Garden 5.3.15

First harvest!  Emma and I had a lovely salad with dinner tonight, consisting of lettuce, spinach, pak choi, and lemon balm leaves.  Garden to plate in less than ten minutes.  Love it.



The garden is doing great, despite some light frosts over the past few weeks.



The lettuce we had for supper was the result of a much-needed thinning, and the other greens were selected leaves snipped off because we couldn't wait anymore.  As you can see, the Black Seeded Simpson lettuce germinated very enthusiastically and the rows are bursting.  The pak choi (closest row to the front) is starting to form little vase-shaped heads with thickened cupped stems!



The peas are almost a foot high, and the onions are approaching an inch in diameter, though I don't think any bulbs are forming yet.



The herb containers are doing well- front to back this is oregano, rosemary, lemon balm, peppermint, and lemon thyme.



The strawberry jar is blooming up a storm, the pansy box is beautiful, and the curly willow is getting all leafy.



The half barrels are still somewhat sparse, but I planted marigolds, alyssum, a coreopsis, a Shasta daisy, lemongrass and a salvia yesterday.  The snapdragons went in last weekend and are blooming great.



I bought some freesia bulbs on a whim about a month ago, and stuck them in a conveniently empty pot on the deck.  To my delight, they are growing!  I love freesia.



The primrose pot on the front porch got some alyssum for added interest,



and I planted a hanging basket (found at the thrift store for a dollar) with three white Bacopa starts.  There's another just like this hanging in the back yard.



The columbine in the front bed is just starting to bloom, with this pink one looking quite spectacular.



There's also a couple red ones that look more like the native columbine, a bit smaller and more demure.



The forget-me-nots are also starting, with this pink clump that opened a couple days ago.



The dwarf irises continue to be beautiful.



But the stars of the yard right now are the lilacs.  I have white ones...



and purple ones.



I have all the windows open, and no matter where I go, inside the house or out, I am enveloped in a cloud of fragrance.  Amazingly gloriously beautiful.