What's New in My Garden This Year: Herbs Galore & Some New Fertilizer Options

Spring has FINALLY arrived here in Southern Ontario, and the planting has begun!

I have a surprising number of new additions to the garden this year - it wasn't something I really planned on, it just kind of happened :) The photo above is calendula seedlings which I was thrilled to see coming up; I was given a calendula plant by a local herbalist last summer and it did very well for me. I was hoping it would reseed itself vigorously and it seems to have done just that! If most of them thrive, I may actually be able to give a couple away myself. I dry the flowers all summer long to use for making salves and balms.

You may recall that I tried 2 new food plants last year: sorrel and ground cherries. While I loved the taste of the sorrel, it hasn't come back up this spring :( (it was a division from a friend last year). The ground cherries were a bit of a bomb, they didn't seem to ripen properly before the husks went all brown on me (they were probably in a less-than-ideally-sunny location, which may have contributed to the problem). They also took up a lot of space, and given that we didn't adore them, I don't think I'll grow them again.

Onwards to 2014 - here's a quick tour of what's new in my garden this spring:

Lots of herbs!

 On the top row are lavender and sage and the bottom are thyme and lemon mint (which was subsequently planted in the clay pot before putting it in the ground so it doesn't take over the entire bed!). The sage and thyme I picked up at the Mustard Seed seedling sale; the mint and lavender came from William Dam.

The lavender, sage, and thyme are all planted in my front bed that gets plenty of sun so I've got fingers crossed that they all thrive there! And I'm hoping these perennial herbs will finally fill out the bed along my front walk that's been looking a bit scruffy the past few years. The calendula seedlings are in the same bed with all these herbs, so I'm looking forward to a robust and great smelling herb garden along my front walk as all these plants fill in.

The lemon mint was selected by my 14 year old son - he requested a few plants of his own to grow this year and fell in love with this mint when we were at William Dam. He also picked out a few jalapeno pepper plants which are now in one of our raised beds. He has committed to doing all the care for these plants - we'll see how long it takes for him to get tired of the weeding and watering routine :)

I decided to give garlic a whirl last fall, and while it looks like critters got at a lot of it, I have 3 plants coming up strong. I was also given some lemon basil seeds by my lovely friend Roseatta, so a bunch of them have gone in the ground and I'm anxiously waiting to see how many of them germinate! The photo on the far right shows some of the perennial onions we were given last year by a colleague of my husband's. These are VERY robust - even after the brutal winter we had, they popped right back up in early spring and as you can see they are already producing huge amounts of green onion tops for us (which is good, because I put them in just about everything that isn't dessert).

For the first time ever, I broke down and got some lettuce seedlings so we could start enjoying our lettuce harvest a lot sooner. I picked these up at the Mustard Seed sale and I believe the variety is "Red Flame", but don't quote me on that because I have a terrible memory for that sort of thing :) I have direct sown some lettuce seed as well, so if all goes according to plan we should have a steady lettuce harvest for quite a few weeks (of course, things seldom go entirely according to plan in my garden!)

I was also gifted some strawberry plants, so in the ground they have gone, and a welcome addition they were, too. I haven't been tending to my strawberry patch very well since I transplanted them to another raised bed a couple years back, and the plants are looking far from robust. I am going to work on getting these guys back to good health this summer!

New Fertilizer Options

The plants aren't the only new thing in my garden plans this year. I'm going to be trying a few new ideas for fertilizing (something I've typically been not so great about). I have three new options I'm going to use, two of which are free and the third extremely inexpensive.

First up is this milk and molasses plant food recipe - super easy to whip up and something I might actually remember to do on a regular basis!

The next option is Freebie Fertilizer #1 and I might add I was quite relieved to discover this tip! As many of you know, I have been brewing kombucha for a couple of months now, and I am starting to get overrun with scobys (that's my scoby hotel on the left in the photo above). Of course, I am happy to give them away to friends who want them, but there are only so many takers (especially when each person who takes one starts getting overrun with them too, and my whole circle of friends is swimming in scobys). You can imagine my excitement when I discovered that people have had great success using them to fertilize their plants. Here's hoping my strawberries, tomatoes, rhubarb and raspberries all benefit from a little "scoby" treatment. Apparently many chickens go nuts for scobys, so if you are also overrun with them and know someone who has chickens, that might be another great alternative. I may just offer some to our egg farmer!

