Spring 2014 Gardening Update

It's May now and my week straight of rain has come to an end! I've been dying to get my vegetables in...

This is a Chicago Hardy Fig that I bought from Stark Brothers. It arrived at the end of March and as you can see, it's out of it's dormancy and putting up new growth.

I'm in Kansas City, zone 5b/6a and my climate is a bit cold for figs. However, local Italian-American gardeners universally said that they have grown figs here successfully.  The key is to wrap them in winter, making especially sure that the roots are well protected from the cold.

This is the hardiest variety of fig that I found while reading up on figs. It is supposed to be hardy to -30 degrees (and able to survive cold Chicago winters). It'll grow back from the roots if the above ground parts freeze, if what I read is true.

Despite that I will wrap in the winters (until it gets too big to do so), as I was instructed. I already have a carpet remnant (again, as was instructioned) in the basement to wrap it with.

  The next picture is a raspberry bush. I hadn't actually planned on planting raspberries, but I had to make a trip to the hardware store for another purchase and I saw it right there in the nursery.

The little raspberry bush said to me, "Come on and buy me. You know you wanna have fresh raspberries. And I only get four foot tall by four foot wide, so you have room for me."

I found the cute little raspberry bush's arguments compelling and now I have a raspberry bush planted behind my house.

While I am happy I planted the little raspberry bush, every time I look at it, I am reminded that my mother doesn't let my father shop at the hardware store alone for the exact same reason!

I didn't plant these pretty purple flowers, in fact they've been there since before I moved in. I've never seen them look so happy before and they are so pretty I thought I'd post pictures of them.

I have a list of other plants that I have in my garden this year but don't have pictured:

• Dill
• English Thyme
• Roman Chamomile
• Mint (I might regret planting mint)
• Habeñeros
• Anaheim Peppers
• Jalapeños
• Italian Stuffer Peppers
• Poblanos (I LOVE peppers, Okay)
• Rosa Bianca Eggplant
• Zucchini (I don't remember the variety)
• Old German Tomatoes
• Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
• Black Brandywine Tomatoes
• Lots and Lots and Lots of Sunflowers (assorted varieties)
• Lots and Lots and Lots of Marigolds (I'm experimenting with using them as a living mulch in some spots)

Once my sunflowers start to take off in a week or two, I might plant some cucumbers along side them. I'm thinking I can get the cucumbers to trellis on the sunflowers.