An Exciting Time!

Hello Everyone! As many of you who already garden know, this is an incredibly exciting time of the year! I'm not sure if our previous posts have really conveyed all the things we have goin on in our own little plot here on the west side of Olympia.

I just took a bunch of pictures of some of the exciting growth happening in the "Monster Garden," and I want to share them, so without further ado...




Above is a picture of some Bluebells that just bloomed this past week. They are pretty ubiquitous around this area, but beautiful nonetheless. Below are a few pics of our first Strawberry blooms of the year. These pink flowers are on an "ornamental" strawberry. We were told that it wouldn't produce fruit, but it does anyway. We are also growing some other strawberries in hanging baskets. We got those plants for free from a kind soul in the community, and we're not sure exactly what kind they are, but they have white flowers.





























Next up, we've got pictures of our new babies this year. Here are images of some of our Tomato (a flat and an individual), Eggplant, and Asparagus seedlings respectively. These guys were seeded on April 5.

And next we have some Peas...On the left, there is one of many that were seeded outside on President's Day (February 16). Below, this is a pea patch that Kevin and I planted outside on March 9.
























.......And here are some of the other vibrant plants we already had in the garden (listed in order): Lupines (planted early summer 2008), Spinach (planted November 2008), Rosemary, blooming and attracting fuzzy bees! (planted more than 3 years ago), and Spanish Lavender, on the verge of blooming! (planted more than 2 years ago).

And last, but not least, we have some native and naturalized plants. In the overhead view of the garden, you can see on the left side there is some area not divided up into beds. Last year, that whole area was overtaken by Himalayan Blackberry. After cutting down the blackberry and digging up the roots, we intentionally left the site as undisturbed as possible to allow some of the natives already growing there some peace. So far, we've been greatly rewarded! The green fluffs that you see on the left side in the overhead picture are Comfrey plants. Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is a very useful plant. It sends its roots deep into the ground, bringing up nutrients from the subsoil and depositing those back onto the topsoil when it sheds its leaves. Comfrey leaves can be harvested 2-3 times per year, and the plant just grows right back like nothing ever happened. The leaves can be used for mulch or in compost, where they provide a big dose of nitrogen, potassium, and other nutrients. Comfrey is also known to be a pretty potent medicinal plant, but I must confess, I have not yet explored any of its medicinal properties. Comfrey is not originally from the Pacific Northwest, but I have seen it growing all over the place in the wild.
Our Native patch also is home to a FOREST of Bracken Ferns, the first of which are just starting to unravel, Trailing Blackberry, a Red Elderberry, and many others. The following pictures are of the Bracken Fern (the second one shows Comfrey in the background), as well as our own li'l Elderberry friend.