Today is an absolutely beautiful day. I live just outside the Washington, DC border and the temperature outside my house is a perfect 74 degrees. There’s even a slight breeze blowing through my windows, but to be honest it’s too nice to be cooped up indoors, so I keep finding excuses to wander outside. I took out the trash, bundled up some recyclables, planted some seeds and took photos of my box garden.
I’m super excited about the garden this year. I started a bunch of seeds inside and spaced them out nicely once they got large enough to move into the garden. Last year I planted seeds too close together, and most of the vegetables ran out of space to grow. I’ve already made a few mistakes, like planting some seedlings while it was still too cold. My poor cucumbers didn’t survive when I transported out of my very warm house. That was a real bummer.
I can’t wait for the zucchini, which just started to flower this week. I bookmarked a bunch of new recipes in anticipation of their arrival.
I’ve been growing garlic since the fall. It’s on the left in the picture below next to my zucchini. I have no idea how long it takes garlic to grow, but this stuff has been in the ground forever!
I’m also experimenting with a hodge–podge of other flowers and vegetables. Among the list are broccoli, shallots, strawberries, peas, peppers, cucumbers, forget-me-nots, zinnias and daisies. I also noticed a few flowers on the blueberry bush I bought last year and the leaves on the raspberry twig, (it’s too tiny to call a bush), grew back, so I hope it might actually bud a fruit or two next year.
I believe that you need to plant 2 different varieties of blueberry bushes in order to get cross-pollination and fruit. You might want to get your blueberry bush a friend! I planted 3 bushes about 16 yrs ago, mulched them once with pine bark,and that's it! They are very prolific!
The guest house I'm currently renting has a lemon bush (maybe it's a tree, but it looks like a bush) filled with fresh lemons that are literally rotting because they're not being picked (what can one person do with all those lemons?!!), plus an orange tree. There's also an avocado tree somewhere. I haven't figured out which one it is, but each week when the gardener comes there's an avocado left on my patio table. Yummy!
@patricew – I didn't realize I needed two blueberry bushes. I'll definitely buy another!
@stella – oh a house with lemons, oranges and avocados! That sounds delectable.