My Fourth Blogging Anniversary!

I can hardly believe that it has been four years today that I started my blogging journey.  Here is my very first post.  Not much to look at!  I have been very blessed to "meet" such wonderful people during this blogging experience.  I hope that you have learned a bit about herbs and I hope in the coming year you'll learn a bit more.  This photo represents a more wacky looking herb garden this year.  I'm a bit of a control freak and letting the mullein and volunteer sunflower grow are both not me.  Then there is this 'African Blue' basil in the left front corner that really should be in a container, but isn't!  OK, OK!  I'm just taking a deep breath and letting it go!  But basically I have loved guest blogging for Herb Companion.  You can take an herbal vacation without leaving your house with this latest post called Herbal Travels:  Visiting Gardens During My Herbal Vacation and hope to continue blogging for them for many years to come.  I also promised a giveaway and once I get that organized, I'll post the prizes and there will be some for the US readers and some for the World readers.  Postal rates are just skyrocketing, but I want to include something for everyone!

So I'll leave you with a look at the back garden.  We are slightly preoccupied with the Olympics at the moment.  All those covered bikinis on the "beach" at the Horse Guards Parade!  We got mulch and peat moss for the reclaimed garden in the back.  Maybe photos later in the week.  Hopefully, you are having a great day!  Talk to you later.

My Tribute to Kary!

Kary Loved Apples and Making Pie!  My First Apple Pie of the Season!

My Feet and Shoes Aren't As Pretty As Hers!

Well, my heart is breaking today because I read in Sharon Lovejoy writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island that Kary from My Farmhouse Kitchen has passed away.  It just leaves me breathless to say that.  She popped up on my blog comments a couple of years ago.  I cherished every time she stopped by.  I got caught up in her beautiful photos and recipes, her dear poodles, Buddy and Teddy, her kitty, Dandelion and her dear husband, John.  She loved the seasons and fall was one of her favorite times of the year because of the apples.  Well, I didn't plan this and I didn't know she had gone before I made it, but I made an apple pie with our apples for Kary today.  Oh, the photo of the feet and shoes was when she was cooking in her kitchen.  My tribute to you my blogging friend.  I know you are without pain and I hope to meet you at a farm stand buying apples one day.  RIP.  Talk to you later.

A Garden Tag with a Colorado Connection!

Reclaiming That Maintenance Path!

A Plant Tag with a Peruvian Connection!

A Colorado Nursery Tag in a Pennsylvania Garden!

When I got online this afternoon, I was pleased that Bernideen from Bernideen's Tea Time Blog was having an "Open House" and invited me to participate.  So Bernideen, you won't believe it when I tell you that in reclaiming a maintenance path in the garden and some garden space, we dug up this tag from the previous owner.  We have been in this house 23 years!  It has both a Peruvian (four o'clock flowers) and a Colorado connection.  The plant was from a nursery called Little Valley Wholesale Nursery in Brighton, Colorado!  The plant is long gone, but the nursery still is in existence!  It's Kismet, Bernideen!  One day we're going to meet Bernideen!  I'm looking forward to it!  Hope you all have had a great summer day!  It is hotter than you know here in the 'Burgh.  We are supposed to get some relief in rain and temperature tomorrow.  Talk to you later.

Finally Out Working in the Herb Garden!

Yellow Jackets and Wasps Are Drinking from This Birdbath

Early Brown Figs!  Will Have Two Crops!

 

Cut the Seeds from the Lovage Plant.  Will Use Them Like Celery Seeds.

Keep Deadheading the Calendulas.

Deadheaded the Lady's Mantle

Looks Much Better After It's Trim

Where My 'Morris Midget' Boxwoods Used To Live.

Hopefully the Two on the End Will Start to Thrive!

So that was my day in the garden.  Hope you had a great day as well.  The weather is hot, but not nearly as hot as it was over the weekend.  We are in the mid 80's instead of the mid 90's!  I have added a new favorite blog about bugs from one of my favorite teachers and humans on the planet, Jessica Walliser.  Jessica tried to teach me everything she knew about horticulture when I got my certificate at Phipps some years back.  She is working on her fourth book for Timber Press to be published next year.  So check it out.  It's called Bug Blog.  Talk to you later.

