herbs and tomatoes

Finally have a few large tomatoes to pick- I get them early and let finish ripening on the windowsill (otherwise the squirrels eat holes out of them). Some are oddly shaped this year! 

There is also an oddity in one of my basil pots. A seed came up looking the same as all the rest, but grew tiny leaves. They have the same flavor (maybe a little sharper) just small for some reason.

As for the other herbs, well some have failed me. Dill is pretty much done- gone to flower and now dying off. That's usual. But my pot of summer savory on the deck, only has two surviving plants out of the six or eight I stuck in there. The pot of dill never did well either, and the parsley is only a few small leaves, really struggling. These did so much better when in planters on the deck railing.

Chives, thyme, basil and mint are doing well. Tarragon is sprawling in the herb bed (this French type doesn't seem to grow upright like the Russian one did I had before), sculpit is putting out its balloon flowers, and green onions continue growing. I hope to eat more of those soon.

warming up

It's going to be 80° today.  My thyme plant is greening up

and the chocolate mint is showing new leaves

Out front the tulips were getting eaten by deer (or rabbits?) but I have been sprinkling cat fur (there's always a fresh supply around my house!) and human hair (likewise from my hairbrush) around the plants, and it seems to have stopped.

They don't touch the alliums growing in nearly the same spot. I have a nice row of those going partway across the front bed now, and hope to remember to divide some of the larger clumps after they bloom, to extend it further.

It's nice to see other things coming back as well- the clary sage and groundcovers-

the smaller lungwort I moved here in the fall- didn't dig up and transplant enough of the 'autumn joy' sedums right next to it though.

Guess I haven't lost that old habit after all, of walking around in the spring taking pictures of the same things over and over, because I'm so pleased to see them again. Still alive and well.

work!

I made a list of tasks for the garden, and surprised myself by getting more than half of them done today. Plus a few other things that I just started to do while out there. Spent much of the day outside, it felt great though my muscles are very sore now!

Broke apart a straw bale and spread it over the garden beds. I had four bales and was surprised that one was plenty for all eight beds- and a good two inches thick, at that. That stuff is really compact! I already like this better than dry leaves as winter mulch- it doesn't blow off and around the yard again when it's windy. Got to figure out how to store the other bales to keep dry. If I don't have any problems with the mulch (mildew, or tons of wheat sprouts ugh) I will happily use more on the beds in spring, around the plants.

I cleaned up the smaller sideyard today. Cut back joe pye weed where the dead leaves had blackened (from aphids I think). Pulled out flopped over gladiola foliage that was going through fence into the neighbor's space. My black-and-blue salvia is so lush and thriving over there! It had spread to almost completely cover the lamb's ears (which are nearly all gone- or dormant- only one sad plant could I find) and somehow, I don't care. I trimmed the blue salvia a bit, and gave it leaf mold mulch, and pulled up vinca around it much as I could.

Moved some plants around in the front bed, under the house windows. I dug up and moved forward the two small newer azaleas, and moved to the back the one young beautyberry that's doing great, and put in the same row two more beautyberries. They had been in the back side bed flanking panicle hydrangeas, and must've got too much shade or competition, because just thin slender bits compared to the one that's been in front. So hope they will grow more here, and grace my front yard, I can just picture them draping lovely over the edging onto the lower bed (it's two tiers kinda). There's two very cut back little evergreen shrubs in between the beautyberries, maybe they will show some green when I cut the beauties back. Or maybe they will get overwhelmed, not sure how that will work out.

I pulled up and cut back more yellow salvia in front (not so fond of it anymore). Yanked out some sensitive fern- likewise loosing my admiration for that plant. It just looks dead half the year- from heat especially it suffers. I mulched the two young arborvitae- they're actually doing well! Dug up and moved a few pulmonaria, and dug up and moved (divided also, to spread it out) the calamint  that was in front right by the porch (an azalea has taken its place now). I put it along side bed 4 in the garden. Except- there was something else there growing up new sprouts already. I don't remember what else I took cuttings of and stuck in the ground here. Wild geranium?

Broke up the bottom end of last year's leaf pile- the thick mulchy stuff that's (just like my compost pile) full of tree roots. I did a rougher job of it, this just for feeding plants. Gave plenty to the black-and-blue salvia (two bucketfulls), a bucketfull spread around the new redbud out front, and half a bucket each to the young trees on the larger sideyard (redbud and japanese maple hybrid). Also fed one rhodedendron, the smaller forsythia, spicebush, all the plants I moved around in the front, the larger established beautyberry (I had to prop up trailing branches off the ground- it's going to need a good cutback later this winter!), the row of boneset, the oakleaf hydrangeas, and my three surviving ferns in the way back. There's maybe two bucket's worth left to break up and decide who gets it.

I also cut back seedhead fluff off the larger 'chocolate' joe pye plants and the boneset, and scattered in places where I would like more to grow.

Sorry no pictures. Maybe I will get some tomorrow to add in.

some moved indoors

Tidied up my stevia plant. Lots of browned leaf tips. I thought at first from cold, but it's uneven- not all the foliage affected, not even every leaf on each stem. Plus curling, so I suspect an insect, tiny can't see it. Aphids maybe. I sprayed with soapy water a few days ago.

This morning found more of the leaves that hadn't been damaged before, dried up and curled. Trimmed those off and this time dunked all the stems and leaves entire in a bowl of soapy water held potside. Hope that does the trick. If not, of course I'm facing my yearly problem of bringing unseen pests inside to my resident houseplants. Stevia is now sitting by the glass sliding door, next to the jade and aloe.

