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.

notes on planting

Didn't take any pictures. From their seedling trays I potted up basil, summer savory, parsley and hyssop. The summer savory, only my saved seed grew. None of the older, bought seed. Also the sage never germinated. I guess those seeds are finally too old, too. Planted out into the garden bunching green onions (only three, into bed 5 w/the herbs) and one very tiny asparagus plant. It is skinnier than a toothpick and only 2" tall but already looking ferny. Into bed 1. The second tray of asparagus has three more tiny spears coming up- I had no idea they would be so small. Especially as the seed looked good sized- reminded me of onion seed. 

On the smaller sideyard I planted out what looked very like obedient plant- in fact I put it next to those obedient plants alongside the joe pye. But then looked up its tag later on: symphotrichum. It's not obedient plant, it's an aster. Well, I'll see how it looks and maybe move it again next spring. 

On the larger sideyard I put out those plants that came up in and alongside bed 7 which I think are from a flower mix- but not the ones which I suspect are ragweed. Have been finding more and more of those all over the garden. More likely they are ragweed than something I once planted on purpose.

things growing

First true leaves of parsley!

My tomatoes have grown taller than the coldframe.

There's a few nights of frost still expected, I'll have to bring them in.

And move the plant cage again- it's now out on the deck protecting some things from my cat! I put a bit of fencing around the lower part of the deck railings, so the cats don't lean out so far looking like they'll jump. They really like hanging out on the deck with us now. But Eliza chomps all the plants. The foreground pot in here is of sprouted wheat I pulled out of the mulched beds and stuck in dirt for her- but I have to keep her from chewing it down to nothing, give her access to it only occasionally. Also protected are- thyme, chives (which she chewed a lot of) and dill. The mint pot is unsheltered, she leaves that one alone.

I also had to block her from getting onto the greenhouse shelves and biting plants in there. With the coldframe window.

The cats especially like being on the deck right now because there is a bird nesting under one corner of it- on top of that carpenter bee trap I hung.

Today I managed to get a few photos of it- I think they're house finches. The male has a rosy chest and head.

From above, you can put your eye to a crack between the boards and see straight into the nest- five small very pale blue eggs. I can't wait to see the baby birds hatch! 

a few more seeds

started today. In indoor trays, parsley (harvested from my mother's plant, many years ago!)

and an ornamental grass. No idea what it actually is, or if it will grow, but I'm just going to see on a whim. 

My kid plucked a stem from a plant next to a parking lot this past fall, brought it home to play with our cats- (they were super excited about that). When I separated it out, 23 actual seeds. An experiment!

I also sowed directly outside, a few leaf beet chard and tatsoi to fill some blank spaces in the garden beds.

reckoning

There's a lot to re-evaluate as I start working in the garden again. I found out which plants can't survive the winter without extra mulch and care. I've lost my potted figs, chocolate mint, green onions, tarragon, some stinking hellebores, the hyssop, winter savory and probably more that I can't remember now. Or have forgotten their names. 

I was surprised to find that both rosemary plants are still alive- doing better when I ignored them. My shady sideyard has been overwhelmed by the joe pye weed and black-and-blue salvia (which pleases me). The salvia crowded out the lamb's ears and gladiolas. Somehow I don't mind loosing some glads- I'm not as fond of them anymore- but I do miss the lamb's ears. Mabye I will try to move them to a different spot, because I love seeing the blue salvia thrive. I even saw two hummingbirds fighting over the space this week! 

I find I'm not too keen on the yellow salvia under my trees anymore, or the sensitive fern that looks terrible half the year, or the 'autumn joy' sedums that the deer munch on so they don't look great and have very few blooms. My lilac appears to be suffering, some branches have died, and my lavender is much reduced in size, but I cut out a lot of dead stems and hope it will grow back.

Today I pulled out a ton of mock strawberry in and around some garden beds, and straightened out one whole brick row of edging, on bed 4. I thought I was lining the bricks up straight enough, but then when I got to the end the last brick wouldn't meet the corner one square. So I took them all off again and ran a string line from one end to the other. Redid it- much straighter! Packed the clay soil in tight underneath and hopefully I won't have to re-do this one for several years (the clay gets pretty solid). I'm pleased because this bed has always had a crooked edge where the stump of an old tree never came out. I finally broke up and removed most of that. Then planted some calamint (nepitella) along the edge- which I'd pulled up when trimming in the front bed. Stems had rooted where they trailed on the ground. Easy to move and put in more areas. Such a bright, sharp scent.

The lovage there at the end wasn't doing too great but a few weeks ago I cut out yellowing foliage, weeded around it, mulched and watered. It's perking up a little bit.

In bed 1, I yanked out all the mock strawberry but left half a dozen of this plant that's growing there as volunteer (or weed) also. I've always left a few of these around the yard, they seem to get eaten more by the insects - so I view it as a decoy or trap plant. I still don't know what it is!

