Catnip

Catnip is the controlled substance of the herbal world. When planting it certain precautions are necessary.
This cage, which is actually an inverted planter minus the liner secured with metal stakes
It became pretty apparent to me that this cage was a help, but not adequate.
This plastic screen might do the trick.
I'm sorry that I did not document Abe clawing at this fruitlessly, but he did. Here he is walking away. He'll get his fair share of catnip later on.

I didn't plant this just for the cats. I have found that catnip repels japanese beetles. Really, they will flee when they smell it. Japanese beetles not only love to eat roses, but raspberries. I just planted a heritage red raspberry which was excuse enough for me to spoil my cats.

Catnip also is supposed to repel fleas but I have not seen this. Catnip tea is supposed to be good for lactating women as well. I do not have as 1st hand experience with this either.

My Terrace

This is the aftermath of dealing with the hedge, a muddy little bare slope. My sensibilities are pretty simple and primitive but this was ugly. Plus I always liked terraces.


The hedge ended where the railroad tie wall begins which left a weird gap between the wall and the slope. The shrub I removed there was so large and overgrown, it was like ripping out a tree. I thought about putting in a more standard sort of wall but considering my neighborhood, and the general look of my yard to begin with, I went with found material.
I have decided to plant some nice perennials in each terrace. The bottom one has siberian iris which should grow pretty tall and cover a lot ot the railroad ties. The 2nd terraces has bee balm, also called monarda, something I had kept in a pot last year because I had not broken enough ground for it. Beebalm is beenip to bees. I really think they get stoned when they re around it. Hummingbirds love it too.

One thing I thought might be nice is to plant my spent thalia bulbs. I planted them below the bee balm. Thalia is apparently the oldest (1610) known hybrid narcissus. I don't know if they'll do well considering that I forced them in water rather than soil and that I did not let them stay green for the 6 weeks post-bloom recommended, but it was plant them or throw them away. In planting them I have cultivated the soil to a deeper depth than I would have otherwise.

They were lovely in my house. I forced them in various vases and these gigantic sherry glasses in clear glass marbles, hydroton, and white glass disks.


Here's the finished (for now) wall. It is sturdy enough to hold a cat. I hope humans will not try to stand on top of it. Anyway it isn't so much of an eyesore and will be less so as the plants grow in.

Wintry Things

1. Cat with freshly spun true black alpaca.

2. Faded hyacinth blooms in flourescent light packaging

3. Frozen soap bubble; hard to make in this climate

4. Forced bulbs; hyacinths and thalia narcissus, image slightly doctored by oversaturation.

Between the holidays

Here's some kale that I think survived the last good freeze. Seems like a few die each time it gets below 10˚F. I took the liberty if saturating the images.

So I have a few Russian kale survivors and a few lacinato kale survivors.

Doesn't that Russian kale look luscious? OK, I admit it's not that vibrant looking but the light has been so gray I couldn't resist.

It is growing on the driveway in a pocket that gets extra warmth I guess. I hope people walking by appreciate it's greenness. My street gets lots of foot traffic and people often stop to complement my crazy garden. I really try to give them something to smile about.

This lacinato kale is not as visible from the street. The leaves bent down are frost bit and dying. If I were thrifty I suppose I'd use them before they are inedible but I'm not.

I have definitely oversaturated this picture but what the heck?

I took a few pictures that show that my cilantro amazingly has survived several frosts but it's so small it's not worth picking, or posting.

And finally I have a picture of Sally the fat cat. She gave us an awful scare by turning yellow because she had gotten picky about her food and lost weight to rapidly, stressing her liver.

This meant a 3 day stay at the vet followed by us having to force-feed her for a week til she stabilized. Here she is strutting her stuff on the driveway.

Indoor Things

When you move things inside, you've got to look them over. I moved this small bay laurel tree inside a month or so ago and noticed just a couple weeks ago that it was just coated with scale.

Scale is the leech of the plant world. They attach themselves anywhere that they can suck the life out of your plant. In this instance they were on the stems and leaves.

If it is feasible, a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol is effective at removing them. The photo here shows my partially de-scaled bay laurel. This was a couple weeks ago.
Yesterday I found MORE scale on it, not as bad as the last time but I needed to descale it again. I am glad at this point that my tree is still quite small. I think I'm going to find a few more in a couple weeks. I sorta like KILLING these nasty creatures.

Next we have Abe the cat hanging out in his spot. I geririgged a shelf over a radiator so he could sit by the window in a warm spot. The plant hanger next to him has catnip growing in it, but it's always been anemic. The vines climbing up it are he shou wu. Behind him is some wheatgrass. I planted that because he had been eating my lemongrass and he does now seem to prefer the wheat. I do however need to trim it every once in a while, thus the dish there with freshly trimmed grass on top of various dead leaves I've pulled from other plants.

And finally my forced hyacinths. I just took them out of the refrigerator and after a week in the dark of the basement, I'll hang them in a window. I understand that it's a good idea to make a gradual transition from cold and dark to warm and light with hyacinths. Sometimes the blooms bust out of the bulb, splitting it, before the leaves come out. I've never had this experience, but I hear it's not pretty.

I found a picture of a prematurely blooming forced hyacinth. It's lovely but preferable to have the blooms a few inches above the bulb with well formed leaves below. Actually last year I did have one or 2 hyacyinths that did this. I was less careful last year to do a gradual transition. Maybe I won't have this problem this year.