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.

dead nettle seed

I took another large harvest of purple dead nettle the other day- most got blanched and frozen for later, some went into a kind of casserole dish of rice, cheese and nettles (it was fairly good served with steamed carrots and a salad)- and then I bothered to save the seed too. From the bottom of the rinsing pot for the leaves, cooking pot for the blanching, and chilling bowl of ice water. Just stirred up and poured off the chaff, then through a strainer to keep the seed and wash off the specks of dirt. Spread on a plate to dry.

Not because I want to plant more dead nettles. They do enough of that on their own outside, without my help! The seed is also very nutritious -and has antioxidants- so I'm thinking about eating it- mixed into a bread or something . . . 

nettle harvest

Since the dead nettles are flourishing so healthy-looking on the edges of the yard, but I don't have enough use for all of it right away, I cut some to blanch and freeze for later.

It's more than I ever cut before, and this time instead of snipping off just the best leaves, I removed all the ones with bug marks or dirt, rinsed clean the nice tops (as the stems and flowers are edible too), 

then blanched and chilled before freezing. Doesn't look terribly appetizing here in patted clumps I squeezed the water out of- 

But I think will make nice additions to green tortillas or dishes with spinach-like leaves, in future. If we end up using it more than I expect, I'll harvest more next year! There was five times as much as this out in the yard, most I am simply cutting down to add its nutrients to the compost pile.

today, among other things

I started digging up pink turtlehead from the shady sideyard. Some into pots for a plant swap happening at my library on sunday.

Others moved to surround the newer stump. All the ones I moved there before are doing fine, even though some weren't dug in particularly well. I am expecting I won't be able to move all turtleheads from where the tree will come down in time, but if I loose some, there's in reserve those around the oldest stump by the garden, which I didn't finish digging out yet.

Also while I was over there, thinned out a ton of stinkin' hellebore seedlings. There were so many, so close together, I basically pulled out clumps leaving ones that have started to show first true leaves, to grow out. More than a dozen, easily. Also dug dandelions from the front yard, and then spent time sitting in the garden to pop off all the buds and flowerheads, twist off the root to discard, and keep the leaves for the compost. Also did some much-needed mowing, and trimmed edges around the garden beds, then mulched the leafy greens bed with grass clippings. Doesn't sound like much, but I'm tired! 

And I tried a new recipe. A baked dish of rice, eggs, cheese, onion, garlic and purple dead nettle. It used a heaping cup of fresh nettle leaves from the yard- and I'm eager to harvest them now the foliage looks great. So many when I pull or cut them, I just pluck off the largest, cleanest leaves and put the remainder in the compost bin. It still takes quite a lot of time to gather the nettles, pluck the leaves and rinse them. The recipe had too much pepper for my taste- I'm going to try it again with less pepper and a bit more cheese, before making it for the kids, see how they like it.

The pink salvias are sitting on my deck- I'm hoping when the maples come out, that sideyard will have enough sun at least on the top of the slope, for salvias and daylilies. And maybe asters (mine didn't sprout though). I didn't realize how intriguing these salvia flowers look- I think when I brought it home from the nursery yesterday they were still mostly buds. 

dead nettles

After the snow melted, I was able to pick a batch of purple dead nettle from the yard- and most of the leaves look perfect, no insect damage.

I lightly stir-fried them and ate with rice and sweet red beans for lunch. Took half an hour to pick and clean the nettles- but felt worth it to get something fresh, green and healthy from the ground when there's almosr nothing in the garden.

sculpit and nettles

Garden eats are pretty skimpy now. I picked this heaping lot of purple dead nettle from the yard- after washing and taking only the nicest leaves off the stems (without a lot of bug holes or slug evidence) it's only a fourth this amount. Also cut what little bit of swiss and leaf beet chard was still growing, and baby leaves of kale, made green tortillas with the combination.

Found that my kids like the nettles well enough cooked in a bit of olive oil until just starting to crisp, tossed over noodles as an extra among the other vegetables.

Earlier in the week I cut some sculpit to cook with onions and mix into cous cous. Found that some had made horizontal stems under the leaf mulch, with new shoots going up. I didn't know it would have this growth pattern. Nice to see that the plant will spread, so I won't need to sow more to expand my patch of it. Instead, I ought to remove the nepitella which I don't eat, and give this more room.

purple dead nettle

Not enough chard to use for any dish, so I picked a bunch of nettles from around the yard.

After washing and picking the best leaves off the stems, there was about half this left. Made 'green' tortillas with it. Has a very attractive scent when cooking that I can't quite describe, but nobody notices the flavor when they actually eat them. There was some left over, so the next day I sautéed the remainder, added it to my wrap with some leftover rice and smoked cheese. It was surprisingly good. Rest of the family was having noodles and veggies (I figured nobody else would want the day-old tortillas which get a little tough). But my husband and oldest asked for sautéed nettles on their noodles, and they liked it! So I'm glad I picked a lot.

