The Herbal Husband's Harvest!

Think I Have Enough Garlic for Jelly!

Tomatoes from the 'Patio' Tomato Plant

The 'Patio' Tomato on the Patio!

The Favorite Bean in This House is Waxed

The Herbal Husband has been busy in the garden.  He dug the garlic last week before the rains came and thank goodness, he did.  The ones on the far left are volunteers that he planted seeds that took two years to grow!  If you leave garlic until it is entirely brown, it will most likely have split bulbs.  The paper husks over the cloves will start breaking apart.  I think a bit of green and brown is a good combination.  I try to make he dig a bit earlier, but stubborn sometimes wins out!  It was a great year because we were hot and dry for a good bit of the early summer.

The 'Patio' tomatoes on the patio have been a big hit and we know that some day down the road that this may be the go to tomato when we are done with a big vegetable garden.  Two of these plants would be more than enough for us.  The first harvest of tomatoes from the 'Patio' gave us a character!

The final photo is of our waxed bean plants emerging from the soil.  We are always running around like chickens with our heads cut off and again around this time.  The Herbal Husband has found that starting the bean seeds in a container and then transplanting them into the ground works best.  So it is supposed to rain, but the sun is brightly shining.  So much for the forecast.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be!  Talk to you later.

An Herbal Cleanup Day!

Removed the Scorched Leaves of the Lady's Mantle

Looks Better Already!

The 'Lemon Gem' Marigolds are Growing a Bit Too Well!

Out Come The Sticks and Strings!  Much Better!

The Borage Needs to Come Out to Make Room for Beans!

Leaves on Top of Blooms for This Lamb's Ear!

Really too many cloudy days in the 'Burgh can be a downer!  Today was one of those relief from the hot, icky, sticky days we have been having!  It was cloudy and humid and cooler than normal, but The Herbal Husband and I were happy doing some cleanup chores after the rain.  We are still down 1.7 inches in rain, but we got over 2 inches in our gauge!  As Martha would say, it's a good thing.  Hope you have had a great day.  Talk to you later.

Mint In Bloom!

Pineapple Mint

Spearmint

Variegated Mint

Well, here is three of my favorite mints.  I have some more, but these three are blooming at the moment.  The weather has been so hot that they have bloomed a bit earlier than normal, I think.  I have lost my herbal brain power to figure when these plants are usually in bloom.  I use all of these in tea blends.  Need to make up some new ones!  We had a round of severe weather with a lot of lightning.  So I'm going to post this quick.  Hope you have had a great day.  Talk to you later.

Vacation Photos of the South of France and Lavender!

The Village of Monieux, France

A Hedge of Rosemary!

Lavender Co-operative in Sault

Views of the Lavender Fields below Sault

A Private Kitchen Garden  in Sault

More Lavender Fields

The Red-Ocre Soil of the Lavender Fields

Abbaye Norte-Dame de Senanque Outside Gordes

Lavender at the Musee de la Lavande

Production Gardens of the Musee des Aromes

Production Gardens of the Musee des Aromes

Sharon Lovejoy's Favorite Village in the south of France, Saignon

I really haven't share enough of my trips to Vancouver or Europe last year.  So in anticipation of my guest blogger post being posted on The Herb Companion website, I'm going to be publishing more photos of my visits to both Vancouver and Europe last year.  Because we are in the midst of July and this is when we got to see the lavender blooming, I'm sharing some favorite views of the south of France.  There will be more to come.  This is just the first wave.  I did drive for your safety and mine.  Really it is the only way to see some of the small villages and get the feel of the south of France.  Many of the villages sit up on rock ledges and small mountains.  It was beautiful weather and a beautiful place.  Here are some links for the places we visited.  Abbaye Norte-Dame de Senanque is a beautiful 12th century abbey where the monks grow both lavender and keep bees for their livelihood.  Musee de la Lavande is of course the Museum of Lavender near Gordes.    Musee des Aromes is a perfume museum and distillery of lavender and other fragrances near Graveson.  Dear Sharon Lovejoy pointed in the direction of Saignon and we were not disappointed Sharon.  There was even a wedding there in the church.  A very special place.

Hope you are having a great day.  We have the ickies and stickies back!  It is really icky this time!  Will show you what else I have been up to in the coming days.  Talk to you later.

My White Garden

OK, that big white flower on the left hand side doesn't count because it's a metal sculpture.  The plant in the back that looks little gray or white is the mountain mint I wrote a post about earlier this month.  Now that it has bloomed, it has a whitish cast to the bloom.  On the far right is a white phlox that was picked out by The Herbal Husband because of it's fragrance called 'Fujiyama'.  I know, I should have bought 'David'.  Because basically 'Fuyiyama' gets a terrible (and it is so bad it is embarrassing case) of powdery mildew most years.  I have wanted to remove it from the garden and The Herbal Husband is hanging on to it for dear life!  This year you almost can't tell it has it!  I thought it got it when it was hot and dry, but I guess it gets it when it is cool and wet.  I get totally confused on symptoms and when diseases occur.  Maybe that's why I'm not an active master gardener at the moment!  OK, we're working on getting the nasturtiums into the ground.  Then we have the viburnum to get into the ground and we will be done!  Always something going on in the garden.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Been working on a new post of The Herb Companion about virtual herbal vacations.  Hope to get it submitted for next week.  Talk to you later.