Photo courtesy of pd4pic.com

Freebie Fertilizer #2 is another one I just discovered after being given a comfrey plant (my plant is still looking a little worse for wear after being transplanted, so that's a stock photo). Comfrey can be used for fertilizer in a variety of ways; here's a good summary. I'm most likely going to go with the mulch option as it's the least involved and I am, after all, a pretty lazy gardener :)

I'll be sure to share how my fertilizer experiments work out later in the season!

What new and exciting things are happening in your garden this year?

 

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An Early July Vegetable Garden Update

It's been about 6 weeks since I planted our veggie garden and it finally feels like the plants are starting to take off! While the weather's been somewhat uncooperative (bouncing back and forth between hot and humid and cool and rainy), the garden has managed to hold its own for the most part.

This is what the ground cherry plant looks like now:

 As you might recall, this is the first year I've ever grown ground cherry, so I haven't been too sure what to expect from it! The fruits will form inside the light green orbs that look like paper lanterns. I have no idea how to tell when they're ready to harvest - I need to do a bit of research on that I think! It's definitely a plant that adds some texture and interest to the vegetable garden; I hope we'll enjoy eating the fruit, too.

The cherry tomatoes are starting to get close to full size, although it'll be a while before they turn ripe unless we get a decent burst of warm sunny weather:

The sweet peppers are starting to come out; this Gypsy variety starts out pale yellow then ripens to a deep red - they are some of the sweetest peppers I've ever tasted! It's hard to be patient waiting for them to ripen :) I have some jalapeno plants too, but they don't have any peppers growing on them yet.

Over in this little corner of the garden, things are coming along nicely. There are a few re-grown green onions and an abundance of herbs (oregano, purple basil, garlic chives, lemon thyme) plus the nicest crop of lettuce I've had in just about forever.

And to the left of these herbs and lettuce is my parsley patch! Can you tell I love parsley? I've gotten pretty addicted to quinoa tabbouleh this spring so I need lots and lots of parsley. I think it's one of the most underrated herbs and I like to toss it in everything from omelettes to grain salads to salad dressings. I also like to have some to dry at the end of the season to add to winter soups and stews.

Finally, here are my scraggly-looking green beans. This is usually my most vigorous, productive crop, so I have no idea why they are doing so pathetically this year. I'm hoping they will start to perk up if we get some warmer weather - they are absolutely my favourite fresh-from-the-garden vegetable! And the variety I grow (Slenderette) is so superior to anything you'll get at the grocery store that it doesn't even seem like the same vegetable. Come on green beans, get it together, please.

I also realized as I was writing this post that I'd forgotten to snap a pic of the raspberries on the other side of the yard, which have started to ripen. It doesn't look like we'll be getting quite as much of a yield as we did last year, but there are still enough for us all to do some decent nibbling while we're out in the garden and sprinkle a few on some yogurt or granola.

How are things growing in your garden so far this year?

Two New-To-Me Food Plants in My Garden This Year

It's a holiday weekend here in Canada (we'll be celebrating Victoria Day on Monday) and I'll be spending much of the weekend out in the garden as we're now considered to be past our frost date.

I thought I'd share two food plants I'll be growing this season that are new to me and my garden:

1. Sorrel

I had my first taste of sorrel earlier this week and fell in love! I was touring a friend's back yard and she gave me a taste of this green; it has a strong lemony, tart taste that I really enjoy. Even better, it is a perennial green and my friend dug a chunk out for me to take home (pictured above). It's just starting to recover from being transplanted. Since I am both a lazy and frugal gardener, I always get excited about finding new perennial foods! I think sorrel will be a welcome addition to our salads and it's definitely a very different taste from most other greens that lean towards either spicy or bitter flavours.

2. Ground Cherry

This is a plant I have read a bit about but have never grown or even tasted before! The photo above is the seedlings I purchased to plant.

The fruit looks like this:

Photo by Grant Cochrane, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It is supposed to be good eaten raw, dried or cooked into jams or salsas. If I manage to grow these successfully, I'm sure I will be experimenting with different ways of using them and keeping you posted of any successes.

If any of you have tips or suggestions on either growing or cooking with sorrel or ground cherry, I'd love to hear them!

Are you growing any new foods in your garden this year?

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The Garden is (Finally) Springing to Life!

In my yard sale post on Saturday, I promised to get around to an update on my other favourite thing about spring: getting back in the garden!

