Joyous Southern Spring: Garden Tour May/June 2014

Peas

After the longest, coldest, loneliest winter in a long time, Spring has been truly welcome here South of Sunnybrook. I started lettuces from seed, but got most of my peas in later because of all the late freezes. Lesson learned: plant peas anyway, most of them will survive if they're mulched. Plus, pea seeds are cheap (I plan to save some this year also)!

Harvest

Spinach, basil, strawberries, and lots of lettuces (like the ones in my Teacher Appreciation bouquets) have been devoured by the family. We've been listening together in the car to the audiobook Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (which is the book that first inspired me to try cheesemaking and join a CSA), and I think it's inspired appreciation in my children. It is truly wonderful to hear them go on and on about how "nothing tastes so wonderful as a good, fresh strawberry you pick yourself."

Baby Basil

For the last two years, I've planned to start various herbs, veggies, and flowers throughout the summer, so as to have filler for bare spots as I harvest, and to have lots of sets for fall veggies (which need to be planted in September-ish). I never do it though. In January, making paper pots filled with earth and seed is like planting hope, but in July I don't want to sit at the table...there is too much to do outside. 

So I am starting things in large pots, like the basil above, and will thin them and move them to the garden. I also have some German Chamomile and chives started this way, and plan to keep things growing throughout the summer.

Garlic Hat

This is my first year planting garlic. I got some Red Russian seeds from the Seed Sharing program at my local library (how cool is that??), and a few cloves of a different hardneck variety from my father. I am going to try harvesting some seeds from the flower this year. I did cut one of these flowers and fried it up along with some stuffed squash blossoms, and it was delicious! Experiment!

Scape

Garlic is a beautiful addition to edible landscaping. The scapes (or long stalks that hold the flower) can curve around into wonderful shapes that are very pleasing to the eye. For hardneck garlic, there seems to be a difference of opinion about whether you should harvest the scapes, or keep them...so I am trying both. All of the garlic plant is edible!! The leaves have a mild garlic flavor, and I add them to pesto. The scapes are also delicious in pesto, but can be grilled/steamed like asparagus! ....or you can leave them to harvest flower seeds.

Corn - Three Sisters

My baby corn is sprouting for my Three Sisters garden!! Wanting space to plant the Three Sisters was the whole inspiration for the sheet mulch project, and it's wonderful to see the life springing from the soil. Traditionally, one plants the corn in little hills 3-4 days before the full moon. While planting, offer prayers of thanks for the elements that make the plants grow (yes, I did this).

When the corn is 4-6 inches tall, I plant the beans, then when that sprouts, I plant the pumpkins. The beans are supported by the corn stalks and replenish the soil (corn is a heavy feeder). The pumpkins shade both, crowd out weeds, and discourage predators. The three also complement each other nutritionally.

Blueberry

Blueberries are not yet blue, but I am looking forward to eating them. Even when they turn blue, we don't "pick" them -- if you touch them and they don't drop in your hand, they're not quite at their perfect sweetness.

Hyssop

In the Bible, it says "purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean" but I use my hyssop to attract pollinators, and for cut flowers. It's an excellent companion plant in the garden, and has an attractive "small shrub" shape. I do plan to try some in tea, as WebMD notes it can be helpful for everything from menstrual cramps to cough/cold.

Fig

The fig lives!! Thank goodness! This fig was propagated by my father, from the large fig tree that grew outside my bedroom window when I was a child. I was working to espalier it against the brick, but the long, cold winter caused it to die back to the ground. The current plan is to "roll with it" and use the dead branch as a trellis of sorts to train the new, flexible branches.

I know that some years it might start where it left off, and some years it might begin anew, and I am okay with that. Plus, then I can string Christmas lights on the branches either way!

Picking Breakfast

The best breakfast on the last day of school starts with juicy, red strawberries.
Food just tastes better when you pick it yourself!

January seedlings

Hope springs eternal, and every planted seed is a grain of hope for a new year, a new life. This January, I started seeds for the new year. Little lettuces and herbs offer wonderful cheer, brightening a wintry day with their fresh, green shoots. I can sow them in the garden in another month, along with seeds of the same (or different), to fully exploit the wonderful, long growing season here in the mid-South.

In the past, I've made seed pots out of old cardboard rolls, but this year, I found a little wooden pot maker (like this one) to use with newspaper, and strongly prefer the resulting pots. They are sturdier and I think the newspaper will disintegrate better when they're planted in the garden.

Some of these seeds came from my favorite Bunte Forellenschluss, with the life inside waiting, like a djinn in a bottle, for the magic of light and water. In the Talmud, there is a line that says "every blade of grass has an angel that stands over it and whispers 'grow,' 'grow.'" I like to think of all the angels invited into my home, thanks to the sacred magic in those seeds.

Garden Tour - August 2012

"And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,

You will find yourself a partner In the Glory of the Garden."

-- Rudyard Kipling

July 2012 was the all-time warmest, month in the United States since we began keeping records, but having (reliable) rain barrels this year helped us keep food/flower areas growing without racking up a huge water bill. The beautiful ed/yellow Rudbeckia (love that name) seen here in the top left part of the photo is a Tennessee Native plant. Native plants are wonderful choices for gardeners, as they are more likely to make it through extreme weather with a minimal amount of care. They also attract pollinators and other beneficial insects to your garden. This year I've truly mixed flowers, herbs and vegetables and have seen more bees and butterflies than ever before when I walk along beside the plants. It is a wondrous sight to behold!

