herbs, was Re:noobie

March 17, 2009

I love growing herbs too! I'm in the SF Bay Area, and everything

stays outside. The only ones that mind the cold are the lemongrass

(it's been under a cloche, and I hope the green I saw there the other

day is lemongrass, not weeds), some of the rose/scented geraniums, and

some aloes.

The oregano is almost ready to harvest. I cut it back last spring

just before it bloomed, and it stayed a more manageable size. Sadly, I

didn't use the dried oregano because I had fresh. In the past week

I've picked celery, russian kale, mache, and kohlrabi. I also have

garlic chives, scallions, thymes, lavender, marjoram, mints, lemon

balm, plantain, borage, and bronze fennel (grows like a weed here). I

grew dill from seed one year -- very easy. I grow comfrey so that I

can make tea for my plants. And this winter I've had a great crop of

stinging nettles.

This week I finally planted my tomato and pepper seeds -- 42

varieties of tomato and 6 pepper -- and built a bubblewrap greenhouse

around them. Most of the peppers are hot and ornamental, so I can tuck

them in among the echinaceas or put them in gallon pots. I have room

for (at most) 20 tomato plants, so I hope to give a lot away -- I

planted that many partly to test germination of the seeds I saved.

Later in the season I'll plant cucumbers, squash, beans, and maybe

carrots. Oh, and I planted walla walla (sweet) onions and garlic a few

months ago, and I have some huge (8 ft.) perennial kales, artichokes,

and lots of flowers.

I planted a thornless blackberry 2 years ago. Last summer was the

first crop -- lots of berries, once I covered it with netting to keep

the birds from pooping on and tasting the berries. I still need to

build a better trellis. I planted a couple of year-old blueberries

last year, but they didn't survive. I also have raspberries,

strawberries, and red currants. Since it's a community garden, I can't

plant any fruit trees.

At 4:50 PM -0700 3/16/09, arborhall wrote:

Still too cold up here in the Pacific NW to start planting, but

some of my herbs do great winter-ing over. I love my lemon thyme! Not

only is it pretty, it tastes good. I have some chives, and some winter

savory, and a regular thyme. Inside I have my variegated society

garlic and some oregano (I always forget what kind, it's a succulent

and can't stay out over winter, smells heavenly in the house if you

brush up against it, grows like a weed). I have some catnip mint for

the cats and peppermint and spearmint for me. My fennel lived

through the winter, too! I want to get another fern leaf dill,

it didn't survive the transplant to the raised bed last year. And my

pineapple sage did amazing last year, but they don't winter over here

sadly. What does everyone else like to plant and use?

Besides the herbs I usually only plant tomatoes and some squash.

I would love to have a large garden this year and even plant corn,

I've never done that, it would be fun I think, and the goats might

help with clean up in the fall.

I can't wait for my Honeycrisp apple tree to be full again.

My husband likes the Granny Smith better (I notice he more severely

pruned MY tree back instead of his!). The nectarine never does

much as well as the apricot tree. I should replace them with

something that would be more happy here maybe. Blueberries would

be great and thorn-less blackberries!

Ann

March 17, 2009

I didn't have any luck with blueberries either, and oddly they normally grow quite well here. I bought 4 and one survived, which I transplanted into a pot and put on the deck. It's been alive for years, never gets taller than 8" and produces about 4 berries a year. Not what I had in mind. It wasn't suppose to be a dwarf patio variety! Maybe I should sell it as a "bonsai." : )

My fennel is a bronze variety as well, and it's struggling. I put it under cover during the winter, in the barn. I think I might have taken it out too soon, we were fooled by a few nice weeks and now it's back to icy cold wind and rain. I've never grown comfrey for tea, it is easy to prepare for tea? I also saved tomato seeds, but I'm not sure if I will try to grown them or just buy the already established ones. There is a local farm market a mile from here and they always have inexpensive heirloom ones in. Last year I got a purple / black skinned variety there, it was very interesting.

That's an ambitious garden you are planning. I need to probably hire someone with a tiller since my raised beds are too small for all that I'd like to try growing.

I forgot I have some lavender too. I had two ornamental Spanish and one French. I really like the looks of the Spanish variety, I have one called Willowlake, and off the top of my head I can't remember the white one's name, I think it's called Madrid.

Blackberries (the wild native and non native) are weeds in this area. We have some thorned ones that take over the property line on one side. Every summer I make the most decadent blackberry cobblers. I just wish they didn't have those thorns!

What do you think of those little peat pots that come in a container with a plastic lid (I think there is one with 36 little peat discs in it for $6 at the store). I was thinking of buying that to attempt to start my own seeds. Do those work? If not, how do you use bubble wrap? I certainly have enough of that around.

Thanks! You are sure making me wish it was summer already (my favorite time of year). Currently my narcissus are blooming and the grape hyacinth think it's spring. Some of the daffodils are also up!

Ann

yarrow

Monday, March 16, 2009 7:09 PM

herbs, was Re:noobie

I love growing herbs too! I'm in the SF Bay Area, and everything stays outside. The only ones that mind the cold are the lemongrass (it's been under a cloche, and I hope the green I saw there the other day is lemongrass, not weeds), some of the rose/scented geraniums, and some aloes.