I've been impatiently surveying the progress of all things green and leafy in my little dominion, and with the last few warm sunny days we've had, everything has burst into life at long last.

A little tour of what's popped its head up in my yard (starting with the edible stuff, of course!):

The rhubarb is off to a decent start - I'm really anxious for a taste but I'm trying to restrain myself until it gets a bit bigger. At the top edge you can see the raspberries and lemon balm trying to encroach on the rhubarb's territory. It's nice to have food plants that grow vigorously; however, sometimes trying to keep them from overrunning the entire garden can feel like a full-time job!

Here's a closer look at the raspberries - I've already been out cutting back all the spent canes, which is always an adventure as they grow thickly and are kind of prickly (hey, that sort of rhymes). Up until a couple of years ago, I wasn't very disciplined about doing a spring pruning, but since I've been vigilant about it, my raspberry patch has produced much more than it did in the past, so this spring gardening task is really worth taking the time for.

Anyone want some lemon balm? I started out with a small transplant a couple of years ago that I received off of Freecycle, and now it's threatening to take over an entire garden bed. This is just one of the "satellite" clumps that have appeared this spring.

On the other side of the yard, the strawberries are nicely nestled in their own little raised bed just off our patio (maybe this will be the year I figure out how to stop the squirrels from eating all the berries before we do!)

I found this little fellow alive and well:

He's the only surviving member of the bunch of green onions I regrew from grocery store purchased ones last year. I have a fresh supply of green onions hanging out in glasses of water on my kitchen windowsill that I'm waiting to plant once our frost date has passed.

One of the many things I love about summer is having an abundance of fresh herbs to incorporate into our meals waiting just outside the back door. Along with the already-mentioned lemon balm, the other perennial herbs are showing signs of life:

I was happy to see the lemon thyme resurface from its winter slumber. I just planted it last year and was hoping it would make it back this year (even though thyme is perennial I've had some die off on me in the past). This stuff smells phenomenal and I usually can't resist running my fingers along it then inhaling deeply whenever I go by :) It's also a really pretty herb and adds some welcome colour and texture to my spring garden!

Unlike the thyme, I hardly have to hold my breath about the reappearance of the garlic chives - another very aggressive, invasive herb. They are so tasty, though and I use them extensively all growing season long - I just have to dig out clumps every spring to keep it from taking over my entire raised bed.

Last but not least on the edibles front is the oregano, which is just starting to wake up for a new season of growth. The mint has not yet resurfaced, but it's usually the last to make an appearance so I expect to see it burst onto the scene very soon!

A couple of ornamental plants to finish out our little tour:

 The Solomon's Seal is off to the races as usual - it grows incredibly fast once it starts to come up. My hubby and I are sure that sometimes it has doubled in size in a 24 hour period! If this weather keeps up, it should start to bloom soon.

The perennial geranium always gets itself well established early on in the season, too. I now have several clumps of it growing around the front and back yards. I love the interesting foliage, which has a pleasant scent. It is a very hardy and low-maintenance perennial - it just needs a little cutting back by the end of the season to make sure it doesn't spread too much.

We have quite a few ferns on our property; I think this guy is the first up for the season. It's always interesting to see where new "fern babies" come up every year.

In about a week and a half, we'll be putting all the annual herbs and veggies in for the season. Then my usual growing-season game of keeping all the critters out of the garden will begin in earnest.

What's growing in your garden right now?

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Getting Ready to Grow (While There's Still Snow!)

For those of us enjoying the frigid temperatures we're getting in my neck of the (figurative) woods (not to mention bracing ourselves for an impending snowstorm), it's hard to believe that we should be thinking about what we're going to grow this vegetable gardening season. Even though our "last frost" date is around the Victoria Day weekend (the Monday preceding May 25th), there is plenty to be done to get ready for the upcoming season!

Here are a few ways you can "get your grow on" while you wait for spring to arrive:

Check out a Seedy Saturday or Seedy Sunday event near you

These events are a great way to connect with other local veggie gardeners, swap seeds, purchase seeds and supplies from local vendors, learn about resources in your area (such as community gardens) and take in an educational workshop or two.  Information on the Hamilton event on February 24th is available here.

Sign up for a community garden plot

If you don't have space to grown food on your own property, now is the time to search out a community garden near you. We're very fortunate that there is a wide selection of community gardens in my city (a directory is here). You can usually track them down by Googling "community garden" and your city or town. The great thing about community gardening is that you can learn from more experienced gardeners growing in the plots around you! Many community gardens also host educational workshops to help you improve your food-growing skills.

