Herbs in the Garden

Archive for the ‘Kitchen garden’ Category

No, there is not much going on in the herb garden yet- some things are sending up new growth, but that’s about it.

The weather is supposed to take a cold turn tonight with temperatures dropping back near freezing. After making sure that seedlings and tender plants were safely tucked in the greenhouse I decided to take a few pictures of some blooming shrubs and edible landscaping. If it all gets hit by frost tonight I’ll have gorgeous photos to remember them by. You know, exactly like Better Homes and Garden’s gorgeous photo spreads… I’m pretty sure they use a little bitty Canon and a cell phone to take their best shots, too.

First up for my show and tell, my favorite lilac-Mount Baker.

The fragrance is delicious.

Honestly-I just want to shove my nose into these flowers, snort deeply and keep it there all spring.

Mount Baker Lilac

Next…

Blueberry Blossoms

Blueberries in Bloom

Most years we don’t get many berries unless I cage them early. The chickens pick off the lower ones, and the wild birds get the upper berries. They are all such little pigs.

And finally,

Apple Blossoms

This crazy tree does not know it’s been pronounced dead…twice. It has blown over, been completely uprooted and snapped at the base of the trunk. Now it simply reclines.

This photo is from a few years ago – after the second time it went over in a bad storm. We had lots of trees to clean up and I hadn’t gotten around to cutting it down when I noticed it was still producing fruit.

It’s a Zombie Apple Tree!

Recumbent Zombie Apple Tree

Although a professor of mine from some years ago would have told me to “prune it at the roots” I did not have the heart to cut down a tree so determined to live.

Today it still grows in it’s happy-yet wonky-condition and even produces plenty of gorgeous Rome apples for me each fall!

I just consider it a living sculpture these days.

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Remember the Sacrificial Nectarine tree?

Here it is bathed in early morning sunlight and absolutely glorious in pink.

Nectarine Bloom

Nectarine in Bloom

Nectarine Blossoms

Beautiful, isn’t it?

My Cattle Panel Greenhouse

At home, besides my medicinal herb garden I also have a kitchen garden. I start almost everything from seed or cuttings, so I have a nice little ‘homey’ greenhouse to work in.

The greenhouse at home is unheated except for heat mats in raised grow beds, so most seedlings and starts go into the greenhouse around late March. Around here nothing goes into the ground before mid May-except peas- and we wait until the guys down the road have quit spraying in their fields.

This greenhouse is a nice size for home growing. It’s also a cheap affair, my “Cattle Panel” lean to.

The whole thing is a mere 16′ x 15′- and is attached to the back of the potting shed….or as I like to call it-the Mental Health Center.

There is a small mist system for cuttings, and an 8′x 16 shade house for the 100* months of July and August- it’s also a cattle panel job.

Here is the shade house frame, completely naked and without flooring. It will have it’s top on and have landscape fabric laid down by early summer.  See? Nothing fancy. The LP tank for heating the potting shed is to the right.

Oh sure- go ahead and laugh at how ugly they are, but these things have held up through snow storms, straight line winds that took out a goat barn -WITH the goats in it- and more. Since I am in the middle of open fields I need sturdy. The metal arches wired together does the trick.

New plastic is definitely due this year on the greenhouse-I’ve gone 5 years on this bit and it is showing it’s age…and it was just a 4 year plastic.

The fact that the cats insist on climbing it doesn’t help with rips and tears, so until it’s replaced, all I can say is thank goodness for repair tape!

It LIVES! Sage in the Snow

A few weeks ago I posted a bit about leaving some pots of Sage out all winter in the snow.

 Several kind and well meaning emails suggested that by leaving my sage outside in pots IN THE SNOW I was  murdering poor innocent plants. I can only surmise they live in warmer climates.

For all the Nay-sayers…See? It did come back!

 I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck.  I’ve never even been on a turnip truck.

 At any rate, you can see that the Sage is back and although it needs a good trim, it’s doing quite well.

The key to overwintering herbs is to know the hardiness zones of both your herbs and your  location before you neglectfully leave your herbs naked in several feet of snow. Admittedly not all herbs can tolerate the kind of abuse I occasionally dish out- but I know which of my herbs will hang tough around here.

So don’t worry.

For those that worry anyway… in all honestly just the herbs that can take the weather and prairie conditions are the only ones I abuse in this way. The rest are coddled and kept tucked in the greenhouse, potting shed, kitchen window, or strewn around the house.

Big Pile Of Wood Chips For Mulch

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I love mulch.

Besides looking nice, in the summer months it really conserves water in the raised herb and kitchen garden beds. The last few years mulch for that reason has been really unnecessary…we’ve had WAY too much rain.

 See the picture to the right?

Well the county was out and about this week trimming storm damaged trees and branches that had grown up into the power lines.

The crew kindly offered to bring me some of the chipped branches when they had finished trimming along my road.

“Oh sure, bring me some. You can just dump them off the side of the drive over there.”

I had forgotten about it until late in the afternoon when I heard a BIG truck rumble into the drive. A big dump truck. Full of chipped branches. They dumped it fast,offered more should I need it…and took off.

I now have my summer pile of mulch. Size-wise it’s up there with a Chevy Pick Up- so it should last awhile.

 If you need mulch, check in your areas for inexpensive and even free mulch. Many counties have places where you can go load up your own mulch.

We have found that it is really easy to get mulch after storms that take out big trees. Trimming crews often just want some place to dump the stuff!

If you can’t find any, give me a call. I could probably spare a little of mine

Yes, you can and it  lives to tell the tale.

Although freezing fresh sage is possible, it’s not the usual was to preserve it.

I have been known to grab some frosted or frozen sage from the garden in a pinch and I am happy to report that the flavor was still fine for cooking.

I dry my herbs, then pop them in the freezer to kill off any lingering insect eggs that may have hitched a ride on the undersides of leaves. Sage is not much bothered by pests, but by habit, the dried herb still goes into the freezer for a few weeks.

This photo shows some potted sage in the snow.

Potted Sage in the Snow

No, it’s not dead, although I admit it doesn’t look terribly healthy at this point.

The good news?

As a perennial herb it will come back in the spring, or when I bring it inside…whichever comes first.

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Weeding…

You either love it and find it relaxing or you hate it and would rather be tied naked to an anthill.

Regardless of your feelings weeding still needs to be done.

 
Weeds not only look messy in the garden and in pots, they also crowd out your herbs and will cheerfully rob your plants of much needed  nutrients.

Whether you garden in containers, or in the garden, various weed seeds can be present in your soil.

It’s true that weeds are a problem in the garden, but they are actually a bigger problem when you grow in pots and containers!

Why?

You spend time watering and feeding your herbs, but when weeds are present the darned things repay your kindness and generosity by growing at ridiculous rates and sucking the life out of the plants you wanted.

Do your herbs a  great big favor and yank the weeds.

I know first hand that if the weeds get too bad you’ll want to throw up your hands and give up, and sometimes that is advisable.

I have been there and have the overgrown garden pictures on this blog to prove it…and I am blushing as I write that admission.

Weeds Growing With Herbs

Even if you really hate weeding, just take a few minutes a day and pull a few weeds. Unless you have a huge garden planted, a few minutes is all it takes to keep your herbs growing well and looking good!