This is what a gardening diva does!

The hubs and I made our rounds yesterday to pick up new plants so that I could spend today getting my hands in the dirt. And I did! My newest plant babies are:

Newe Yaar Sage, two bell peppers - one yellow, one chocolate!

Three hot peppers. A sweet banana pepper, a mild jalapeno pepper and a Mucho Nacho hybrid pepper. These and

Mariachi red pepper are all more for hubby than for me. He figures since I'm growing tomatoes and bell peppers, we need hot peppers to make some salsas!

My tomatoes, peppers, sages and mints that I planted last time are all doing very well!

I added marigolds to them today to help with any pest control issues. I haven't seen any yet, thank goodness!

I found some hanging  strawberries and tomatoes in the garage that I had bought last year and forgot about. The tomatoes are really springing up, and I'm seeing signs of baby strawberry plants. When they are large enough I'll transplant them into their hanging containers and have some topsy-turvy treats!

I added some stevia

and some lime balm

to my other tea plants, lemon balm, peppermint and chamomile.

I picked up some little planting kits from the dollar store, so hopefully will see some rudbeckia, daisies and parsley at some point. Going through other gardening supplies I came upon some vegetable seeds. Don't know if they will favor me, but I planted some in my old mint bins. I consider it a gardening experiment.

I potted a dill and put some Mexican mint marigold in the ground. I'm looking forward to all the taste sensations I can expect this year from my gardens!

Trimmed my curry plant. I thought the cold snaps may have killed it, but I'm seeing new growth, so am hopeful.

Hubby gave me an old burro planter his dad gave him, thinking that as a gardener, I'd be interested.

It was pretty weathered, so I've spray painted it solid brown. I'll go back with additional paint to detail it later. I'm thinking some cactus might look cute in it.

I've been motivated by two of my favorite locals. Lucinda Hutson has a wonderful herb cookbook, The Herb Garden Cookbook, that I love, and pictures of her gardens truly do inspire me to not shy away from color in anything! Madalene Hill is well known in these parts for her amazing way with herbs, and her book, Southern Herb Growing, is my bible!

Now I'm just waiting for some patchouli to arrive at my favorite nursery. I'd also like to get a hamellia and a bay laurel. Maybe next trip.