Melt

Hardly melt but I am an optimist. This is the result of letting things go.

This 1st picture shows kale, allysum, and calendula that so far have survived the winter. 2 months to go.

Here's another kale.

Here's the catnip cage showing that the catnip survived but catnip is not vulnerable to much except for cats.

And finally one of my favorites, a lovely leek. If this snow really melts I can harvest a few.

More Stuff!

As promised, I am doing another post. It's May you know? There is just so much beauty I could cry, but I won't.

Here's the cheddarhead eating by my saladbowl, which is filling out nicely though this isn't its best side. Behind it is lacinato kale and an eggplant. Yup, I haven't caught up with everything here.

This planter has a matching one, sorta, on the other side of the steps. It started last year with lipstick salvia which i wintered with partial success. The salvia was kinda ragged so i filled it in with mizuna which already needs to be harvested, allysum and of all things hops! The hops are an unknown ungendered quanity. A friend gave me seedlings this spring and just for kicks I am keeping a few to see what's up. Who knows, I might end up having a new variety.

This porch still life is my fancy swedish ivy, mona lavender, with vases of chamomile and acapulco anise hyssop. I trimmed back the feral chamomile a touch but wanted to see if the buds would bloom in a vase. They have.

Chives are so easy and pretty, especially when they bloom. In the background is one of my bokashi buckets.

Well, I think that's it for today. I have a lot that I haven't covered.

End of April

This cat is feral. I have taken to calling her/him Orangy or Cheddarhead. Cheddarhead's left ear seems to be clipped. This might be an indicator that at one point thhis cat was caught, neutered, then released. She, I think she's a she, was around the day we moved in. She is actually more likely to be a boy because 75% of orange cats are male but I think she's a she. I am now feeding her almost everyday. She still hasn't let me touch her. Behind this feral cat is some feral chamomile. I also have feral red mustard, fennel and even a viola.

The salad bowl is filling in quite nicely, with Orangy behind.

This fennel survived the winter and has a lot of tender bulbs coming up. I am thinking of making something special with these.

I planted this strawberry last year. I just love the anticipation of the fruit to come. Next to it are 2 flowers I always have, pansies and allysum.

One thing I haven't mentioned is tha a year ago I had a major problem with slugs. I decimated them with sluggo, a bait whose active ingredient is iron phosphate which is safe for pets. There are other baits out there that are really toxic. Don't use them. Only use bait that is pet safe whose active ingredient is iron phosphate. If you do, your slugs will disappear.

Hover Fly

I saw a hover fly laying eggs on my salad ball. Hover flies eat aphids and have these huge eyes so this pleased me greatly. I'm not sure what drew this fly to my ball but it was laying on a pansy that was infested with aphids. I understand hover flies, and other good guys like lacy flowers and on my ball I have some alyssum, an annual I have come to consider a must.Here's a shot of a chervil seedling I tucked in my ball. I'm sorta amazed that it's survived. Chervil flowers are a good guy magnet too, but this one's got a lot of growing to do 1st and I might eat it before then.

It really pays to know who the good guys are, especially when they are still larvae, and not so cute.

My canvas is not blank

I garden like I get dressed everyday. I'm no fashion plate, indeed, I have contemplated doing youtube type videos of things I discuss here but that means I have to do something with my hair! I guess I feel like my garden is half naked right now. I'm a little embarrassed to show it in its entirety just yet.This being its 2nd year, my garden is taking on a number of 'sink or swim' aspects. This budding onion is a leftover from last year. It might be a welsh onion, but I'm not sure. I noticed it budding and have decided to encourage that. Whenever it blooms I should have a better idea of what it actually is.Next my canvas shows what I decided to call 'beau disordre' a reference I recall to some Congolese Afro-pop I read about and encountered years ago. Um, I won't get into what made my brain stray that direction. The largest plant here is an artichoke, then there's a red cabbage. My strategy is to plant fairly low lying plants in front, with lots of little annual flowers at the border including allysum, pansies, lobelia, german chamomile, calendula at the edges. Much of this is selfsown from last year. I will fill in the middle later with more tender taller things like eggplant and tomatoes. Thus you see that I did not start this year with a blank canvas.On the newel post I do have a blank slate. Last year I had a rather anemic planting there. I hope to put something there spectacular but I am torn as to what that should be. There are some logistical problems to growing a globe like this. I should devote an entire post to this when I get around to it. At this moment I am think that perhaps some nastertiums would be nice here, the type that cascade. But alas! It's too early for them here! What to do?

You might notice that hanging from the left side of the sphere is a tiny hummingbird feeder. In the Pittsburgh area hummingbirds typically start showing up in mid April. I intend to make them feel welcome in my yard. More on that later.This final picture shows some of my palette. Lettuce, pansies, allysum, and broccoli. Broccoli is a definite no for the sphere. The rest I could manage.

Anybody out there have any opinions about my sphere? I am trying to decide mainly between edibility and ornamentation. One thing I am pretty sure of is that my whole yard would look better if I covered it all with a fresh thin layer of compost. I probably will do that soon.