My Herb Garden

Earlier in the Spring, Daniel encouraged me to clean as much out of the side of the house which had been a make-shift herb garden the past couple of years and redo my herbs.  I had a few herbal plants that were well established so I decided to keep them, prune them back, and work around them.  Those were my lavender, sage, mint, and lemon balm plants.  I decided to make the sage plant a focal point of the garden, and used some various sizes of quartz rock to line the bed.

I made a list of herbs I wanted in the garden and over the course of a few weeks, the seedlings were ready to be transplanted.





A month later, the herb garden is flourishing.  The lemon balm was growing so well, I decided to prune it back the middle of May and make my first herbal tincture.  My intent with this herb garden is to learn to use the herbs medicinally as well as for cullinary uses.  The lavendar blooms were harvested last week for our annual lavendar cookies we all love.













My list of herbs in this garden:

Lavendar
Tarragon
Valerian
Stinging Nettles
Chives
Oregano
Thyme
Comfrey
Sage
Basil
Plantain
Fennel
Cilantro
Chamomile
Mint
Lemon Balm
Dill
Rosemary
Calendula

Growing any kind of garden is an experiment.  I'm very excited about this one, hoping to learn more and more how to use these herbs.  I have hopes of making salves (Calendula, Comfrey), tinctures,  and teas later this season!

Happy growing season everyone!!

This year's garden

Our garden is coming along nicely this year.  I have to give all the credit for this garden to where it's due - my husband.  Each year we rotate our crops to a different location in the garden, there are more sunnier spots than others, but this year is looking very promising for everything we've put in so far.

This is what is currently growing:

Sunflowers
cucumbers
beets
parsnips
carrots
corn
beans
potatoes
onions
garlic
limas
peppers (red, banana, Jalepeno, Cayenne)
tomatoes
brocolli
cauliflower
cabbage
kale
zucchini
yellow squash

I think I'm most excited about the beans this year.  The bamboo tee-pee's are already getting covered with growth.  Last year we didn't have any luck with them, they just wouldn't grow.  New to our garden this year are the onions and garlic, and so far the broccoli, cauliflower and  cabbage are doing well and look healthy.  The squash plants have been blooming for a few weeks and we have our first squash growing this week.  We're looking forward to a bountiful harvest this summer.  I'll keep updating here as our garden evolves this season . . .  a record of this year's garden.

outside

From the very beginning of Spring, we have enjoyed being outside.  We eat outside, play, and garden as much as we possibly can.  Our garden is growing leaps and bounds, but I couldn't go forward with sharing about it without retracing the beginnings of it all - how our Spring began.

Refreshing

With all the snow and closed school days behind us, we are focusing on one thing this week, Spring, Summer, and gardening.  Our first step into that glorious manifestation was buying seeds, making plans and dreaming for warm sunshine.   Each year we make changes to the garden layout, decide what we're going to cut out of the plans or add.  This year we're adding more potatoes and have 6 rows already in the ground as of last week when the temps were in the 70's which is unlike this week where we're getting more snow and freezing participation even as I write this.  Such bi-polar weather we're getting this season, which has proven to really reveal and stretch my patience more than I'm willing to admit.  It's times such as these, that with this winter card we have all seemed to have drawn this year, that we grow, mature a little more and reflect that which nature has always been reflecting back to us, that we can be peaceful during a lot of chaos, we can grow during a lot of chaos, and we can have faith in the unknown and trust that all is well, even when it feels the times we're in are so tremultuous.   







So here's to the most sought after change in seasons I've ever experienced.  I honestly can't wait to feel the warmth and sunshine on my face that will stay with us for more than a day or two, and look forward to what's ahead, yet at the same time, trying desperately to enjoy the days we're in.





 

Outside

This weekend, lots of time was spent out of doors.  Stroller riding/pushing, biking, planting, measuring, watering, it was a full weekend.  We're getting our garden ready for the planting season.  All the root vegetables were planted several weeks ago when the moon was in the dark phase.  I refer to this often.  We're excited another planting season is upon us!  I love this change of pace in our family day to tending to the small crops planted, excited to see what grows best this year (hoping for more squash this year and earlier tomatoes!) Its always an experiment isn't it?  So much depends on the weather and how many deer pass by, but each year we gain more experience and knowledge to apply to the next growing season.

eating local ::

Eating local has become more important to us over the years.  There is nothing like eating local when it means "backyard" local; "backyard - garden wish we had our own farm"- local, or "this is the best we can do and are making the most of it"- local.  You get my drift I'm sure, my heart is fondly desiring more acreage in our future.  But for now in making the most of what we have, we expanded our garden this year.



