Thursday, April 16, 2009

PLANTING TIME ~ FINALLY!

Every year about this time (actually sooner but our weather has been so bad) my hands start itching to get into the dirt. I've been buying little bits & pieces of plants and getting them into the dirt. I've picked a color scheme again this year for most of my hanging baskets and planters~ red, white & blue. One exception is the pot below...I couldn't resist these pretty dianthus, which are more of a deep pink and the one in the middle is varigated, pink & white. I got two Early Girl tomato plants, they are small so I planted them close together & used one tomato cage. And yes~they are planted in a former blue recycle bin. They are great for planting & easy to move around.

I got a six-pack of tulips about ready to bloom for $3.35 at Lowe's the other day. It was fun to use them to fill in where bulbs had not come up this spring.

This is a red, white & blue hanging basket. I highly recommend the plants with the white flowers. I used them for the first time last year. They are called Bacopa and it is wonderful. It just went crazy in the two baskets I used it in last year.

These two hanging baskets still look a little puny. But they'll come around. They contain red & white geraniums and the white Bacopa in the middle.

My 4 year old hydrangea is sprouting. I cut 5 or 6 branches off of Bob's big hydrangea and stuck them in the dirt here at my house. They rooted and last year I had 4 blooms on it.


This hanging basket is another diversion from my 2009 theme. White bacopa with a pink one thrown in. I see this one from my kitchen window and I thought the pink was so pretty.

This pot sits at the end of my carport and next to the storage shed. I always fill it full of Easter Bonnet Sweet Alyssum. The colors are pink, white & purple and it smells wonderful! After it gets a little bigger you can smell it as you walk by it. Sometimes if the breeze is blowing just right the fragrance comes in my kitchen window.


This pot had an old, scraggly looking Dianthus in it. So I found this pretty new white one, dumped out the old plant and dirt and replanted the pot. It sits on my porch and also smells delightful as you pass it. I always use Miracle-Gro potting soil or garden soil when I plant. It saves a lot of fertilizing later.

These are some yellow tulips I had from last year. If you've ever watched tulips, they open up like this during the day and close up tight at night.

And my good old rhubarb is coming along. I'm still hoping to have a raised bed installed in my back yard and if that happens, the rhubarb will be moved into the garden bed and out of these planters (aka recycle bins).

I hope everyone out there has the opportunity to plant at least one tomato plant or a flower this spring. It's makes you feel so good to watch something grow you've planted with your own hands......

14 comments:

Robin said...

Remember my peppers and tomatoes last year? This year we are doing flowers although gabby begged me for a watermelon plant when we were in the nursery today! I love your flowers I wish I had a place to put some hanging plants.

Robin

garnett109 said...

We love planting bon fire salvia and watching the humming birds.
to cold to plant yet.

Linda :) said...

All your flowers are so pretty!! You are so clever.... :)

Julie said...

I can't wait until I can plant. I am going to try my rhubarb in planters. How cool. Love all your flowers.

Beth said...

We've got a ways to go before we can plant hot weather plants like tomatoes and peppers--end of May. Some people plant early, but I've had too many plants killed by a late frost. That works out well this year anyway, because we've got some work to do on the garden beds before I can plant. No cool weather crops this year, but then the hot weather ones are my favorites!

All your flowers are going to be so pretty--I hope you'll put up more pictures as they get bigger!

Beth

Lori J said...

Dearest Linda, I don't think I have ever noticed your green thumb on your pictures..ha ha
Well this girl is the furthest thing from that. I always tell people if they have a plant they dislike give it to me to look after and it will DIE!!
Thought maybe after being in the desert that maybe I will have a chance with cacti.
Hoping the snow disappears tomorrow so we can leave ELY, NV and head up to Jackpot. We have to be back in Canada by the 20th.

Sure looking forward to our get-together in the Fall.

Love and blessings,

Lori

Marie Rayner said...

We spent a lot of time in our garden yesterday as well, or at least Todd did. I just love this time of year when everything is waking up and springing forward into life!!

Barb said...

Lovely plantings. My son has done most of mine this spring. I can't get out in the dirt like I used to. LOL We planted foxgloves along with a bunch of wildflower seeds in the little raised flower bed in the front.Bless their hearts they were getting beaten by the rain/hail this eve. Tom put the containers upside down over them. As fast as we dry out...they SHOULD be OK. I have a raised flower bed in the back and made the mistake years ago of planting 4 o'clocks in it. They have reproduced like fleas (LOL) and I want to get rid of them. Other than pulling each one as it comes up (which would be nigh on impossible) do you have any suggestions how to kill out a planted bed so you can replant it in the same year? I will have to go to the nursery but I can't think of anything to do. We used to have giant elephant ear bulbs and I was able to dig them up easily. After a while they quit growing there. I know I need to add about 4" of new topsoil as I'm sure the bed is just leeched of nutrients even though I have kept if fetilized.
Hope you DON'T get a blizzard tomorrow. LOL
Hugs, Barb in drenched *finally* West TX

sober white women said...

I love the idea of reusing the recycling bin. I need to get our tomatoes in! LOL
Kelli

Wish on a Whisker said...

We have been talking about planting a tomato plant. You sure picked out some pretty things! ~Mandy

nancy said...

HEY Linda want to do ours? I love all your flowers and the yellow tulips are great. Have fun gardening this year.. It's too early here in NY. Take care. Nancy

Jimmy's Journal said...

I love growing plants, especially tomatos. The only problem with tomatos is that I spend half the time fighting the leaf miners and the worms.

Jimmy

Jeannette said...

You've been busy Linda, I hope the plants survive the cold spell you're having. I'd like to see photos of them in summer when they've grown and in bloom, I bet they'll look wonderful! Jeannette xxxx

Trees said...

Still too cold to plant flowers here but this weekend it is supposed to get up into the 70's we usually have to wait till the long weekend in May. At least, the perennials are coming up throught the ground,so very happy to see my little friends.