I was also pleased to see that the little broken stone "mowing strip" I dug in along the outside base of bed 1, is mostly still in place! There were some weeds in the cracks but once I pulled those up, it was far easier to make this a clean edge when mowing. Encourages me to continue with that project (I have a lot of rocks stacked on my bench intended for this). There are more edging bricks to straighten too (as visible on the left).

Here's the few herbs I have: parsley, thyme and chives. All bought as starts from the nursery months ago, I didn't do anything from seed this year. With my cat Eliza in the window.

She was meowing at me.

I had basil and mint also, but they died. I forget to water sometimes, still. I've removed and dumped the soil from the planter boxes that hung on my deck railings. One was badly cracked and spilled- I'd fixed it with duct tape years ago but it wasn't holding and looked awful. Another was warped, and all four the plastic really faded and discolored. Not sure yet if I will replace those or use them somewhere else. 

It's a lot of work but I'm trying to just do a little bit at a time. Mostly focused on rebuilding and fixing structures in the garden, improving the soil again (when I pulled off the bricks, nice to see the soil was still dark and healthy-looking under the dried crusty top inches), and getting rid of weeds. Have to figure out a fencing solution too, or the rabbits will just eat everything I grow. Oddly, I have not seen many squirrels in my yard this year. We do have red-tailed hawks, an owl and foxes that come through regularly, I wonder if they have just reduced the numbers. Or if they don't have as many nuts to bury, or if they aren't interested in digging in my garden because the soil got so hard and compacted without me working and amending it.

small herbs

I have potted up and planted most of the herbs. They are pathetic. I was wrong about those summer savories in the planter box. I don't think they grew from prior rootstock, but from self-sown seed. Found a number of savories down in the garden beds, where I certainly didn't plant any last year! They just grew so much better, at the right time (mine started way too late).

Now into a pot (and trimmed, which parts we ate on fish)

I was cleaning up the garden beds (don't want weeds taking over and scattering their own seed everywhere) and dug up/moved half a dozen summer savory plants and four dill. Left this one where it was. It's over a foot in height, whereas the few dill I started from seed, are barely an inch. 

I think the younger plants are really struggling in the heat. A third have died.

As for the other herbs- my sage never germinated. So I guess that seed from mother's garden is finally too old! But I got some sage cuttings from another gardener. They had been left out on her driveway (for no-contact pickup) all night, so I'm not sure if will recover. I have two large pieces with woody stems, and several smaller ones with tender young stems that I pulled off the larger. Dipped all in rooting hormone and crossed my fingers. They look super sad right now.

 It's nice to see in that bed, the winter savory recovering! (Maybe I should cut it back hard every spring) 

Sculpit is really taking over the space, I had to trim it back (need to eat it more!) You can see tarragon just behind the sculpit to the right- I'm glad that one's growing again because just finished using up all the dried tarragon from last season.

Lavender is also sprawling all over needs a serious trim (after the bloom time) and sorrel starting shooting up flowering stalks that I've been cutting off. 

My garlic chives are doing okay, but the green onions I started got nipped by cold one night, or withered in heat one day. Hasn't been the greatest year yet. Most of the parsley died- I have one seedling left in the pot I moved them to

Of all the thyme, just two small plants alive. Also potted up now.

The fenugreek all died, but two more of the seeds sprouted in the tray (I hadn't dumped the starting soil yet) so I hope those will make it. Fenugreek is one I always seem to plant too early and then struggle with.

But the basil is doing great! 

Of all those that grew, three lived and that's enough for me.

So the herbs I have: winter savory, summer savory, tarragon, sculpit, dill, basil, sorrel, a small amount of thyme, one parsley plant and maybe sage- if it recovers at all. And the bay leaf tree! Also chocolate and ginger mints, and the established pot of chives. Not too bad, but I hope also for fenugreek and wish to plant rosemary yet again.

so very late

but I did finally pot up my herb seedlings. Even though they will probably go into their larger pots and/or the ground in just a week or two, they needed nutrients from regular soil. So small still! Basil

Dill 

Summer savory 

Thyme

Actually got a few fenugreek- two more sprouted in the seedling tray

The parsley, 

garlic chives and green onions aren't quite big enough to prick out yet 

It seems like the cardinal climbers leapt overnight- this was a few days ago when I potted them up

And now: is it my imagination, or are they slightly larger already

Here's a more visible difference in size: summery savory seedlings just before I took them out of their tray

compared to a few of the same plant, that grew back from roots in the planter box on the deck! I didn't know this herb could survive the winter, but these two did just that (only two out of the dozen I had growing last year, so not much but still)

it's been a while

I kind of lost interest in keeping this blog going- I don't seem to have many readers, and nobody to talk about plants with. Didn't feel the need to track when things get started for the right timing to go in the ground and such (as reminders to myself) anymore. And then I had a setback, minor car accident, sprained ankle, on crutches for three weeks- so things got shoddy out there. Overgrown, neglected. 

