The Thrifted Planter

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How to plant and grow beautiful spring blooms

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It’s that time of the year again! If you want to see spring blooms you’ve got to start in the fall. You can order bulbs online or purchase them in store. Having spring blooms is easier and closer than you think! Do the hard work in the fall and you’ll be thanking yourself in spring! Here’s how to get started!

spring blooms
Basket of Tulips

1. Buy Bulbs

The hardest part is probably picking out what bulbs to plant. There are so many to choose from.

spring blooms
Daffodils

2. Buy Bulb Fertilizer.

This a super important step. Fertilizing during planting gives your bulbs a boost when it’s time to wake up in spring!

Tulips Spring blooms

3. Pick a spot.

Choose a spot with great sun and good drainage. One thing bulbs hate is being waterlogged.

Hyacinths

4. Water them in.

After planting you will want to water them. You can also mulch at this time. You do not need to water them regularly until spring the following year.

Grape Hyacinth

5. Enjoy!

Whether you like to create bouquets or leave your blooms in place take some time to enjoy your efforts.

Tulip bouquet

Happy Gardening!

Ciearra

HOW TO GROW NASTURTIUM

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Nasturtiums are so gorgeous! They are a great plant to have in the garden. You can start them indoors four-six weeks before your first frost date. Then plant them outdoors after the threat of frost is gone. You can plant them in the landscape, in pots and hanging baskets. What’s even cooler is they are totally edible! Add the foliage and flowers to your salad for a zing!

Alaska Dwarf Nasturtium

You and easily order seeds online. Once you have a collection of see you can grow from your own stock every year.

Nasturtium

Nasturtiums are beautiful trailing over a raised garden bed or covering up a less than pretty space in the garden. They are often used as a sacrificial or trap plant for aphids and squash bugs. Plant them next to your Brassicas and they’ll help keep pests away. If you haven’t started a vegetable garden yet check out my post on how to get started.

Nasturtium grown from seed trailing over a raised garden bed

Nasturtium’s are not too picky about the type of soil you plant them in so use what you have available. They are forgiving if you forget to water them and they love full sun. They can tolerate part shade but do much better with 6-8 hours of sun.

Nasturtium with edible flowers
Fresh Nasturtium seeds

Be sure to collect and dry seeds for the next growing season! Nasturtiums are heavy seeders and you’ll have plenty to plant or share with friends next year! Nasturtiums grow pretty quickly from seed. Feel free to start them directly in the garden after your first frost date.

Happy Gardening!

Ciearra

8 Garden Flowers to grow right now!

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Your probably wishing you had more flowers in the garden right? We all are. Here are 8 garden flowers you need to grow and what’s even better is that they bring in pollinators!

Hydrangea

Hydrangea blooms are a must for anyone with space to grow. You can grow them in pots or in ground so there is no excuse not to have one someplace in your space. You have several types of blooms to choose from but my favorite are Panicle and big leaf hydrangeas.

garden flowers
Big Leaf Hydrangea bloom
garden flowers
Panicle Hydrangea bloom on the Firelight Tidbit by Proven Winners

Zinnia

These are my favorite easy to grow from seed flowers! They handle neglect from me and I love them for it haha. They also come in several different bloom types. Zinnias make the perfect garden flowers to grow year after year.

garden flowers
Cactus zinnia

Rose

Roses like Hydrangeas are so traditional and much needed in every garden. There are so many different types of Roses but here is an At Last Rose that’s currently blooming in my garden

garden flowers
At Last Rose by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs

Hosta

I know this plant is so unexpected but I have fallen in love with them this year. Mine are booming with growth and the blooms are gorgeous and full of pollinators.

garden flowers
Hosta Bloom

Dahlia

These blooms are so amazing. They come in so many different colors and shapes. My garden will never be without a Dahlia.

Butterfly Bush

The blooms on the butterfly bush are like no other. They are a so gorgeous and come in many different colors. Pollinators love them and they really do attract a lot of butterflies

Butterfly Bush Bloom

Amaranth

Amaranth “Love lies Bleeding” is not only edible it’s gorgeous! I love seeing the tassels blow in the wind!

Sunflower

This is a garden staple! Sunflowers scream summer and come in so many different varieties and sizes. There’s one for every type of garden!

