Requisite Spring Plant Update

It's that time of year again! The bulbs are coming up - including the tulips I forgot to move to a sunnier place. They come up every year, but they never bloom. I guess they'll have to wait another year. Or maybe they'll surprise me!

I let the strawberries in the strawberry pot set down runners in part of the landscaping in the back yard. Hopefully the sun will be good enough for lots of fruit. The raspberries did wonderfully last year, and I'm hoping they will again. I was thinking about them last night as I remembered going out in the dark before leaving for Illinois to pick my dad some raspberries. I'm so glad I did as that was the last time I saw him alive. I'll think of him every year when I gather raspberries. Well, I guess I already did because I knew how much he loved them. The blueberry bushes are growing very slowly. I would love to buy a bigger one, but I guess I'll just deal with the fact I'll probably never actually get any blueberries!

Yesterday I started gathering all of my outdoor pots so that I can plant peas, swiss chard, and beets this weekend. I'm excited! I need to get my flowers seeds going too.

I'm not planning anything elaborate this year. I'm going to put tomatoes in the ground to see if they do any better. I'm such a failure at container tomatoes. I have no faith in this Georgia soil, but I bought some tomato fertilizer and other things that will hopefully improve it enough. Thankfully, we've been getting plenty of rain. Hope that continues as well! I might do some pumpkins or watermelon again just because it's fun. We've yet to get a pumpkin, but the watermelons were tasty (and small!).

And here's a fun houseplant tidbit. This is my poinsettia from 2008. It was still all green leading up to Christmas 2009, and I read that I would have to do some elaborate trickery with dark and cold to make it turn red so I didn't even try. Right before Valentine's Day, it started turning red on its own. Here it is now.