My Mountain Mint, Different From Yours, An Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

One of my favorite blogs, An Obsessive Neurotic Gardener was showing us what's blooming in New Jersey at the moment.  Of course, his mountain mint is blooming and looks entirely different from mine.  Just wanted to show mine to you.  It is called a short-toothed mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum).  It is definitely going to bloom shortly, but it has a very subtle bloom.  It attracts all kinds of beneficials.  Tracey from Breathing English Air remarked on the size of this mint.  I didn't mention that this particular mint is more ornamental than culinary, I think.  Please correct me if you have used this kind of mint in a recipe.  This mint dries very well for arrangements or for potpourri.  I will add a closeup of the "flowers" once they start blooming.

I spent two hours this morning picking raspberries and making jam.  It is going to be may be 100 degrees today.  We don't reach that milestone at all in the 'Burgh!  I'm hoping the forecasters are incorrect and that we will only be in the 90's.  Relief is on the horizon.  Will be back in the 80's early next week.  Have a couple of days in the 90's left.  We have been a bit cranky having to water.  You know who basically is the cranky one.  I'm going to pick through the berries I picked this morning for another batch of jam.  Stay cool wherever you may be doing and if it is cool where you are, be thankful!  Talk to you later.  

More on Nicotiana!

Since I got a couple of questions about the nicotiana in my previous post, I decided to expand it with its own post.  I spoke with the gardener on our property (The Herbal Husband) and he told me that these particular nicotiana came back from the roots!  I think that means the plant made it through the winter.  That doesn't often happen!  In fact I don't think it ever has.  Warmer winter.  He does throw seeds other places.  The seeds are very tiny, but they seem to like our garden.  I have always known nicotiana as flowering tabacco, Barbara the Healthy Nut.  I know you can use it in moonlight gardens because it has white flowers and it is fragrant.  Some of you may know it as moon flowers.

Here is a link to an article by Ingrid Graff from The Herb Companion magazine called Plant a Moonlight Garden.  It also has a link for a list of Moonlight Garden Plants designed by Carolee Snyder of Carolee's Herb Farm in Hartford City, Indiana.  Really we have kept them watered but they have done especially well in the heat and humidity.  Faith also asked if it is fragrant at night.  Yes, Faith, it is more fragrant at night, but it has some fragrance even in the day.  I even like that it has "volunteered" among the arborvitaes!  We went to see Moonrise Kingdom.  A bit weird.  Not sure I liked it or would recommend it.  Saw People Like Us today and I would recommend this.  It was good with a good cast.  Going to be close to 100 tomorrow!  I know some of you have been in the 100's for multiple days.  I have to be out early picking raspberries tomorrow or I may wilt not melt, like you know who in the Wizard of Oz.  OK, I'm getting silly.  Talk to you later.

Borage 101

The seedlings in this photo are borage!  They can't stay here!

Borage is a beautiful plant but it can also take up valuable space!

Here is the back of the borage hedge where the greens are flourishing!

I decided to answer some of your questions that you wrote in your comments with another post.  Yes, Tracey Steele, borage does get way bigger from the young seedlings you see in photo one.   Now that you have seen mine, you will be able to space yours better.   I think FlowerLady asked if these were from seed.  Yes and no.  I think I got my first two plants from my neighbor and herbal companion, Bonnie.  So when I want to discuss taking plants out, the borage becomes "Bonnie's plant".  Sorry Bonnie. 

For the most part, as long as you remember that borage does get huge, it attracts beneficials which is always a good thing and the pink flowers that turn blue are coveted by gardeners (Yes, I did think I had the wrong plant at first because the flowers are first pink and then turn blue!).  The downside as you might be able to see in the second photo, borage springs up in the pathways and crowds out other plants.  Borage is blocking a maintenance path and I'll be getting in there soon and taken the extras out.  So we did get a package of seeds at some point (I think from a German audience member at one of my talks!) and planted more borage with seed, FlowerLady.  I think we are cruising on self-sowing at the moment.  And yes, PeggyR, sometimes no matter what or how you plant it, borage does not come back.

