I decided to start this year lots of bulbs and trees… Plan is to have atleast one bulb bloom per season… So spring I started with traditional daffodils and tulips.. the muscaris that planned two years ago are still going strong.. my hyacinths haven’t come up this year… Apart from that, the pink jasmine that planted in front yard, has vigorously grown and covered the arch and is currently covered in pink buds while the one in backyard is already blooming and trying to grow in to my neighbors backyard. I have also planted some freesia and am hoping that they will come up, but I fear that I have been little late in planting them.
End of January also brings my wedding anniversary and my dear husband has perfected the formula this time. He got me 12 plants – 2 blueberry plants, a peach tree, a nectarine, 2 apple, 2 pear, a pomegranate, one almond tree, one huge pink jasmine and a fragrant yellow rose plant :D, now that is the way to get to the heart of a garden maniac. Usually when I have so many trees I call a gardener to plant them, but this time I plan to plant those trees on my own, so they are taking a bit of time. On top of all this I have also got a shed dedicated for the garden. I have been wanting to start worm composting, but haven’t found a suitable space for it. May be if there is enough space after storing all the equipment i might start worm composting bin in the garden shed.
It is March now, and my front yard is full of flowers. I have already started my sweet peas saplings for this year in a pot. I have also planted some Strawberry bare roots and hope that they take. This year I had the foresight to order lot of vegetable seeds ahead of time. So this time I have quite a number of Indian vegetable seeds and trees seeds. I am waiting for April before throwing those seeds in to the ground.
What is new? Well I have decided to try raised bed this time. Last year we ended up doing drip system for the trees we had planted and the main valve system ended up in the middle of inground vegetable bed making it impossible for me try planting there without hitting one of the tubes. Also the all the watering for my vegetables triggered the previously cut orange trees to grow. Within an year I have 2 huge orange tree and they have started giving fruits too. I have no wish to cut them. I have no idea why the previous owner cut such a huge tree in the first place. But it is of no concern. I am happy to have the trees growing back.
So vegetable bed. This time I am planting some of my veggies in the bed. Mostly it is going to be root vegetables (right now I am growing beets in it. No carrots though, Costco is cheaper :D, come summer I should have potatoes, sweet potatoes, colacasia (I want to repeat the Pathro dish)) and greens. Other veggies are going to be straight in ground or pots(sweet peas mostly).
Almost all the my previous trees are coming back after winter well. Only worried about the last year peach sapling, because it ended up with fungus. Though, the plant recovered from it, the buds from which the new leaves grown is again covered in fungus. I am hoping the leaves sprout well enough, because right now, anything I might apply to get rid of the fungus will hurt the leaves.
In summer I expect to have gladiolus crocosima and dahlias… Will plant once the spring blooms start going down.. last year the gladiolus in front yard attracted an army of humming birds and were such a pleasure to watch. Apart from that, I expect to have my usual hibiscus, fragrant Rose and fuchsia. I also have bulbs for fragrant tuberose (Sampangi), they are perennial apparently. So if I manage to root it, I should have done really interesting blooms to look forward to.
In fall I will have my Nityamalli blooming. Last year, it was blooming till nearly November. It has grown rapidly and I will mostly need another trellis for it. Mmm.. That’s it for now !!
Organic Gardening 