There are a few small patches of purple dead nettle around corners of the garden. It grows much better under the trees on the shady sideyard, where I've just let fallen leaves drift and tossed broken twigs to break down. I will keep encouraging those patches and maybe pull out the faltering ones by the garden beds. Mock strawberry and cuban oregano do better around the garden anyway.

a little work

Outside. It's getting colder. The ground muddy from recent rain. Some of my little contraptions holding soap to deter deer aren't in good shape- the one that's just a peak over the soap basket keeps riding up on the line, and another made from a tray that had holes I taped over, looks like it leaked. I replaced both today with new upended containers, that will shield rain off the soap better. So far seems to be working- I can't really tell much because the hostas have gone dormant, but the forsythia, young shrubs and oakleaf hydrangea appear untouched. More telling, I no longer see tracks or find piles of deer droppings in the yard.

Dumped my slug traps this morning. I've caught four or five fat slugs each time I refill- leave sit for three or four days and then empty before it gets smelly. I do my mixture leaner than the recommendations I found online. I use about two cups warm water, one teaspoon sugar and one teaspoon yeast. I bet I could do with less sugar, too. It lures the slugs, but doesn't get stinky as fast (first time I also used flour, as one website suggested- that went rank very quick! Don't need the flour). 

Squirrel has been digging among the lettuces and in the empty beds again. He can't make a mess of my planter boxes though, because I put wire over those. Which bows down in the middle now so I bet the squirrel was there sitting on it at least once.

My meals this week are planned around eating what little is left in the garden, before colder nights and/or snow finally kills the plants. Last night cut all the chard for a pasta dish (the leaves were small but plentiful). Today I'm putting tatsoi and sculpit in eggs for lunch, tomorrow will use sage and purple dead nettle in quesadillas- there's plenty of that coming up around the garden and yard again.

Tonight will cut lettuce to go in hamburgers and maybe a small salad. Tomorrow will use tokyo bekana in a stir-fry. And then I might finally make a pie from the sunberries I froze all summer.

still green in the cold

A walk around the yard, pleasing to see what is still green even after we had a night so chilly. My favorite right now is the stinking hellebore- nothing seems to bother it, and its appearance is so unusual. I must get more come spring for this hillside!

My beautyberry dropped all its leaves, but the berries are still colorful

On the other side, some of the yellow salvia still has foliage and the 'autumn joy' sedums are a tad wilted with the flowers gone darker

but the nice lambs-ears still look great under shadow of gladiola leaves (which I haven't cut back yet, as they're still green too)

After the first two weeks I didn't water my new bugleweed plants any, and kind of forgot to look for them when leaf cover started to conceal. A peek today- all the ones I found look just fine.

Here's that plant I can forage come up again- purple deadnettle

Lovage has gone limp and fallen over, yet still green

And finally my black and blue salvia wilted. Funny that I'm actually glad of this. I cut back the stems this afternoon, and will dig and move it tomorrow when it's warmer out so easier to work. My hands got chilled today with all the pulling and cutting.

first new harvest

Purple dead nettle leaves.

Plucked a plant near the garden, tossed them fresh into a quesadilla, with some dill.

reserved in the sideyard

I cleared the shaded slope (full of tree roots so hate mowing there) several days ago on my hands and knees, by hand. Pulling weeds, cutting grass clumps with scissors. Eyeing the nandina and wondering if I want to dig them out and give them away. I left these plants in place: clover. My husband doesn't like the look of it in the front yard, I let it grow everywhere else.

Mock strawberry-

Broadleaf plantain-

Purple dead nettle. I'm eating this one regularly now- every time out in the yard, pull one up and rinse it, set in a windowsill jar to keep fresh until I'm making something I can toss it into. Quesadilla. Cheese bagel. Soup. Stir-fry. Salad (although it's a bit of sharp taste- my husband likes it raw, I prefer it cooked some).

I think this is violets-

Maybe I will regret leaving this one alone, but I've always liked ivy, and the few I've tried to keep as houseplants died. So when I found this bit growing by the wall around corner of the front bed, I left it. It's a bit bigger this year.

The blue-green weed I still have not identified. There are more, and larger clumps of it, this year-

I pull the dandelion flowers, and now the seedheads, to keep them from growing too abundant in my yard. But in the back, mulched areas I let the foliage on them grow- so maybe next year I'll find time to dig their roots out for more dandy "coffee". Flower pouf dampened by rain-

walk around

the yard with my camera yesterday- early flowers- bleeding hearts!

Spring beauty

Heartleaf brunnera

Monarda is already a heap of lush foliage

My daylilies came up later than everyone else's in the neighborhood, but now are twice as big.

Yellow salvia is growing leaps and bounds

I can't get over the prettiness of cranesbill leaves. I'm going to plant its tiny scion next to it very soon.

Turtlehead! this is the patch in the very back of the yard, by a tree behind my leaf mulch pile.

The blue green weed I harbor. One of them is particularly large this spring.

Found another of the little, pretty rose-like plant. I've asked on a gardening forum what it might be, no solid answer yet.

Here's the viburnum I transplanted out of the back into a spot on the sloped sideyard last year.

Nearby there's another one sprung up between tree roots. Unfortunately, I can't figure out what kind of viburnum they might be. I learned there's many many, and a lot of them are foriegn but easily spread by the birds. I'd rather have a native. I looked up the ones that are problematic here: mine isn't tea viburnum or linden viburnum but it could be siebold or double-file.

I learned this past week that a weed in my yard, is actually edible and very nutritious. It's purple dead nettle. Tried it in a salad. Leaving it to grow where it is scattered around, I'm going to pull some every time I have a salad or dish I could add it to.