Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

How does your garden grow?  Well, ours is off to quite a good start, if you must know.  We've worked on it for the past two weekends straight, and I must say it's looking pretty darn good.  

Here's the mini-tour, starting with this pot of petunias.  No, these aren't those new-fangled wave petunias that everyone seems to be planting nowadays.  These are the good old-fashioned ones.  I mixed up a bunch of different colored ones and stuck them right in this pot.  In the background, you will see my chives and oregano (both originally planted years ago).  Who knew this stuff would come back year after year.  That was the best investment in herbs I've ever made.  Here's hoping I will never have to plant them again!

Speaking of plants magically returning after a long hard winter, look what else came back!!!  These are my $1 shamrocks I got on a deep discount after St. Patty's Day last year.  I was kicking myself for not bringing them in over the winter, and then I looked in their basket a couple of days ago, only to find quite a few clovers popping up.  Talk about the luck of the Irish!

I spent a lot of time on this particular bed last weekend.  I planted dahlias, marigolds, dianthus, and bacopa.  The bacopa are the white flowering plants up front.  They stay low but get really long and leggy, so I'm hoping they spill over the side of the rock wall they are planted on. 

I filled this big pot to the rim with lots of flowers, more bacopa to spill over the sides, and a spike in the middle to finish it off. 

And these are my favorites!  We have had amazing luck with gerber daisies over the years.  They must really like our hot summery climate and backyard full of all day sun.  

At the Nashville Farmer's Market last weekend, we learned that planting marigolds by your tomatoes helps to keep the bugs off.   And last year, one of the farmers told us that adding epsom salt to the soil at the base of your tomato plant helps it to produce more fruit.  Done and done. 

John added some nice new stepping stones and tree stumps to sweet Petunia's bunny mansion.  This will come in handy for me on days where it is muddy or wet outside.  And our pup, Izzie, has already been making use of those stumps to get a little closer to my sweet bunny. 

There has been so much more work done in this yard these past couple of weeks, I can't even describe it all.  But suffice it to say, our yard is ready for the Spring.  And we are too pooped to party after two straight weekends of some major yard work.  

Lest you think we are all work and no play, I leave you with this.  At least someone around here knows how to have a good time!