Lemon Mint

We got two kinds of mint that I put under the fig tree.  Mint can be hard to get to grow sometimes but when it does it can take over.

On the plus side it can help keep some bugs down like fleas. We haven't had a problem with fleas as of yet but it can't hurt to prevent them in the first place.

The mint shown here, I believe, is lemon mint.  I could be wrong but that's what I'm told we were given.  The other mint we have is spearmint.  These have spread out a little but still not very far. 

The fig tree is still coming back nicely and has several shoots now.  Taken off two leaves so far and not a lot of change. Will wait a bit longer before trying it again.  Maybe it's not quite big enough to send enough to that sprout to make a difference.

The green onion is blooming nicely. Several poof balls of flowers have opened up and some fairly large ones.  Also planted a red onion among the green ones.  It was sprouting anyway.

I was able to remove a lot of weeds recently.  The best time to do weed removal is right after a good rain or possibly during a rain if it is late and will get dark before it's over.  Instead of having to fight the weeds to pull them out, most of them came out fairly easily if not immediately.  A couple of the harder ones to pull were the dandelions.  They have a tap root that can go down for a while even on a relatively small plant.

Ramps, The Other Onion

Unless you've got evergreen green onions, the next onions you'll probably be getting are ramps in your garden.  At least in the south you can get these as early as mid to late winter.

They are one of the more flavorful varieties of onion, you can use the tops, bottoms, or both.  As with all of the onion family the entire plant is edible.  They do die back as the temperatures warm up and go to seed.  Not a very fancy flower but recognizable as being in the onion family.

You can sometimes find these plants in the woods around where you live as they like rich soil and partial shade.

Baby Onions

Our green onion has produced some baby onions in the flower poof this time around. It's made a couple before but this time it's upward of 10 or so in among the flowers.
This little guy was especially interesting since it didn't know what kind of leaf it wanted to put out.  In the end it decided to combine a scale with a shoot and it curled around like so.  We really should have planted more this year but what we do have is growing nicely and we've gotten some tomatoes from what planted itself from last year's dropped fruits. I believe we have more borage than we can use and not enough onion. I'll have to prep the bed better this year for the winter onion crop.
Still hoping for more rain although the lakes around here are groaning from  the abundance of water and those in low areas are cursing me for even thinking it.  Still that's one reason I bought a house so high up on a hill.

Borage and Onion

Our onion and borage have decided it was time to start growing again. The onion we left in there from fall so it could finish getting bigger and the borage was self seeded and much bigger than last season's crop. It will make a nice addition to this weeks salads.

 

Of course the bed they are growing in is our least rich one. It's mostly sandy soil which means good drainage and not a lot of anything else. It's getting more organic material only as it has grass or weeds we pull die on top and decay into the soil but no fertilizer or compost has been added in quite some time. And then it been buried several inches down.

Summer Rains

The rain  this summer has been keeping our July nice and cool this year. It's still been a little too warm for some of my tomato plants to produce well but they're looking healthy and I have hopes for a nice fall tomato crop.

They say it probably hit 100 degrees for a short bit one day so far but I don't think it quite made it where I was so I'm refusing to count it. The rain and warm weather has gotten my cucumbers to produce really well this year. We've eaten several of them so far and there are still more growing. Likewise the pepper plants are loving the weather. They would grow in hotter weather too but with the rain and nice temperatures there are plenty of peppers for making tasty meals.  For some reason the zucchini isn't doing so well though. They made some fruit and then began to die back. I thought people always talked about the plentiful zucchini but maybe I need to redo the soil. There's always next year.

The potatoes made little bitty potatoes after the tops died back. If there's anything else down there I haven't found it. It's possible that it's really deep though and I want to wait to dig any deeper so as not to disturb any neighboring plants. There are still onions in the ground nearby as well as some herbs.

Winter Onion Patch

 

The Winter time is a good time to plant onions. I've chosen a nice yellow onion and planted them in nice rows. I expect some of them not to make it, especially some of the smaller ones, but there are plenty of them that I don't think I will have to worry.

