Monday, April 30

Note to Michele: Blooms and Garden Happenings

Your chard and parsley look like I'd expect mine to in July or August. I envy your long growing season! I never heard of freezing chard but I'm going to try it this year. My crop last year held up well into December so it does seem to be hardy and has a lot of substance to it. It would probably be great added to soups.

I was not certain about cats eating parsley so I did an Internet search. Everything I read said it is good for cats and you can even add it to their food. Did I tell you I have one cat who eats tulips every time I have a vase of them? I looked it up and it seems to be safe. My cat never got sick from eating them but I wasn't too happy about the loss of my tulips.
I took some photos of what is blooming in my garden at the moment. I can not for the life of me remember what the name of the plant above is. Someone gave it to me last spring and it's doing beautifully.
And here are my violets. I have many clusters of these all over my gardens in both purple and white. These are a cultivated variety, but I have wild violets too. The wild violets are smaller in both leaf and blossom. I want to try making violet syrup with them, but I can't bear to pick off all those pretty little blossoms.
My apple tree is blooming. Like everything else, it's a few weeks earlier than usual.
In the forest by my shed, the wild dog tooth violets are blooming. These are also called trout lily. I think they are edible, but I've never tried them.

In the veggie patch, we have some greens and radishes sprouting up. I started some cosmos seeds, which is one of my favorite annual flowers. I read some people inter-plant them with asparagus to create a nice look in the summer when the asparagus harvest is over. I'm going to do that.

 We haven't planted the community garden yet because our weather turned cool again. It's really not safe to plant until after the chance of frost has passed which is usually late May, though this year things are so up and down it's hard to say. I know I will plant peppers at the community garden early June. Those did so well last year I was able to freeze and dry loads of peppers to use all winter. I bought a canning set recently. I know nothing about canning but I'm hoping some family members might give me lessons. Have you ever tried canning your harvest?

What to do when it is just too Darn hot to Garden?

It has been a very hot summer everywhere. From what I have been told it is normal to get 100 plus days from the months here from  May to Oct...