We had a chance to work on our garden boxes this past weekend....cleaning up the debris and tilling the soil. It is always a joy to see what is already sprouting and growing without much effort. We made some hard choices this year about which things to continue growing and which things to get rid of in each box.
Box number one is historically my box to plant and care for...I change it up every year. With the clean-up this weekend I realized that the Prairie Sunflowers are really going to fill the whole box up. I should probably thin the plants out but I will let them go one more year. They are great bird attractive plants and I have other boxes I can use for edibles.
Box number two has always been Mr. A's box. He is a simple guy and enjoys his strawberries and dahlias. This is a no fuss kind of box. The berry plants are already growing like crazy and there are blossoms! There is one corner where all the strawberries died for some reason so we will be picking up some need seedlings next time we are at the garden nursery. He has both everbearing and June bearing plants in his box.
Box number three is Mr. B's box. He is the herb man. This was where we made the executive decision to pull ALL the oregano from the box this year. Mr. B has lost interest in his herb garden so I am going to be using part of his box for my veggies. We left the lemon thyme and the garlic chives. There are also two small mystery plants that we will leave until we figure out what they are.
Box number four is Amanda's box but she is off having the time of her life in Bolivia this year so I will be nurturing her box while she is gone. She has always had a cutting flower garden in her box....even after leaving home we still consider it her box. The coneflowers and daisies are looking healthy and I will be planting some zinnias and other colorful flowers to fill the box when it is time.
The rest of the yard is looking so spring-like. The climbing rose is dazzling yellow and there are so many promises in other parts of the garden as well. The roses are in bud, the butterfly bush and lavender are growing like crazy, the day lilies are all filling in....can't wait for the show to begin. Something new this week- apple blossoms!
Plans for Garden Boxes - 2013
Box 1 - Prairie Sunflowers, shade tolerant herbs (dill, cilantro)
Box 2 - Add more strawberries and add stakes for dahlias.
Box 3 - Existing herbs, zucchini and green beans
Box 4 - Coneflowers, daisies, zinnias
Other Areas:
Under Birdfeeder - Morning glories
Large bed in back - Sunflowers
Deck Containers - I am receiving and reviewing from Renee's Garden the Easy to Grow - Container Kitchen Vegetable Garden collection which includes tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, chard, and basil. Excited to see how this goes this year!I would totally love to add a blueberry bed in a different area of the garden. The spot where my current blueberries live is just not right...they are not thriving. I am trying to convince my husband to help me add a row of blueberries as an experiment...we shall see.
How are your garden plans coming?
It has finally gotten warm here. Normally we are well into spring by now, but just this week we have finally seen the warmth.
ReplyDeleteMy butterfly garden is starting to come out, and the green beans have germinated. Everything is in the garden, now if it will stay warm enough for everything to grow. :)
Usually we plant in February (Florida) and by March have blooms galore. Alas, that didn't happen. Now April is here and it may be too late to plant for me.
ReplyDeleteI sooooo need to get out and start tackling our garden. It's nothing but weeds right now. Thankfully my perennials and things are just starting to bloom so it's distracting folks just a teeny bit from all those weeds!
ReplyDeleteInspiring! I love how you change up your box each year. And, yes, it is a' time for a weed pullin' around here for sure.
ReplyDelete