Seattle: A First Harvest

My first harvest!! My mint is just taking over and I know the best way to keep it growing is to use it! It just continues to come back stronger and stronger. We had a gorgeous, sunny day in Seattle and I just felt the need for some iced tea after all of our cold, rainy days. So I made a batch of Blueberry Bliss Strawberry Lemonade iced tea (a rooibos Teavana blend, I'm obsessed). I added a few tablespoons of sugar and shoved in some mint. The mint sitting in the tea (once cooled) adds an amazing flavor. It's pretty delicious. And so fancy, right?!

I know it's in an absinthe glass, but it's just so fancy!

My plants are doing super well, by the way. Below are my hydrangeas. I hope I see some blossoms this year. I'm trying to be patient. I think I cut them back too far for the winter.

My hydrangea leaves are huge!

The carrots are looking so great but oh man are they overwhelming the pot. I need to thin them out, but they look so delicate. I'll wait a little bit, maybe later in the week. The pot looks so beautiful though, like tall grasses in the wind. I love them.

Carrots are booming! Maybe I should thin soon?

As for the lettuce you can see it is doing super well. I'm so excited for the first harvest of these guys! So delicious. That's kind of weird, right? Thinking about eating something you are so excited to see grow and thrive? Oh well, they are delicious. I decided they were doing too well, so some thinning was needed.

Before thinning...

After thinning. Not enough, huh?

I know, they need to be thinned more but I'm torn between pulling out the big guys or the little guys. How do I know the little ones will do as well as the big ones? And how do I get to the little ones without disrupting the delicate roots of the big guys? So I just did some group pulling to get some breathing room. I'll thin again soon, once they're stronger.

And look at this!! A mystery bloom!! I really have no idea what it is. And the fun part is, it's bloomed in two pots! Which I would assume means cilantro, right? But it looks like rosemary. Wait a second, wait a second, I didn't even plant rosemary!! So I guess we'll just have to see how it matures. I hate waiting. That leaves four pots un-sprouted (catnip being one of them and if you remember anything about last year this one took forever to sprout, so I'm not rushing it).

It's a mystery bloom!! I have no idea what it is.

And of course, probably my proudest accomplishment: blueberries! If you'll remember last year's blueberries were a disaster. I am completely babying this year's plant and you can see it is paying off! It's so happy! I come home and see stretched leaves and now these beautiful blossoms have formed. I think this is going to be one of those plants that comes back every year and when we move is going to be a pain to take with us. Haha, but we will!!

Dainty blueberry blossoms.

All in all things are going well. This is quite a run-of-the-mill post, just to update you on progress. In a couple weeks I can plant my zucchini and chives which will be great and there are still pots to see bloom! I'll keep an eye on the mystery bloom, he's certain to reveal what he is soon!