BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Gardening Are you planning your spring garden?

Now is the time to start planning your garden. I don't get paper catalogs anymore but I should start looking at the online sites - What do you want to plant this year?

Since we moved and can't uproot anything in the yard as yet, I am planning some container gardens. First, my herbs! I always plant herbs. Basil (lots of basil), rosemary, oregano, cilantro, Japanese purple/red shiso, Italian flat leaf parsley, chives, mint, scallions, sage...those are my favorites. Then, lavender and tomatoes (grape and Romas). We do strawberry pots but can't seem to evoke large berries like the ones grown locally so we'll skip this year.

I was thinking of starting some jack-o-lantern pumpkins in a pot in April. But I'll need to make room in the yard for them later and I don't know if I want to do that just yet. Will do Japanese nasubi or eggplant in containers this year. Love to pickle or grill them.

Can you recommend good cutting flowers for containers?

Sweet Peas are always good. They have a strong scent and, as climbers they do nicely against any South or East facing wall.

I don't know if sweet peas can handle the hot California weather but I'll check. They are so pretty.

Hi Lori, In Bavaria, which can be very hot at times, and Italy which also enjoys summers that are exactly that, real summers, massed geraniums, of either one colour or a toning or contrasting combination, are very popular.

They thrive in the sun, some are even scented with the scent being more pronounced the hotter it is, and then there are so many varieties and colours from which to choose. They are everywhere, hanging in tubs, boxes and layered displays or growing up trellises, upright plants with decorative leaves in a flower bed, and sometimes, but not always, they are mixed together with some green foliage plants as a contrast.

And the part of France I was in during the summer this year had beautifully scented, and colourful, sweet peas just all over. Trained up trees, trailing across banks, hanging from boxes or growing up a frame, even growing wild, and it was Hot Hot Hot with a total lack of anything even vaguely resembling rain, which if anything just seemed to encourage them to grow.

And though very different both types of flower make fabulous flower arrangments.

Have fun with your garden, and with your planning.

Well then, I'll have to plant some sweet peas this year! Thank you for the information!

What are you growing?

Must admit love a garden that has both flowers and something to eat, greedy as that no doubt sounds.

There are always masses of different herbs, and picking a lettuce just before it goes into a salad, or tomatoes fresh from the vine, even spring potatoes and onions that were planted the year before....yum delicious.

Normally have some melons, zucchini and cucumbers trailing as a back ground to the flowers, and their blossoms are also super to eat in a light batter or with stuffing.

As for the choice of plants some bushes are permanent and there has to be some perfume, even if it is only faint, and enough white blossoms mixed in with other colours to make sure that they are picked out and �shine� in moon light.

Made a totally white and silver display one year, starting with spring bulbs etc. and continuing through summer and autumn. Looked good during the day but as evening was about the only free time available to sit, and as it not only looked beautiful under a night sky but was also scented, that was probably my all time favourite, and summer and autumn used to relax there for far too long every night just enjoying it.

It was like a mini holiday.

My annual catalog from Brown's Ferry Gardens (in South Carolina) came the other day, just as a record snowfall was coming down. BFG specializes in daylilies, my favorite garden plants, and the photos were mouth watering! Every year I tell myself that I don't need any more daylilies...and then the catalog comes and there are always a few that are totally different from anything in my garden. I have to restrain myself!
As for the edibles, other than the perennial fruits, I guess I'll plant the usual sugar snap peas, green beans, basil and tomatoes. I've given up on lettuce and spinach, it always gets too hot too soon here and they bolt.

My garden faces north or if it is in containers gets lots of north and west exposure. I'm not sure what I am going to do this year. As soon as I can get my potting soil into the garage I will start some broccoli plants.

I am very busy planning and daydreaming about my garden and flower beds. We just moved last fall and the house had some traces of old beds, but absolutely no landscaping to speak of! We will be very busy this spring since we have to start from scratch. I did take the time to plant bulbs last fall so I would have something to look forward to once the snow melts, but am quite sure those will not stay where they were first planted.

I have already bought a bunch of seeds to start, and have been browsing over all the wonderful catalogs that are now arriving, and have been searching the net for some garden plans.