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Snapshots of the fall/winter garden
Looking outside the window, the world is currently frosted. I haven’t tended much to the fall and winter garden. Onions continue to send up green shoots, the garlic is sprouting, and baby kale plants promise to soon take over their own corner of the garden. I’m a lover of fall color, but I really miss the warm summer, being able to walk barefoot on the mulch paths and feeling the hot sun heat up my back as I bend over…
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Herb Garden Inspiration
Albeit I haven’t seen many herb gardens, one of my favorite places to visit is the herb garden at the Historic Oak View County Park. Dedicating a space solely for the growing of culinary herbs is quite divine. I have an herb garden that wraps halfway around my back deck, and slowly this space is expanding to other parts of the garden as I find new cultivars that I *must* grow. Yesterday, the Oak View garden was past its peak…
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Rainwater Harvesting Cistern
Last week I got an email asking if we were interested in hosting a teaching and demonstration project for a class of NCSU students, which would involve the installation of a free rainwater harvesting cistern at our house. Of course I jumped on that opportunity as Joe and I have been attempting for awhile to get a system going for the garden. Two of our downspouts feed into this 550 gallon cistern, which has a submersible pump smart enough to…
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Crunch Time!
There are basically 10 working days left before my BIG SHOW at the Handmade Market. I’ve got the kiln loaded with another round of plates and bowls waiting to be bisque fired, free business cards have been ordered (I hope 100 will hold me for the day), and I’ve set up a Square account so that I’m able to take credit card payments if needed. I don’t have a banner or sign for the table, but I have to limit…
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Cabbage Moth on Lavender
These cabbage moths are pretty with their butter-yellow wings, but finding their offspring mid-bite of broccoli is pretty darn nasty. They have been very busy in my garden, even in the midst of two frosty nights in a row. The frost bit the sweet potato vines. I planted some leafy whole potatoes sometime around Labor Day, and having never grown sweet potatoes before, I’m not sure when to dig them up. I tried planting some in the spring, but the…
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Uprooted
It took me three years to start an asparagus bed, one year of putting up with the Man grumbling about the location of the asparagus bed, and two hours to dig it all up and move it to a new location. Oh my, my arms hurt today! Instead of having a single row of asparagus up the property line, I now have a rectangular bed just outside the fenced vegetable garden when my two raspberry bare root plants gave up…
