Spring Has Sprung – Garden Update

Spring is my favorite time of the year, but also one of my least favorite. The positives are seeing all the new growth on the plants, flowers blooming, and the return of the butterflies and hummingbirds. The downside can be summed up in one word: Pollen. But still, it’s a great feeling to wake up in the morning, see the sun coming up over the horizon, and look out the window to see all the colors in my yard. Spring has indeed sprung.

I’m still waiting for all of the wildflowers to return. There are a lot of young sprouts popping up from where they cast their seeds last year. I also supplemented them with some Florida wildflower seeds I picked up a month ago. They are scattered in several beds and pots around the yard. I hate waiting for them to get to the flowering stage, but I know the wait will be worth it.

I’ve also delayed mowing the yard so the clover can bloom. My partner loves the color.

At the moment I’m enjoying the first blooms on my rose bush. Three at once! That’s a fantastic start. I also have a few amaryllis showing off their colors. Their deep red is a nice contrast to the light pink of the roses.

The veggies I planted at the end of February are also blooming and starting to produce some early output. 

I have a mix of the usual suspects (tomatoes, russet potatoes, and bell peppers) along with a few new varieties I’m trying. A dear friend gave me a packet of Japanese wasabi radish seeds. I planted a few and they came up quickly. Now I’m waiting to see what they do. From what I’ve read, they are simply radishes with a little more bite to them than the standard variety.

I’m also growing a Japanese eggplant. It’s produced several lovely flowers, so far, but I’ve yet to get a good photo of them. I also have a shishito pepper plant. I always grow some sort of spicy pepper each year, usually habanero or cayenne. Shishito peppers are milder, but I thought it would be a nice compliment to the eggplant.

Then there are my fruit plants. My figs are doing well. They both had a case of rust last year, but somehow I was able to either eradicate it or get it into submission. So far, no sign of it this year. My avocados, which I started from a couple of pits, survived the winter in my little greenhouse, and the two pineapples, which I started from crowns, survived as well. It’ll probably be a few more years before any of these produce any fruit, but it’s still fun to watch them grow and mature.

And, finally, my carnivorous plants are waking back up after a winter hibernation. The pitcher plant flowers are shooting up in a matter of days and the blooms open almost overnight. I’m hoping to get some pollination going and expand my little bog garden later this year.

If you’re a gardener or grower, I hope your plants are doing well. And if you aren’t…what’s stopping you?

RB