A New Mint Plant and Rooting Others

Finally, I found a citrus basil mint!  I saw the plant on a counter at work, and it looked like a fuchsia someone had changed their mind about buying.  I was going to put it back out in the nursery when a co-worked mentioned how good it smelled.  Now, fuchsias don't "smell good," so I asked what it was.  Low and behold, a citrus basil mint!  We run out of those the moment they're in, which is usually on my days off.  Needless to say, it didn't make it back to nursery! 

Doesn't it look like a young fuchsia?  More so than the basil it's named for, I think.

So, I have to find nicer containers for both this one and the pear mint I recently bought.  I really can't stop buying mint plants!  I am on the lookout for variegated ginger mint and margarita mint.

My best smelling mint is my strawberry mint. It isn't the nicest, lushest plant (I really should look into this), but it is incredibly fragrant, just like strawberries!  I trimmed off a few sprigs recently and rooted them in a jar of water.  Mint grows super quickly and easily this way.  Yesterday I moved the water babies into a starter container.

Strawberry mint on the far right, in the pot.  The other mints are pineapple mint (variegated in the ground on left side), spearmint (middle pot), and lemon balm (not a true mint, but close enough!) in the pink pot and the ground behind the strawberry mint (it spreads!)

roots after just a week

four newly rooted strawberry mints

Tomatillos?

I think the pineapple tomatillos are up...  They are all I planted in this area, but not having grown them before I don't know what the seedlings look like.  They are sure tiny compared to the tomatillo plants we sell at work.  Sometimes buying plants is so much less trouble...

Garden Updates - seeds and flowers and cucumbers

Seeds are up... already!

Sunflowers (my daughter always plants sunflowers): They were planted on May 21, this is their growth on 5/27.

Bush Beans: Only planted a week ago tonight.

I planted some larger lemon cucumbers.  The small ones from the six-pack don't look too healthy, but I've fallen for that before, bought more, and then had too many!  These new ones are much larger, from a 5.5" nursery pot, which had three growing in it, easily separated.

The rock roses in the front yard are gorgeous!  

"Jessamy Beauty" 

"Jessamy Beauty"

unknown variety planted by the sidewalk

Climbing roses are bursting out all over!  These are New Dawn roses, two plants.  There is a third plant on the other side of the trellis, but it looks sickly.  It gets far less sun and water.  I just tidied them up on Wednesday, when only a few buds were opening.  

The disappointing mini-rose is a very pretty color, but the ordinary shape I wanted to avoid, and no fragrance.  I did hear back from the grower, asking if the nursery had any more.  They didn't, and I didn't hear back again.

Week's Roses Winsome

There is an old pale purple rose that is bigger and covered with more flowers than ever this year.  It is leggy, so needs some pruning.  These roses do have fragrance!  

On Eggplants

I dislike eggplant.  You could even say I despise eggplant.  That is, cooked eggplant.  It tastes nasty (to me, you may love it with a passion I save for my plumcots), and usually ends up a disgusting grayish slime.  The only eggplant I found palatable was eggplant Parmesan, which basically hides the eggplant in sauces and cheese!  Why bother?  Someone shared a favorite eggplant recipe with me a few days ago.  It included not only eggplant, but fish sauce.   Nope... don't do fish sauce. 

So, why did I plant an eggplant?  Simply for one reason.

They are beautiful plants.  Beautiful leaves.  Beautiful blossoms.  Beautiful fruits.

I grew Dusky a few years ago:

beautiful plant with beautiful leaves

beautiful blossoms

beautiful fruits

beautiful fruits and a Doodle

lots and lots of beautiful fruits

I don't have the room for a full size eggplant this year (I never did get around to building raised beds with the bargain raised bed corners I bought.  Short on time and money... Next year...)

So, I got a Patio Baby!  Isn't that a cute name?  It grows only 24" or so high, with fruits about 2" long.  Perfect for a the large ceramic pot on my deck. 

What will I do with the beautiful fruits?  I'll take them to work and leave them on the employee break room table of course!  I won't be eating them, that's for sure! 

Whole Lotta Plantin' Goin' On

Seeds have been planted...

BEANS:
Jade II - I was fine with the original Jade, so we'll see how this II is improved!  I will plant more in two or three weeks.

PUMPKINS:
Small Sugar, a small variety with thick flesh great for eating.  I tried this manure bag planting a few years ago with good success.  It's a good way to plant pumpkins in out of the way corners of the garden, with plenty of room to spread.

manure bag pumpkins several years ago

Poke holes in the bottom of a manure bag (this is steer manure, I haven't tried chicken to compare). Turn it over and place it where you want the pumpkins to grow.  Cut out the top.  Push in the seeds, ignoring the 6' apart advice!  Water and wait.

