Growing Salad

Tonight I remembered to add the basil, fennel, parsley and mini-peppers to the broccoli, peas and lettuce salad.   Added lavender to the sweet pea bouquet, too.   The kitchen has a nice aroma from the herbs and flowers.

In the garage, I have new sprouts of rainbow chard and lettuce. 

Curry Plant - Scratch & Sniff

Do you have a scratch & sniff gadget on your computer? If so, you'll want to use it for this plant. Wonderful curry aroma! I couldn't resist it when I found it on the mid summer sale herb rack.

Apparently, it isn't for eating, though. Websites say it doesn't taste like curry, and I haven't tried it. I just simply pet it and inhale every time I'm near it. A nice, soft texture to the plant's gray foliage, as well.

Formally, it is known as Helichrysum italicum. I don't know that it will overwinter here. I'll try to get a start from it that I can keep in the greenhouse or garage for the winter.

This isn't the first time I bought some odd plant just because I liked its aroma or foliage!

Blooming Borage

Self-seeded borage plants are now blooming. They are some of the happiest plants. And they make the bees very happy. Slugs don't seem interested in the prickly leaves. They have a cucumber flavor, but I don't care for the prickly leaves in my salad, either.

The Sweet Million tomato I purchased is also blooming. Can you see the similarities to the borage flowers? This tomato is under a window frame cloche. The Sungolds, started by seed, are under the covered wagon cloche. They look quite happy but no blossoms yet.

Borage does reseed itself in the garden, especially from any plants that end up standing until winter. Often, I cut them out after they get too large or stop blooming. The seedlings don't take much to remove where they are too thick or in the way. And they made great green additions to the composter.

I love having borage in the garden and even more so because it plants itself in the spring when there are so many other things to do!

Merry Christmas!

...From Petunia, the Gardener, DH and the Critters!

December Surprise

Guess lavender in December goes with the snow we had in late April this year!

Cloche Micro Climate

It may be a cold spring, but in the cloche, it's another world. The borage is blooming. It will be a long time before we see blooming borage in the world outside the cloche. Chard, Borage, Chives, Lettuce & Parsley inside the cloche, above.
Cloched chives, soon to be blooming. These treats are especially appreciated this year, as spring is off to such a cold start, and so is my garden activities.

Yesterday, I did transplant the fennel seedlings in the garden and planted some pea seeds to add to the seedlings started in doors and transplanted some weeks ago. The broccoli seedlings in the garden are ok, but some have become slug food (especially the ones I planted in the cloche).

I do need to plant beets and carrot seeds... but today we also had to fit in a nice walk and geocaching since the weather was right!

Anise Hyssop

The bees have been filling their pollen baskets (that bundle on this bee's leg) from the anise hyssop, as the broccoli blooms are slowing down. The hyssop had been putting out the fluffy colored tips and I thought that was all it did. Then, one day, I noticed the purple flowers and all of the bees.
This year's garden has a lot of yellows, oranges and the lavender/purple from many herb blossoms. Hyssop has been a nice addition this year. Like other herbs, the plants get rather large, but also rather non-fussy. Fresh & dried, the leaves have refreshing mint & anise attributes. I haven't yet tried making tea from it yet, though.

The above photo is the view from the bench looking across all 6 beds, from the calandula and dill combination suggested by Anita, to the sunflowers in the mostly flower bed and then the bean climber with runner and pole beans. Just to the right is the hyssop. So you can see that that some purple helps add variety. A but of a jungle, but I'm enjoying it and I think the bees are also.

Emily's Garden Update

The other gardener likes to get input about growing things (& she needs it too). Remember how my garden looked in early July? Here is the link to Emily's Garden if you've forgotten. Here is how it looks now.... It's simple really. First, carefully check out the situation and make sure the rabbit isn't hiding in there.
Determine which parts just need a good cleaning. Take your time.
And which parts must be chomped. Then do it! Easy as that. And soon your garden will look as good as mine.

The Star of Borage

This small borage plant, and one other, overwintered. Now, they're full of flower buds while the self-seeded starts are just getting a full set of leaves (all over the garden). Borage becomes quite the bee magnet so I'm happy this one is open early for business. Some gardeners like the flowers and cucumber flavored leaves in salads. They can be a little prickly, though, so I mostly enjoy watching the bees and other critters that visit the flowers.

