Happy Mothers' Day to me! (and all you moms, too)

Haven't been posting much, since I figured you would get tired of reading "we're out enjoying our beautiful garden" again and again. But that's what we're doing.

James and I shared our first strawberry from the garden this morning. We might get a few more this year, but the real objective (since we started so late in the season) is to get a good patch built up this year for next year's crop. James says he's going to put up bird netting next year, and that was even before he found out that our second strawberry was tasted by the birds before it got ripe.

My Mothers' Day presents were trellises for my rose on the side of the house, and four new hostas. We ran by the Navy Exchange to grab the trellises, saw a few hostas we didn't have, talked James into a pair (for my Mothers' Day "flowers"), and got to pick two more when he found out they were only $4 each! We picked out four that we didn't think we had (all variegated with yellow in different patterns), and found that one of them is very close to a pair we had at home, but the others are definitely new to our yard.

The sage is still rooting, so I water it daily after I check the seedlings in my seed starter tray/house. The cucumbers have been planted out, and are doing well after transplanting. The salvia and basils are working on their second sets of leaves, and the first of my zucchinis are sending up their first leaves.

Out in the beds, the beans of all varieties are doing well. The corn and squash are coming up in the "three-sisters" bed. The Sweet William didn't fare well in this week's hard rain, but we have late azaleas blooming for Mom and Bill's visit later this week. The rhododendron may show a bloom or two in time also. My real excitement comes from seeing the new leaf buds on the herbs we've planted out onto Herb Hill, and my lilac twigs and lavender on Mt. Leahi. It looks like they're going to make it.

Out on our walk tonight, we discussed the idea of a neighborhood plant exchange at some point in the future. I'm still trying to figure out logistics, but we ought to be able to work something out, from a database of wants and give-aways to an annual bring-your-extras gathering or a beginning & end of season something. Any suggestions?

And, oh yeah, kids are doing well, too.

"Horrible news!"

Precious, dear, sweet, little Miriam, the youngest of my lovely daughters has achieved that horrible landmark-she's taller than I am. (And she was thrilled to have James point that out this evening!)

Sage advice

When taking cuttings from other people's plants, figure out where you are going to put the pieces after they have rooted! I now have two mugs of cuttings (two different types) sitting in front of the diningroom window, waiting for roots to grow so they can go outside. And we only have place for three or four plants (if I squeeze them in!) on Herb Hill. So now we're talking about a sage hedge along the driveway and the sidewalk behind Mt. Leahi. Anyone want a sage plant or two???

You didn't think I really had wisdom to share, did you? Especially not while in the midst of raising teens!

Kyle's accomplishment: He and his section leader/stand partner in band played in the solo & ensemble competition last week, and earned straight 1's=the highest possible scores!

Samuel is having his Board of Review for rank advancement to Star in Scouts this morning. I suppose I ought to wrap this up and clear the table since the Board is here!

More herb notes

Just a quick note, since I have been accused of blogging novels. . .

The Herb Hill looks marvelous! James finished mulching things in with wood chips. I was out when my neighbor Melissa came home, so I ran over to say hello, invited her over to see our progress, and followed her home to clip some sage for rooting. I now have eight pieces of purple-tinged sage rooting in the diningroom window, soon to be transplanted onto the hill.

Where can I find some more varieties of sage? We have five varieties of mint, five of thyme, and soon five of basil. Seems that we ought to have come up with five of sage, just for consistency. James is posting a Wanted listing on freecycle.

Melissa also had some cultivation advice for my lavender growing-mulch with rocks rather than wood chips, and feed them with lime water. Wonder what that's going to do to the other inhabitants of Mt Leahi???

Herb Hill

Wrote this one last night, but our internet provider has been on the blink. . .

We’ve had a busy weekend, with an herb focus to our gardening. On Saturday, James and I went to the National Arboretum to see the azaleas blooming. We picked up a few fun plants like ruffled purple basil, holy basil, black cohosh, anise, angelica, dill, and a tri-color sage. I talked James into planting mints in pots and burying the pots on the hill, so we picked up two small mint plants also. On the way home we stopped at Homestead Gardens and did a bit more shopping. James’s particular target was a variety of coleus plants, so we picked up one each of five different varieties. Then a few different kinds of thyme (silver-edged, wooly and creeping), and a couple more mints went onto the cart. Two cilantro plants seemed like a good idea. They didn’t have the ever-blooming wisteria we saw there last year, but the pink-lemonade honeysuckle looks good to go on the trellis out back. James added a flat of marigolds to add a bit of color in the front. And I’m making another attempt to grow lavender. Since it likes sun, Mt. Leahi East is the only possible location for it. Hopefully one of the four varieties will be happy enough to establish itself there. They’re all up on the edge of the hill, so drainage shouldn’t be a problem this time.

James was up early this morning. He planted most of the herbs directly into herb hill, where we’d placed them yesterday when we got home. Then he made a run to Home Depot for potting mix to put in the pots for the mint and coleus plants. While I finished up the bulletin board for Samuel’s Scout Troop, James planted marigolds around the yard.

The Herb Hill tally now:

Fifteen small rosemary plants of one variety, and one large one of another nearby

Five different varieties of thyme-one creeping, one wooly, one silver-edged, lots of variegated and several plain green plants

Two oregano spots (5-6 plants) from our friend Ann’s garden

Two cilantro plants

Two parsley plants that survived the winter in a small window-box planter, and look much happier now that they have a hill to grow on

One lone dill, because we don’t use it much, and don’t want to be overrun next year

One anise hyssop plant

One licorice plant

One angelica plant

Four varieties of mint (one blue balsam, two spearmints, one chocolate mint, one orange mint)

Two varieties of basil-holy & ruffled purple, with two more coming up in the perennial bed (purple opal and sweet), and another (Italian basil) that I’m going to start in peat pots tomorrow. We’re thinking we’ll plant basil in each of the spaces between the hostas at the top of the hill. James is sure he can use all we can grow, so I’m going to give him a bit of a challenge there.

We only have one small tri-color sage on the hill at this point, but I’m going to start some purple sage from my neighbor’s plant this week.

Even if we don’t eat all this, it smells good and looks pretty. I figure it will be a fun touch-taste-smell garden tour for my young neighbors, nieces and nephews when they visit. (Their parents can play, too!)

The black cohosh went up in the hosta and bulb bed under the poplar tree in the back yard, and as I said, the lavender went onto Mt. Leahi.

The yard is really taking shape!

James has already laid out the meandering path through the side yard, so I can get started on planting wildflowers there.

Our list of yard projects is shorter than the list of herbs on Herb Hill. Guess it’s time to get the finances in order to buy a bigger property to keep us busy next year!