My Garden’s First Haircut…

Surprisingly, after only a mere couple weeks of warm weather, parts of my garden needed a good sheering off.  Like sheep at the end of winter.  My resident Sage plant below was totally over-crowding my newly planted Tomatillos and due to the instant 30C heat in our neck of the woods, promptly started flowering…something it usually saves itself for in July.

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So I took a few of the flowers and put them in a vase in the living room – the leaves give off that nice ‘sage-y’ smell and they really do look good as a cut flower arrangement.  I think I will let it go to flower again just for the grogeous little purple blooms, which resemble little snapdragon flowers.

DSC06386DSC06385My Cilantro (above) has already ‘bolted’.  This being a term used in gardening to denote that the plant is done generating wide-surface leaves and it is now warm/hot enough for it to start sending out flowers for seed production.  Cilantro is famous for it.  I was so frustrated last year with the one plant I had that mid-way through the season I dug it up and pitched it and bought a new, young plant, only to have the same thing happen by mid-August.

This year I think I am on my way to outsmarting the Cilantro.  I have 3 pots at various stages of growth now.  Every 2 weeks, I have been planting a new batch of seeds.  So by the time the oldest plant starts to bolt, the next one in line is perfect for salsas….and so forth…HA! Take that Cilantro! I think you have met your match in the garden this year…

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My Leaf Lettuce (red and green) is almost ready to pick for ‘baby greens’ in a salad and I also planted some ‘Spicy Leaf Mix’ (below) that I trimmed a bowl full yesterday for salad last night with pizza for dinner.  Dee-lish and nothing like fresh-picked from the garden salad.

DSC06369Not to be outdone, my garlic (below) is standing tall and guarding the garden space against Vampires…that is if there were any around… I haven’t seen any, so I guess they are doing their job.  I will have to wait until later in the summer though for garlic harvesting, it is way too early at the moment.

DSC06371I will also be cutting and drying my lavender soon.  I fill little sachet pouches with them and place them in my dresser drawers so that every time you open a drawer, you get a lovely whiff of lavender.

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2 thoughts on “My Garden’s First Haircut…

  1. OMG your garden is growing in fine form. I have rows poking through, just enough to tell where my rows are. Radish, onions, beets, kohlorabi, turnip, beans and peas are up, corn is just starting and so are the spuds. The spuds are taking forever this year. I dug, built, and filled a new perennial bed last weekend. What a friggen chore that was, but it is beautiful. I had 2 rose bushes, some iris’ and a day lily already in place next to the house, so I figured I could fill in the rest and build a BIG perenial bed. I need to divide several plants this fall, so I can fill it with them. I tried to plant garlic again this year and it finally took, it is starting, woot! I have tried in the past, not sure if it got weeded or hoed, but it never seemed to grow in the past. I started some herbs from seed again, though I said I would never try again, and I have some rosemary, lemon balm, celery and parsley that are being babied in a pot close to the house. I can’t believe you are toting your peppers back ‘n forth, that is cracking me up. Peppers, toms are all in the ground to fend for themselves. I add powdered milk to the tom plants to give them some calcium and help with root development. My damn dog dug beside the plant, not to hurt the actual plant, but dug a whole and slurped out the powdered milk. I was not pleased and she found out just how upset I really was. Happy Gardening!!!!

    • I have a small perennial garden, really just a big patch of day lilies that were here when we bought the house. They multiply like crazy and spread if you let them. I did dig some up this spring and took them up north to the cottage. You wouldn’t know I did anything to the patch at home as they are just as big as ever. I love your tip on the powdered milk! good thing I do not have a dog too 😛 I wish had as much space as you do for a garden, if I didn’t have a 70,000 litre pool taking up half the yard, it’d be garden! 🙂

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