Mammoth Sunflower

Flowers are such a big part of garden design. A lot of us choose plants based on the flowers before foliage and I completely understand why! So what’s your favorite flower in the garden?

Happy Gardening

Ciearra

5 Smoothie Vegetables You can Grow

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Grow your own smoothie vegetables. There are so many different types of smoothies that you can make and using home grown produce will make your smoothie all the more enjoyable. Here are my favorite Smoothie vegetables to grow in the garden.

Smoothie Vegetables You can Grow!

Kale

I’m growing two varieties of Kale this year. Red Russian Kale and Toscano Kale. Both are very delicious and can be grown in early spring and again in fall. Harvest from the bottom up to use the older leaves first.

Smoothie vegetable
Dinosaur Kale

Spinach

This is such a smoothie staple in the garden. This year I’m growing Malabar Spinach which is a climbing plant. It’s phenomenal! Start your Spinach from seed in early spring and harvest until the hot days of summer. Then start need seeds for your fall garden!

Smoothie Vegetable

For a list of vegetables you can grow in your fall garden check out this post!

Beets

Beets have a very earthy flavor but they are so so good for you. I grew one bed of beets and have already harvested, juiced and used them in my smoothies.

Smoothie Vegetables

Cucumber

I love love love cucumbers! I love chopping them up to go into salads, slicing them and dipping them in ranch. I even love marinating them with olive oil, onion and a little vinegar to eat later but for smoothies I juice them with my other veggies and freeze the juice into cubes to use later.

Smoothie Vegetables
Photo by Lo on Pexels.com

Ground Cherry

Now this is a weird one. It has a flavor that’s sweet but not like you’d expect. The flavor starts off sweet then changes to something less sweet but still tasty if that makes sense. It’s definitely one too add to the smoothie rotation.

smoothie vegetables

These are my favorite go to smoothie vegetables. What do you like in your smoothie?

Happy Gardening

Ciearra

Grow Tumbling Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets

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Hey Gardeners!

I want to share my experiment with you! Earlier this year I was determined to grow a ton of tomatoes. In my research phase I discovered Tumbling Tomatoes! Tumbling tomatoes are tomato plants that can cascade over the side of a pot. Indeterminate and Determinate tomatoes tend to grow upward eventually needing some kind of support.

After pouring through gardening books I thought that it would be cool to grow my tumblers in hanging baskets rather than a pot on the ground. I made the right choice.

Cherry tomatos

I was able to source some Tumbling Tom seeds from Etsy this year and was so happy that they all pretty much germinated.

Tumbling tom cherry tomatos

Taking care of Tumbling Tom Tomatoes is the same as any other tomato plant. Except like any plant in a hanging basket you will HAVE to water more frequently like daily. Maybe even twice a day depending on the weather.

Garlic can be easily grown in small spaces! Read this post to learn how to grow garlic!

tumbling tomatoes
I have the tumblers right by the door. How’s this for a garden view

So between daily watering and weekly fertilizing this gorgeous plant is thriving! It has a beautiful structure and purpose. I was excited to hang this basket by my raised herb garden bed. That way I can snip herbs and grab a few cherry tomatoes while I’m at it!

tumbling tomatoes
Full basket of this gorgeous tumbling tomato

In this planter I have four separate tumbling tomatoes planted. I also have a second smaller pot of tumblers though not as pretty as this pot but full of tomato’s.

tumbling tomatoes
Cherry tomatos

Have I convinced you? Tumbling Tomatoes in hanging baskets are a great way to save space and the look so cool hanging up.

Happy Gardening

Ciearra

Tomato Tuesday

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Hey Gardeners! It’s tomato Tuesday and time to check in on all 30 plus tomato plants! You heard me right I’m growing over thirty tomato plants right now.

I am experimenting with fabric pots this year and so far I’m sold! I love how easy they are to plant and move around if needed. I can easily add a tomato cage or stakes to secure them as they grow.

The only drawback with the fabric pots is that you have to water more frequently. Otherwise I treat them the same as any in ground tomato. I water daily unless we are getting rain and I fertilize weekly with fish emulsion.

To help maintain their size and bulk I have been pruning off suckers. Some people like to leave them on for bigger plants with more fruit but I don’t need that this year.

I have never grown this many tomato’s in my entire life so this will be pretty exciting!

Happy Gardening!

Ciearra

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