spring. One of the wonderful things about life, however, is that winter always melts away as the sun's rays become more and more direct as planet Earth keeps revolving out in space. And with that, the tiny sprouts of spring start to poke their wee faces out of the soil, until in the blink of an eye, the world is covered in green again. If you can't tell, I have been waiting for this moment since the first snowfall back in November. It's not that I hate winter, I just wildly prefer a green world to a snow covered one. One of my favorite pass times is gardening, and the best part to the start of the growing season is designing my front planter and getting my early vegetables sown into the earth. I wanted to share with you a couple items from my first trip to the greenhouse!

The Front Planter:

I love this big blue planter in front of our house! I feel like so many different flower color combinations look so pretty with the rich blue color. This year, my color choices are yellows, whites, greens, and a little bit of purple. My focus flower is the yellow begonia in the center back, framed with two ivy plants. They have beautiful leaves; they almost look like watercolor paintings. I also added small white petunias and yellow and white pansies. The white pansies have a little pop of purple in their centers. When designing a planter, its always a good idea to have some variety of heights in it, and the ivy add nice depth to this arrangement. This planter turned out so dreamy!

The Big Blue Planter 2020

Other Projects: The Back Garden

I have 3 big garden boxes in the backyard where I grow my fruits, veggies and herbs. One of the boxes is a perennial box with strawberries, chives, oregano, and mint. I let these plants kind of do their own thing, but this will be my 4th summer with them, and each year the strawberries yield more berries than the year before. I am hoping to get enough to make a strawberry rhubarb pie! I know this one looks messy, but like I said, I like to let these guys grow however makes them happy.

The Perennial Herb Box

The middle garden box has a few more new herbs, and it will eventually house my peppers too. So far, I have rosemary, dill, beets, and sweet basil planted here. I am hoping to also plant banana and bell peppers, and a jalapeno plant or two as well. I planted these plants today, but don't worry, I gave them a good drink of water to help make them happy in their new home!

Freshly Planted Newbies

Lastly, I cleaned up the rhubarb and raspberry patch because these plants are quite literally growing like weeds. I planted the little rhubarbs last year, and they seem to be doing very well in in their little region. I also planted the raspberries last year, and they are already propagating new little baby raspberries, which I am very excited about. Growing up, my grandpa always had the most magnificent raspberry patch out on the farm, and I one of my most fond memories is walking through that patch, picking and eating the plump berries while the bumblebees pollinated the little flowers. I am hoping that my little patch will someday grow to also be something magnificent. If I get a good yield of berries and make jam, I will share my raspberry thumbprint cookie recipe with you! It is so rewarding cooking with something you've harvested from your own garden!

Rhubarb and Raspberries

I am not quite finished with my garden prep yet. I still need to get my tomatoes, watermelon, onions, potatoes, and of course, the peppers into the ground. I am so happy that garden centers can be open right now too, because I would be lost without my gardening!

I'd like to take a moment to give a shout out to my favorite local greenhouse, where I got my new flowers and herbs from today. I love Tonkadale Greenhouse in Minnetonka, MN. They have so many amazing varieties of plants and gifts. They also have the most breathtaking house plant selection. They are currently doing curbside pick-up and in-store shopping with reservation to make sure everyone stays safe. Check out their website! www.tonkadale.com

Here's to hoping for April showers and May flowers!

-Carley <3

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