Filed under: in the garden
I’m growing borage this year, decided entirely on whim after reading the back of the seed packet at the store. I didn’t know much about the plant, so there’s been a lot of reading up on how to use it. Borage flower ice cubes are a popular notion. Several sources note borage “gladdens the heart,” and why wouldn’t it? Who can look at pretty, true blue blossoms and not be gladdened.
Filed under: in the garden
I started these from a freebie seed packet earlier in the year and transplanted them outside at roughly the same time as I planted the daylilies. They’re growing up the railing of the raised front porch (this pic is looking over the railing down at the ground) and I see them each time I leave in the morning. They are the most amazing blue.
Lovely, lovely.
Filed under: in the garden
To follow up on The Daylilies Don’t Mind. I’ve got five blooms so far, and they’re all beautiful pale lemon.
Filed under: in the garden
The daylily bed hasn’t been mulched yet, and as a result I’m getting a lot of little weeds sprouting up. This particular young plant I’ve been pulling out by the handful. I’d no idea what it was, but as the adjacent yard is nothing but weeds, I assumed this had blown over (or had been buried dormant in the soil) and was a weed too.
Filed under: in the garden
Remember those free daylilies I got on Craigslist? Their foilage hasn’t been that pretty since planting, with the cut leaves slowly turning brown, but after a weekend of completely leaving them alone (not watering them, not looking at them, not thinking, “Man, I need to get that newspaper down”), look what I found. They’re going to bloom!
Filed under: in the garden
The basil is booming. It’s way overdue for being transplanted. I am giddy at the thought of pesto all summer long (especially since the cheap basil at the farmer’s market has gone up in price a dollar and is no longer cheap).
But the spinach? How poorly it’s doing! I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it.
So this weekend I got down on my knees and looked at it carefully.
I found twelve (12!) free daylilies on Craigslist. Craig, I love you.
image by Joel Dinda
Started my summer garden last weekend! Pulled off the mulch and landscaping paper of last year, turned over the patch with a shovel, and then smoothed it out with a rake. I’m longing for some sturdy attractive edging, but it’s not in the cards. After the bed was prepped, I laid out a soaker hose that runs the length of the plot, and then covered everything with landscaping paper – the kind that draws water down, but doesn’t let it evaporate into the air, and also blocks weeds. The soaker hose will be attached to a timer that turns on in the early mornings for half an hour or so. After I get my plants laid out, I’ll then cover the paper with mulch to provide sun relief (the paper is black) and weigh it down.
The sprouts have forgiven me for not marking which seeds are what and are doing a pretty little show for my entertainment and edification. Happy cilantro and spinach on this end of the tray! In a few more inches, I’ll transplant them to pots, or perhaps straight into my freshly prepared garden bed.
Related Posts:
Sprouts, By Request
Hope, Faith, and Gardening
I pulled the lid off, and lo and behold, I have seedlings! Failed to properly mark them, though, so I no longer know which end is what. Give it a few more weeks, though, and I’ll be able to id them based on more mature foliage. I’m excited though (maybe improperly so). I planted both basil and cilantro, and those are the two herbs I have the hardest time keeping alive when bought as mature plants. I’m hoping raising them from seeds will somehow make them hardier and harder to kill.
Related Posts: Hope, Faith, and Gardening
Gardening is probably the very definition of “Hope springs eternal.”
Here’s hoping this tray turns out cilantro, spinach, basil, and morning glory seedlings in a few weeks.
Also, I’ve realized the planning and doing of growing my own food is quite meditative for me, in a get-sweaty-and-dirty kind of way. I have absolutely no thoughts in my head at all while working, not even what the next step should be. It’s lovely medicine.
architheque 