Enjoying Being Outside

garden herb 022 We are enjoying being outside again. Checking out the herb and flower garden in the middle of our massive garden is fun. Things may look a little grim right after all the snow melts, but no worries. To identify what plant you are looking at, I label everything and place “birds of a feather” together. For instance, my herbal teas are all in one area.

Annuals that re-seed themselves are placed to allow them to drop their seeds all by themselves, which is a great time saver for us. Here are some of those self-seeding annuals below.

Basil looks like this right now.

basil 010 But will transform into this again after the seeds they dropped come back up. basil 007

Borage is a self-seeder that looks pretty bare now. borage 003

But it will have all of its lavender flowers smiling at us in a while.

borage 002

Chamomile is an annual that looks like a hurricane wiped out the area now. chamomile 013

But, it will look like this later on.

chamomile 008

The perennials come back after winter hibernation, so they have a permanent strategic location. They may look puny but things perk right up as the warmth returns.

Hyssop now, hyssop 007 and last year. hyssop 004 Lavender now, lavender 009 lavender 006 Parsley now parsley 002 parsley 001

Valerian now. valerian 01 valerian 003 You get the idea, don’t you.

Herb Section

We have a herb section in the middle of our garden as we grow fresh spices for cooking along with teas and tinctures to keep us healthy. I started off mainly wanting to have fresh herbs to cook with. Now, we have a library of reference material on herbs by reputable herbalist and we are much more interested in the healing capabilities and qualities derived from our herb garden.

The hardest part for me initially was figuring out how to identify the sprouts as they came up. I’d kill them as I weed until it got easier to recognize them. Almost all of the images available online are of blooming, fully mature plants which do not look very much like a mature plant when they sprout out of the ground. I really wish that the seed packets would put pictures of what the sprouting plants look like. The cultivation success rate improves along with the ways we utilize the herbs as we learn more about them.

It is important to figure out which herbs are annuals needing careful seed retrieval to replant and which were easy self-seeding varieties. Also, which herbs are truly perennials hardy enough to survive our winters in the Inland Northwest climate. Do I need to protect them with a straw covering over winter? If it dies over winter I put straw over the next year to see if it can survive. It has become easier as we dedicate areas for each herb allowing the perennials room to grow and the annuals places to drop their own seeds.

The herbs established in our garden so far include basil, borage, caragon, caraway, chamomile, dill, elderberry, horseradish, hyssop, lavender, mints (lemon balm, peppermint, spearmint), mullein, oregano, parsley, poppy, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme, valerian, yarrow. Following posts will show information and photography of each one of these separately along with information about successfully cultivating.

Garden is Sanity

Blue Screen Sanctuary

Our garden is sanity for me. It is the place I go to do some weeding, watering, and picking. There are absolutely no screens to look at, and no phones to answer. I can hear the birds sing, play with dogs and kids, and get real dirty and never worry what people think of me. Anyone who knows me recognizes that is a really natural state for me.

Harvest Begins

At the end of the summer coming into fall, it becomes a lot more work as more and more produce needs harvesting and processing. My hands get blisters and dried out from all the washing, cleaning, cooking, and canning but the quality of the yummy food is well worth it throughout the following winter months. Here are some cucumbers getting ready to be pickled.

Buckets

Here are the buckets from this morning, tomatoes, dill herb, Dahlia’s, and tomatoes. Any kind of flower blossom brightens my day!
zuchini
A normal-sized zucchini is what I am holding. Honestly, it is how big they get all the time.

Tomato Sorting

sorting ripeness of tomatoes

Back up at the house, the tomatoes are washed and sorted into ripeness groups. The group on the right is red and ready to eat or can. The group on the left will get to sit in my vegetable baskets by the window to finish ripening. I’ll process them probably the next time I pick.