Eastershine

Here's a little Eastershine for those you with Eastersnow. Just keep in mind that the sun was gone by 3pm, and we'll soon be back in the 30's at night. Above, you see the cold frames (with their end windows laying against the sides due to the warm temps).

I lost a few windows during the December wind storms. So, rather than use my original set-up from last year (see this link and this one), I decided to set them up directly in the garden. This way, some plants can actually go in the ground rather than hanging out longer in pots while they benefit from some protection. Some of these windows won't last much longer so next year, I'll move on to some sort of tunnel/hoop cloche for 1 or 2 beds.

Left, front A-frame above has volunteer chives and a few lettuce seedlings planted Saturday. Next right has large pea seedlings hardening off before being planted. Next right has just seeded beets and 2 broccoli seedlings just planted out. Far right A-frame has many lettuce seedlings and 2 more broccoli seedlings planted out on Saturday. I'll have some of the lettuce cleared out and the A-frame gone before the broccoli plants need all of the space.
My new (used) Easter (garden) basket. I don't know if the dividers are to separate wine bottles or something else, but they really work to keep tools in place, hold seed packets and to separate the camera from the tools. I've not been a big glove wearer, but now I wear these most of the time. Before the sun moved on, it was just a beautiful time for puttering around in the herb bed, pulling some young grass and dandelions and checking everything out. And these are the little "Easter eggs" I found digging around in the herb bed. I'm also happy to see the bee balm / Monarda sending up shoots. The wonderful rosemary, sorry to say, did not make it though the snow and ice this winter. It was the trailing type and I've found it to be more sensitive to cold winters than the upright rosemary.

Need Spring Chicks?

What will I do with all these chicks? The flock has been very happy in this old wheel barrow, but some must now find new homes or everyone will be too crowded. Let me know if you have room for a few. They really are some of the happiest plants in the garden and always make me smile. After all, no early morning crowing or feedings. No passports either, but they should survive interstate mailings.

Cloaking Catnip

I've noticed little catnip leaves working their way out of the ground. I'm not the only one that noticed... evidence says a certain gray shedding furball has also noticed. In order to give the catnip a fair chance of growing large enough to handle the kitty visitors, it's been cloaked!Ms. Emily, having a good roll last summer. The poor plant was pretty pathetic looking by the end of the summer. That's why I'm so happy to see the new leaves this year. Has anyone tried catnip tea?

Seeding-Round 3

It's the year for seed experiments for me. Last year was the first inside seeding I'd done in years. Those cute baby basil seedlings hooked me so I'm back for more this year. With one round of garden seeding and one round of inside seeding so far this year, here is the next round.
Angie posted about winter sowing here and here. I wondered if cool season varieties sown this way might be less inclined to grow so leggy, plus move more easily to the garden. I'd sow some directly in the garden under a cloche, except it is too wet to be digging in the beds and the sweet gardener might melt in the rain. So, these 4 containers have trials of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, Swiss chard, catnip and chamomile (both old seeds), nasturtiums and columbine. If my labels dissolve, this might be interesting to sort out later. Thanks for the great information, Angie. These are the latest seeds in the "oven" (the cabinet under the kitchen sink that is warmed by the heating vent). Tomatoes (current 3 seedling are just not enough), the basil from Germany that sprouted so well last year, spicy globe basil (grew beautifully in AL, we'll see about WA), and anise hyssop. I believe they all like warm spots for sprouting, but then will be happy in cooler spots as seedlings. I'm still using up the planting pellets I have so that's what's inside this box.

Next up: Baby tomatoes threaten to split if not transplanted immediately. Gardener complies.

Herbal Affairs

Chives on February 10, 2007. They stand out in the herb bed like legs on the first nice day of summer. Just like gardeners conned into wearing shorts by a sunny day, the chives may soon find out that it might not yet be shorts temperature.

Oregano

Self- seeded parsley
Lemon balm

But the rosemary did not like the snow and ice.

No sign yet of mint, catmint, bee balm or catnip (although Emily was all over the spot where it grows looking for it).