 

When you buy them in bunches they don't count the number but instead estimate the size of the bundle. Some of the onions will be quite a bit bigger than some of the others and will have a better chance of continuing to grow. I suggest spacing these out with the smaller ones between them so as to have less root competition between the larger bulbs.  In our area cats are also a problem and the bigger bulbs have a better chance against these unwanted visitors as well.

 

We went out to Potager Café the other day and their cabbage plants are wanting to bolt but they also have plenty of leaves on them for making delicious quiches or slaw. Snow peas too are growing and making pods which can be added to the cabbage for a light meal.

Raised Beds in the Garden

We've been working for a few days now geting the raised beds ready for planting. We've removed most of the grass from the tiled area and entirely replaced the wood on the back bed.  The weather and bugs had reduced the wood to pulp and a few splinters.  the middle bed needs a little repair but will last the season and can be replaced next year or maybe in the fall.

After replacing the wood on the last bed we also  put chicken wire over the top to make it less desireable for the local cat population since newly tilled soil, especially soil that is still that sandy is often seen as a large litter box.  After we put down the wire we began planting sandy loving seeds and starters, mainly in the onion family.
We planted a whole corner with garlic from a few bulbs we  had lying around that were neededing to be replaced anyway.  We also planted onion seeds in about half of it.
Potatoes are also good in a sandy soil although they need more room. We planted a few in the back of the back bed and will see how they do.

Planting for Spring

Spring has sprung even if the plant store is a little more wary. We've already got plants in the ground and seeds from last year are already popping up and saying hi.

Among the returnnig plants are the dill, which has come up in a carpet in the area it was in last year and is already attracting the black swallow tail butterflies, and the cilantro or chinese parsley, which again doesn't want to grow in the planting beds but likes to stretch out and grow in the rocks.  I think this is partly due to the birds eating most of the seed they can see on the dirt and when they're in the rocks it's harder for the birds to get to them and swallow them up.

From the plants that come back from the root we have the purple cone flower, hollyhock, a wide variety of iris, daylily, ferns, a basil plant that just didn't want to die, lemongrass, fennel, and onion.

The survivors who stayed green and happy all winter were oregano, thyme, lavender, green onion, rosemary, the monster beet, and of course the live oak.

We've planted seeds, starting from north to south, for corn, bush beans, beets, carrots, onion, and radishes.

Plants we've put in as plants are tomato, thyme, and rue (near our rose bush out front).  So far everything seems to be acclimating well.  the tomatoes, which usually droop a little at first, never even tipped a leaf.  We actually planted two thyme plants, a lemon thyme next to the one that's finally acclimating well and a yellow leaf thyme out near the fennel.

Bed Preping Time

It's February and the wife has already picked out what she wants to plant for the spring.  First off though we need to prep the beds and get them ready for growing which sounds like a couple weekends of work.

The three beds in the back really need more sun and so I'm planning on finally getting rid of the youngish pecan tree in the back that's monopolizing all of the sun.  That also means summerizing the mirrors so we don't have too much sun bouncing back into the house or garden.  The pecan tree used to shade them so I didn't have to mess with them before.

On the table of things she wants to grow are:
Borage - We grew these years ago and they come up pretty well.
Carrots - Another easy grower. Maybe we'll get normal sized carrots this time.
Leeks - Last time we tried leeks we just planted the bottoms of the ones from the store, didn't do so well.  We'll see if seed leeks are any better.
Onions - I don't know if we're doing starters or seeds but either way should work well.
Celery - Another one we tried to root from the market recently.  It's still green but no roots have formed yet.  We're going to try this one from seed too.
Beet - We've done really well with beets and i don't expect this coming year to be any different.
Cucumber - As long as we keep these watered well all through the summer they'll be fine.

Past that she wants some flowers.  If our lemon grass doesn't make it through the season we're probably getting one of those too.

Root, Stem and Flower

Never mind that they're not all the same plant, these are what's happening.

