A Few Plantings

I spotted this young robin out the kitchen window. He was perched on the deck rail in front of some herbs I had recently purchased. He was all puffed up with his beak wide open sunning himself. I decided that I wanted to try and capture a photo so I went out my front door and quietly walked around to the back. He noticed me, gave me one look, and flew off.

The herbs in the photo above found homes in a few of my pots. This variegated sage was so pretty I couldn't pass it up even though I don't use sage that often.

There were at least a half dozen different varieties of mint at the nursery I was perusing. I picked up a pineapple mint and a couple of chocolate mint. I always pot mint. If you plant it in the ground it needs to be in a spot that you want it to take over and spread because it will do just that. Take over and come back with reckless abandon every year! If you store the pots indoors during the winter there's a good chance they will sprout again in the spring and you won't have to purchase them again.

Ahh..... lavender! This is a favorite of mine. It's so fragrant and hardy. I've read that you should replace lavender every 3-4 years. This is the 4th year for mine. Usually the lavender is covered in bees and I mean covered but this year not a one! I'm a bit concerned. I know there's a hive collapse taking place and without bees there's very little pollination taking place. If I lived on a lot of acreage I'd contact a bee keeper and have hives put in but in my tight little community I don't think that's possible.

Basil = Bruschetta and Caprese Salad—I started these from seed and have added a few to my raised bed, put one in a pot, gave quite a few away and still have a few leftover. I'll be potting these up to sell at the local farmers market to raise money for the community garden.

Tomato startings that will be potted up to sell at the local market.

Peppers on there way to be potted up to sell.

This Swiss Chard is just so pretty I had to share a photo. The bright lights variety is just that—bright! We sauteed this in olive oil, garlic and a bit of salt and pepper. Yummy!

What's a garden post without bugs? These creepy crawlers were on my dill. Apparently they love the stuff. I didn't actually touch them. I picked the sprigs of dill that they resided on and put them in the kids bug cage. However the cage door is broken so I improvised with saran wrap and a rubber band. The next day they were gone. I'm guessing these will be moths. YUK!

Does anyone know what kind of spider this is? Bright red and itsy bitsy.

Jennifer Rizzo is doing a Garden Tour Linky Party. I'm going to try and take a walk around my yard and capture the plantings so I can participate in the fun. You should too!

Thanks for visiting!