Garden Trends

This year’s season has come upon us so quickly — with the lack of warm weather some of us were delayed in getting to the Garden Centers for our annuals. I just went here at the end of June to pick up some herbs and plants and with a deficit of time this year I will be posting more with thoughts and ideas of gardening on a time budget.

This year my gardening has consisted of briefly digging a hole and sticking in the plant. They have been lucky if I remember to water them and have yet to be fertilized. Although it’s not the ideal way of gardening — it is what many of us find ourselves in as we are pulled in various directions that life throws at us. I think it’s also what makes us very appreciative of the vibrant colour and serenity when we look out our window or have a brief chance sit out on the patio.

As such, in posts to come I will post some pictures of the containers that although I would like to say have been lovingly created and cared for, in reality have been put together in a quick rush before the next meeting, dinner guests or pending inbox full of emails. I will also try to post some tips and tricks that worked (or didn’t) in obtaining a garden container patio on a time budget.

The old soil and herbs were removed, more rocks for drainage were added and new soil put into the herb containers. The Garlic Chives and Chocolate Mint are back from last year but the rest are new. We have already used our rosemary in a chicken dish and have enjoyed adding fresh basil to our pasta sauces. This year we planted the African Blue Basil which I adore and a new Red Rubin Basil which we have yet to try but the colour looks amazing. I have included a picture and name of each herb. Please feel free to comment and share any of your favourite herbs or recipes.

African Blue Basil

Chocolate Mint

Oregano

Garlic Chives

Darki Curled Parsley

Red Rubin Basil

Rosemary

Thyme

It is an exciting time of year for gardeners.  Planning out your garden or patio, seeing the bulbs pop up from the ground giving a much anticipated show of colour and deciding what plants to add and possibly remove.

I was happily surprised to find that in my herb containers  five herbs made it through the winter (chocolate mint, oregano, rosemary, garlic chives and a curry plant). I will still be needing to get basil (African Blue is a favourite), thyme and hopefully try something new.

All the containers are ready for planting which means it’s time for the fun part– picking out colourful varieties of plants to fill them with. The Hosta and Astilbe are back for the shade and I love that there is very little involved in keeping them happy. Remember if you’ve picked up a new hosta I’ve heard it’s beneficial to pick off the new flowers the first year.  I wish everyone a fun filled season of gardening and remember to take time to enjoy all your hard work and effort! Please feel free to comment with your favourite plants or things you are looking forward to this gardening season.

Here at Garden Trends we want to wish everyone a Happy Earth Day and offer a few tips on how to make your gardening greener. Here are a few ideas:

1- Collect rain in a rain barrel to water your plants.

2- Compost your food scraps etc. for nutrient rich soil to use on your garden.

3- Use native plants to your area. These plants thrive in the conditions specific to your area so they don’t require as much care and watering etc.

4- Water in the morning or at night to avoid evaporation of water in the heat of the day.

5- If your changing out your potting soil in your containers be sure to compost the soil or add it to your backyard garden.

6- Use solar lights if you want to light up your garden at night. They don’t need any electricity as they use the sun to charge up during the day to light up your garden in the evening.

Please feel free to comment with any tips you have for keeping your gardening earth friendly!

Just recently I got around to planting the Fuchsia cuttings into small pots with potting soil. They seem to be quite happy in their new homes out of the water. I probably should have done this earlier but they seem to be quite content nevertheless. The hope is to have another Fuchsia hanging basket this year without having to purchase any plants.

It has been a fun experiment so-far and we’ll see how the Fuchsia’s continue to grow. Feel free to comment with any of your ideas, tips or experiences with this great colourful shade plant.