The grape hyacinth is in full bloom and seems to be the only one left that wishes to do so.

Same goes with the fern.  We planted several plants last year and this little guy is the only one who came back. I still have some hope but it's waning as the days go on.

The onion isn't planted at all but you know how onions do. One day they're in the onion bin waiting to be cooked and the next day they're ready to be planted and make little baby onion plants.  I'll be transfering him soon with a couple others.

Plenty of Rain

It rained for many hours between last night around 8:00 and didn't let up until after noon today. This has filled my rain barrels to capacity except for one which wasn't on the loop properly. I've fixed this problem since and they're evened out now at about 70% capacity.

The remaining tomato plants are shown here. The left one is a new tomato plant that somehow decided that now was a good time to grow while the right shows two already growing tomato plants that are putting out new leaves and with time should give some good fall tomatoes.

The onion patch has a single onion left wanting to put out greens but the green onion up front have grown all through the summer. I keep cutting off parts to use for dinner. There's a smaller one in the round planter that seems to need more light. Kind of a runt.

Cooking Curry

We weren't sure what we wanted for dinner but finally decided on red curry. We got the ingredients together although the potatoes were a little soft and only had two carrots we weren't going to be thwarted on our dinner plans. With the cost of food rising we were determined to eat in today.

My wife seemed a little concerned when she got to the onion though since it had decided that a fridge wasn't such a bad place after all to sprout. Fortunately onions are one of the few foods that you can eat every part of no matter what it's wanting to do. I saved the middle to plant though. No need to waste a perfectly good onion sprouting.

Room to Grow

We have peppers! In this area we have five pepper plants, labels kept with them so we would know what they were when we got around to picking peppers off of them. Really though it shouldn't be that hard if they've ripened well enough. If I knew my peppers better then I would probably be able to tell from the look of the plant. They really do look different.

On the front porch we have another area of plant growth. The lavender really wants to be planted in a sunnier place and has decided to reach for the sun as best as it can. The marigolds are hanging off the other side apparently content with their pot in life.

Out back the garden is doing well enough. It really has grown since this picture especially in the back where the onions have taken off. It's mostly green now. Some of the tomatoes in the middle don't look so well but I'm going to wait until the tomatoes ripen before I decide what to do with the plants. I think I might have to remove some of them. Not to worry though, I have plenty of small tomato plants that are eager to take their place.

Sprouts

The onions have sprouted and are growing well. We sprinkled some rosemary in the beds and it has worked so well that we've since added it to all of our pots that we're trying to grow things in. I don't know how or why a cat would decide to climb into a ten inch pot a foot off of the ground to do it's business but they seem to have a knack for it. I've thought about many other ways to rid the neighborhood of these menaces but I'm way too nice to try any of them. I can't even bring myself to get a dog. I don't mind them wandering through the yard as long as they don't try leaving me any presents as they do. Ok, maybe if they left mice that would be good, or opossums. I really don't think the cats around here have what it takes to take on a opossum though.

The snow peas have also arrived which the cats have fortunately left alone. The pot must not be enough of a challenge for them to worry about. I have since thinned them to only four plants while seven are shown here. Some of the lettuce plants have also sprouted but not very well yet. The zuchini has decided to grow pretty well on the other hand. Since this picture it has gotten three times bigger. We have also put bamboo teepees on this and other climbing plants.

Composting Growth

Composting used to be the way folks would get rid of scraps. Growing up, my grandmother had a bowl which sat on the counter and she would toss whatever needed to go into the compost pile into it throughout the day. When it started getting dark outside she would have one of us kids go out and throw it on the pile and the bowl would be washed for the next day. Of course dinner was already underway at this point and no more cutting of vegetables was needed.

By the time they moved out of that house and back up north there were two very big piles of compost. This is what was used to sustain the garden out back and help in the pottings that were done.