Scented geranium here too. Looking fuller already.

Other geraniums are still outside. I put them under the edge of the table when several days of rainstorms expected, didn't want them to get hit with too much deluge. (The rain has tapered off now).

My chives are very happy with the extra rainfall though!

Chocolate mint next to the chives pot is looking better now, too.

green on the deck

Spring appearances. I'm always relieved when I see new growth in my pots- they made it through winter! Mints are regrowing

Chives have shot taller 

Kale I planted out is doing well- eaten it once already

Stevia spent the cold season indoors, just lingering on the whole time but now with more sun- spending a few hours each day outside- its leaves are getting bigger again.

The other day I brought home a lump of ginger root from the grocery, planted it in my shallow pot again. I missed not having ginger in a pot the last few years.

garden to food

Picked the first few cowpeas. Young pods. They grow out very fast, long and straight, sticking up at an angle from the stems, so easier to see on the plants. I don't have many yet.

The vines are also getting a lot longer, I'm thinking to try and train lines up to the deck for them to climb, as none of my poles are tall enough. 

Getting more short fat zucchinis. I really think the speckled skins are pretty.

Cooked a shrimp stir-fry with homemade sauce. Included from the garden cowpea pods, sliced zucchini, green onions, ginger mint. The cowpeas were too few and smothered in sauce to get a taste- but added a nice crispness as I hadn't simmered them long enough to be soft.

from garden to table

No cowpeas yet, but I'm still impressed at how healthy these plants look. Barely touched by the insects, while I'm picking leaf hoppers, stinkbugs and cucumber beetles off the green beans right next to them. Still no sign of little beans yet, but they've begun to send out thick runners. I put up a few poles but will need more- and taller!

One huge cucumber, and a short but very fat zucchini. 

Baked it with tomatoes from the garden! 

 Also made this lentil dish, finally cracking open one of my cookbooks. (The cucumber slices were added as an afterthought, not part of the recipe). Lentils cooked with (among many other things) peppers, bay leaf and ginger mint from the garden. Fresh basil garnish. So the meal had seven things I grew.

My kids were not too keen on the zucchini boats, but they liked the lentils! It was work to prepare but definitely worth repeating.

more gray

overcast skies, so in between doing things for the kids, washing dishes and cooking food, I was out in the yard getting my shoes muddy and dirty fingernails. I put into pots for balcony space dill

and russian blue kale, out of their little cardpots.

Also planted into one of the deck railing boxes the parsley. With mesh over it, because it really annoys me when the squirrels dig in my containers. Cut some wires out to make a space for the plant to poke through. Will have to keep tabs on it- might have to widen the gap later so it doesn't constrict the stem.

Tomatoes are growing and growing!

This is the mint that used to be a scrawny thing. It was one gone wild that a friend dug up from her yard when clearing weeds and gave to me- years ago. It never did great. Until finally this spring I moved it up a pot size with new soil and a bit of compost. Look at it now!

Down in the garden, swiss chard is sprouting

The one large borage in a pot is about to flower.

Bed of leafy greens is full of green! The tatsoi in front looks small because we've been eating it. Tokyo bekana is doing grand.

I have some new plants- got from a fellow gardener taking divisions. Ostrich fern (hope this one does better), 'Espresso' geranium and pulmonaria. Also, not pictured, bare root mass of plumbago. Not sure where I'm going to put them yet so stuck in some pots with handfuls of compost, they seem fine so far.

Also not pictured, what I did the rest of the day- dug up and moved some plants from the shady sideyard, to areas under other trees further into the back. More to to assure myself they won't get trampled by the crew that will take down the silver maples, rather than because increased sun exposure after that job might hurt them. The house does throw a lot of heavy shade onto that slope most of the day so I'm not sure yet how many of the shade plants there strictly need to move. But I dug up and relocated all the hostas, the stinkin' hellebores, one small lady's mantle, and the chocolate joe pye weed (including one offspring). 

how some are doing

I have quite a few houseplants that still need moving up, but need to get more potting soil and keeping what I have for the garden plants that will need space more urgently. Meanwhile I've spread the fronds of my asparagus fern held in place with halved chopsticks- thinking by the time I get around to repotting the plant, the stems will hold themselves in place- more evenly spaced and attractive.

I keep peeking under the mulch wondering if my rhubarb made it through the winter- and it did! 

I did not protect my camellia at all this winter- once or twice just knocked snow off it when the branches were getting bent down. Seems it did fine- there's plenty of fat buds and I'm hoping for blooms- I see a hint of pink color!

One of my newer plants, the st. john's wort, also came through the winter just fine:

and the borage I moved into a pot is okay too (though it looks like slugs have found it)

I never gave this 'wild' mint any special attention, but this spring moved it into a larger pot with some better soil. It's already responding well

Potted up the leaf beet chard seedlings. Ate the extras I pinched off from sprouted clusters. 

Next to go into paper pots will be the second set of marigolds, and the sweet peas. But I'm holding off a week or so for reasons in next post.

little things on the deck

Mint is growing!

this is the chocolate mint 

and the wild one- I put it in a slightly bigger pot a while ago.

of the ginger mint only small shoots- 

Parsley- we've eaten bits of it. I'm not planning on letting this grow out to seed (second year) but will replace with the freshly sown plants.

Kale in pots from last year also have been growing -throughout the winter actually. Every now and then I pinch the baby leaves off and we eat them too.

Chives have new shoots!