Garden 2017 – Part 1

I live out in the country in the middle of a bunch of farms. There is a soy field to one side and a corn field across the street in front of my house. Growing things is part of the culture in rural Ohio, but my mom and I did not inherit my grandmother’s green thumb! We did grow some tomatoes, chives, and mint the past couple of years, but wanted to do more this year. I have been taking photos of the progress, and thought I would show how things are coming along.

Ostara (3/20/17)

There is not much growth to see yet, but the grass was turning green and the birds were singing. There were also several little bunnies playing tag, but they didn’t stay still long enough to get a photo.

Out back, the chives from last year survived the winter and were starting to grow again:

I found a bird’s next on the light by a side door, and left it alone in case the birds return this year:

April Esbat (Full Moon 4/10 – 4/11/17)

The moon in all her beauty shining over my house:

I made moon water to water and bless the plants we would plant the next day. (This method is not traditional, but is very convenient.)

The plants were out in the moonlight as well, sitting in a planter by the side of the house:

Here are the planters behind our house where we were about to plant them:

Our garden frog was watching:

Here are the new plants ready to go. We have four tomato plants, basil, dill, rosemary, thyme, mint, lavender, parsley, and cilantro:

First, we had to tidy up a bit and get the soil ready:

We planted the dill, basil, rosemary, and thyme in one pot:

The tomato plants all went in the planter with the trellis:

My mom dug up a spot by the side of the house for the lavender:

We were too tired by then to plant the parsley, mint, and cilantro, and saved them for later

Beltane (4/30/17)

The trees are full of leaves, our lawn is covered in dandelions, and the fertility of the earth is visible everywhere you look!

Our chives need to be cut back, but the flowers look so pretty!

The tomato plants have grown a lot! There are even a couple of blossoms:

Our rosemary, dill, basil, and thyme plants are all doing well too:

We moved the big planter from the side of the house to the back, and finally repotted the cilantro and parsley plants:

The lavender was looking bent over, most likely from the strong winds that we get across our yard.

So, we moved the lavender to the new pot with the cilantro and parsley. I hope it will do better now that it is more protected from the wind.

The mint plant took lavender’s place and is looking happy out of its pot. We decided to plant it in an area by itself, because last year’s mint took over the planter it was in and crowded the other plants. I hope it will be sturdy enough to handle the wind.

I saw this bee just as I was going back inside. We have quite a few bees that live in the backyard, and they are why I leave the dandelions in my yard alone.

That is our garden so far this year. More updates to come soon!

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