It's a Blueberry Bush!

This past winter I have been getting excited for planting a garden, even though I have very little experience in the subject.  I have been dreaming of my very own home-grown veggies and fruits, but I have been especially looking forward to one fruit in particular - blueberries!  Over the last few months, I have done a bunch of research on blueberry plant suppliers and how to grow them.  I settled on ordering from DiMeo Farms (dimeofarms.com) and I think I made a great decision.  They helped me with which varieties to order - I ended up with Duke, Bluecrop, and Jersey for a full season of fruiting.  The five bushes (their minimum order) arrived nicely packed with two pages of instructions.  After a couple hours of hard work for Jimmy and me, we had this:

Five Blueberry Bushes

Not much to look at yet (Jimmy's mom's comment was that they "look kind of brown"), but some signs of life are showing already:

Budding!

Tomato Plants Planted

I have tried to grow tomatoes the past two summers with very limited success.  Two years ago, a coworker gave me one of his surplus plants, which I never got to eat a single tomato from.  Last summer, I did infinitely better and eat one whole tomato that I grew myself.  Those attempts were pretty poor, but I didn't have as much to work with living in an apartment with a giant tree in front of my balcony.  This year, I'm very hopeful to have a bit better crop.  I bought two plants, one Super Sweet 100 cherry tomato and one Beefmaster, and planted them in a flower bed by my back patio.  Check them out:

Beefmaster

Super Sweet 100

Hot Pepper Seedlings

Jimmy loves burning hot spicy food.  I like spice, but I also like to taste other flavors in my dish, something he doesn't seem to miss.  In starting our gardening adventure, we both agreed that growing hot peppers was a must.  We ended up picking out a mixed seed packet with Hungarian Wax, Anaheim Chili, Long Slim Red Cayenne, Ancho (Poblano) and Jalapeno M varieties.  These aren't the hottest out there by a long shot, but they were available at Lowe's and a variety sounded fun.  I set up my seed starting tray with a dome near the end of March and anxiously awaited the emergence of the seedlings.  Finally, I saw it - I sign of life!

March 30: The First Seedling Emerges

March 31: And It Stands Tall

April 1: So Many Seedlings

April 14: Those are some real leaves growing

I can't wait to enjoy a fresh pepper this summer!

Spring is Here!

One beautiful thing about our duplex that was there before we did anything was the flowers!  So, so, so many flowers.  Also, it has plenty of weeds, but we will tame them eventually and bring the yard back to its former glory.

So pretty!

Doing dishes isn't so bad when this is your view.

Jimmy called these "Pizza Tulips"

I love the interesting color combinations

Who doesn't love pink?

And some purple!

Or some purple and white?