I can't believe it has been 6 months since my last blog. Not much happened garden-wise over the winter so I didn't feel I had much to write about. But now it's Spring and I have been very busy planting new bushes, flowers and vegetables.

Over the winter, I had baked the plot under black cloth, hoping to eliminate the nematodes. Shown in the back of this photo are the Better Bush tomatoes and one cherry tomato (far left).  Parsley is between the bigger plants in back, and super chili peppers and cayenne peppers in front. 

Below shows the zucchini I put in this year.  The variety is black zucchini, which is new to me.  It will be interesting to see how they grow and taste.

I also planted cilantro, a request of my husband's.

  Other backyard plants that are new are a red mandeville vine and hollyhocks.  The mandeville is the third plant I've put at the end of the trellis.  The previous plants (one a rose) did not survive.  I don't know why.  So far the mandeville is growing well so I have high hope.

I had considered the mandeville in previous years, but I didn't care for the colors I saw. About 2 weeks ago, I was walking through Lowe's plant section and spotted this beautiful red flower. A look at the tag surprised me -- it was a mandeville. So I decided to try it.

Later, as I left Lowe's, I looked at the plants displayed outside and discovered the hollyhocks. I hadn't seen those in many years and decided to them a try also. I would love to see them grow to their average 7-foot height.

 

red maple

I'm really pleased at something I planted in the fall. It's the Japanese red maple. A bare-root tree, there was nothing on it but the promise of growth with many buds along the stem. There are red leaves on top and bottom and I hope the growth continues.

That's it for today. Keep your thumbs green.