The bushy flowers in the front are moss roses (Portulaca), and they begin to bloom well in Mid-July through frost in my garden; they also are drought tolerant and do not require a lot of water, so I can put the soaker hoses around the tomatoes you can see in the background.

I love watching lettuces going to seed! Lovely! Also in this square-foot bed I have some peppers, some flowers (of course) and a cucumber vine that has finally died thanks to the cucumber beetle. But at least I have identified the pest so I can be prepared next time.

I finally have a baby eggplant growing! The plant itself is beautiful and I hope the Rosa Bianca eggplants will be tasty.

I am sheet-mulching this area, and really want to put a Three Sisters garden here next spring. However, I am going to have to move most of my tomatoes out of the flower bed next year, as the blueberries and fig will be too large to accommodate so many plants. I am also toying with the idea of going ahead and using the front yard...if I can find a design I like. 

Here is a long shot of my front flower bed. I really love how this looks this year! In the August heat, it has exploded with color and texture. The rosemary on the left (against the wall) is a Blue Spires Rosemary, which can grow up to 5' tall; I planted it to replace a very prickly holly bush that wasn't very pretty and had grown totally out of control. Eventually, we should have a large rosemary shrub here and the fig tree at the other end that is growing nicely to bookend our blueberry "hedge." I really love how it's coming together!

Contrast that with the desperate plants in my side yard bed, which used to be almost full shade until we lost a hickory tree this year. I have been trying to keep things (at least) watered here, but as you can see, those shade plants don't enjoy the morning baking in the August sun. I am going to cluster the survivors into the shadiest areas at the end of September, but I do relish the opportunity to plant some lettuces and bulbs and maybe even some peas back here for spring. After all, there's no great loss without some small gain!

Oh, Eve she was a gardener, and God who made her sees

That half a proper gardener's work is done upon her knees,

So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray

For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!

(edited slightly by me!)

Garden Tour - June 10, 2012

New things blooming! I have my tomatoes in and they already have lots of green fruit. Next photo post will include shots of them, along with the beautiful companion plants that are helping them stay pest-free and healthy!

There are lots of colors in the Tennessee garden in June. Enjoy!

Dusty Miller

Jacob's Ladder (variegated)

Amaryllis, gone to seed (click to see blooming)

Annual color

Bok choy, still flowering, has produced seed pods

Bok choy seeds inside dry pods

Heuchera, Coral Bells

Lavender (and a petunia)

Peace Lily

Can you identify this plant? It looks red in December, but is green now!

Sea Holly

Sedum

Verbena, with oregano and sage

Sweet Alyssum

Get more out of harvesting your cabbage

The Back 40

Our property line doesn't end at the edge of our backyard, but continues down a rather steep ravine. Despite living here for nearly six years, none of us had ever seen what is down there, so curiosity finally got the best of me and I headed down with my trusty camera. What I wanted to see most was a wee stream at the bottom, but what I found was much cooler than that.

Terrific Stump

Cool mushroom, bigger than my foot

Tiny spider

Kitty on a log, halfway down the ravine and I can hear water.

Aha! Found it.

Neat limestone half-moon waterfall

Layers of rock

Down the watershed

Human refuse brought here by the water.

I was really saddened to find quite a bit of refuse down there. Possibly some of it landed during the 100-year flood we had in 2010. Debris is a terrible problem for the Middle Tennessee watershed, which is another reason I'm glad to be helping in the annual cleanup by the Nashville Clean Water Project. Metals and plastics leach chemicals into the water that harm birds and other wildlife and all that refuse has a dramatic negative impact on our beautiful natural environment in Middle Tennessee. It's all connected! If we don't pick it up, it could wind up in the Gulf of Mexico; debris from other parts of the U.S. might find their way to the Pacific Trash Vortex.

We like to think we are insulated from our waste, when we sit with our laptop in our sanitized, temperature-controlled homes. We like to think we are masters of our environment. But we are woefully out of sync with the deepest rhythms of our earth, of which we are just a part. Nature will find a balance. If we don't act, our trash will always find us in the end.

Not down the ravine, but a cool caterpillar "train" and gathering.

Garden Tour - May 1, 2012

My ultimate gardening goal is to always have something blooming and/or edible in the garden. Last year, I sacrificed annual color in my garden budget to invest in some perennials and this spring we are all enjoying the fruits of that decision! The gardens are full of color and life and lots of little shoots poking up into the world in search of the sun.

Bearded Iris

Jacob's Ladder

The Jacob's Ladder will flower later, but the new spring leaves are tinged with pink. Beautiful!

Asiatic Lily

Hyacinths poking their heads out.
The hyacinths are not blooming, but they have grown fast! I only planted them last month.

Bunte Forellenschluss Lettuce

Winter Density Lettuce and some Dill

Major Wheeler Honeysuckle

Chives

Amaryllis (Full House or Clown)

Bok Choy
I saw some bok choy starts and thought I'd try them, but it was unseasonably warm (80s in February), so they bolted almost immediately and I decided to just enjoy the flowers!

Hydrangea, with beautiful yellow Creeping Jenny behind.

Mexican Sage/Salvia Leucathna
Can you spot the happy bee? He was hard to catch.

Spiderwort
If you look closely, you'll see several unopened buds near each bloom. Here at Sunnybrook South they bloom for several months, from March-June.

Baby Begonia -- these have come up on their own the last two years!

Purple Queen -- also has perennialized in my beds

Moss Rose/Portulaca -- tiny seedlings sprouting

Geranium cuttings taking root. Two whole new plants here!