Container Gardening

My garden helper.  She digs on demand.

Apparently, I have not been sharing very much.  Who knew a month could go by without me sharing anything.   Don't think because I have not been sharing that I haven't been crafting, because I sure have.  Not to mention the fact that I moved my sewing studio.  It's in a WAY better location however there has been a lot of moving, organizing and purging going on.

Also, gardening and yard work.  Too many irons in the fire as of late.  I am sure you have lots of things going on as well.  We all do! There is always so much to do.  I guess it really is all about what you make time for.  Either you can fit it in or you can't.

When I was a child no one planted anything before Memorial Day in this zone because there was usually a frost in May.  There hasn't been a frost in My for like forever.  The zones have changed, haven't they?  This year is the first year I took advantage of that and planted the first week in May.  This year I planted okra, kohlrabi, kale, collard greens, tomatoes, the usual herbs- basil, dill and a new one- Thai basil.  I cook Thai so I thought I would give it a try.  My thyme is very happy in this home of mine.  It has come back three years in a row.  It was suppose to be annual but I guess it is pretty hardy. 


I use to have a pretty large garden but I could not keep up with the weeds so we ended that.  Now we have two container type gardens.  Its good enough.  We have a great public market nearby and lots of farmers around town so there is plenty available, gratefully!

I propagated basil from some hydroponic basil I found at the supermarket. It didn't work as well as I thought it might but I did get two plants out of it.

August 10: Mint

I collected some mint from my garden.  I really should have had this done a few weeks ago.  I like to dry it for tea for the winter months.  I love mint tea.

Mint tea has great health benefits... Its an old time remedy for upset stomach. "Though there have been few human clinical trials on the health benefits or risks of peppermint tea, there is some evidence that peppermint-based products (and potentially, the tea) have healing effects because of the peppermint oil or menthol that it contains, and that treatment using orally ingested peppermint oil will relieve the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.[2] The oil of peppermint has also been shown to be an effective antispasmodic during colonoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. "  Wikipedia.

If you are tempted to plant mint, be careful.  Its a weed.  Its crazy voracious.  It sends runners just beneath the soil.  It will spread very quickly.  Where you want it and not where you want it.  In other words everywhere.  If you dig into the soil and put up barricades it will stay where you want it.  Get a large planter, cut off the base, sink it into the soil, at least five inches and have it above the soil as well, about two or three inches.  This will it keep it in place.

August 5th The Ups and Downs of Gardening

These hydrangea's look dried.  They look painted.  They look white washed.  They look kind of sad.  They have lost their vitality. They are pretty but in a nostalgic kind of way.

This hydrangea looks like a beautiful firework on a warm Fourth of July night.

So beautiful my bush had one bloom last year.  This year tons of hydrangea blooms!

Then here is a tomato.  Clearly some critter has found my garden.  Dang it!  I have to figure out what it is so I can plan my attack, if not for this year, then next.

Lamenting Lavender

For about five years now I have had some beautiful lavender out in my front walkway.  I wish I had taken more pictures of it. Sigh.

The lavender during a hail storm.

This past winter, this frigid, subzero, freezing winter, killed my lavender (and my 10 year old sage plant).  I have harvested lavender from my yard for a couple years now.  I use it to make sashes, bath salt mixes, decorate and freshen my bathroom and have even used it for cooking.

Instead of crying over spilt milk, or rather dead lavender, I bought some new plants last night.  They won't be as glorius as they were last year, but I will have lavender.

My Mother was/is such a great gardener.  Her backyard looked like a park, many beautiful flowers and beautiful layout.  She had a vegetable garden as well but my Mom loved her flowers.  She still does but doesn't necessarily have the strength anymore to tend to her garden.  The flowers have mostly been replace by hastas.

Now, me, on the other hand.  I love to draw flowers, they are quilted into my quilts.  I doodle them all the time. But as for my yard, I am a practical gardener.  So, most of the plants around here have some type of usefulness- quince, herbs, mint, lemon balm, raspberries, blueberries, aloe... and lavender.  It was my two fold experience.  Beautiful flower with all kinds of usefulness- even if it was just to smell and keep the bees happy at the very least.

A view of my front walkway from my window.