Well, it’s been almost 5 weeks since we planted our recycled garden and I’m so excited to show you our progress!!

We’ve tasted fresh basil and lemon thyme at dinner time and harvested 4 delicious strawberries!  Just look at how full the vintage suitcase is now!  (1st photo – day of planting, 2nd and 3rd photo’s taken today)

The broccoli has little heads on it already and the yellow and orange bell peppers are so happy in their new home!  (I do think the sweet peas in the last picture may be getting a bit cramped but they seem very happy and are already about 6 inches tall!)  We can’t wait to see some blossoms on them! (1st photo – day of planting, 2nd and 3rd photo’s taken today)

The cucumbers are starting to make beautiful vines that we’ll soon have to step over.  Our vintage munition boxes are happily seeing sprouts of watermelon, carrots, chives, lettuce, and cauliflower!  (as well as some broccoli plants too) The tomatoes have quite a few blossoms on them and I can’t wait to see the baby fruit appear!  (photo’s taken today)

And the flowers……..oh the colors!!

Just look at the color that’s blossomed over the last few weeks!  Our snapdragon plants (2 of them) are now sporting 5 amazing hues and the sweet lobelia in the red desk organizer has now grown over the edges and looks right at home.  The pansies and viola are doing well except for a few violas the we lost in one of the file cabinet drawers…. (note for anyone in a very hot climate – high temps and metal containers may not be the best choice for delicate flowers!)  The petunia’s in the tall trash can are now overflowing and look right at home there.  We lost our lovely ranunculus about 1 week after I moved the garden into more direct sunlight.  (note to self – these sweet flowers don’t appreciate the hot AZ sun!) But I’ll try again next year.  Our girls’ dwarf sunflower seeds are growing beautifully as you can see in the 2nd photo. (1st photo – day of planting, 2nd and 3rd photo’s taken today)

A few things I’ve learned with this recycled/vintage garden……

• You CAN NOT miss a day of watering……(or the sweet marigolds in the recycled colander will die)
• Trying to give the plants their needed 8 hours of sunlight doesn’t account for the 95+ temps in the desert.  A little shade won’t hurt!  Especially for the flowers.
• Don’t plant fragile flowers in metal containers in the desert sun.  They won’t last very long.
• Check on your garden daily.  Hugs and kisses help too according to our girls!

Grandpa ‘hid’ strawberries in the strawberry patch for Easter!

Stay tuned to see what else we have in store for our little patch of farmland!  (ps. it involves ladybugs and natural tomato worm repellant!) Thanks so much for coming by and taking the time to check on the garden with us!  We’d love to hear what your gardens are looking like right now.  Comment below to share with us!

Blessings to you friends and happy gardening,