Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary....

"Hey! I am not contrary! I am a bundle of joy and light!"

Yes, my daughter is a very happy baby most of the time. This post is not really about her. It is about out garden! Here are some pics of what it looks like today (May 17, 2014). One thing I do like about Texas is that we have a long growing season. It is kind of a pain to have to plan a garden right after Christmas, but it is really nice to see things almost ready to pick in May! We picked strawberries today (not from our garden)!

We planted these last year when my sister was in town. The purple flowers dies, but the yellow ones are lovely!

This leafy plant is the only survivor of 4.

Lovely blooms. But we learned last year that they are short lived.

This is one of 4 blueberries we planted last year. Two are bearing fruit now, one is hanging on and the other died.

Milli can't wait to try one!

These are Milli's favorite plants! She loves to pick parsley and rosemary to eat.

Our mint came back this year, too!

 I'm actually not a fan of spearmint. I didn't look at the label closely enough when I bought it. I was hoping for peppermint. I did also buy a ginger mint plant that we thought was gone for good but it sprung up in two places about 18 inches apart and at least 8 inches from where the original plant was! It is still quite small, so I haven't picked any yet. We also tried to grow basil and dill here (this is right near the front steps). The basil did so well in our garden box last year. We started it from seeds this year and it began fine, but then it got spindly and did not transplant well at all. We began again and kept it and the dill inside on the back (south facing) window sill. They both sprung up and then got wimpy again so that when we watered them they all fell over. Now, they are both beginning to grow again, but slowly.

Garden box #1: tomatoes, beats, peppers, one watermelon, and some of last years potatoes that we missed.

Our beats! The blank spots are where things died.

 We planted the beets from seeds this year. Some of them died when we transplanted them. The ones that have done the best are the ones Ed didn't bother to thin because he worried about the root system. They all look healthy and should be ready to pick soon. We actually have two growing seasons for beets and might do a second planting for a November harvest this year. That makes more sense to me as I don't relish the idea of canning in July. The blank spots in this box are where we planted more tomatoes that died. We had 16 plants that we grew from seeds and only 5 survived in this box. We have another three planted by the fence that were doing well but are starting to turn yellow. We also planed some in the front of the house which died immediately.

Garden box #2: Zucchini, snap peas, white onions, watermelon and potatoes (only one of which sprouted).

 Our zukes are taking over just like last year! Last year we got two about the size of my forearm and then we were attacked by squash beetles. We are on the look out for them this year and there are so many blossoms! We have 5 that have already become little zucchini and about a dozen or so more. The onions are hiding behind the zuke leaves. They actually do get sun as you are looking at the box in the morning. The snap peas are blooming and a few pods have sprung up. The watermelons started out really slow, but this week they have sprung up quite a bit. We planted 9 potatoes but only one has sprouted. Unlike last year's box which has tons of potatoes that we weren't expecting!

Both of our raspberry bushes survived, even though we thought the dog had dug one up.

This is our only surviving blackberry bush. No berries on the raspberries, but look....

Just enough for Milli, I think. They are her favorite fruit.

Molly says, "See! I'm a happy girl!"