Check out some food growing resources from your library

I've been growing some of my own food for well over a decade now, and I still consider myself a relative novice. There is always more to learn (especially if you want to maximize your yields in small spaces!) A classic book that is perfect for beginners is All New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More In Less Space by Mel Bartholomew. I'm planning to expand the herb selection in my garden this year, so I'll be poring over Tammi Hartung's Homegrown Herbs: A Complete Guide to Growing, Using, and Enjoying More than 100 Herbs (yes, those are Amazon affiliate links).

Join (or start) a produce cooperative

If you're interested in swapping your surplus garden bounty with other local backyard vegetable gardeners, consider becoming a member of a produce cooperative if there's one in your area. If not, it's easy to start your own! You can read more about my own experience starting a produce cooperative, or check out the group that got this grassroots movement rolling!

Get those seeds started!
Once you know what you're going to plant, you can get seeds started if necessary (a lot of veggies, like greens, beans and squash can be directly sown into the soil once planting season starts). You can even reuse your toilet paper rolls as seed starters!

Have you started thinking about this year's vegetable garden yet?

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Two Easy Things to Do with Fresh Herbs (Before the Frost Sets In)

Aside from a few straggling tomatoes that I'll leave on the vine until we officially get a chance of frost in the forecast, I've harvested just about everything from the garden that I'm going to this year. One exception to that is my herbs, most of which are still growing enthusiastically.

Knowing that I don't have much of a window left before the frost hits, I got myself outside to pick a pile of assorted herbs. Aren't they pretty?

I promptly did two things with them:

1. Packed a couple of clean quart jars with a mix of garlic chives, purple and green basil and oregano. I then poured white vinegar over them and will let them sit for several weeks.

2. Packed a smaller glass jar about half full of lemon thyme to make a honey infusion. I added honey (local, unpasteurized stuff from Dutchman's Gold) to cover the herbs completely, stirring it around a bit to mix. It's now sitting on my kitchen windowsill, where I'll let it brew for a couple of weeks before straining out the herbs. This infused honey will be saved for use as a cough syrup this winter (both honey and thyme are know to help calm a cough).

 

With only a few minutes of effort on my part, in a few weeks I'll have a Christmas gift (herbal vinegar) and a natural cough remedy all ready to go!

What are your favourite end-of-season uses for fresh herbs?

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My Favourite New Gardening Trick of 2012

I love having a vegetable garden, and I'm so grateful we've managed to carve out the space for one in our tiny urban backyard. Although I've been growing some of my own food for about 15 years now, I'll admit I don't have the greenest of thumbs - so I'm always thrilled to discover a food-producing plant that will thrive under my care.

This year I finally got around to trying out a little trick I'd heard about ages ago: regrowing grocery store purchased green onions in my garden. As you can see from the above photo, it worked like a charm! My little army of onions all grew robustly, and yielded us many times over the original purchase of green onions. Even better, I had constant access to freshly cut green onions whenever I wanted them. They are one of those foods that doesn't store all that well in the fridge, and even using this trick to make them last longer doesn't compare to cutting them fresh off the plant whenever you want some!

How to do it:
When you're using your store-purchased green onions, use only the green part. Save the bottom white part with the roots intact. Now all you need to do is plant this green onion "stub" in your garden - bury it just deep enough down that the roots are fully covered and the rest of the onion stub stands up firmly in place. 

Remember to water regularly, and soon you should notice the green part of the onion starting to regrow itself. Pretty cool, huh?

When you want to harvest some green onions, simply snip off the green parts, leaving the lower white portion intact (like you did before you planted them). They will continue to regrow themselves indefinitely (mine are still going strong after several shearings).

For those of you who don't have a garden, I'm pretty sure this would work if you planted them in a pot and stuck them in a nice sunny window.

Have you successfully regrown any type of grocery store produce? If so, I'd love to hear the details, so please share in the comments.

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My World Is Awash in Local Produce!

August can be so bittersweet. On one hand, there's no denying that there are only a few precious weeks of summer left. On the other hand, the growing season has hit its peak, and we are surrounded by a sea of delectable, fresh local fruits and veggies.

