Our small courtyard area has started coming to life. The Sago is
putting on a new set of leaves (always amazing) and a newly planted Jatropha seems
to be adapting to the location. Our fountain continues to be a source of
enjoyment for us and the birds.
I recently completed part of a landscape renovation project in
front of the house. Originally I planted 3 Oleanders where I should have used
only 1. There were also some nice Bird of Paradise plants buried in the mass of
vegetation. Something(s) had to go – so I removed 2 specimen sized Dwarf Red
Oleanders. Digging them up, without damaging everything else, took some planning/effort.
But if looks like the remaining Dwarf Pink Oleander (which I partially dug up
and re-positioned) is doing well. Oleanders are tough old birds that can
survive a lot of abuse. Still one of the best landscape plants for our semi-tropical
environment. Now, with a lot more space, the Bird of Paradise are also
improving. I’ll wrap this project up in
a week or so and update next post.
The Confederate Jasimine and Bottlebrush are looking nice too...
Most of our time has been spent in the vegetable garden. We’re already harvesting squash, zucchini and cucumbers. Sharon makes a mean squash casserole and we’ve been putting fresh cucumber slices in our water pitcher (copied the idea from Shy Katz restaurant). Tasty! There’s something special about eating home grown vegetables from your own garden – even if the $$$ per pound is off the chart.
The asparagus, potatoes, peppers and eggplant are doing well. Already made a few little peppers, which we thinned to help keep the plants vegetative for a while. The tomato plants are huge but no fruit to speak of. I get the feeling this could be a bad tomato year for us. Plants have already out grown the cages and it’s only May 1st. These indeterminate varieties could be 10’ tall by August. Even I can’t reach that high!
The herb garden is still a work in progress. We’ve added some garden art and a few plants here and there. Basil is the main focus and I’m already looking forward to some fresh pesto.
Lastly...
One of the favorite questions around the neighborhood is “when are you going to get your chickens?” I’m still working on the coop – trying to get the water system perfected. Hopefully we’ll have some feathered friends by next post.
