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.

Spring is Here!

Today couldn't have been more pleasant. The first day of spring and the weather is just gorgeous! Hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves working outside cleaning up the yard, and even planted a few things! There is just something about getting your hands in the dirt that brings out the kids in all of us.

I started the day off by planting three plants in the ground - pineapple sage, lemon verbena and fennel. I love seeing butterflies flitting about my yard while I sit on my porch, and fennel is a known black swallowtail attractor.

We get a lot of Monarch butterflies, but I think the Black Swallowtail is stunning.

I did an inventory of all my gardening pots. I'm planning more container gardening this year, as opposed to in the ground, with a few exceptions above. The first task was my little tea garden.

Right now it is on the porch, but I'd like to either make or buy a table to put them on, to get them off the ground. I planted chamomile, peppermint and lemon balm.

I added a teacup bird feeder.

I had planned to add the matching teapot birdhouse, but discovered a small nest with a single egg in it! Not being sure if it is an abandoned nest or not, I left it for now.

As a vegan, we eat a lot of vegetables. So, this year, I planted some!

This container has Roma grape tomatoes, bell pepper and garlic chives. It holds a little stone that reads: Hope.

This one holds a regular grape tomato plant, sweet basil and spearmint. I added the tomato cages to both to help them as they grow. Both also have a little gnome with them to watch over them.

I have more gardening adventures planned for the spring, but this was a good start. We ended our outdoor fun by dining on leftovers from hubs grilling adventure yesterday, and a lovely tropical pasta salad.

Now back to my garden planner and tomorrow's search for a patchouli plant!