This is what my garden cranked out for me during the week we were away:

 

Sweet million and yellow pear cherry tomatoes, yellow sweet peppers, jalapenos and a whole whack of green beans! These green beans are absolutely fantastic - really tender and flavourful, and the plants are yielding extremely well. They're a variety called "Slenderette" and the seed package description states "Slender, dark green, stringless 5" pods on vigorous plants. Slow fibre development." This is the first year I've planted this variety, and at first I was a little concerned about how long it was taking them to mature - it seemed like forever before they started to flower! They are supposed to be 57 days to maturity, which I think is a bit longer than other varieties. They are WELL worth the wait, however, and I will definitely be planting them again next year.

My produce co-op is also yielding a large bounty of locally grown goodies. At our last exchange in mid-July, these were the contributions:

 

Kale, Swiss chard, purslane, green beans, garlic chives, rhubarb, sage, basil, oregano, onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, Portugal hot peppers, sweet peppers, parsley and rosemary.

As if all that weren't enough, all the local markets and grocery stores are flooded with local produce as well - sweet corn, peaches, zucchini, broccoli, and more! 

This abundance of seasonal produce is also reminding me that I'm way behind on my canning schedule this year. I'm still hoping to get zucchini relish, sweet pickles and dills put up before the sea of tomatoes comes in and I need to spend a whole day making salsa! Plus I'm tucking a whole lot of grated zucchini into my freezer so I can make plenty of Chocolate Zucchini Muffins all winter long :)

Are you as inundated with fresh local goodies as I am? What are you doing with it all? 

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A RE-USE IT PROJECT: How to Make a Wooden Pallet Planter Box

Here in Southern Ontario, the Victoria Day Weekend has traditionally been the time to get out in the garden and plant, plant, plant as it's the official time when the danger of frost has passed. This year I think we only had one or two nights after the beginning of April where we got frost, it's been such a mild spring, but I still did the bulk of my planting over the holiday weekend.

While I'm gardening away, hubby usually occupies himself by breaking out the power tools and building something. Last year, it was this Hockey Stick Muskoka Chair. This year, I was pestering him for more planter boxes in my never-ending quest to squeeze more vegetable plants into the sunny spaces in our tiny urban yard.

We have several of these planter boxes already (the first ones were built during our $75 Deck Makeover) and they're all made from wooden pallets (a.k.a. "skids" around these parts). Wooden pallets are a fabulous source of free wood for small building projects, and if you keep your eye out you're sure to figure out where to find some in your area. There are a couple of places close to us where skids are routinely dumped and left free-for-the-taking, so it's not hard to get a hold of a few whenever we need them.

So, if you happen to need some more planters for your garden, you can either pay a king's ransom for them at the garden centre, or you can make some for nearly free with a couple of wooden pallets and a few other basic woodworking supplies.

Here's how:

You'll need:
A selection of wooden pallets
Crowbar
Hammer
Tape measure
Square
Nails (galvanized) - 4-5 dozen 1 1/2" and eight 2 1/2  - 3"
Circular saw
Table saw (not essential but handy!)

(If you don't have a circular saw, ask around - someone you know will probably lend you one!)

Step 1: Selecting pallets

My hubby recommends looking for pallets with boards that are relatively smooth on *both* sides, and 1 x 5" or 1 x 6" in width. It's also ideal if you can find ones that have real 2 x 4"s used in their construction (you'll need some of them for this project).

Since pallets can be constructed from a wide variety of board sizes, if you pick up a few you increase the chances that you'll have enough boards of matching size to build this project. If you have a table saw, it gives you the option of ripping some of the widest boards down to a smaller size if need be.

Step 2: Breaking down the pallets

Before you can start building, you'll want to break down the pallets so you know how many of each type of board you have to work with.

Start by cutting off the ends just inside where the 2 x 4s are attached. My hubby says he does NOT recommend simply trying to pry off the 2 x 4s as he's ended up cracking a lot of boards that way (resulting in a large pile of unusable wood).

 Next, you'll want to pry the 2 x 4s off the remaining end bits (it's okay if those end bits split, you won't need them for this project).

Once you've got everything apart, you'll be left with an assortment of boards like this:

 

If you're lucky, you'll end up with 12 boards that are the same width and thickness to construct the sides. In our case, we didn't (largely because hubby didn't have enough time to break down all the skids we had at our disposal, so we fudged this planter a bit with what we had; this is the kind of thing that happens when you have tomato seedlings desperately awaiting a new home).

