Spring Garden Update

Yesterday the sun came out- we had a really nice break from the rain, and decided to get out to the garden and amend our soil, as well as fill some new pots. We purchased two new blueberry bushes, this time we decided to try out the compact variety for our smaller pots. My grandma had a couple of the compact blueberries on her deck that were so loaded with blossoms I had to give them a try myself. Now we have five full size, and our two new compact blueberry bushes. We are big on blueberry muffins, breads, and pancakes, so every year I add a couple new blueberry bushes to our yard. This is a perfect fruit plant for the small garden- I grow my large bushes in large wooden half barrels, and my small ones will go into medium size pots. We are still eyeing some of the dwarf & semi-dwarf fruit trees- I may add one here in the next couple of weeks if I can decide on a spot.

I am still working with my tomato & pepper seedlings- and they are finally starting to look like they might just work- but just in case they don't turn out- I purchased twelve veggie starts that were very healthy looking and on sale for only .99 cents- a couple bell pepper, a couple jalapeno, 4 Roma's,a couple early girls, a yellow pear, and my favorite cherry tomato- sungold. I still need quite a few more peppers but they were mostly sold out- so I am hoping the seeds I planted will fill that gap.




We all worked together to weed our raised beds, as well as work in amendments. I wanted to build two more raised beds, but all that lumber was not in our budget this year- so I am trying a method that has been very successful for my grandma- who yields pounds and pounds of veggies, every year, from her teeny tiny yard- the large plastic tubs with rope handles were on sale for just under $6.00, so we purchased 5, and drilled holes in the bottom and filled the bottom with a layer of rock and gravel for drainage- then filled with a nice soil mixture- tomatoes and peppers do really well in these pots, so I will probably be growing my tomatoes here- my grandma even grows her zucchini in these pots, and they do really well.







This weekend also marked the return of a large portion of our goldfinch- they were visiting the feeders in large groups. A group of them were also all over a dandelion plant- they must eat the seeds or something, I had no idea, so I looked online and the seeds of dandelions are one of their natural foods, so I will be sure and leave some of my dandelions alone. I can watch these happy little birds all day.





We had a fun day- the sunshine was beautiful, it was great to be working out in the garden. The whole neighborhood was alive with children playing, families gardening, and the smell of BBQ dinners. Even with the return of our Oregon rain today, yesterday proves that our warm late spring and summer are just around the corner.


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