Garden Update...Green Green Everywhere!!

Hello All-

Despite the recent snow we've had, my seedlings are doing great in their warm, sunny, south-facing windows.  I did lose my second batch of parsley seeds...I have no idea why they won't grow for me.  Oh well, I can get established plants easy enough at the garden center.  I'm starting to wonder if it is the seeds that are the problem, but I'm sick of planting and failing, so I'll just buy them instead.

First up, my broccoli, violas and Canterbury bells.  They are all doing quite well.  I had one broccoli not sprout, but the other one is doing great.  I am still on the fence if I should plant a few more seeds to see what happens.  As for the flowers, they are doing just fine, and I cannot wait to get them in the ground and in pots!!

My tea garden is sprouting quite nicely.  The middle row of green is chamomile, and the back row is lemon balm.  You can't see the sprouts in this photo, but I do have some spearmint that is starting to pop up too.  I am so anxious to make my own tea!  I had to get a jump start and buy an established plant to keep my momentum going.  So, I purchased a peppermint plant.  It is doing great and soon I'll be crushing leaves into my teacup!!

When I purchased the peppermint, I also decided to get some herbs for my kitchen.  I have always had herbs in my outdoor garden, but I tend to forget about them and they either get leggy or die off.  To combat against this, I decided to keep my herbs indoors.  I plan to have some outside as well, but I think this pretty pink pot will be a kitchen fixture. 

In the mix I have basil, sweet marjoram, thyme, oregano, and chives.  This past weekend hubby roasted a chicken and used some of the thyme and oregano.  It felt so great to know that the herbs in the meal were from our garden!!  I have already found myself looking for recipes that call for fresh herbs.

I planted a few seeds before our trip to Edmonton, and they are also sprouting quite well.  In the front, there are lettuce seedlings, the middle are jalapenos and in the back green pot is a sunflower plant.  All seem to be quite happy in their pots and are growing nicely.

Yesterday I also planted some cucumbers, summer squash and bell pepper seeds.  I didn't take photos of them since right now all you will see is dirt, but hopefully in my next update I'll have some green to show off!!

Finally, I wanted to show off my little bonsai tree.  I mentioned it a few posts back, as I "saved" it from the Lowe's Clearance rack.  At that point, it was very thirsty and needed a bit of TLC.  Since then, all of the leaves have returned and it is growing quite quickly. 

I don't know if you can see them in this photo (they were hard to focus in on), but we recently got buds and little white flowers on the tree!!!  I wish I knew what kind of tree it is so I could care for it even better, but I think the flowers are a clear sign that it is happy living with us.

So, that's where my garden stands at the moment.  As soon as my raised bed thaws out a bit more, I am going to plant my peas and other cold weather seeds.  I told hubby that I was going to pour boiling water over the garden to thaw it out...either that or I'll bring out a blanket to keep it warm.  If the sun can't thaw it soon, I may cover it in black plastic to see if that speeds things up a bit.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!!

Happy Planting!!

Sharon