Reuse and Reduce

I started a native plant nursery a few years ago because:

• I like starting my own seeds
• I wanted more diversity of native plants in my yard and that I can't buy locally
• It's a lot cheaper ($2- 2.50/pack of seeds)

I have a running list of seeds I planted in each row, each year, so that I can monitor what does or doesn't come up and if something germinates the 2nd year within a row of another seedling I know what it would be. Some things don't germinate- this year I planted 2 alliums, neither of which germinated, but I was only out a few bucks. Conversely, I have lots of Late and Early Figwort and American Bellflower. You can't buy these as plants locally. So, I'm saving $, shipping and plastic pots. Here you see 2 rows of Figwort surrounding 1 row of Bellflower. Both of these species like shade and are great hosts to many pollinators. 

Figwort & Bellflower seedlings in the nursery.

These bellflowers will be perfect in this semi-shaded spot 

in the back row where they can grow tall. 

Transplanting Milkweed

Also from the nursery bed were several species of Milkweeds. Key notes on transplanting milkweeds:

• only transplant when very young
• take as much soil as possible around their roots from their original site
• water very well until established

Milkweeds have taproots that once severed often die. They are very temperamental about being moved. Here are two recently successful transplants. 

 This is Poke Milkweed, Asclepias exaltata. 

It appears to be a successful transplant.

 And Butterfly weed, A. tuberosa, also a success. 

These were from a 2012 planting in the nursery that I had missed. 

The taller one drooped for a few days, but daily watering perked it up again. 

Reuse

I've been at my house since 2001 so a lot of plants have had a chance to establish themselves and are abundant reseeders. Some of these have become somewhat of a nuisance. Cupplant being the big one. Another one, which really isn't a problem, but it will come up willy nilly is Brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba). Normally this plant could turn into a 5-6 foot bushy thing, but the really nice perk about it is that you can cut it back and it will turn into a 2 foot flowering bushy thing. Having lost some plants to last year's roofing fiasco I had some holes. Instead of buying more plants and instead of killing the "weeds" (aka Brown eyed Susans) in the driveway I simply dug a few up, cut them back and transplanting them in these gaps. Ta da- instant and free native plants. 

Filling in the gaps with reseeders from around the yard:

Purple Coneflowers, River Oats and Brown-eyed Susans.

Fresh Food in Season

I've tried to incorporate foods from the yard into as many meals as possible. This week has included:

Green Curry (with cilantro, green onions, garlic, asparagus)- I'm looking forward to when my Kaffir Lime tree is big enough to harvest leaves from it for this recipe. We've eaten lots of salads with homemade dressings (with herbs & garlic). Salad season is coming to an end. I've nearly picked and stored all of the lettuce from the garden. Last night I made an enchilada casserole (garlic, oregano, green onions, kale) and Sunday we had Crepes with strawberries (with eggs & honey). 

 First Strawberries! 

 Lots of salads these days.

 Enchilada Casserole

(mental note: make your own jarred enchilada sauce this summer)

The romaine harvest. 

In Bloom or Growing

 Clematis along bedroom wall.

 Old fashioned tall, pale purple Iris.

 Yellow Iris and sweet smelling shrub rose along southwest fence.

 Bignonia is growing!

 Fun and random old-fashioned petunias from seed.

Spiderwort peak! 

Beespotter

Catmint, Spiderwort & Caradona Salvia are in bloom and where are my bumblebees? Is it too early? I've seen a few of the smaller ones. Where I wasn't looking was here:

 Native Yellow Honeysuckle -Lonicera flava

Not only were the bumblebees (or carpenter bees, perhaps) on here

but they were fighting with the Hummingbirds for food! 

I got a few lousy photos and submitted them to Beespotter  for identification and data collection. I took a better look at the bumblebee keys and I think they aren't as intimidating as I originally thought. I think I can figure this out, actually. In fact, here is a great key to Bumblebees of the area. Beespotter will only accept data/photo submissions from Illinois at this time. It's a U of I project. 