The last photo is of the back of the borage hedge.  As you might be able to see, the greens are shaded by the size of the borage.  One other point, borage is hard to transplant.  The Herbal Husband when I tell him it can't be transplanted just does it to prove me wrong!  So I would try to transplant it as small as you can and keep it watered.  Like the small seedlings in the first photo would work.  In a nutshell, once you plant borage whether it is plant or seed, it should self-sow for you.  I think that harsh winters can end the self-sowing cycle of borage.

We are very hot today and tomorrow and then we are going to cool down.   Check out some of my blogging buddies, they have great blogs.  You may find a new one to read or follow.  Hope you are having a great day.  Talk to you later.

A Special Day for One of My Favorite Herbal Friends!

This photo is a favorite of mine because the Reppert sisters of The Rosemary House were actually visiting Pittsburgh with one of their fabulous bus trips in 2010.  I got to join them for one of Nancy's fabulous lunches at Rodef Shalom's Biblical Botanical Garden.  So the special day belongs to Susanna on my right.  She is 50 today!  Just a number Susanna!  We all have lucky lives and you have the luckiest to be embraced by your family and a whole community of bloggers and herbie people.  Have a wonderful, wonderful day, Susanna.  If you have a chance go by their blog, Rosemary's Sampler and wish her well.  It is a cool crisp day in the 'Burgh.  Got to keep weeding and planting.  Mailing some magazines today.  If you haven't e-mailed me your information, please do so.  Talk to you later.

A Few More of My Favorite Catalogs This Time of Year!

Here is the latest catalog from The Thyme Garden in Oregon.  It does cost $2 but they do have some very good choices in the herb seed category.  I already have my seeds ordered and received!  I can't even say I can't wait to plant them after the snow is gone.  The snow is definitely gone, gone, gone.  We have been in the 40's for quite a while now.  It may be in the 20's over the weekend, but the winter is very strange.  I'm hoping that it doesn't mean we will have worse insect and disease problems this coming growing season.  We'll just take one problem at a time.  The catalog on the right is Seeds from Italy.  I ordered from this catalog a while back and had very good results.  I was reminded by my blogging buddy, Carla who does a blog called Thyme in a Bottle about this catalog.  Thanks, Carla!

This one just arrived in this afternoon's mail and was mentioned by a Facebook comment I received on The Herb Companion Facebook page.  It is from High Mowing Organic Seeds from Vermont.  It looked like I had already been paging through it.  I have one piece of mail that looks like it has been eaten by a postal machine and tossed out.  I love my mail, but don't always like what the post office does to it!

Please if you are trying to find a new variety maybe try these choices and the others I have posted in January of this year.  As I mentioned, winter has been pretty mild, considering what February, 2010 was like.  Remember this!

Remember this is not this year!  This is 2010!  We usually get about 40 inches of snow in a season and this year, we have had 15 total.  Not complaining, not complaining.  I do think it is a bit funny that I have to go on my friend, Jekka's blog to see snow!  Now that's funny!  OK, hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later!

Maybe You Can Help Me with Pinterest?

My buddy, Leslie of Comfrey Cottages has pinned me (get it) with a Pinterest account.  I actually do get it.  So come follow me and see where this adventure takes us.

A New Herb Group Near Derby, England

This was the river outside our bed & breakfast in Shardlow, Derbyshire, England in 2009.  That was a wonderful trip.  Now my blogging friend, Debs Cook is trying to form an herb group in her area of Sinfin, Derby, England.  She already has a programme schedule for the year.  It's a nominal fee of 3.50 pounds for refreshments and guest speaker charges.  Here is the link for her post New Herb Group in Derby for 2012.  She'll be posting about the group's activities so we can all learn something new about herbs even if you aren't down the lane from her house.

I Think Peggy R and I Have the Same Idea!

My blogging friend PeggyR from My Affairs with Art & Daily Life and I have the same idea and it's all good, PeggyR!  I know that they are tiger swallowtail butterflies and they have just been everywhere for us this year.  They seem to love our butterfly bushes (good thing!) and there were about seven or eight the other evening flying around.  You might have to click on the photo to get a better look.  Hope you are having a great day!  Need to go work on my list of things to do!   Talk to you later. 

So Exciting! Celebrated the Herb of the Year-Horseradish!

