Seeds of Change

It has been a long time (a very long time) since I have posted about my garden. That is because I haven't been able to work in it after my accident. It is looking a little neglected because of that, plus some of the plants were resting over the winter (despite the fact that we had a very mild winter).

But recently hubby and I went out in the garden to get it ready for spring. Actually I mostly stood around while hubby did all the work. 
Firstly, he dug over the vegetable patch ready for planting. Normally we plant tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, and peas. This year we made some very small changes.

We love fresh tomatoes so we planted two plants as normal.

We planted peas and beans along the back wall. Except for the tomatoes, we always sow seeds as it is less expensive and is fun to see them grow and develop.

We decided against carrots this year as we don't feel that the amount of crop we get is worth the time it takes for them to develop. We decided to grow kale in its place.

Lettuce is another must.

I also decided to plant some lettuce in the herb area to replace some of the strawberries I had planted there last year which did not work out.

Meanwhile, we also put in some California poppies in my flower garden area. Last summer I had some bare patches in the front. The year before the whole area was covered in flowers so I'm not sure why I got bare areas. I'm hoping that adding the poppies will fill in any gaps in future years. Plus they come up earlier than the black-eyed susans and coneflowers. Plus they are so pretty.

When we were visiting a nearby nursery a year ago, we met a lady outside who said she had some excess orchid plants that she wanted to give away. Those plants looked really tatty so I didn't want any of them but hubby said we'd take three or four of them. For a year they really didn't do anything (except stay alive) and still looked tatty.

Then...

I'm not a lover of orchids but these really add to the garden.

The calla lilies are coming out.

We still have two poinsettias left over from Christmas. I loved the look of the rain drops on the leaves.

On a Mission 3

In spring, the central courtyard is full of beautiful and varied colour, and textures.

When I was at the Mission painting one Saturday, there were two bridal parties taking advantage of the lovely backdrop.

Against the flowers, the koi hold their own colour-wise.

There's a beautiful scene in every direction.

The Mission's vegetable garden.

One of the residents enjoying the sunshine.

Out of the central courtyard, walking towards the exit, there is still plenty of colour and visual interest to take in.

I hope you've enjoyed this virtual visit to the Mission and hope you'll get an opportunity to visit it in person one day.

The High Life

Ever since we put in our garden two years ago I have wanted to add a herb garden. Unfortunately the space was taken up by wood which we have gradually been using up by having bonfires at the beach. After finally clearing enough room for it we then had to work out how to do it.

We knew it had to be a high-rise herb garden because the space available was limited. Herbs need full sun as much as possible and we couldn't block the vegetable garden to the left (out of sight).

As an IKEA fan I looked at their catalogue and found these steel shelves ($14.99 each) which were and are perfect for the task. Most of the pots (and herbs) come from two local nurseries. The grey and white pots on the bottom shelves are old paint buckets which have been cut down and with holes drilled in the bottom. We decided not to use trays underneath the pots as they will overflow anyway when it rains.

The configuration we used allows maximum sun exposure and hides the rubbish bin.

I chose the particular herbs I like to use, plus strawberries which are so much better from your own garden.

Left-hand shelves: top shelf: Basil; second shelf: Curly Parsley, empty pot awaiting French Tarragon; third shelf: French, English, and Creeping Thyme;

bottom shelf: Strawberries.

Right-hand shelves: top shelf: Rosemary (l) and Spearmint (r); second shelf: Basil seeds; third shelf: Mint (l) and Chocolate Mint (r); bottom shelf: Strawberries.

I'm looking forward to using my own freshly grown herbs again.