We've been having lovely weather yesterday and today, in the 70s (°s F), and I just came in from beginning my springtime fertilization. I make a custom mix of homemade compost, store bought compost from yard waste, rock phosphate, lava sand, greensand, alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, and earthworm castings. I also added in some lime. I applied this concoction to my weeping cherry tree, all the flowering shrubs along the street (forsythias, flowering almonds, quinces), and my butterfly bush. I also added some commercial organic fertilizer (Eden Rich from Gardens Alive!, an organic fertilizer that is all plant and mineral based) to the cherry tree.

The cherry tree just in the last day or so has started to swell with pink buds on their way! That's exciting; I hope I have a good show this year. More flowering almond buds are opening, and the forsythias are blooming. I have a lovely red camellia in the side yard. For several days now, my Sunshine Blue blueberry (a Southern Highbush variety that I planted March 7, 2000) is also blooming with its lovely light pink bell-shaped blossoms. Spring is a glorious time!>