However today I finally was able to go out again (my ankle strapped, I'm allowed to do "light walking" now) And there are things to note.

First, here's a picture from months ago. After our spring heat wave, it cooled off again and I actually got a decent amount of lettuce. We had fresh salads for weeks, plus I gave some away. The heads were beautiful thick green rosettes in the garden.

Where the lettuces came out, I planted the tomatoes. They had waited too long, some lower leaves were wilting so I pulled those off. And then remembering a tip from a gardener I read, removed more lower leaf petioles, planted the tomatoes deeply, burying half the stem. Watered on planting, then left them alone for ten days. This encourages stronger root system and what do you know, I think it worked. I have only been out to water once since (due to being laid up) and the rain has been enough- the tomaoto plants look fantastic. I tied them up once to some poles, they are sturdier than usual too. Either the deep planting and witholding water at the start helped, or the soil was richer than usual.

My turnips are also doing great. We've been eating them- made a new dish just last night. Turnips simmered until tender, mashed with onions and a bit of sugar, stirred w/eggs and baked in the oven. Surprisingly good. It's the first year I've actually had good turnips- not dry or tough. Even the bigger ones I pull are tender when I slice them up, almost buttery. And they're still not bothered by much, out in the garden!

Can't say the same for other things. I went out to cut greens for dinner and instead cut and heaped most of the entire bed of chard into the compost pile. It was all mottled pale sickly from leaf hoppers. (Why are such aggravating pests so darn cute? This year they're dark grayish purple with bright blue or red eyes). I could only keep the youngest unblemished leaves to cook with, but hope that a lot of the leaf hoppers got removed with the mass of chard foliage, smothered under leaf mulch and grass clippings in the hot compost pile!

My beets are swarming with whitefly. I cleaned up the worst pale and dead foliage, doused them with soapy water, but need to go get some actual insecticide. In the next bed over, garlics have all fallen over, and scapes are reaching tall. But I don't think they're ready to pull yet. Not enough watering? Too much heat? 

I removed all the pea plants- saving some for next year's seed. Of the shelling peas, there was only enough for one meal. However, they were really good! Into those empty beds today I planted out the cowpeas (to grow up the trellis), bush beans (only two, the rest succumbed to heat and neglect while still in pots), two yellow summer squash, and a third of the amaranth 'calaloo' seedlings. The rest are still too small for transplanting. 

Then planted out on the sunny sideyard my few tithonias for the year. And I only have three cardinal climbers, which is sad. A few weeks ago my husband saw a hummingbird come by and scout around the deck. But my cardinal climbers weren't planted out, and I think the black and blue salvia isn't flowering yet either, so there was nothing here for it.

It is nice to still see the wrens, robins, sparrows, cardinals, blackbirds and grey catbirds busy around the yard and garden. And the skinks! They come upon the deck. I only have one cucumber plant that survived the period of neglect, it's in a deck pot. My carrots aren't doing too great in pots, they keep drying out if I am not able to get out and water. My sweet peas died. 

But I am glad that the rosemary and stevia survived the winter, and this year the fenugreek I planted is doing well. I have it by the sliding door to the deck and often bend to catch its scent when going in or out. Summer savory in the deck planters is doing great, and parsley- have been using both. Most of the herbs have come back well- thyme came through the winter indoors, sculpit and tarragon out in the garden have grown, I did plant one new sage because the old two didn't survive the transplant when I added broken rock to the perennial bed. And my green onions all failed. The older ones never regrew this year, I started a few new but they died.

I like the catmint (not same as catnip) in the garden, so this spring when I had to trim it back (sprawling all over into the space where collards grow) I stuck a bunch of cuttings into little water jars to try for new plants. I had over a dozen cuttings, but only three actually grew roots. The rest just got moldy. (I did change the water out, but probably not often enough). Those three got planted today too- two against the fence between the patch of joe pye weed and the row of shiso (which is looking nice). At least I think it's shiso. Maybe this year I'll get brave enough to try eating it. The third one I put also against the fence but in the back, between the yarrow (tall and floweirng now!) and my kinda sad camellia. 

It was nice to see a bright glitter of blue skittering around- the small brilliantly colored wasps that frequent my joe pye weed, and are predators of japanese beetles.

One of my jacob's ladder plants has grown so much, doubled in height! and it had the most beautiful sky-blue/violet flowers. But the other one is overshadowed by yellow salvia spreading out from under the skirts of hydrangea nearby. I thought it had died but found it getting smothered. Pulled out some of the salvia to give it room. I'm going to have to start thinning that stuff more.

That's my update.

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.

chilly

Cold snap today. All my seedlings are tucked into the greenhouse.

My parsley is up! Tatsoi and peas pictured here- 

Collards getting bigger! In a few days when the freezing temps are past, I'll consider planting them out.