March Spring Flowers & Mulching Garden beds

On this March evening, it became warm and sunny. So, after work, I headed over to the nearby greenhouse to buy a scoop of mulch. Once I applied the mulch over each garden bed,  I snapped a couple of pictures of the daffodils and hyacinths that are blooming at the food forest garden. This garden is full of different types of daffodils.

In a couple of the garden beds, I still have kale, swiss chard, cilantro, onion, and strawberries growing. This kale as well as the other veggies have survived through the entire winter. They have a beautiful green color.

Each garden bed got a layer of mulch today, but it wasn't enough. I'll have to get a full scoop next time to cover around the fruit bushes, flower gardens, and fruit trees.

While spreading the mulch, we also had a fire, and dropped off the compost in the main compost pile. I recently added some carbon material to it, as well as old potting soil. Adding existing soil normally helps speed up the decay of these composting materials. 

When you have a day like today, you can't spare a moment. You must do all you can outside before there are longer days of gloomy weather. For every 1 warm, sunny day, there are 3 to 4 rainy, cold or cloudy days here. 

After today, we are expected to have another week of rain, but I'm going to try to plant some onion bulbs, peas, and radish seed in the garden Sunday. 

It is still quite cold at night. So, in April, I will be more inclined to plant some lettuces, and have decided to hold off on planting a lot of greens because of this. What makes it harder, is that I can longer regularly take off the transparent plastic every morning and cover plants at night which would protect them through the cold and frost. Because I am living on a different property now, a lot of my gardening tasks have been delayed, slowed or challenged in some way. But I digress! And so should you! Gardening is crucial, it is life, it is what gives me life. 

Remember to take rest, and sit on your porch in the sun with your libations and watch the sun go down. I had a mojito, haha!

Mulched Fall Garden, fig harvest, & Fall greenhouse beauty

 Last Friday was bitter cold. It was down in the 30 degrees F. In the evening, I made sure to cover the garden plants to protect them from frost. The next day, I uncovered them and heavily mulched the veggie garden. I was able to get a truck load of mulch to cover the arden of broccoli, cauliflower and kale. The remaining bit of mulch, I placed around the fruit trees and some fruit bushes. In order to mulch the rest of the fruit bushes, I'm going to need another load of mulch! 

Below are pictures of the veggie garden I mulched Saturday.

The greenhouse I went to to get the mulch, was colorfully decorated again, this time with some new flare. A couple posts back, I showed the cute fall settings at the greenhouse, but I'm adding more here..

I was also able to pick some figs too last weekend. Of course, they were delicious!

Veggies and flowers in April garden

Work is never done--especially, not mine! Not only am I transplanting and sewing veggies and flowers in my garden, but also in my grandparent's neck of the woods.

Yesterday I bought my grandparents 6 pansies, a gerbera, 3 tattoo black cherry petunias, a Vermillion rose begonia, and another type of pink rose geranium. I transplanted the pansies today in large pots at their house.

Additionally, I tilled and mulched a flower bed against their house where I also planted 65 gladiolus bulbs. Then I dug up a couple spots where their rose bushes are and planted over 10 Hollyhock roots.

Then, I also worked on the structure for my hardy kiwi plants. I have a male and female and need another female kiwi to plant with them. I hammered in 4 metal posts and tied 4 swing set poles to the posts and then tied fencing up as a support for the kiwis. Honestly though, the kiwis are growing in such a tangled mess, I'll have to full with them this fall by cutting them back completely. I have had them growing here for over 5 years and have yet to see blooms.

All these projects today drained all my energy, but yesterday I managed to buy some mulch and sheet mulch over the mint and oregano patch, including the Hibiscus and Phlox patch, and one of my garden beds. I mulched around the artichoke and okra seedlings and put mulch in 14 potato bags to prep for planting potatoes on Good Friday.

I'll take a break for the rest of the evening and start working in the morning to finish laying the mulch.

Mulched artichoke, okra, hibiscus, and phlox

Mulched mint and oregano bottle garden

The six garden beds are full of arugula, spinach, radish, lettuces, peas, and cilantro, and I have been picking them here and there to eat. I harvested some radishes to make room for the other radishes too. With these, it's important to keep them watered throughout the spring.

Onion and lettuce bed

Strawberry bed

Lettuces 

Compost pile of squashes!

cilantro bed and radish, arugula, spinach bed

Cilantro 

spianch and arugula 

Pineapple sage

Radishes and lettuces 

blueberry, raspberry, and goji berry patch
With plastic sheeting

You might say all these pictures of flowers are repetitive but I am in love! These flowers are my babies! Everyday there are new flowers, angles, the sun hits them a certain way--I can't help but take so many photos...

I transplanted Dahlias too with my mother today. It's the little things like planting flowers with your family and showing gratitude, making memories mean more to them than anything, so dont take that for granted and do something for someone everyday. That's what flowers have taught me in growing them.