and it was all yellow

The Plant Diaries Pt. 4

In case you missed it, I started a new series on Overbooked Mama called The Plant Diaries where I’m attempting to document our Spring backyard gardening adventures. This week I’m back with some scenes from our garden, a few random status updates, and recommendations for a few tools you might want to buy.

Scenes from our yard

It’s officially SPRING!

There are a few tell-tale signs that Spring has arrived in the South. It only takes slowing down enough to take note.

1. The camellia blooms start to drop.

2. The redbud trees, azaleas, and wisteria all start to flower around the same time.

3. Thick layers of buttery yellow pollen coat every hard surface and no amount of rain seems to truly wash it away.

4. The fattest, buzziest bumblebees you’ve ever seen start happily hovering around the plants.

5. Birds are busy waking us gently with their morning song and start frequenting our bird feeders again.

6. There’s enough of a breeze to open a window or ride around with the sunroof open.

This past weekend we were lucky enough to dodge most of the forecasted rain and spent a considerable amount of time outside. I’m paying for it with a tickly throat at the moment (thanks, allergies) but I felt really accomplished about what we managed to check off our to-do list.

I picked up some soil, landscape fabric, landscaping pins, and a couple of potted plants from Lowe’s. Now that we have the raised beds cleaned out, we’re ready to put down a good mix of soil, compost, and worms then transplant our seedlings this coming weekend. 🐛Our raised beds are so simple. They’re made with concrete planter wall blocks and 2x6 wooden boards. We originally saw the idea on YouTube and it seemed a lot more economical than buying a kit or a galvanized steel tub. There are so many ideas out there for how to get set up on any budget. Some people even use 5-gallon buckets for container gardening! The Subreddit /squarefootgardening is a great resource. I also enjoy scrolling TikToks about homesteading, The Spruce, the Clemson Coop Extension service site (this is SC specific), and the Bonnie Plants blog!

I cleaned out several pots that I want to replant with pretty flowers for a bit of color and visual interest. I’m thinking about plants that pollinators love like bee balm or borage (if I can find it locally). It’s also strawberry season!!! 🍓 I’ve noticed ours flowering again. Did you know they’re perennials? We practically ignore them on the front porch and they come back year after year.

💦The most challenging part of our garden is that we don’t have an in-ground sprinkler system. If you’re like us and only have one water spigot, you’ll want to invest in a decent splitter and a hose-end watering timer. We use an oscillating sled-type sprinkler which does the trick. Is it slightly annoying having to roll the hose back up before the lawn is mowed? Yes. But it’s a heck of a lot less expensive than paying for a professional irrigation system to be installed. Again, we’re working with a budget here. We might get the kids involved in making a wattle fence around the garden using sticks they collect around the yard.

Speaking of getting my kids involved in the garden, the team over at Thames & Hudson kindly sent me a free advance review copy of the most perfect book inspired by the Forest School movement last week. I can’t tell you how giddy I was when I opened up the mailer. A Field Guide to Spring: Play and Learn in Nature by Gabby Dawnay features poems, hands-on crafts and activities, scientific facts, and bug identifier pages to help children find different plants and animals. I love that the book keeps in mind that each child’s access to nature differs based on their living situation. Whether a child is experiencing nature in the form of a park, garden, field, or forest, there is so much to look for and discover. The book officially publishes on April 2nd but you can pre-order it now through my Bookshop link.

Let’s get growing!

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