The oregano is almost ready to harvest. I cut it back last spring just before it bloomed, and it stayed a more manageable size. Sadly, I didn't use the dried oregano because I had fresh. In the past week I've picked celery, russian kale, mache, and kohlrabi. I also have garlic chives, scallions, thymes, lavender, marjoram, mints, lemon balm, plantain, borage, and bronze fennel (grows like a weed here). I grew dill from seed one year -- very easy. I grow comfrey so that I can make tea for my plants. And this winter I've had a great crop of stinging nettles.

This week I finally planted my tomato and pepper seeds -- 42 varieties of tomato and 6 pepper -- and built a bubblewrap greenhouse around them. Most of the peppers are hot and ornamental, so I can tuck them in among the echinaceas or put them in gallon pots. I have room for (at most) 20 tomato plants, so I hope to give a lot away -- I planted that many partly to test germination of the seeds I saved. Later in the season I'll plant cucumbers, squash, beans, and maybe carrots. Oh, and I planted walla walla (sweet) onions and garlic a few months ago, and I have some huge (8 ft.) perennial kales, artichokes, and lots of flowers.

I planted a thornless blackberry 2 years ago. Last summer was the first crop -- lots of berries, once I covered it with netting to keep the birds from pooping on and tasting the berries. I still need to build a better trellis. I planted a couple of year-old blueberries last year, but they didn't survive. I also have raspberries, strawberries, and red currants. Since it's a community garden, I can't plant any fruit trees.

March 17, 2009

I make tea for plants, not for me, with the comfrey. The new

leaves, especially, contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids. One of my plants

had 70 or so flowering stems, so I remove them after they've flowered,

put them in a bucket, fill with water, cover, and let it all ferment

for a week.

Last year was the first time I grew some tomatoes from seed. I

used wintersowing -- instead of fluorescent lights indoors, I put the

pots in little " greenhouses " made from plastic punnets. But

I still bought most of my seedlings. (The wintersowing website gives

all the details about the method and also offers free seeds.)

I haven't used peat pots, but have heard that some people have

trouble keeping them moist enough. Last year I used my own sifted

compost, which worked ok for some seeds, but got too many weeds.

Tomato seeds from the compost germinated better than some of the ones

I'd planted. This year I bought potting soil to start the seeds.

I've used larger sheets of bubble wrap (attached with

clothespins) to protect tomato seedlings once they outgrow the

walls-o-water (water tubes that surround the plant). We get a strong

afternoon wind here, so even when it doesn't get below freezing, the

wind chill can harm the plants until about the end of April, even if

they look big and strong. For the bubblewrap greenhouse, I put my

flats of seedpots in a tomato cage laid horizontally (like a

small hoop house), and attached bubble wrap over the top and ends of

the cage. Once the seeds are up, I'll have to get over to the garden

every day to make sure the plants get some air. I guess it would take

a lot less time to just buy seedlings, but I wouldn't be able to find

most of these. I love having orange, black, green, purple, yellow, and

red tomatoes in different sizes!

At 8:06 PM -0700 3/16/09, arborhall wrote:

I didn't have any luck with blueberries either, and oddly they

normally grow quite well here. I bought 4 and one survived, which I

transplanted into a pot and put on the deck. It's been alive for

years, never gets taller than 8 " and produces about 4 berries a

year. Not what I had in mind. It wasn't suppose to be a

dwarf patio variety! Maybe I should sell it as a

" bonsai. " : )

My fennel is a bronze variety as well, and it's struggling.

I put it under cover during the winter, in the barn. I think I

might have taken it out too soon, we were fooled by a few nice weeks

and now it's back to icy cold wind and rain. I've never grown

comfrey for tea, it is easy to prepare for tea? I also saved

tomato seeds, but I'm not sure if I will try to grown them or just buy

the already established ones. There is a local farm market a

mile from here and they always have inexpensive heirloom ones in.

Last year I got a purple / black skinned variety there, it was very

interesting.

That's an ambitious garden you are planning. I need to

probably hire someone with a tiller since my raised beds are too small

for all that I'd like to try growing.

I forgot I have some lavender too. I had two ornamental

Spanish and one French. I really like the looks of the Spanish

variety, I have one called Willowlake, and off the top of my head I

can't remember the white one's name, I think it's called Madrid.

Blackberries (the wild native and non native) are weeds in this

area. We have some thorned ones that take over the property line

on one side. Every summer I make the most decadent blackberry

cobblers. I just wish they didn't have those thorns!

What do you think of those little peat pots that come in a

container with a plastic lid (I think there is one with 36 little peat

discs in it for $6 at the store). I was thinking of buying that

to attempt to start my own seeds. Do those work? If not, how do

you use bubble wrap? I certainly have enough of that around.

Thanks! You are sure making me wish it was summer already

(my favorite time of year). Currently my narcissus are blooming

and the grape hyacinth think it's spring. Some of the daffodils

are also up!