growing and growing...

My garden is really starting to explode! Things are sprouting and blooming all over the place. I fear it's too late in the season to start with seedlings, but the cactus, succulents and herbs should all do fine inside. Still, I find it's so much fun to plant seeds in soil and see how they progress each day, even if a green sprout is all that results.

Look at all the crazy stuff happening in my pot of donkey tail! Lots of new little...what would I call them? Sprouts?

Not sure what these beautiful white blooms are, but they pop up every year in the beds. They look really pretty for a day or two, then they turn the bush into a droopy mess and shed their petals until the bed looks like it's been toilet-papered.

Excuse the dirt under my fingernail (I was gardening after all). My poppies keep blooming beautiful orange and yellow flowers. You can see this orange one struggling to free itself.

Hopefully I'll have some delicious, fresh strawberries soon! The berries are all green and still on the smallish side.

Can you guess what this is? It's a cactus! What variety, I don't know (the seed packet was a mixed variety) but how cool that I am growing a CACTUS from seed!?

Two more little baby cacti are popping up in this pot. I've never quite seen seedlings like this before!

Another cactus...

This pot may look familiar. It once held my lovely lavender plant, which did not survive its temporary abandonment. I replaced the lavender with a pretty measly looking rosemary plant. I can't wait for this one to bulk up and grow more.

Hens and chicks are such neat plants and easy to care for. I really love succulents!

This is a tomato plant. You can see something is digging around in there...

This basil plant finally sprouted after two months. Nothing beats fresh basil eaten with tomato slices and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Hopefully this can grow more so I can it enjoy it before tomatoes go out of season.

Chives! These sprouted within days and are growing very quickly. I'll have to transplant them very soon.

My very old cat, Cricket, likes to join me on the porch when I'm gardening. He also likes to bat around the poppies, which he was doing moments before.

These are the pepper pots, still looking pretty much the same. One pot is empty, though...

Because I transplanted it to a bigger pot. I really, really want some Cayenne pepper before the summer has ended.

I planted some cilantro seeds in here. I love Mexican and Thai food, for which cilantro is a key flavor. It's one of my favorite herbs and I can't wait to have some. No movement from the pot yet.

I had some random flower seed packets laying around and I planted the cornflower in this pot. Look at all of them! I'm considering moving them to the beds.

And we are joined again by Cricket. Forgive his manginess. He's usually very clean, but he's been enjoying the great outdoors the past few days (which consists of crawling around in the bushes and beneath the deck).

Any idea what we have here? Delicious, wonderful eggplant! There are so many little seedlings. I think I might have to transfer them to a bed.