Garden Update: Late Spring 2014

Today we wanted to pop in with a late spring update on all things gardening. We gotta keep it real and let you know that we definitely haven't planted as much as we'd like, and not everything we've tried this year has been a winning success, but other plants have really taken off. We've got a bit of a gardening hodge podge around the house, so today we're going to lay it all out, just the way it is!

The last time we checked in on the state of the garden and new plantings was in early April — you can get the full rundown in this post. Well, it's amazing what 6 weeks can do in terms of growth, so let's take a tour!

We'll start out front where we planted golden sweet peas in the front urns this March:

It's always amazing to us to see how quickly pea plants tend to vine up and grow. We've got heavy flowering and lots of pods emerging, so we're hoping to be able to cook with the bounty soon!

The little rosemary plant we nestled in our front bed has been doing really well. The growth has taken off since we planted it 6 weeks ago and we continue to hope this guy might grow into a larger rosemary shrub if we take care of it:

Now let's take a look out back! Around the time we planted the peas out front, we also planted a blackberry bush starter in hopes of training it to grow along the wooden fence:

The good news is, it's shown lots of new growth and blooms! It hasn't grown up as much as we thought it might by this time in order to start training, but our back patio space doesn't get much sun, so we'll continue to watch this guy do it's thing (no matter how slowly) and hope for some summer blackberries!

On the other end of the fence we also planted a climbing rose starter:

This rose plant is still hanging in there in terms of staying alive, but that's about it. It actually looks worse than when we planted it (perhaps due to little sun in this area of our space), but again, we're hoping it will eventually take off and grow into the climbing and blooming vines we're dreaming of. Any tips and advice for roses welcome!

Just above our dwindling rose plant we have a window-box containing tons of new mint growth. Would you believe this is the same mint we propagated from a dying plant last year and nurtured throughout the winter?

We've even continued to take new cuttings from this plant to keep regrowing and planting throughout the season:

In more keeping it real news (like our sad rose plant), we have two trough planters full of bolted arugula:

Admittedly, these guys have been a little neglected this year, but we have plans for more green growth throughout the season ahead. In better news, our sage and thyme from 2012 just keep coming back:

These little herb pails are nestled in between our container grapevines, which are also growing like crazy this season:

This just might be our year for grapes! It's been exciting to watch the yearly progress on these grapevines, especially seeing the difference between now and when we first planted them back in 2012.

Our potted plants up on the top landing are doing well — we've got dill and peppers:

Slow growth on the cucumber vines and we've even had luck regrowing a leek from the grocery store in that little blue planter:

Across the way in our neighbor's yard, we're excited for all the green growth and budding figs jutting out from our favorite fig tree (can't wait for figs!):

The herb pots with peppermint, lavender, parsley and asparagus have been hanging in there too, allowing for snips here and there when in need for cooking:

The horseradish root just continues to thrive — love this plant:

In more, not so great news, we've had some requests for updates on our avocado plants. We had one of the plants that held strong and healthy through the winter. Last week when temperatures rose into the 80's/90's I had the bright idea to let it sit outside since it showed so much positive growth through the summer last year. Well, either the sun scorched the leaves or the drop in temperature the past few nights were just too much as you can see:

Once realizing the browning of the leaves, we brought it back inside to hopefully nurse back to health. If it survives, the plant will be going on 3 years! We originally had two of them growing, but the second didn't make it through the winter, so we've got a bursting basil plant thriving outside in its place:

While on the subject of indoor plants, we do have a couple updates to report on our latest additions to the front office:

With minimal care and watering, we're noticing new growth on both the fiddle leaf fig tree and our rubber plants! See that little spiral leaf peaking through the tip of the plant here?

It was our hope with getting a smaller plant that it might grow into the larger tree versions we've seen and love so much — so we're happy to report this initial progress!

Also note the bright green spirally leaf growth on the rubber plant below. Same story on this guy — we got a smaller, more budget-friendly version in hopes of growing it over the next few years:

We've even got new growth on the pineapple plant we've been trying to regrow from the scrap top of a grocery pineapple. Things are looking good all around in the office!

Our money tree also continues to thrive:

You might remember we had a mishap in September and weren't sure if it would make it, but we just keep continuing to see new growth:

Whew! So that's where we stand with gardening updates this spring. Like I mentioned, we've got a lot of things going on, even though it might not be on the grand scale we'd imagined for this spring. In the end, that's the beauty of gardening and tending plants — there's always room for mistakes and adding more down the road!

What have you got going on right now? Any plants you're particularly proud of or maybe other gardening projects that didn't pan out quite as expected? We'd love to know in the comments section below.

Discover More:

Where to Find Fiddle Leaf Fig Trees | All Gardening Projects