Wed, 30 Jul 2008
Herbs
I love to grow herbs. Most of them are worry free and pest free. The photo is my oregano in my vegetable garden. It is very healthy - to the point of being a bit overly productive. I also grow thyme, lavendar, lemon balm, mint, sage, chives, basil, dill, borage and one other whose name escapes me at this moment. All do well with the exception basil. Most people have great success with basil, but in my garden is a critter, or group of critters, that love to eat it. I don't blame them. It's yummy. I'll get a few leaves, but not what I'd like. Many of the herbs I grow are perennials or hardy annuals making it very easy to grow them. Last year, my sage plant bit the dust, so to speak so I planted a new one this year. Actually, I planted the sage plant in my hanging pots (see the project archives) but squirrels pulled them down. So, I took the plant and placed it in the herbal square in my garden. If you grow lemon balm, be careful of allowing it to go to seed. It will grow everywhere - and I mean everywhere. Same is true for mint although it spreads by way of underground runners. Sometimes I can't believe the entire earth isn't covered by these two herbs! If you like to grow herbs, check out the project archives for a great herb drying rack.
posted at: 20:01 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Sun, 27 Jul 2008
Gifts
Gifts come in unusual forms at times. Last week, Garden Maven Colleen was home for a visit - a nice gift! Almost every day she was home, we saw a lovely black cat in the backyard. Sleek and slinky best describe it. One day, we called to it and encouraged it to visit us. It responded by meowing back at us but was a little too skittish to come close enough for us to pet. The next morning as we were leaving the house, we discovered a present from our feline friend. Actually. Colleen saw it. I nearly stepped on it. A dead mouse strategically placed on the sidewalk right in front of the front porch steps. It's quite a prize. Just think how much effort, control and quickness it takes to trap a mouse! I haven't seen the black cat since then, but I am keeping a look out. I'd like to encourage it to stay and hunt some more. My bean plants are doing well, as you can see in the photo. Another gift from nature. These beans will probably end up as bean salad. For the recipe, check the archives.
posted at: 19:57 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Fri, 25 Jul 2008
Rattlesnake Weed
The photo shows a "weedy" member of the aster family called Rattlesnake Weed. So named because it grows where rattlesnakes live. Why it is so happy in my backyard is the question. I don't think I have or ever have had a rattlesnake infestation. I hear a lot of wildlife noises in my backyard: birds tweeting, cats meowing, dogs barking, crickets creeking, locust doing whatever it is they do to make noise, but never have I heard a rattlesnake rattling. Anyway, it does produce a cute little yellow aster-like flower and it has nice dark green, mottled, low growing foliage. The problem is that it is very invasive. It produces a lot of airborne seeds, much like a dandelion. It is also a perennial. The combination means it spreads quickly and takes root firmly. I have been mowing it down before the seeds get a chance to form in the hopes of controlling it without resorting to chemical control. Those chemical controls make me feel like the Snidley Whiplash of gardening - somewhat cruel and damaging.
posted at: 20:57 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Thu, 24 Jul 2008
Let The Harvest Keep-on-Coming
Today, after doing some trimming and thinning of a ground cover in a bed on the side of my home and cutting the front lawn, I was able to get back to the vegetable garden. I'm so happy about how it is progressing this year. We've had regular rainfall, and that really makes a huge difference for the better in how the plants produce. I harvested oregano and lemon balm. Both are now hanging to dry in my kitchen. Actually, I have so much lemon balm that a good portion of it went directly onto the compost heap. Be careful if you plant it. It spreads everywhere. I also harvested some green and wax beans. I'll get at least one more "picking" from my plants. I harvested my lettuce, too. (See photo.) I planted Black Seeded Simpson, a reliable variety of leaf-type lettuce. I took it all out of the garden as it was quite ready and I didn't want it to bolt to seed. I had some on my sandwich for lunch. Very yummy. I am really thrilled with the poppies I have growing in the garden. Poppies don't make great cut flowers, but they are beautiful. I had some old seeds that I basically threw into a spot and to my delight, they are growing. Not big red or orange poppies, but delicate pink, salmon and white combinations. Just lovely. Hope all our friends in southern Texas made it through Dolly in a safe manner. Yesterday, we had huge wind here in northern Ohio. Not like a hurricane, but enough to really churn up Lake Erie. The waves were huge for the lake - 6-8 feet at some spots. I could hear the surf about one-half mile from the shore.
posted at: 15:26 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Mon, 21 Jul 2008
Black Raspberries
I'm happy to report a bumper crop of black raspberries. At least a bumper crop in terms of my little patch of berry plants. Unlike last year when I watched a couple of birds eat every berry off the plants, this year I've been picking at a regular tempo as they ripen and I've been able to make a nice amount of black raspberry cobbler. Yummm!
posted at: 10:06 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Fri, 11 Jul 2008
Squirrels - Ba Humbug
I usually don't mind squirrels around the yard and garden, but the last several years have produced a bunch that are irratating me. They seem insistant upon digging in my flower pots, knocking them over, breaking them and making a mess. Check out last month's project - hanging pots. I put the pots outside my kitchen door so I could easily snip some herbs as needed. The squirrels have destroyed the grouping of pots by jumping onto them, breaking the twine and smashing the pots. This morning I had to plant the herbs in the vegetable garden to save what is left of them. I lost one lobelia plant and repotted the other two. Two pots are smashed. It was bad enough when one of the squirrels came in the house, but this new destruction is grating on me. I suppose I shouldn't be too upset. After all, their brains are the size of walnuts.
posted at: 14:16 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Mon, 07 Jul 2008
Blooming Like Crazy
I fed my asparagus ferns a little liquid fertilizer at just the right time. They are showing their appreciation by putting on a tremendous display of blooms. The little, tiny, white flowers are everywhere - covering the branches of the ferns. They will turn into berries soon that begin green then ripen to a nice red-orange color.
posted at: 15:01 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Sun, 06 Jul 2008
Yarn and Nests
As many of you know, I am an avid knitter. As such, I end up with a lot of little pieces of yarn from completed projects. I try to put some of these little pieces outside for the birds and small wildlife to use in their nests. Several weeks ago, I noticed two different pieces of blue yarn in one of my asparagus ferns that I hang from my front porch ceiling, weather permitting. I thought it humorous that a bird would pick up the strands and drop them off in my plant. Well, as it turns out, you can see by the photo that a very industrious bird has been building a nest in my hanging pot. It seems a bit late in the season for this activity, but I suppose if you are a bird in need of a place to live, why not? I put out a large variety of yarns - textures, colors, fiber contents. The yarn this little bird selected was blue - two different textures and fiber contents but both blue. I wonder what little bird likes blue best?
posted at: 20:54 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry