As we are drawing out of our freezing mornings here in Oklahoma, I’ve been very excited to get some new herbs, fruits, and vegetables for the garden! Last week I bought some blackberries, cilantro, chives, and lemon verbena for the front porch. I had planted blackberries in full sun in the yard last year, but I think the Oklahoma full sun was too much for them and they didn’t make it. Hopefully potted blackberries on the shady porch will work out better for them.
I also bought some butter lettuce, and have cleaned out one of my garden beds for them and planted them in the garden this morning. They usually enjoy the cooler months, so I’m hoping to get a good yield before it gets very warm here. Last year I had filled the garden beds with Sunshine brand soil, which is supposed to be excellent, and mushroom compost, so this year I only had to clean out the weeds and leaves and the soil was ready.
Yesterday, I got some more vegetables for my other garden beds, which still need to be cleaned out. I’m pretty sure that in the past I’ve overcrowded my garden beds with too many of each vegetable, so this year I just bought two of each kind so they can have much more room to grow. It also saves me work and money that way. I got two tomato, squash, cucumber, zucchini, and strawberry plants. One garden store that we went to even had a nice food can drive where they gave out free plants for cans.
I think I have found the best fertilizer for them in my new hobby, too. My sister’s husband got me fascinated in aquariums over the holidays, and I have already started two this year. Well, I started giving my plants the aquarium water from when I would vacuum beneath the gravel to eliminate settled waste material, and so far my plants seem to thrive on it! I’ll be hauling buckets of it out to the garden once I get everything planted!
My friend and I went to a backyard chickens class yesterday at our favorite local garden shop, too, and I was so tempted to get some. Yet I already have enough animals and hobbies as it is! 😅