I got to meet a follow blogger and follower, Kathy S. who just happened to be at The Village Herb Shop this morning when my Herbal Companion, Bonnie and I celebrated the Herb of the Year, Horseradish with Kathleen Gips.  We learned about horseradish and there is a lot to learn.  Eat some wonderful nibbles of food made by Heather and made several products using horseradish as a workshop.  Kathleen is always so thorough and we just have a wonderfully herbal day when we are with her.  She used my horseradish jelly to top a delicious bread.  Just click on the link to get the recipe.  I will say that it didn't gel the last two times I made it!  Ugh!  It did gel the first time.  I'm thinking bad batch of Certo.  It was next year's expiration so it should have worked!  I hate when that happens so I will be tweeking the recipe and I will give you the new version as soon as it is ready.  We always have a great time at Kathleen's.  I'm going to be doing an Herb Companion post next time.  So stay tuned.  It is raining cats, dogs and huge bolts of lightning!  It is a little scary.  The ride home today was lengthened by the storms!  Hope you are doing well wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.

Getting Closer to the Big Day!

Last September I was lucky enough to go to Open Garden Days at Jekka's Herb Farm in Bristol, England and meet these two lovely ladies.  On the left is Jekka's daughter, Hannah and, of course, Jekka.  We are getting closer to when Jekka will be visiting Pittsburgh and speaking to the Herb Society of America on June 24.  I just received Jekka's latest newsletter and I spotted her new blog.  Well, when I visited last year, she mentioned me in her September blog.  It took me until now to spot it!  Her new blog talks about chives and that's what my upcoming guest blog for The Herb Companion will be about next week.   GMTA, herbally speaking!  Stay tuned.  Got to get outside and walk before it rains again.  Horseradish jelly didn't gel like last time!  Going to experiment when I come back with a solution.  Keep your fingers crossed it works!  Talk to you later.

Maybe Surrender, But Staying Ahead Is Better!

I have limited photos on my new computer and so many stories to share.  One of my limited photos relates to Sharon Lovejoy who spoke of surrender this morning.  I do have some of the same surrender issues as Sharon.  I don't have photos to prove it, but I do have the same issues.  I think my theme will be staying ahead, herbally speaking.

The Herbal Husband said he was going to fertilize the roses!  It struck terror in my herbal heart.  I have this unknown rose that is supposed to be an Alfred de Dalmas at the back corner of my herb garden  It also has garlic chives tangled at its base!  Yikes, I thought once it is fertilized maybe a new cultivar, GIANT garlic chives!  It is not a good thing as Martha would say!  So here is an empty space, Sharon, but I think it is better than GIANT garlic chives!  I am going to try to stay ahead if possible.   When they start to coming back under this plant, I will try to be there to get them out.  The Herbal Husband is planting them in other parts of the garden!  They will be everywhere whether I want them or not.  I also found a dwarf chive plant.

I want to do a more detailed post on chives.  Here is a dwarf one that would be excellent in a container on a southern facing windowsill for winter consumption.  A little late for this year, but we are still having temperatures in the 30's!  Some are still having snow!  Yikes!  Still trying to get used to my keyboard.  I'm hitting all kinds of keys other than the ones I want.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Pray for me.  I take my car in for service tomorrow!  Talk to you later.

From One Grimy Girl to Another, Thanks Sharon!

I'm a glove wearing member of Sharon Lovejoy's Grimy Girls Hands Club.  Look what I got in the morning mail.  Seeds for Italian Pesto Basil from Renee's Garden and beautiful postcards that Sharon drew herself.  Her business card is even a small book.  Very nice surprises, Sharon.  Hopefully we will get the seeds in later.  We don't have a lot of room in our house to grow seeds indoors and the weather is much too volatile and too early for basil to grow.  Here is a link to my post on basil I just recently did.

Got some surprises to share and my award with master gardening.  Hopefully, I will be linked up with my old computer later today and will be able to download some photos I took recently.  Going to start raining again shortly.  I wish I could send some rain to Texas.  We have a 5 and 1/2 inch surplus and going to get an inch and more today!

BTW, in the movies we have seen in recent days, Win, Win which you should see, see and Jane Eyre which was very good as well.   Don't bother seeing Certified Copy.  It was a snoozer even with Juliette Binoche.  Well, I hear the rain on the kitchen vent.  Going to get on to inside work.  Talk to you later.

