I have lemons! (okay just a lemon)

I am so thrilled that my dwarf Meyer lemon tree has a lemon on it! I was really sad that after all the blooms that it started with, all of them fell off except one. Thankfully there are some new blooms that started growing this week so I will keep my fingers crossed that we will get a couple more lemons before it's all said and done.

With all the rain we have been getting in the past few weeks, our flower garden has been doing very well. Just about everything has bloomed! The fuchsia lily (calla lily?) took 3 years to finally bloom. The orange lilies really did well this year for the first time since we planted them a couple years ago. We also have some Zinnias that are steady blooming bright pink and orange flowers. Our Lantanas always do well and if I can get my hands on the "fruit cocktail" colored one on clearance, I will buy one. 

We got some more flowers from my hubby's uncle that we need to get into the ground for next year. Almost all of our flowers in the garden came from second hand plants. You can't beat that! Maybe we should call it our bootleg garden :) At least we are helping out the honeybee population, right?

What is growing in your garden?

Meyer Lemon tree update one year later

I just had to share the latest update on my dwarf Meyer lemon tree that I planted last year. Thankfully it is thriving!! I was so afraid since over the winter months most of the leaves fell off and it looked kind of pathetic. I waited until the temperatures stayed above 55 degrees before taking it back outside. I added some more premium potting soil on top and fertilized it. After a few weeks and several rain showers later, I have a full bush that stands about 2 feet tall and it has actual blooms on it!

Do you see the little pink blooms? The tree is loaded with them! I will keep my fingers crossed that we will get some actual lemons this year. I am so excited and will be sure to post another update in a couple months. Hmm, I might have a little green hidden under my purple thumb after all!

I have been thinking about possibly planting a dwarf key lime tree. I guess I better see what happens with this one first and them go from there :)

My latest Pinterest find

I love Pinterest. I can sit on the computer all day and Pin all sorts of things. A lot of times I Pin "wish list" items. On occasion I find things that I actually make or try. My favorite one recently was this recycled watering can. I was just nagging... informing my husband last week that I really needed a watering can for all of my plants I have on my deck and inside the house. I was thrilled to find this DIY idea that took no thought and cost nothing!

There are my office houseplants. Now watering them is so much easier.

I took a milk jug and rinsed it out thoroughly. I pierced holes in the cap with a corn holder. Since they have 2 sharp points, it made the process fast and easy. The result is a FREE watering can that may not be pretty but is environmentally friendly and does the trick. I have one in a half gallon size for my indoor plants and one in a gallon size for the outdoor plants.

What things have you found on Pinterest lately that you have tried or plan to try?

Random bits

I have not been posting very much lately so I thought I would share a couple random photos I have taken over the past several days. This one would have been cuter if the kid had his eyes open and his feet on the ground. The moment he sees the camera coming he takes it as his cue to act a fool.
I started some hot pepper seeds in an egg carton and transferred them into my makeshift plant pots made from milk bottles (see I can be green sometimes). I am not sure how big I should let them get before planting them into big containers. Advice anyone? Kristin will probably know :)

We have been doing a whole lot of this. William has a new song called "read". I consists of only the word read and it goes to the tune of "Happy Birthday to you".... read read read, read read read... read read read, read read read (you get the idea)


So how's that for random bits? Please share something random with me...

I did not plant a garden this year

I learned a lesson from last year's garden. I lost money. I spent a small fortune to get what I wanted and in the end we did not even use what we planted. I think it was more novelty watching the plants grow, make blooms and eventually produce vegetables. Did we really need 50 cucumbers? Did we really need 100 squash? What about 1000 tomatoes? Nope. In actuality, Dwayne and I are the only ones that would even eat cucumbers and I am the only person who would eat squash. I tried giving some away and it seems like everyone planted the same things. So this year our garden bed is bare. I might just make it into a hot pepper garden so I can make my homemade pepper sauces or just plant some flowers. You can't go wrong with flowers. I saw that squash, cukes and peppers were 10 pounds for $10 in the grocery store this week. I think I will go that route ;-)

Flashback Friday before & after

This is what my garden looked like 5 weeks ago when it was originally planted.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I'm not sure if you can see our cute little squash. We are thrilled with it so far. Can't wait too see how much we harvest.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Garden update

Our veggie garden has been planted now for about 2 weeks and I am so impressed with the progress so far. I think everything has gotten about 8-10 times larger than they started out. I wanted so badly to fertilize everything but believe it or not Dwayne won't let me. He tells me that it goes against the whole idea of an organic garden and of course he brings up the fact that way back in the day there was no such thing as fertilizer. Fine, I will let him have it his way. I am hoping that the organic compost will prove to be a natural source of fertilizer and will provide a reasonable crop to harvest. I guess time will tell. I am so impressed with how serious Dwayne is about getting greener! Speaking of greener, look for an upcoming "green giveaway" later this week.

Question: If you planted a food garden, did you use fertilizer?