Motivation

I hope you all had a Happy Easter!  Here is a peek into our festivities:

I made the strawberry dessert and boiled the eggs.  I am very proud of myself.

My husband is responsible this time for the flowers, and I must say, he chose well:

Lilacs!

A couple of our lovely guests also brought the most beautiful arrangement of tulips:

And my wonderful auntie brought me an Easter basket full of plants!  How sweet!

Plus olive oil for chef Evan

Love!

What says spring-- time of rebirth and renewal! -- better than lilacs, tulips, and baby plants?

Well, I've managed to start this week with a rather terrible cold.  As someone who almost never gets sick, I've been an exceptional baby about it, sitting around the house uselessly when I am not at work.  If I am honest about it, here we are, well into April, and I haven't done much useful gardening yet either.  After my big test at the beginning of April, I was so excited to have all this extra free time to be uber-productive, planting plants, baking cakes, painting pictures, exercising up a storm, etc.  

You know what I have done instead?  I've spent an awful lot of time looking at facebook and reading buzzfeed articles/quizzes (apparently my aura is green, if I were a dog, I'd be a Corgi, and the city I belong in is Paris).  And I've managed to get sick for the first time in maybe a year.

So.  As a slightly goal-oriented Type A person, I love lists and resolutions and goals (embrace it, my fellow Type A-ers).  It is still early in the year for greenery and growth, and thus, I've decided to make my New Year's Gardening Resolutions for this year (since Spring is the beginning of the gardening year... get it?)

1. Stay faithful

The Key to successful gardening.  Plants are living little beings and if you neglect them even for a short time, they will look neglected, or worse, die.  And let's be honest, this is kind of hard.  Just as it's hard to go to the gym on a regular basis or having your daily quiet time or consistently cook healthy for yourself (instead of going to Taco Bell), etc.  All worthwhile habits require consistency, and with gardening, truly you reap what you sow.

2. Learn something new

Because failing isn't failure if you've learned something.  This year, I hope to learn more about tomatoes (maybe not of the heirloom variety this time), bulbs (my tulips will be ready to be exhumed soon), and propagating succulents (an ongoing project -- perhaps I will try additional varieties).  

3. Maintain an aesthetic baseline

This is an extension of staying committed to your garden but for me, warrants it's own point.  I tend to garden in spurts -- beautiful garden, slow death, replant, repeat.  It's because I hate pulling up plants that are still alive (i.e. killing them).  But successful gardeners know when to call it and plant for the next season -- everything has it's time!

4. Get started.

Specifically, this week, before my siblings get here because I am very vain and like people to think that I am a great gardener.  Getting started is the first step!  And then you've got momentum.

The end!  So I promise you that soon and very soon, I will have some actual gardening updates for you.  That, and I may be messing around with alternate blog templates... feedback welcome.

Do you have any gardening resolutions??

A pleasant aside: Crosby, Stills, & Nash - "Suite Judy Blue Eyes"

Tiny dancers

A few exciting things are going on...

1. Spring is here, as of March 20!
2. If you live in the US and have any human contact at all, you are aware that March Madness is going on.  I sadly did not win a billion dollars, so it's back to my day job... and gardening!
3.  Speaking of which, as of today, O Garden, My Garden! has 56 posts... not bad... And we're going strong!  Keep reading with me and I'll keep gardening!

This week, my fuchsia plant started blooming.  If you can recall, I have had a minor obsession with these tiny dancers which I have planted in my "Thriller Filler Spiller" pot.  This particular plant, of the "June Bride" variety, is my second go at it. 

So....  Here's where we started:

And here's where we're at:

Not bad!  I have to say, I'm quite pleased with the composition of this pot so far.  The Dichondra (spiller) is trailing nicely.  I wouldn't mind if it was a bit fuller, but there's time for that, and after the craziness with last time's Muehlenbeckia, I'm okay with it as is.  The begonias are filling out perfectly, and buying a fuchsia pruned to have more branches was a winning plan.

The only trouble I have had thus far is aphids.  My little garden enemies have returned to attack the buds of the fuchsia for some reason.  In response, I have been dousing my plants in Neem oil, but they keep coming back, and the dead aphids turn into little black carcasses on my beautiful tiny fuchsia flowers.  

First world problems.

So once I get a chance to, I am going to either remake my fabulous Michelle's modified aphid spray or investigate other options.  I will say that we bought lettuce yesterday from Whole Foods and upon opening it, we discovered it was absolutely covered in aphids.  Like all up between each lettuce leaf too.  Disgusting.  While my husband was very angry (he loves salad, the man wanted salad), it made me feel a bit better -- if professionals like whoever provides iceberg lettuce to Whole Foods can't even keep their lettuce aphid-free 100% of the time, then maybe I shouldn't be so upset if there are a few stubborn aphids on my flowers.

Regardless, here's some more photos of my front door loveliness.

I find it fascinating how different begonia buds look from most other flower buds:

Here's a little known fact about begonias -- most varieties can be propagated, whether from the leaf, stem, or rhizome, depending on the type.  Rhizomes are underground stems that send out shoots and roots.  The ginger that we buy in the grocery store is actually the rhizome part of the plant.  Given the success I have had with propagating succulents, I may have to investigate this begonia propagation, especially since these white begonias are so lovely.

And lastly...

Always delightful!

I have many gardening ideas now that it is spring and time for gardening is upon us.  Unfortunately, because I have the oral boards coming up, they will have to wait just a few more weeks.  After that, all bets are off!  Welcome, Spring!

The little things

Here's the things that are making me happy this week.

The first meyer lemon bloom of spring:

The incredible speed with which my heirloom tomato plant is growing:

About 3wks ago

Now

Delicious blueberries (which I promptly ate):

An unexpected gift succulent (thank you, Janice!):

And today, I spent most of the day gardening :)  Happy Saturday!

Welcome spring!

As of yesterday, it is now spring!

Over the weekend, I got started on my little garden...

And early this week, Fedex finally came through with my wine crate...

Cute, huh?  When I received it, I briefly had a pang of uncertainty about the somewhat ridiculous amount of money I spent to get what is essentially a shipping box for winos...  but then I quickly overcame that thought by rationalizing that my garden needs this box for my herbs.  Clearly.  And plus, everyone knows everything is better in French:  French accents, French onion soup, French bulldogs... 

...and my classy French wine crate.  Anyway, I anticipate this box being my project for the weekend.  Something to look forward to :)