In The Garden I Play with Eostre
As spring is around the corner I need to start preparing my garden for the late spring and summer months. I have fresh and home dried herbs all year round, but in the spring and summer I plant organic lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers (peppers were a bit of a bust last year though). The lettuce is a great hit and everyone raves that it’s the best tasting lettuce they’ve had! I just use all organic seed, soil, and feed – I get great results from loose-leaf lettuces like Black Seeded Simpson, and a Mesclun Blend. I use Botanical Interests seeds because they are organic and produce great crops.
I began gardening in 2003, and have looked after plants every day since. Some are still with me from 2003, and some have passed on. For my first four years of gardening I only grew herbs, and a couple of succulents, but when I moved to California in 2007 I planted junipers, jasmines, and bougainvillea. Back here and now in Florida I grow a little food, and have a herb garden that I use all year long. I dry oregano and use it all the time, as well as catnip for my cat. I use basil fresh as well as parsley. The parsley I currently have is 6 years old! It still tastes great too!
My most beloved plants I watch over are the jade I’ve cultivated. I have one that is 10 years old, which I took cuttings from. Currently I have two jades, they are beautiful and love each other very much. Did you know that plants can recognize their kin? The daddy jade plant I own had started to grow ill and yellow, as I had moved two houses down from my folks and left him there. He missed me I guess, so I moved him to my house next to his baby, and after a few weeks he began to grow well again and is now producing thick, green foliage.
There’s something about Springtime that makes me feel alive, the smell of blossom in the air, the warm winds, and longer days picks me up and dusts me off. Spring means more gardening and spending hours upon hours in meditative trances as I focus so intently upon the plant in front of me. Springtime calls for birds to fall in love and they tell the whole world about it, so that the air is thick with their loving birdsong bright and happy. Spring means reading in the gloaming until the light grows dark, noticing the shadows elongate in swathes upon the lawn. O Spring! I’m glad you’re here again.
Below are photos of my lettuce growing in wooden beds that I made also! And my beloved Jade.
echo in the memory 
I wish I could garden like you. I try, but am not always successful.
Keep trying 🙂 Seeds are cheaper, but sometimes buying an already established plant can be more successful.
Thank you for the link. Great post!
You’re welcome Cassidy! Thanks!
I’m so glad I found you in this project! I’m very jealous of the room that you have to garden, and your gardening skills. I received a house plant two weeks ago, so I’m hoping to keep it alive.
Hannah!! I’m so glad you found me too – I was looking for a way to connect with your blog, but you have a blogspot and I don’t think they link to each other . . I can add your blog to my blogroll I think?! What kind of houseplant did you get? I love plants ❤
Your passion for gardening comes through your words and images. It is indeed at gift…I don’t have it…but I admire it…and surround myself with those who do@
AJF – thanks! I get my green thumb from my nana who kept a garden, and my dad who loves roses. My mum has a black thumb – very strange how the gardening gene skipped a generation!
I cannot keep plants alive! Though I have discovered that orchids work well for me! I am trying to grow tomatoes now. I love how you have added pictures to your post!
Thanks Dr. Scanlon! Tomatoes are awesome! Homegrown are delicious too – so so sweet 🙂 I use The Tomato Handbook as a great guide: http://www.amazon.com/The-Tomato-Handbook-Tomatoes-Gardeners/dp/1552091074
I bought a secondhand one – it was cheap enough – and has a lot of great advice and techniques.
I’m impressed with your relationship with orchids as they are rather finicky – like bonsai trees.