Step 3: Building the planter:

 First, you're going to need to cut some of your 2 x 4s (these will hold the sides together). Measure the width of your three boards for the first side (in our case, it was 14 1/4"). You'll need a second set of three matching boards with the same width for the second side.

Next, measure the thickness of two of those boards stacked together (here it was 1 1/2").

To calculate the length of your first four 2 x 4s, subtract the second measurement from the first (i.e. 14 1/4 - 1 1/2 = 12 3/4")

Cut the 2 x 4s to length and nail them in place to hold the side boards together. The top ones should sit flush with the top of the planter, and the bottom ones you can place where ever you'd like the floor of the planter to be (we don't put ours all the way at the bottom for two reasons: the boards aren't against the ground so they won't rot as quickly, and we have a smaller space to fill with soil). Hopefully you should have two sides that look something like the ones above when you're done.

Now you'll need to cut a second set of four 2 x 4s. These ones need to be shorter than the first set; measure the width of two 2 x 4s and subtract that from the length of the first set to figure out how much shorter to make them. Unfortunately hubby got away from me on the building process while I was on a gardening break, so you're going to have to use your imagination a little more for this next bit - cross your fingers (not while you're using the circular saw, though, okay?) and I'll do my best to talk you through it :)

Basically, you're going to construct two more sides the same as the first set, but the 2 x 4s won't run all the way to the edge on this set, you'll need to centre them in the middle. This is so you can nail the shorter set flush in against the first two sides you built, so they nest together. Make sure the bottom 2 x 4s are at the same height as they were in the first set. It should look something like this:

Although probably yours will have less mismatched boards and more accurately measured 2 x4s; it's also not likely to have a floor yet, unless you've gone and gotten ahead of me :)

Once you've gotten your basic box assembled, flip it over so the bottom side is up. Cut some more of your 1 x5 or 1 x 6 boards the right length to nail in place on top of the 2 x 4s - this creates the floor. It's okay if these boards have a few minor gaps or cracks, as that will allow for water drainage.

Now turn it back over so the right side's up again. The last thing you need to do is create the top cap for the planter, which makes it look fancier and hides a multitude of sins that may have occurred during the construction process. Our cap will have an overhang of 3/4". This is what you want to end up with when it's done:

To construct the cap, measure the sides of your box (you may have one longer side and one shorter side). Add 1 1/2" to both measurements (so you have 3/4" extra at each side of the box). Cut two 2 x 4s for the shorter sides, with the ends at a slightly more than 45 degree angle. Set the boards in place on the top of the box, but don't nail them in yet. Lay a second set of 2 x4s on top of the longer two sides. Take a pencil and mark a line across the uncut boards where the already-cut boards line up with the uncut board to get the appropriate angle to cut the second set of boards. Cut the second two 2 x 4s where they're marked and nail all four boards into place. (If your box happens to be a perfect square, you can simply cut all four 2 x 4s at a 45 degree angle and not bother with the angle-measuring step).

You're all finished! Now you just need to prime and paint it (paint only the outside of the planter if you're using it to grow veggies). This is one we made last year that is home to a tomato plant:

 Well, I don't know about you, but I'm tired out after all that building - time for a cup of fresh mint tea from the garden!

Do you use wooden pallets for building projects? What have you made with them?

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My Garden is Springing to Life!

Yesterday was an unseasonably warm and sunny day here in Southern Ontario and I sized the opportunity to soak up some warm sunshine and do some spring garden cleanup. We had such a mild winter this year that the plants are all growing well ahead of their usual schedule. I was treated to quite a few signs of life as I removed leaf mulch from my garden beds:

My parsley overwintered! This is the first time I can *ever* remember that happening in all my years of gardening.

Not to be outdone, several other herbs are poking their way out, too:

 Chives

(blurry) Oregano

And the Freecycled lemon balm I planted last year is really going to town already!

The strawberries are raring to go, too. If this mild weather keeps up, we may have one of the earliest strawberry seasons in my lifetime this year! I think we'll need to be jamming well before our traditional Canada Day session.
 

The rhubarb is starting to make an appearance, too. Aren't those itty-bitty rhubarb leaves adorable?

I guess I better finish planning this year's veggie garden pretty soon - at this rate I'll be able to start planting some spring greens in the very near future.

How is your garden growing this spring? Are you going to be planting something new this year, or going with the tried-and-true?