more plants out, and 4th sowing

A few days ago I planted out parsley, dill and chervil. Parsley into planter boxes on the deck railing, chervil into deck pots, half the dill in deck pots and the rest in a garden bed, alongside the arugula (which has gone bitter now) and chard.

Last year was not a good one for summer savory, but this year looks promising! So many little seedlings I am probably going to double them up in pots, and discard the smallest.

Only eight tithonia seeds sprouted, but I got a whole thirty marigolds. Which is fewer than normal, and just enough to handle. I went ahead and potted them all up.

Moved basils to pots too- these are the purple aromatto.

More stuff got pricked out of seedling trays and potted today: blue sage (fewer than I'd like- only six)

Clary sage- saved from seeds on plants I bought at the nursery last year, then planted out just too late for the flowers to be enjoyed in the yard. But now I'll have plenty!

Mishap: my two fenugreek seedlings died one day when it got too hot in the mini greenhouse. I sowed borage in the empty tray, but then a far-too-tiny seedling sprouted the very next day. I think this is one of the fenugreek that hadn't sprouted the first time around.

A while back I sowed two large trays with over a dozen seeds from a cedar shrub (small tree?) that grew in my mother's yard. I'd harvested those seeds 12 years ago, wasn't sure any would sprout. Stratified them in cold, between a layer of damp sand in fridge for month and a half. Only one came up, so I am really trying to be careful with it!

Also potted one culinary sage- I'd sowed five or six seed but only got one. My sage out in the garden hasn't shown signs of growth. Also no sign of green onions yet this spring, I sowed a tray of that too. And two trays of celosia, to put out in the mailbox spot where nothing is growing yet.

spring planting

Carrots and beets are sprouting. Yesterday I planted out into the garden beds shelling peas, yellow snap peas, the collard greens and half the leeks (rest are too small yet). Today planted out the leaf beet chard, swiss chard, arugula, tatsoi and tokyo bekana. Those last two shown here, crowding their seedling tray. Pricked directly out into the ground.

Almost all the beds have something in them, now. And there's a lot more still to plant! But I hope to stagger some of it- tomatoes will go in where the lettuces are, green beans and squash into the beds that have snap peas, amaranth greens where the shelling peas are, and so on.

Delicate little true leaves emerging on my parsley and chervil seedlings. 

The overwintered tokyo bekana in greenhouse bolted- I emptied the pots to re-use. Greenhouse stands empty now ready for the next round of plants- tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, amaranth . . . 

There's a robin been frequenting the messy bed between the pannicle hydrangeas, where salvia and wild chrysanthemum are emerging from leaf litter. He sang short bursts and poked in the litter and eyed me, came pretty close after a while, just across the bit of grass from the garden bed where I worked. Cheering. Even better was to see the perky little wren flit about, I just saw and watched it for minutes. Wren makes me feel happy. There's a cardinal appears to be nesting in the large holly shrub. I can't wait for the return of catbirds, and the skinks.

more things sprouting

Dill and chervil in the seedling trays.

Lovage outside in the garden.

Lemon balm

Catmint has been up for quite a while, now getting more lush.

Both clematis have spring leaves,

and the pink one a few buds already.

My garlics are doing great!

pot of hyssop is thick with new growth

and the rhubarb (not yet pictured) is showing above ground again. I might actually eat it this year.

dried tarragon

 The only thing to eat from outside right now in bitter cold (we're having nights down in the teens) is an occasional picking of winter savory, green onions when it thaws out for a few days, and once every other week, tokyo bekana from the greenhouse. It really doesn't keep anything warm enough. Success was low. While I feel better that there's not plastic sheeting bits potentially shredding across the yard, the mini greenhouse doesn't gather any warmth from the ground. My chervil never got beyond seedling stage, the dill and lettuces are just barely alive. I have a few tatsoi but the only one that is doing well, got the earliest start. Really the only plants in there worth tending and picking from time to time are the tokyo bekana now. 

But I have my favorite herb all dried and stuffed in jars. I was always so stingy with tarragon in the past, having one plant that did poorly. Last year's new variety thrived so, I was able to pick and dry tons. It feels a bit extravagent to be able to have eggs with cheddar and tarragon whenever I want, or add it to chicken soups and pies.

