Spring is Here

The spring has truly arrived. The skies are clear and the sun is shining brightly. The air is filled with the fragrance of blooming trees. Every morning, when I go for a walk around the neighborhood with my son, I cannot stop admiring all the stunning touches of spring. The variety of flowers, blooming trees and bushes is just fabulous. On our walk today, we took some pictures.

New Herbs: Oregano and Thyme

A few days ago, I stopped by a nursery to pick a couple of new herbs for my garden. There was a big herb selection there, and making up my mind on which ones to buy was not an easy task. After many minutes of hesitation, I finally decided to buy Italian Oregano and Golden Lemon Thyme.
I was going to plant them in the open in my garden, but then I changed my mind. The plants are young, and I am afraid that slugs will eat their tender leaves. In my garden, there are small black fat slugs that I cannot get rid of. The regular snail/slug bait doesn’t seem to work on these little suckers.
So, instead of planting my new herbs in the open, I replanted them in bigger pots, which I keep on my deck. When the plants grow bigger and stronger, I will plant them in my garden. I cannot wait for my oregano and thyme to grow bigger, so I can start adding them to my cooking.

No Spending Valentine’s Day

This year, my husband and I decided to have a no spending Valentine’s Day. That means no flowers, cards, or presents (at least no store-bought ones). We decided to go for it not so much because of the money reasons, but mostly because the over-commercialized holiday celebrations are starting to get on our nerves.
We have a bottle of champagne and an unopened box of chocolates left from the New Year’s Celebration as well as several romantic movies on DVDs to choose from. That should be enough for a nice Valentine’s evening.
Moreover, I searched other blogs for creative decoration ideas. I found plenty of them, but the one I particularly liked was the idea of a Valentine’s tree.
I cut off a few branches in my backyard and gathered little items from around the house. For instance, the heart-shaped cookie cutter came from my kitchen. In the box with Christmas ornaments, I found the bow and the bird. I was especially delighted to find this little red cupid as it fits the theme perfectly. The tree branches have little new leaves, which at first I wanted to remove. However, I thought a little touch of green would be nice since it sends the message that spring is close.

New Year Gardening Plans. Part III

This year, in addition to growing the herbs and vegetables that I had successes with last year, I would like to grow a few new things.
Investing into perennial herbs would probably be a good idea. I want to try planting sage, thyme, oregano, and tarragon. These herbs often appear in the recipes in my favorite cooking book, so having them at hand would be great.
I would also love to try growing raspberries. From the online accounts of other Californians growing raspberries in their gardens, I’ve learned that raspberries don’t grow that well here and only produce few berries. However, I would be more than happy to have even few raspberries for my little boy to pick. That’s settled then, I will plant a raspberry bush this spring.
Finally, I want to have more flowers in my garden. What else can delight the eyes as flower beds? What else can embellish any room as a bouquet of freshly cut flowers? The flowers that I already have in my garden are roses, cyclamens and a newly planted calla lily. The flowers that I would love to have in my garden are tulips, lily-of-the-valley, gerbera daisies, and chrysanthemums. These are my favorite flowers!