Motley Monday - April 3, 2023

 I'm back!  Here are some things I'd been saving to post, as sort of a way to dip my feet in the water again, so to speak.  

Wild turkeys strolling down the sidewalk.  If I identified them correctly, they are male. 

Oh, dear... don't tell the turkeys, here's another type of poultry!  I'd bought a whole chicken a while back for really cheap, froze it, and decided to cook it a few weeks ago.   I picked rosemary, thyme, and oregano from my herb garden, and blended them up with garlic and olive oil.  It sure smelled good! 

Speaking of smells... I did lose my sense of smell with COVID, but I noticed it was coming back last night when I cleaned the cat box.  Oh, boy...

This photos is an example of a dog's stress relieving yawns.  Mickey was nervous having Baby Cat so close to him.   She knew it, and would flip her tail onto him.   Dogs yawn off stress, as do ferrets.  Perhaps other animals too, I only know for sure ferrets and dogs, as I've seen them do it.  Dogs also literally "shake it off." Shake, like when they shake off water, not shivering shakes.  If they are on a walk and something stresses them, they will shake.  Mickey is big on stressing, so he often shakes and yawns.  

It's still cold out.  I know it's only early April, but really, high of 47°?  Nights still below freezing?  Dustings of snow in the mornings?  Just a dusting, but still.

The peas aren't up yet, and I'm going through my annual "Is something wrong with the peas?  They aren't coming up," even though they aren't late, going in on March 20th.  21 - 30 days is average germination time.

Other things are growing well, despite the cold. Or because of it.

Swiss chard left over from last year, or even the year before.

Some sort of green I planted last year.   Maybe mustard I got as a free packet of seeds.

One of four Douglas sunflowers I grew from seed last year.  They are perennial natives.

Wild strawberries really liked being transplanted to the Pollinator Garden bed.  Strawberry seeds are the tiniest things, and baby strawberry plants so small it's surprising they survive.  These were part of The Growable Calendar seed paper I tested.  Having the seeds in paper probably helped hold them in place to grow.

I'm glad Wintersowing worked for these Pink Panther catmint seeds.  Yes, I used a Starbucks cup! 

Another type of catmint, Persian, might just be my favorite flower in the garden.  It started blooming last week, and will continue for months and months, and longer if I cut it back in summer for more fall blooms.  I don't even care that it self-seeds.

Catmint and catnip is so pretty when it first starts growing in the spring.  This is Lemony catnip. 

Last are these photos of my favorite weed, red (or purple) deadnettle.

Hope you come back tomorrow for Tuesday Treasures, there will be three art prints I thrifted!