Some Spring Growth On The Patio

Finally, a thunderstorm. I laid in bed and watched as lightning flickered and zig-zagged across the bedroom window. Thunder growled in the distance. 

Then rain. A lullaby that sends me to sleep.

During the day, I walk outside every few hours with the pupsters. I can't seem to stop myself from looking for yet another little nodule of green growth poking up from the dirt. Even though I've looked just hours before!

My hostas seem to grow 2-3 inches overnight. The herbs are usually first to show up. Mint was up a few weeks ago. Right about the same time as sedum and succulents. 

I reached down this morning and rubbed a leaf of peppermint. Love the pungent scent! 

Lemon balm is coming up. And I believe one of my cone flowers. Not sure which color. 

The clematis was growing early on, but it was on dead growth, so I cut it back. Now it is fuller and up about three or four inches from the container soil.

Sedum autumn joy is already a fairly big clump in the same container as the clematis. (Photo at the very top)

I noticed wild morning glories (purple) were coming up behind the containers against the fence in the small amount of dirt there. 

They seem to thrive most anywhere, even in small cracks in the concrete.

I will not be buying many plants for the patio gardens this year. So I will wait and see what comes up, and then try to fill in here and there. 

Herbs are usually the cheapest option. Or packets of seeds. However I rarely have much luck with seeds for some strange reason I have yet to figure out. 

Herbs are generally hardy and most will stand up to sun.  

I know we could still get bad weather, so I am leery of these wonderful warm days.

(See the cone flower in the middle?)

I've been taking old containers of soil from last year and spreading the dirt in the blue raised garden bed. 

Soil is too heavy to bring in here by myself right now. And then walk it from the car all the way through my apartment to take outdoors.

I know the soil needs replenishing due to nutrients leaching out over the past year. So when I'm walking better, I'll try to bring a few bags of soil in.

So what's going on in your gardens?