Sunday, March 18, 2012

Garden Notes

North Carolina weather has been unseasonably warm lately and warm weather makes me anxious to get my hands in the soil and garden.  The kids and I actually planted our seeds on February 29th and they are growing beautifully.  I find so much satisfaction in watching things grow. 

I decided to try growing garlic so I planted a few cloves mid February and they are growing well. 

We received our blueberry plants on Friday and planted them today.  I am new to berries, we never had them at my parents growing up but my grandpa Sandera always had strawberries and raspberries.  I bought a Burpee soil test kit and tested the pH in one of the landscaped beds and it was alkaline so we bought soil acidifier at Lowes today and I added it to the soil as I planted my blueberry bush.  I decided to plant one in the actual ground and one in a larger container and see which one does better.  The variety that we bought is called Top Hat and it is a dwarf bush that will be covered with pea sized blueberries.  If we do well with berry bushes we may buy more next year. 

Bill bought me a rain barrel for Christmas, I know romantic right, but it really was something I have been wanting and I am a practical person.  So today he rerouted the downspout to drain into the barrel and he built a platform for the barrel from bricks that match our patio- I will post pictures another day. 

We will wait a few more weeks to move out plants to the outside garden but we are so excited to have a great year of gardening fun and fresh produce. 

4 comments:

  1. Make sure to put some sand in the soil where you put the blueberries. They grow much better in a sandy soil. (Nathan told me to tell you that, he tells everyone who buys blueberry plants from him that little tidbit) ;)

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  2. Thanks! I did become a fan on facebook of his nursery. I may still need to buy a few things once we get going. Hope you feeling well and counting down the days!

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  3. oh, love the idea of a rain barrel! That is so something my hubby would get me (and mucho appreciated as well!)

    looking forward to seeing pictuers of the garden

    Blessings
    Karen

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  4. ahhhh, gardening, sigh. I love it the most!! I cant wait to hear about all the stuff poking up. I would like to say that up here in the frozen tundra we arent ready for planting but since it has been 70's all week it would be a lie! I have been happily digging in the mud (sans bugs!) and thinking about you digging in your garden! Cant wait for you to see it all in July!

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