Bloom Where You Are Planted

Repotting basil and rosemary by my compost pile. I have lots of good compost that's been cooking for 5+ years. The compost pile itself is growing lots of chocolate mint, which is great for homemade mint ice cream! Behind the chocolate mint there are blackberries and apple mint.

Apple mint and chives, with a baby, volunteer lavender plant tucked behind a violet. Also a little bit of oregano at the bottom-center of the frame. 

My raised beds have lots of tomatoes, bush beans, cucumbers, and herbs planted in them this year. The tomatoes are much taller now than in this photo--to the top of the trellises. I've had to prune them back some, too. That's always difficult to do, but I've got to remember that it's better in the long run.

This raised bed has sweet peppers, jalapeño peppers, and eggplants, as well as calendula, parsley, basil, bells of Ireland, and bush beans. We've already had quite a few jalapeños and the beans are just starting to come on...just enough to pick and eat right in the garden. 

My youngest son and his friends made some interesting garden art with tomato cages, pavers, sticks, and grass. They're giving "ancient ritual" vibes. They actually somewhat startled me with I noticed them.

Parsley!

I started this yarrow (left) from seed six-ish years ago. I split it a year or two ago so I have four plants around my gardens. I may be able to split it again this fall or next spring. 

I have not had much luck having lavender (right) survive winter. This is my third attempt at planting it. It's in a new place that is a little more sheltered than the last two places I tried. Hopefully it will keep!

Behind the lavender is sedum that my mother gave me when I first moved in. I've split it quite a few times. It's hardy and faithful. 

More apple mint with rudbeckia (back right) and sedum (front right). I have mint growing everywhere, and I did that on purpose. I use it a lot for tea or flower arrangements or making ice cream. Because I use it so much I keep it in check pretty well. 

There's some oregano in the bottom-left corner, and you can spot some dill hiding behind the mint right in the center of the picture.

Poppies! I believe these are from some seeds I was given by someone who attended the farmers market a few years back. They're beautiful and self-seed really well. 

I have echinacea, or purple coneflower, in many different spots in my gardens. Here they're mixed with apple mint, iris, yarrow, and larkspur.

Echinacea in front of the raspberries.

In the pot is my lemon tree. I wish I had a before picture. I was gifted this tree by some friends who could no longer keep it. It was beautiful the first year I had it and gave me 13 lemons! The next year I got a handful. That summer, when I had kept it outside, bugs got to it. I should have repotted and fertilize it, but I didn't. I did bring it back inside and kept it watered, but it really resembled the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. This summer I repotted and fertilized and it's looking gorgeous! 

Foreground: violets, chives, apple mint, chamomile.

Background: raspberries and echinacea

My cilantro always blots. It just gets way too hot for it by the time I plant it. But the flowers are beautiful! So light and lacy. The ants were loving them this day. 

I planted seeds for these little pansies years ago and they keep coming back each year. They are so dainty and cute. You can eat them, too. I keep wanting to put them on cookies, but I haven't yet. 

Poppy flowers don't last long at all, but their pods are just as beautiful in the garden. Here they are with some larkspur (left), chamomile (right), oregano (background), and crabgrass (everywhere).

This is my raised bed that I've allowed to go wild. The first year I made it I tried making it a strawberry bed. The strawberries didn't survive the winter. Then I tried making it an herb bed. It still is that, but I stopped trying to make it organized and just let things seed it as they do. I have some chamomile in there, as well as other places in my gardens (great for chamomile tea!), apple mint, chives, violets, oregano, and other random, beautiful, plants. 

I used to hate this spot in my garden, but it's grown on me this year (pun intended!). This oregano is HUGE and I'm so proud of it! I started it from seed back in 2018. I think it's actually about three large plants now, plus I have lots of volunteer oregano plants throughout the garden. Lots of fresh oregano for cooking and floral arrangements in the summer and plenty of home-grown dried oregano for winter. 

I've also been collecting old bricks to (hopefully) create a nice little patio area. We've been planning on this for a few years now, so maybe in another three in will actually happen--ha!

Of course, more echinacea, larkspur, poppy seed heads with my compost tumblers and more apple mint in the background. 

Eggplant flowers always surprise me with their size. I also think they are such a goregous lavender color!

So many raspberries! We've picked loads but I've been terrible about measuring them out this year. I still have lots frozen in the freezer from last year so we've endulged ourselves by eating them by the handful.