Sisyphus Acres

Proverbs 31 challenge ~ week 5/12

Proverbs 31 challenge

Herb and his spicy sisters...

Now it’s time to talk about the herb garden….I went out to trim back the old growth from last year and was presently surprised by what’s already starting to peek back up through the barely thawed ground!  Yes, believe it or not I still have snow in parts of my yard (hopefully today will melt the last of it)

The Quince seems to have fared well, the chives are already 3” high; the chamomile is up and running, as are the oregano and thyme.  The sage looks like it weathered just fine, as does the Echinacea.  This year I can actually dig the Echinacea, so I have to by some to start making subsequent rotating plantings.  The lavender is looking great, and the catnip is outrageous!  The mints are just beginning to wake up…I have peppermint, spearmint and chocolate mint.  I also have bee balm.  I planted wild ginger and wintergreen last year, but it doesn’t look like either fared well.

This year I am adding elderberry bushes to the herb garden (flu/virus protection), arctic kiwi and the usual basil, dill and parsley.  I may also plant mustard again, but I’m not sure if here or in the veggie garden.  I am going to try to locate some lemon verbena, lemon balm, stevia, and a few other new herbs to put in to round things out.  I plan for mostly perennials, and place annuals in among them.

I make a lot of teas from the herbs, herbed vinegars, and lots of fresh cooking with them.

I am raking out the leaves this weekend, and beginning to dig the “paths” so I can lay pavers in place next week.  The herb garden is 22’ x 13’(15’ maybe), so a walkway is needed.  I am also laying some photodegradeable mulch to help keep weeds down this year ~ with the knee stuff, I won’t be able to be on top of weeding, I’ll need all the help I can get ;-)

Dishing the dirt...

It has been ages since I’ve posted, and it’s gardening time again!  It looks like spring may actually be finding us here in NH, even though we had another dusting of the white stuff last night!!

I have a lot of planning and planting to do over the next few weeks ~ I am having knee surgery in June, so I have to lay the garden in and all my trees in before then.  I’ll be about 6 weeks until ready to resume duties ~ just in time to harvest!!  Looks like Hannah may have to step up and do a bit more of  her mom’s weeding chores this year…lol.  Actually, since we started using the photodegradeable mulch, the veggie garden needs very little weeding, and this year I am going to throw some in the herb patch (the weed garden, as it’s affectionately known) to make that more manageable this year.

This will be the first of a few entries about this year’s gardening tasks…this one will cover trees, fruit trees, and fruiting bushes…

We are finishing planting the windbreak this year, so we have 25 balsam firs and 10 maple (or oak, I can’t remember) coming in to finish of the second row of the windbreak, the mid-yard sugar bush orchard, and the backyard oak treeline.

Late fall, shortly before the freeze, we planted 2 carpathian (white) walnuts, 2 northern pecans, and 2 chestnut trees.

Just arrived at the house is the Honeycrisp apple and 7 blueberry bushes ~ I’ve also ordered 2 hardy nectarines (Hardired from Kelly nurseries, supposed to be good to zone 4 ~ we’ll see). This bring the “orchard” (more like a tree-lined driveway) to 5 apples (diff. Var.), 2 pears (luscious and Bartlett), 2 plums (Stanley and prune), 3 manchurian apricots, and the 2 nectarines.

For fruit bushes we have the 4 surviving cherries (although one of the ones thrashed by the weedwhacker may survive, making 5), 18 blueberries, 1 blackberry, and 18 raspberries (if they survived, they are in a really wet spot). I also have a patio pomegranate coming in to have as a houseplant which I’ll move inside during the winter.

That’s it for the “big” plantings, next entries will be about the veggies and the herbies…

Where is spring??!!!

UGH!  We are having more snow and sleet ~ temps are ok, mid 30's but SHeeSH I am ITCHING to get my hands in the garden ~ I need Spring to arrive already!!!

I have tomatoes started in flat inside, 72 plants ~ 36 Romas, 27 Brandywine and 7 grape toms.  They are 3 inches high and setting off there 1st real set of leaves.  I also have green peppers started ~ planted 48, about 2/3 are popped up.

This weekend the winter squashes and pumpkins get planted gets planted, along with my lettuce leaf Basil ~ it has a germination span of 5-42 days!  Weird, but the Basil is like a leaf lettuce so it can be used as a wrap for sandwiches and the like as well as pesto ~ so I though it would be a neat idea.

We took our first class at the extension office tonight ~ it is a 3 week course, strawberries, respberries and asparagus ~ as part of the class registration we get 33 day neutral strawberries (Seascape), 18 everbearing raspberries, and 20 asparagus roots.  Pretty good deal for those, plus 3 2-hour classes on their cultivation and pest management ~ all for $30.

Hannah and I are "building" her a little fort for the summer ~ she has a favorite tree that she like to climb, so we are going to plant a sunflower "fort" around the tree for her to play in over the summer ~ should be loads of fun.

Also, on Saturday, I am going down to our local fairgrounds ~ they are giving away 2 Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds to the first 150 people ~ those are pumpkins that can grow to 1000 pounds or more!  Thought it would be a great summer project for Hannah to fool around with.

But seriously, we have some major holes to get digging for the trees/bushes that are coming so I need the snow to stop and for the ground to thaw!!!

After the class tonight I can smell the soil ~sigh~ well, I am going to head off to bed and dream of fruits and veggies and good rich dirt.

Nite all,

Val