Changes!

I find it interesting to look back at what a plant looked like when I first got it, or even just look back a few weeks, and then compare it to what it looks like now. I love seeing how it's grown and changed and that's one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place!

Today I'm most interested in changes to my plants and flowers that are not food bearing, but keep your eye out for a similar post about the edible ones soon. 

I've grown different kinds of plants and flowers for years, but this was my first year attempting to grow flowers from seeds, tubers and bulbs. While it's nice and easy to buy them from a garden and have them already sprouted and blooming, it just isn't as exciting or rewarding. I love seeing the little sprouts pop up from the soil and then watch their growth progress from there! The only downside of growing things this way...it takes A LOT more patience and that's something I don't have much of. :)

Enough of my rambling, lets look at the changes these plants have made!

My Dipt in Wine Coleus has really grown a lot, but I didn't realize it until I looked back at the pictures from when I first purchased it.

April 16th - Welcome Home!

April 17th - Transplanted

April 23rd - Getting Bigger...

May 29th - HOLY WOW! Expanding Everywhere!

My Dahlias really worried me at first because they took FOREVER to sprout, but once they sprouted they really took off. The growth is amazing and continues to surprise me on a daily basis. It's incredible how fast this thing is growing now!

April 9th - The First Sign of Life!

April 17th - Hello World!

April 23rd - More Sproutssssss

May 14th - WOW! This sucker's gettin' big.

May 29th - It just keeps growwwwwwwwing, 

but no flowers or even buds yet! :(

And finally - my windowbox that's filled with two more Dahlias (but these two aren't doing as well as the other...), California Poppies and Snapdragons! These were very sparse for a long time, but then out of the blue they seemed to really spread out and takeover the planter.  I've had one poppy bloom so far and now I have my first signs of blooming on a snapdragon.

April 9th - A Tiny Dahlia All Alone

April 23rd - Two Dahlias & Other Sprouts

May 14th - LOTS of Growth!

May 23rd - It's ALL Getting Bigger

(finally...)

April 23rd - The 1st Bloom! 

A Poppy that only lasted a day or two. BOOO!!!

May 29th - Growingggg Growinggg Growiiinnngggggg!

Man Oh Man My Garden Is Growing!

My garden is really loving the beautiful weather in Southern California. There has been amazing growth and I have hopes of amazing things to come.  

In addition to the growth, I noticed the I have a single tomato that is starting to change from green to red. It's in the very light golden yellow stage at the moment. I can't wait to eat the first one and then enjoy more and more and more!

Still no blooms on the other tomato plant though. I'm being patient, but I wanna see signs of growth SOOOOOOOOON.

The jalapeno plant is growing like crazy, but still no blooms on those suckers either. I'm hoping that with the weather getting warmer I'll start to see blooms sometime in the near future!  

My strawberry plant is the complete opposite thought and seems to have at least one new bloom daily. I just wish the darn berries would grow bigger before starting to ripen.

The lime tree hasn't really changed much, but since it's not fruit bearing season I'm taking that as a good sign. :)

The garlic and shallot are doing great too. I wish there was some way for me to see underground to find out just how big those babies are getting. That's always the hardest part for me - judging when they're big enough to pick, but not TOO big. 

Garlic

Shallots

And finally - my herbs, my wonderful herbs that are so plentiful. I use them as often as I can and give them away to those who want some, but it doesn't seem to make a dent - except for my parsley. I've decided I need a HUGE tub just for flat leaf parsley because I use it so often and in so many different recipes. One day that'll happen! 

The flat leaf parsley

The thyme

The rosemary

The mint

The basil

The chives

A Year Already!?!?

Yup! You read that right folk - it's been ONE year since I started my blog!

It's been a fun adventure and I look forward to the many years to come filled with posts about yummy food, amazing plant growth and much more!!!

So without saying anything more...

Smoothie Pops

With the new blender and new popsicle molds, it was only a matter of time before I made a smoothie and turned part of it into amazing popsicles. That amount of time was 2.5 days. :)

On Saturday I made a delicious smoothie with the main purpose being to make popsicles. I drank what was leftover. 

The smoothie consisted of:

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

Orange Juice

Frozen Strawberries - Bought fresh and frozen myself.

Frozen Blackberries - Bought fresh and frozen myself.

Frozen Blueberries - Bought frozen :)

Crushed Ice

Any combination will work. This is just what I had on hand and what I use most often.

Growing Growing Growing!

Yup - you read that right. My garden is growing growing growing! 

It's been growing well as a while for awhile, but now many things are growing like CRAAAZY!

My window-box with my dahlias, poppies and snap dragons is thriving and as of today I have my first bud on either the poppy or the snap dragon. I'll know soon!

My other dahlia is going crazy too, but still all greens - no flowers yet. This thing is making me be very patient. It took weeks - months really to even sprout so I guess it'll take as long to flower too!

I recently planted a few different kinds of flower seeds in three different planters. One of the three have sprouted. I can't remember what kind of flower it is though...sorry!

The shallots and garlic are so hearty right now. They are getting so much more full and I only hope that what's going on underground is just as amazing!

Shallots

Garlic

The herbs are really growing too!

The thyme is expanding so much and it's hard to believe how little it started out just a few months ago. It multiplies so fast and I really can't use it nearly enough to even put a dent in the amount I have growing!

The flat leaf parsley is finally thriving again and can use is without being scared I'm going to deplete my whole crop. I can't wait because I love the freshness it adds to food.

The mint is slowly coming back and I expect it to be going crazy soon. It was already sprouting in the rosemary's area and I had to stop that before it tried to take over.

But the rosemary wouldn't let that happen anyway. It's grown too big and full and it's here to stay!

The chives are really doing great too. They're bigger and fuller than I've seen in awhile and will be enjoying them on a tasty baked potato soon!

And the basil. The basil is now a monster like I'd originally wanted. I finally gave some away today and it doesn't even look like anything is gone. I have way more than enough, but who cares because it's SO nice to have it growing fresh. Just last night I picked a SINGLE leaf to use in a pasta recipe. 

The jalapenos are doing great and I've really noticed a lot of growth this last week. I just hope they start to bloom soon because I want jalapenos! Jalapenos = bacon wrapped jalapeno popper and homemade salsa! MMMmmmm

The tomatoes are doing amazing as well.  The cherry tomato plant is going crazy and has a TON of little tomatoes in various stages of growth. No tomatoes or even blooms on the newest tomato plant, but I'm thinking it's because it's still new and a lot earlier into the growth process.

NEW tomato

(I keep forgetting what it's called so for now it's called NEW!)

Hehehe

Cherry Tomato

The strawberries aren't going crazy like I wish they would, but I've had a few berries off the plant so far this year. They are SO sweet, but SO small too. I wish they'd get BIG!

And finally - the lime tree. The trusty lime tree who is still alive and seems to be doing great. It's growing, but still not growing fruit. Still another few months before that even starts sadly!