Random end notes & photos: 

 Chuy discovers the catnip and proceeds to get high.

 Finishing the lettuces & replacing them with peppers and random 

other plants.

White sage

 Pot of sedums. Thyme in foreground.

 Scutellaria- unknown species from MBC greenhouses in Millstadt.

 Hmmmm. Nya. 

 View from the Biergarten. 

 Murl escaping Big Meanie.

Big Meanie biting me instead. 

Happy May in the Garden. 

Spring Drizzle Soup

This soup inspired by: Stuck Inside and Dying

I go outside and plant. I get wet and cold and come in. I go outside and plant.
I come inside and drink hot tea and change clothes. Repeat.

Spring Drizzle Soup
You must get wet to make this soup. It's required. Don't be a pansy.

3 Walking Stick Kale leaves. Because they are enormous you only need 3!

That's my hand and my fat dog's rear end for size comparison.

Cut into ribbons or chiffonade if you are fancy and don't care that the word isn't recognized by spell check and gets the red underline.






2 Purple Carrots. Because that is all you are willing to find in the rain. Also, I realize "2 purple carrots" is not a sentence, but I don't care period.

Ooh La La.







This is fancy soup.
Not really.
I didn't even peel those carrots.

Dill and Thyme- chopped.
1 onion- caramelized in olive oil, because that's good shit.
A few small potatoes that you missed from last year's harvest
1 batch of dumplings. Totally not fancy. Peasanty.
S & P
broth of your making

Caramelize onions. Add carrot coins, dill stems, ribboned kale, thinly sliced potatoes. Cook about 10 min.
Add dill & thyme. Add broth- probably 6 cups.
Bring to a simmer. Add dumplings. Cook until done.

Good Spring Drizzle Soup. 

What Happened to April?

I guess it wasn't noteworthy or I was busy. I think it was cold. It was. We had temps in the low 30's on the 15th and two days before. So, blah. That's gone, though. It was almost 90 three days this week. We need rain. It just drizzled a bit. The next 5 days all have chances for rain so the last day and a half I spent busily planting everything I could. It was probably a record for getting the garden planted.

Big Garden:
Row 1: carrots, Dutch shallots, fennel, parsley, wild arugula, peas, bush beans, pole beans, Mexican sour gherkins, a few onions
Row 2: onions, 2nd yr parsnips, zucchini, winter squashes, chives, adding picotee Cosmos
Row 3: Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, volunteer verbena, garlic, tomatoes, added a few red okra seeds
Row 4: 34 pepper plants, 11 eggplant, onions
Row 5: volunteer garlic & borage, tomatoes, marigolds, walking onions

Old Garden:
Basils (3 kinds), broccoli, Walking Stick Kale, Rat tail radish, lettuces, parsnips, nasturtiums

East side Orchard bed: back to front
3 kinds of maters along the fence- Ivory Pear, Gezahnte, Purple Russian
Melons- cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew
Cucumbers- Hmong Red, Parisian, Pepino
Nasturtiums & White Four O'Clocks

Orchard beds:
Kale, lettuce, arugula, collards, forage kale, cabbages, borage, dill

 Zucchini planted- Fordhook

First hilling of the potatoes

 New labeling system: clothespins.
Also notice the white dust on the plants- diatomaceous earth. Last year I had a problem with the pillbugs eating my young pepper plants so I'm trying this.

 Dusted peppers

 Beauregard Sweet Potatoes (6) planted in the chickweed

Garden ready!

Potatoes in a pot. 

I had several small, sprouting potatoes leftover so I tossed them in this large pot. I've noticed a lot of these on youtube. 

Below: the difference 2 weeks can make. I already had to raise the soil level. It will be full soon. I think this means I will have an early crop. 

My unscientific experiment.

The pot on the left contains compost and a Cali Wonder Bell Pepper Plant.

The pot on the right contains compost with 1 coffee can of "biochar" and a CWBPP.

