April has witnessed another spring metamorphosis in Oklahoma, when everything turns green and blooms with pops of color, and when the sky shifts from sunny to dark grey, and pops with thunder and lightning, and then to sunny again.

And once again my good friends and I did our annual garden shopping, which is an exciting time for me! This year I got a bunch of herbs and tomatoes for front porch containers; shishito peppers, gherkin cucumbers, zucchini, and two different types of watermelon for the raised bed vegetable garden; and a few lovely flowers for the front yard. We went to a farm at Robinson Ranch and Southwood Garden Center to shop for plants.

My wooden raised beds deteriorated this year, so I bought a metal one and put it together a few days ago. Then I covered the ground with four layers of landscaping ground cover (because one layer never keeps out the grass here), placed the raised bed on top, and surrounded it with landscaping stones, which also covered the landscaping cover on the sides of the raised bed. I bought soil for vegetable gardens and a few bags of mulch for the garden. I mixed it with mulch to improve drainage. And finally, I planted my beautiful little veggie plants in it.

For the herb garden, I did something different and placed all of the herbs on one big container. Here we have three different types of basil, dill, cilantro, mint, and lemongrass.

And finally, flowers for the yard, with a fresh layer of soil and some mulch. This year I planted gorgeous columbine and moonflowers.

And now we are about to get a warm rain, which is exactly what my little plants need after being introduced to their new homes 🌧️