The Garden Grows

The garden grew today in several different ways; I noticed the first tomatoes on the Sweet 100 and Roma vines that survived the Winter and I built the third raised bed and put it in place, but lining and filling it will have to wait for tomorrow.  The Red and Thompson Seedless grape vines are in their third year in my yard and are already preparing to flower, even though the new vines are no more than 2 feet long, so this looks like it may be the first year for a harvest.

The flower pots on the solar lamp post aren't on a drip system and I've been having problems keeping plants looking good in them so today I decided to try succulents; I planted them with Othonna capensis 'Little Pickles' which should cascade down from the pots; as a bonus, their flowers look like miniature yellow daisies.  I'll be planting another flowering succulent in Butch's baskets in the next few days; the low water requirements of succulents are making a convert out of me and I guess you could say I'm getting sucked in by succulents.

I also noticed that not all of last year's flowers met the same fate as the daffodils, as one of the daylilies and some of the Firecracker Glads are coming up. The Asian Lily I bought last Spring is almost ready to bloom, maybe even in time for Easter.  The Asian Lily bulbs I planted this year are barely coming up, so I don't expect them to bloom until late April at the earliest.  The roses that were planted last spring and bloomed sporadically throughout the year look like they're ready to put on a show this year, with multiple buds ready to open on each one.  As you can tell from the picture above, it's time to reseed the bare spots and start watering the lawn.

Got my new composter delivered by the City today and for only a $5 deposit it's mine to use as long as I want.  I'll be turning the old one this weekend and use some of the contents to get the new one started.  I'm going to pay a visit to the horse owner on Saturday for some manure and also plan on talking to the produce guy at Fry's about getting unsaleable produce for composting; The guy I talked to earlier said they usually sell a big banana box full for $1 as turtle food.