Biochar is wood that isn't completely burned (charcoal). It is suppose to provide a great habitat for beneficial microbes and is slated to make for healthier & more productive plants.  According to many sources, the practice is 2-3,000 years old. Here is more info on it and how to make it.

I can say that the plant on the right has already been nibbled on by something- probably pillbugs. 

This year I bought Remay or "floating row cover" for the first time. While the tulle I bought from the fabric

store was successful I wanted to compare it to something you wouldn't use to make a prom dress. I can say they both tear easily. Also, I'm having initial concerns about water penetrating the remay. I tested it and it puddled up on the top of my eggplant cage (here). Not good. I uncovered the plants for some impending rain, but worry I will put them at risk of flea beetle infestation. 

The new asparagus bed.

Needs to be painted and tops & bottoms attached. 

I think I counted 20 of 24 plants up. 

The "old" garden.

 The difference a week can bring in spring.

Rain, warmth, longer days.

And today these lilacs are finishing.

 Side yard. Two weeks ago.

Side yard meandering.

New native wildflower bed. 

Fire pinks, Gray Goldenrod, Erigeron, Jacob's Ladder, Columbine

Woodland Phlox, Spigelia, Woodland Spiderwort, Skullcap

and Alpine Strawberries (ok, not all native). 

I just liked these colors & textures together- spirea & hosta

I feel a lot more organized and on top of the gardening game this year. Early on I drew some maps, made a plan and have actually followed through with it this year. Feels good to have it all pretty much in and ready to go. Let's hope the weather cooperates. 

Happy Gardening.

Spring & Winter Break

My Spring Break begins tomorrow at noon. Looks like it will coincide with a break from WINTER too! Monday we are suppose to see 62F- OHMYGAWD. While it may have been ( I shouldn't speak too soon) the coldest winter in 40 years I honestly felt that it wasn't so bad. Maybe because it seemed like a sunny winter? Just a feeling. March is slated to also be colder than  normal.

I finally feel like I can permanently move some of my spring things outdoors for hardening off. While we will still get T's below freezing (esp. at night) I think covering them with a thick blanket in this cold frame will suffice (please don't screw up). There is nothing that brings me greater pleasure by winter's end than all of these shades of green.

Lettuces, Bok Choy, Shallots, Leeks, Cabbage, Broccoli, Kale, Walking Stick Kale, Celery

in the temporary cold frame:

bricks, concrete blocks, old window = temp cold frame

Getting these out of the basement also means I finally have room to start other things, like a tray of Flowering Nicotianas & Blanket flower. So, starting tomorrow I will have room to start 4 more flats of things, likely all flowers. 

Plantling Progress:

Four kinds of Heirloom Petunias

The soil blocks are performing well. This is something I will definitely continue. 

Various Peppers

I'm almost surprised they have grown. I've taken them off heat and the basement has been

cooler than normal with the hard winter.

Nero Kale, Lovage, Valerian, Fennel, Snapdragons 

(from left to right) You can have mixed rows of seeds in a flat of soil blocks so long as they

have similar growing patterns (pace of growth, planting time).

Tomatoes

This flat is way ahead of the other. This one was under the light timer that broke

and wouldn't shut off. The other flat is just starting to germinate.

Zaatar (left) and a flat of Tropical Milkweed (right)

Projects:

Bitters

Albeit not from the Garden. I've been tinkering. Left is Coffee, Pecan & Coco Nib bitters

and right is Tangerine, Coriander and Cardamon. Recipes from this book.

Sparkling Sour Cherry Wine

And no, the kitty isn't having it. I don't share.

Outside:

The bees are taking advantage of the Sapsucker holes and sipping 

Maple sap on the warmer & sunnier days. 

Is Maple Sap the Bee's Knees?

The Witch Hazel blooms on a cloudy day. I wish I could

just sit and watch it for pollinators.

Tuesday March 4, 2014. For real. 

I think winter is closing her doors. 

Slowly.

Coldly.

Creaking. 

Closed.