New Year, New Garden

I have mentioned before what exceptional gardeners my mom and grandmother are. I aspire to have a flower garden that is half the garden either one of them has. I was at Walmart last week and caught a glimpse of the garden section which turned into a 5 minute detour.  I resisted the urge to get several plants because I knew I would not be able to plant them until the weekend and went back Saturday morning.  I am pretty pleased with my selections and can't wait for them to really start growing!

 I have always loved coking with fresh herbs (sometimes to Eric's dismay) so I always try to keep a ready supply, partially because purchasing fresh herbs when I want to cook with them is crazy expensive and I usually end up wasting a bunch of them. My absolute favorites are basil and rosemary.  I got new plants to replace the ones I had last year that died. The only one that made it through the winter was my thyme (of course the one I use the least would be the heartiest).  There is nothing better than a margherita pizza with fresh basil.  It is one of my favorite go-to weeknight meals (I even make the crust from scratch!).

             Rosemary                              Basil                                    Thyme

I have talked about planting a salsa garden for a couple of summers. One of my friends had one a few years ago and it seemed like a great idea to me.  I have a really great salsa recipe that uses fresh jalapeños, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and some Italian dressing that I make a lot during the summer.  I have never grown tomatoes before, mainly because I do not eat fresh tomatoes for the most part, and I hate buying them because they are so expensive.  I really hope we end up with a bumper crop!

     Jalapeño Peppers and Cilantro                            Big Boy Tomato

Some very colorful flowers caught my eye while I was browsing the plants Saturday morning.  There were the petunias, the inpatients, lavender, and salvia which are very popular around here.  Then I saw a couple of plants I had never seen or heard of before: Gazania and Portulaca.  They were very bright and colorful.....just what I was looking for to go in my big pots near the pool!  I had some snap dragons and petunias in them last year, but I underestimated the effect salt water would have on flowers and placed the pots right next to the pool steps.  Bad Idea.  By mid-July I was flowerless.  This year I have decided to put them back by the fence and try these new flowers in the pots.  Both plants are supposed to like bad soil, lots of sun and are ok with very little water so they should do quite well by the pool.  I just think they are pretty!

                         Gazania                                                      Portulaca