Herbal Protection Program

Some times I don't get to post about a photo until I remember that I haven't posted about that photo!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!   'Moonshine' yarrow is a favorite of mine.  It is also a favorite of the birds, particularly the sparrows.  When it is young and even before it flowers, they are clipping off foliage.  I thought it was for their nests, but some times it just gets left on the ground.  Grrrr!  Very annoying!  So like other plants that get protection, our FBI (Floral Bureau of Investigation), brings out the tomato cages that have been covered with netting.  It is the only way that they leave the plant alone!  It makes for a good story not so much a great appearance.  Although it is protection that works for us.  Sort of a cloudy day.  Looks like it could rain.  Trying to get plants in the ground.  The summer just seems to be flying by!  Hope you are having a great day.  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.  

Blooming and Making the Garden Smell Good!

This has been an excellent blooming year so far and I have to keep remembering it is just June!  There will be a lot of nonblooming times this summer because so many of my plants have bloomed early and often.  This valerian has been very beautiful and fragrant.  I had a reminder to myself to purchase more if I could find them.  I have three now because it has happily cloned itself in other places.  Glad it did because I would have had to do mail order.  It is known as a sleep aid and its vanilla scented blooms are enough to make you sleepy.  Valerian does take a bit of shade.  All of mine have morning shade and afternoon sun.  They would probably do well with morning sun and afternoon shade.  Got to run.  Don't forget to get in on the giveaway for The Herb Companion magazines.  You have until 10 PM tonight.  So I will be back later to announce the winners.  Off to lunch and the movies to see Snow White and the Huntsman or is it men?  I'll let you know.  Talk to you later.

The Conquering of the Garlic Chives!

This is an annual problem in the herb garden.  The garlic chives have such a beautiful enticing flower in the month of August that the beneficial insects just love and so do I.  The downside is that you have hundreds of them in places where they shouldn't be growing.

The Herbal Husband started transplanting them to other areas of the garden.:(  Then he gave up and said too many.:)  So we will be talking about this herbal problem again next year.  I have them in so many places that getting to the seedheads before they drop their seed is going to be virtually impossible!

Here is that area cleaned up for now.  I have other areas to work on in the herb garden and I'll show those to you later.  I'm also coming up with another design or just plant combinations for my herb garden this year.  The weather is beautiful outside.  Talk to you later.

Was Outside Looking Around!

Lady's Mantle in its Second Season!

Golden Oregano and 'Walker's Low' Catmint in Bloom!

This is Why An Outdoor Cat is Necessary!  Darn Chipmunk!  Making Holes Under Plants!

Strawberries in Bloom Already!

Mystery Plant!  Probably a Weed, but I've Been Wrong Before!

We were out briefly in the yard surveying what's coming up and what's left to do!  Lots and lots more!  So instead of working outside, we are going to the movies and out to our favorite restaurant later.  Supposed to storm!  Always fun dashing through the raindrops.  Hope you are having a great day.  Talk to you later.

Even These Are A Bit Early!

Chives are usually the barometer in the herb garden.  They did die back, but not like they usually do.  Here they are already starting to bud.  They are a couple of weeks early.  So I will get ready for the nine flower chive omelet!  The Herbal Husband always makes it for me every year.  He forgets that it takes only one flower to flavor an omelet.   It is freezing here today.  The wind is really wild making it that much colder.  Getting ready for my afternoon cup of tea and treat!  Oh, the routines we have.  Hope you are having a great day.  Been working on my next posts for The Herb Companion.  They may be up either today or tomorrow.  Talk to you later.

Still Moving Herbs Around!

I'm always amazed what survives in which places in my herb garden.  This winter savory (Satureja hortensis) was growing in the patio in the front of the garden.  This is the perennial choice of the savories.  It gets about one foot tall and is very hardy from Zones 5 to 11.  It needs full sun to do well and it has white flowers in late July or August.  Winter savory is the stronger in flavor and is great with soups and stews (Although split the amount you are adding because the flavor doesn't hold up through the stewing process.  Add some at the beginning of cooking and the rest about the last 15 minutes of cooking.) and is also good with beans.  Summer savory is the annual although it reseeds if it likes its spot.  So we decided to move it to the rock wall for this season.  We are definitely getting enough rain for it to survive.  In fact, we are under a severe thunderstorm warning at the moment.  Talk to you later.