Some Awards to Make Me Happy!

Yikes, my computer skills have been tested once again.  My fellow Pittsburgher, although she lives near Boston, Penny Watson bestowed this award a couple of weeks ago.  Anyway, thanks to Penny of (Penelope's Romance Reviews), I was honored with The Versatile Blogger Award. Here are the rules and regulations.....

1--Share 7 things about myself.

2--Pass this award on to 15 other bloggers recently discovered.

3--Notify recipients.

4--Link the blogger who gave this award.

Okay, first up.....7 (well, maybe 6) things about myself.....

1.  I hitchhiked on major roads around Pittsburgh in college a couple of times which was probably not very smart!
2.  Got to drink when I was 13 years old at some pretty ritzy places in Europe!  My mother let me do it!  Alcohol wasted on the youth!
3.  I enjoy watching reality TV and game shows.  Not all reality and not all game shows!  Just some of both!
4.  Ran in The Great Race 10K once and finished.
5.  Lived in Boston for a year while in school.
6.  When I was a teenager I literally ran into Tony Curtis at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas.  Mother was there as well! 

I think that's enough information at the moment!   Then just days after that I received another award from Mina of Tennessee and Green Witch with Sprinkles.  She has a beautiful German Shepard and a black cat.  I won't hold the cat against you, Mina!  I love cats when there is a computer between me and the cat.  I have to share 7 (well, 6) things about myself (See above.) and pass it along to 7 other bloggers.

Wow, ladies, I hope it is OK to put both awards in the same post, because I need to get my lists of recipients together and that will take a little more time.  I just wanted to thank both of you from the bottom of my herbal heart.  They really cheered me up after the big game yesterday.  Didn't turn out exactly how I had imagined, but as Penny said, I'm over it!  Sort of like childbirth so I hear (You forget how painful it is until it happens again.), I'll forget by next season.  I'm doing another post shortly from a question from my buddy, Thoughts from Taylor's Outback who is celebrating in Wisconsin.  Lucky you!  The quote today is from Don't Throw in the Trowel by Texas Bix Bender:
 

A house without a garden is a temporary home.

Hope you had a great day today!  Talk to you soon.

Texas Tufa's Changing Addresses!

I hope you all know who blog in the blogging universe, that I am here for support.  I just wanted to let you know if you follow Texas Tufa that she is changing addresses to FW Dirt.  She loves gardening,  is a computer whiz and has that great Texas spirit and determination and she enjoys her roses.  She has given me support when I was ready to throw my computer out the window!  I was close TG!  I'm so looking forward to seeing what happens around her new building in Fort Worth.  Here is a 'Dublin Bay' rose or two for you TG!  So if you have the chance, check her out at her new address.

Life is short, make the most of it and enjoy it!

--Unknown, but I say it all the time now!

Warming up if just briefly and that means the sun is out.  The dreading icicles are off the back of the house!  It was getting big and ugly!  Stay warm or cool.  Talk to you later.

A Fairy Trough Makeover and Sharon Lovejoy Visit!

I thought my fairy trough needed a makeover.  The new plants are a silver thyme, a dwarf curry plant and a compact sage from last year's trough.  The plant signs were The Herbal Husband's idea!  The Victorian rosemary got planted into the garden and if I remember I will show you a photo in a few days.  It is doing very well.  It will not make it through the winter so we may be frantically digging it up later this season!  Never can give up on a blooming indoor plant!

It's less than two weeks until Sharon Lovejoy's visit to Chagrin Falls!  If you are going to be in the Chagrin Falls area, Sharon will be speaking at the Chagrin Falls Town Hall on Thursday evening, June 17, 2010 at 6:30 PM sponsored by The Village Herb Shop.  Tickets are $15 and includes a fairy thyme tea as well as meeting Sharon and having her sign her new book, Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars or any of her other books.  I'm really looking forward to meeting her!  The Village Herb Shop will be open for special shopping 10 AM to 9 PM on June 17th.  You need to call (440) 247-5029 if you are in Ohio or out of state (like me) 1-800-836-9120 to reserve your ticket or tickets.  Hope if you are in the area, you will think about spending an evening with Sharon Lovejoy.