BUTTERFLY GARDEN:

I have thousands, literally thousands (the packets I ordered contain hundreds, and in one case, a thousand, seeds!) of butterfly favorites.  I directed seeded:

• cosmos (grocery store seed rack)
• anise hyssop (You Grow Girl)
• Mexican red sunflower (annual - eBay)
• Mexican butterfly weed (annual - eBay)
• white yarrow (eBay)
• rue (eBay)
• mixed packet containing Bishop's flower (which needs to be pulled out when identified, as it's toxic to dogs), black-eyed Susan, butterfly milkweed, California poppy, candytuft, blazing star, Indian blanket, coreopsis, aster, lupine, vervain, Shasta daisy, Siberian wallflower, alyssum, Sweet William - eBay) 
• purple coneflower (eBay)
• Rocky Mountain penstemon (this is for both the butterfly garden and the rock garden in the front yard - eBay)

The wire "fences" are just right to keep Edward the Goldendoodle from stumbling through the beds!  These two were part of the city-wide garage sale deals.  I need one more!

The Shasta daisy has almost turned into the type of flower I dislike!  Where there are so many flowers you can't see the green foliage!  

Just a Few New Things Planted and to Plant...

The weather is warm and sunny at long last!  It's going to be one of those years that just jumps into summer after a long cold spring.

I planted lemon cucumbers.  I didn't get to the FFA sale at the high school this year, so these are from work.  They are smaller than the FFA ones tend to be, but I am confident they'll catch up.  We do carry quality plants at work!

Another mint!  I missed out on several new to me varieties, but found a nice Sweet Pear mint.  It doesn't smell as pear-y as the strawberry mint smells strawberry-y, or the apple, apple-y.  It's quite a pretty plant though.

Cilantro is up.  I have had it self-seed for several years, but this time I had to plant seeds myself.

In pruning off the spent lilac blooms I found this...  Once these shelf, or bracket fungi appear it's a sign the infection is inside, so nothing to be done.  Beautiful, but not welcome.

There's a new Gaura for the rock garden in the front yard. It's funny, last year's label called it an "Indian Feather," but now they are labeled "Wand Flower."  They are the same plant.  I don't think they are very attractive plants, but I love the flowers waving around at the end of the long, wand-like stems.
I have two in the older part of the rock garden, planted a bit behind some rocks that hide the plants themselves!

Working in the rock garden yesterday I came across far too many "deposits" the neighbor's cats have left (and they eat some nasty food that makes their "deposits" extra nasty) !  I bought some cat repellent and will spray it around the edges of the area and some random spots where the cats seem go most.  The spray smells like cilantro, at least to me!

Trying Some New Things: Onions and Potatoes

I've never grown onions or potatoes. Even as a child with a gardening father we never grew onions.  I have one memory of his growing potatoes, in which the harvest were teeny tiny spuds we laughed about for years.  Now those baby taters are "in!"

So, when bagged potatoes went on sale for $1.00, I thought, "Why not?  I'll give them a try.  After all, I'm only into it for $1.00."

The potatoes are German Butterballs.  There were several other types, but I loved the name German Butterball!  Turns out they are supposed to be an easy one for beginners to grow.  Good!  I got 12 in my package of 10.

I'd been reading a lot about potatoes in containers... potatoes in trash cans... potatoes in laundry baskets... just how easy it is to grow potatoes nearly anywhere.  I had some old wire left from when the boysenberries were still little sticks and needed protection from Boo's ball.

December 2012

I hooked two together, and lined the bottom part with cardboard.  I had made a pile of old potting soil mixed with new steer manure I fitted the wire around.

Then  I just placed the potatoes where I wanted them, and pressed them into the soil a few inches.  As they grow I'll snug straw up around the plants.  It's supposed to be as easy as that!  I had five unused potatoes, which I just stuck in the compost heap.  Who knows...  peelings have been known to sprout!
Most of them had some growth on an eye.  I knew enough to face that up!

As for onions, we don't eat a lot of them.  I like the taste they give foods, but not the cook onion sliminess, or raw onions at all.  I will cook onions when I make chicken fajitas, for the taste, but pick out them out before eating.  I usually use onion powder when a recipe calls for onion!   But, the little six packs of baby Yellow Sweet Spanis looked good!  A six pack is waaaay too many!  I only planted a fraction of what I got.  A six pack does not have six onions, it probably has a dozen in each of the cells!

I only planted about ten.  I am not confident I planted them correctly, so it's another "we'll see what happens."  They are "garden bed friends" with tomatoes, so they are in the same raised bed as the Sungold and Siletz tomatoes.

Garden Shots and another Bargain Deal

I think I forgot to mention the fire ring.  Another "lost on the shelf for several years" deal from work. We need to make a fire-proof base for it, like concrete stepping stone or something like that.  The Internet is full of inspiring photos!  $10.00.

It casts such a pretty shadow

And just some pretty shots from around the yard...

bearded iris

bearded iris

spider on a boysenberry blossom

Shasta daisies just a week after planting

pansies in a bargain container

alyssum in a bargain container

lilac

lewisia

lewisia