Daniel has done an amazing job this year tending to our garden.  The most I could do this year is help organize seeds and make row markers.  New this year to our garden has been potatoes, turnips, radishes, beets, carrots.  We expanded our corn, have less tomatoes, but our squash are doing well for once.  It has taken us a few years to learn where there is more sun and where spots are less fertile,  which crops do better on which row and on and on.  I even played around a little this year with planting by the moon.  I wanted to do a post on it earlier this Spring, but it just got too complicated.  So far it has served us well.  I like to think of gardening as a school of nature.

This is the time of the gardening season, where I get to go out and freshly pick our dinner each afternoon.  I prefer to pick and eat as we need the food each day, while my husband on the other hand loves to "surprise" me by harvesting a whole row at one time to preserve.  A few weeks ago, a lot got wasted because we weren't prepared for the amount of work it takes to preserve that much food (it was turnip greens).  As I said, successful gardening is a learned process.  Next year, I will be ready and prepared for that type of cooking and preserving, but for now, I'm learning as much as I can and am enjoying what is and what is left to come.  It only gets better each year.

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment.

a children's garden

Before the weather turns cold, I was reminded that it's time to get our bulbs in the ground. I always forget to plant bulbs this time of year, busy with school routines, extracurricular activities, and birthdays. With all that said, we decided to get our bulbs in the ground yesterday afternoon.

So I did the initial digging, and Elise did the planting. She caught on pretty quick which end to plant "down", she's our little gardener in this family, always has been.

So what did she plant? Tete a tete's and grape hyacinths. We decided to alternate everyone other hole, hopefully they'll come up the same time.

That's the beauty of this "children's garden" I've had in my head for so long. It will grow as the children grow, adding to it each year.

Some Spring day in the future, I envision the children playing outside and "color" will be spotted in this new garden we created. The beauty and awe of "their" garden will surprise them, reminding them of this spot that has been long forgotten during the late Fall and Winter seasons and lure them into the new season as it begins to awaken. See you in the Spring little garden!

Summer is :: 7

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summer is :: late afternoon harvesting

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Summer is :: 6

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Summer is :: growing corn right in our backyard

On the end of our garden that gets the most sun, we planted 2 rows of corn - organic silver queen. We watched as they came up, careful to replant any seeds that didn't germinate, fascinated by how big the stalks grew while we were away in Dallas earlier this summer, thankful for how well our corn has grown in our ground, in our very first garden, new to all of this but very excited about what we're learning. Tonight we picked our first couple of mature corns and we were delighted at what we found inside, beautiful white plump kernels. We are already talking of expanding our garden for this fall and next year and excited at what is to come! Feeding our family has become my passion, we are starting out small, but hopeful our return will be big in years to come!

Seeing Green

I'm seeing a little bit of familiar in everything I do these days. G R E E N. It's everywhere I look. It's in my garden, my drink, my meals, and in my quilting. I've started a long project that's due just around the time of Lena's birthday this fall. I fell in love with this concept of quilting last Fall when I made this table runner. For me the hardest part of getting started is completing the first square. I get stumped toward the end, but with one square now out of the way, it should be smooth sailing. It was interesting how the color I didn't realize was there all along turned out to be the most predominant color. As I kept looking through my stash of fabrics, I saw more and more of it. The color green. I love it so!

Summer is :: 4

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Summer is :: growing food

Last night we had our first harvest from our garden to our table. It was momentus and delicious. I've always heard that food takes better when its local, and even better when local means your backyard. We had swiss chard, cilantro, basil, romaine salad last night for dinner. We loved every bite!

Summer is :: 3

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Summer is :: Starting a second round of vegetables for the garden

Tomatoes in this case - such fun names - Big Rainbow and Mortgage Lifter!

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment.

Planting Day ::

Today we decided to get started with planting our seedlings into our garden. First up is Squash Zucchini. Its big enough and healthy enough to "leave the nest", so out it goes!

There's lots more to come and work to do, it will go in stages, but let the fun and work begin, I'm ready! I have big plans for this garden!