My bay leaf plant is also doing great, and the rosemary down in the basement window. Maybe I will get a photo of that to add here soon. The bay leaves look so healthy.

winter greens

It has been very cold nights, some down into the low twenties, but often warm again during the day. The leeks I left in the garden didn't last, but the few green onions left are still okay, and I can still pick to eat sorrel, winter savory, sculpit, and purple dead nettle in certain sheltered spots. What I tried to grow in my little greenhouse- only part worked out. Nearly all the pots sprouted- but the lettuces are doing very poorly and leggy. Lack of light, or the soil was too poor, or it's just been too cold for them to thrive. Tatsoi I only got one good plant, but that one's doing fine. Haven't eaten it yet because I wish there was more. Chervil all growing but are slow to put out their first true leaves. Dill is okay and I've used some of it. Tokyo bekana is doing well!

A bit spindly, but grew much better than anything else. I actually picked some to eat just yesterday, glad for a bit of fresh greens. 

Maybe if I do this again next year, skip the idea of lettuces (unless I start them sooner) and just do the cabbage and spinach relatives.

failures

I'm giving up on some plants. They're just so stunted from the poor soil I used when seedlings, when I couldn't buy the ProMix. Some I have repotted in better soil, or am hoping they might recover when planted into the ground soon. Others I've already thrown on the compost heap, think they'll never get over the lack of nutrients in their youth. Like the fenugreek, so pale

and all arrested in growth. My basils have okay color, but haven't grown any. The peppers have remained this size 

compared to the bought ones

Of all the alyssums, only the white one has grown any at all- every single pink and purple is stunted. Even those I planted out in the front perennial bed weeks ago, haven't grown at all.

One of my dill pots is decent

the other pathetic

Chervil also stunted. Cut a bit of it to toss into a soup but it wasn't much more than a garnish.

All the second set of marigolds have been this size, with oddly upfolded leaves, for weeks and weeks

while the few I planted earlier (decent soil) are ready to go in the garden

At least my tomatoes seem partly recovered, so I hope they might do better once in the ground

A few have little tomatoes on them already

That's not the end of it, sigh. Benne, amaranth 'calaloo', thyme, summer savory, tithonias, zebrina flower (hollyhock mallow), asters are all arrested in growth. It makes me feel ashamed, to look at all these tiny halted plants compared to same kinds I saw at the nursery just a few weeks ago. 

small notes

I planted out my chervil- four in to deck railing planter box, and two into a pot.

Dug up from around the doomed maple tree, three hyssop plants (one died over winter). Keeping them in pots until the tree work is done, then I'll probably plant them back out. 

My tomatoes seem to be doing better. Not just because I top-dressed them with better soil, but also am holding off on the watering. I think I had overwatered some before. I tossed the smallest one, though.

newest seedlings

Tho not pictured: benne, amaranth 'calaloo' and fenugreek have sprouted. The one salad burnet has its first true leaves

and the chervil plantlets

also cardinal climbers- little tiny sprigs of ferny foliage

third sowing

Chervil, salad burnet, cardinal climber, tithonia and wormwood. Also direct-sowed strawbery spinach- trying again with that one.

in the herb bed

the sorrel has grown huge and is now sending thick flower stalks up. Last time I cut them down, noticed the stems are reddish with ridges, very like rhubarb. And sorrel is also high in oxalic acid. So I looked it up: guess what, sorrel and rhubarb are related, and sorrel stalks can be used like rhubarb. Hm!

My sage is looking lovely. I have only just started to see tiny leafhoppers.

Lemon balm continues to be amazing.

Starting to think I should just dig out the nepitella. It's doing great, but I haven't used any of it. Ever. It's very minty-smelling, but also quite savory, so the only thing I could think to cook it with is lamb, which we very rarely eat...

The winter savory is also doing grand- not at all fazed by its move a month ago. This one I've used a few times, I'm sure I will find more places for it in the kitchen- with lentils, meat dishes or soups.

The light was so nice I took a photo from each side.

Lavender is spreading nice, too. This one I just grow for the scent of it! although I have used in a few baked goods in the past.

Volunteer chervil! Growing just outside the bed edge. It's already flowering. Seed must've fallen here from the planter box above, last season. There's also volunteer dill sprouting among the lettuces, which I pull and let fall (have enough dill already).

One of the green onions is going to seed. I let it. I still have lots in the original packet, but if I need to replenish the bed would be nice to do so with seed adapted to my garden.