In our area there is a lot of effort by local clubs to encourage composting. The main problem being the lack of a place to compost at. Having compost is lovely but the pile of leftover vegetables, fruit peels, grass, leaves and whatnot doesn't smell very good. Pair this with the relatively small lots we have and how close our neighbors are and the incentive doesn't always convince people to do it.

My compost pile has gone through phases and apparently I didn't always throw stuff in there that was too far gone. Sometimes we have onions or potatoes or whatnot that start to look kind of old and spotty so out they go. Just yesterday I looked back there while watering the plants that really do think it's already spring and there were onion tops springing out of where the compost pile used to be (I moved it over 4 feet). Who knows what else might be trying to grow. Possibly pepper plants since I throw the seeds out there too.

Winter Report

The cold held off pretty well as I though it might but it's coming in now with a little more umph.
For the most part the garden is faring well. The onions that I started are sprouting like they should. I just need to keep watering them well.
The lemon tree has been left out to see just how cold it can get before leaves start falling off. I talked with a friend who also has one outside and he said that it survived the snow with only a few end twigs dying back. So, here goes nothing.
Everything else seems to be going dormant and resting except for the radish plant that has taken off with fevor. It is twice the size of a basketball and is all greens. Might make a salad later...

Surviving the Cold

The onion bed has sprouted quite a few onions this fall. I expect them to do pretty well since the mirror is in place and will keep them pretty warm during the day. Some of them might be leeks by the looks of it but we'll eat those too.

An unfortunate arrival is this litle squash, the first on this year to actually show up. I don't have much hope for him surviving but who knows. I still think we're going to have a pretty mild winter this year and he just might get big enough to eat.

Backyard Flowers

I'm trying to get more seeds for planting but the bugs are against me. I went out today and the caterpillars were eating away at the lettuce seed pods. They only seem to like one of the varieties though and fortunately one of the tasty varieties is very close to one that isn't and the caterpillars are leaving both of them alone.

The onions are in full bloom and shouldn't be too much longer until they seed.

Wild Onions

The wild onions are flowering again which means it's time to get gardening with earnest. The days are warming up and the weeds are the first to come out and claim a bit of land for themselves.
Fortunately for my beds I've already taken care of the strawberry patch and onion/garlic patch. I still need to thin out some of the front beds and clean up the side of the house for the replanting of sunflowers. they did so well last year that I can't wait to see if they can do even better.
I spread out some papaya seeds today in various places to see if they will sprout. I know they won't survive the winters here but it would be neat to see one grow.

Winter produce (I ate part of it)

Besides the sweet potato which I already ate there are a lot of plants still doing very well in my garden.
For instance there are a few garlic plants still sprouting green tops and some even splitting. This one is splitting into four garlic cloves.

The onion is doing the same although not as impressively as the garlic. I think it just doesn't want to steal the show.

The cabbage likewise is forming multiple heads. Maybe four but I might thin it a little to make sure all of the heads have room to grow.



The beets are still growing and the foliage which withered a little during the cold has sprung back up and growing well again.

I don't know what kind of lettuce this is but it, along with several others, is doing great. We recently had a rain and you can see some of the drops still on the leaves. Mind you there is still a little bug damage but I don't think they will be bothering it again for a while.

My strawberry plants are shooting off new leaves again. If I keep them protected further then I expect to have a good early crop.

I don't really care for leeks but they seem to grow anyway. The french people, and I know this becuase I read it in a book and asked a real french woman from France, love leek soup. Of course it's not just leeks in a pot of water but neither is tomato soup just a bunch of tomato in water.

Cilantro grows like weeds. In fact these are currently classified as weeds since they are growing out of the specified area for cilantro to grow. There are also cilantro plants across the yard and driveway. Possibly some too in my neighbor's yard across the street. Who knew?

Lastly is the monster carrot. Thst is my hand in the picture. This carrot was the only one to get bigger than my finger and it got a lot bigger than that as you can see. I think the ants had something to do with it though.

This isn't the best picutre in the world but if you click on it you can see the detail and the little sugar ants crawling inside the cracks. All I can say is that at least they aren't fire ants!