I am so sorry for not posting anything in such a longtime. I have been very busy with several things at once. So I’ve worked on getting some things posted which are below. As the rest of the summer gets here I will try to post more things thru out the season.
I have explained in the other posts what’s been going on except for this part which I’m going to try to post about more formally. In June we started selling produce and that has taken up a lot of our time. I will explain that in a later post.
So I do hope you will all forgive me in not posting for such a long time and please enjoy the new posts below.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Fig Tree
Back in May at the herb sale I picked up a bay laurel and turkey fig tree. Transplanted them both in new clay pots and have been keeping them in full sun on my front porch. (The front of the house is a southern exposure.) It has been eight and a half weeks since all of that has taken place when I purchased them both they were the same size.
Now the fig is about four times the size of the bay, Truth be told the bay laurel is a very slow growing plant.
So it is going to take the bay several years to catch up. But how cool is that the fig is growing quit nicely and some one told me I wasn’t going to get figs for thirty or more years. What do they know?
Now the fig is about four times the size of the bay, Truth be told the bay laurel is a very slow growing plant.
So it is going to take the bay several years to catch up. But how cool is that the fig is growing quit nicely and some one told me I wasn’t going to get figs for thirty or more years. What do they know? Front Yard Garden
This growing season as not been a real good one here in eastern PA for much of the year thus far it has been cool and raining. So a lot of what I have planted is taking for ever to grow or not at all. I planted a large veggie garden which I will talk about later. What I wanted to talk about was the small garden in my front yard.I planted the entire front garden the weekend of the 15th of May which is the last frost date for this area. Except this year we had two frost warnings later that month I was lucky I didn’t lose anything, not even my basil which is very tender.
For the entire month of June everything was growing very slowly if at all until the last week of June going into the Fourth of July weekend. Then we had success with growth and fi
nally some warmer days with out any rain for some of them.
Now that it’s the middle of July we have some nice growth and very pretty results. My cotton is starting to come along quite nicely after such a horrible start. So I hope to see flower buds on it soon. With in the next week or so, cotton is new for me to grow so I’m not sure when the proper time for flowering is in my area. A guess says end of the month early next month so we will see.
The Amaranth is doing nicely also soon I would like to make some dye from that and see what I can get. What has been weird is the new growth of leaves has been green then turning red. Yet when I started it in March it came up red and staid red until now with the new growth. This is another plant that is the first year for me so I will see how it goes and show you the yarn that I dyed with it when I get that far.
The rest of the front yard is zinnias, herbs, veggies and some other little flowers. They have started doing well and I’m finally pleased with how it looks. When I planted they garden the first thing I did was to trim back the azalea bushes to a quarter of there size. With all of the rain they have grown back to half there size of when I cut them back.
We all so have three roses bushes that I just cut back to allow new growth in and with the flowers and herbs that I planted they have become the focal point instead of the rose bushes. So all in all everything has worked out and I hope to have a good rest of the season weather wise. Only time will tell.
Now that it’s the middle of July we have some nice growth and very pretty results. My cotton is starting to come along quite nicely after such a horrible start. So I hope to see flower buds on it soon. With in the next week or so, cotton is new for me to grow so I’m not sure when the proper time for flowering is in my area. A guess says end of the month early next month so we will see.
The Amaranth is doing nicely also soon I would like to make some dye from that and see what I can get. What has been weird is the new growth of leaves has been green then turning red. Yet when I started it in March it came up red and staid red until now with the new growth. This is another plant that is the first year for me so I will see how it goes and show you the yarn that I dyed with it when I get that far.
The rest of the front yard is zinnias, herbs, veggies and some other little flowers. They have started doing well and I’m finally pleased with how it looks. When I planted they garden the first thing I did was to trim back the azalea bushes to a quarter of there size. With all of the rain they have grown back to half there size of when I cut them back.
We all so have three roses bushes that I just cut back to allow new growth in and with the flowers and herbs that I planted they have become the focal point instead of the rose bushes. So all in all everything has worked out and I hope to have a good rest of the season weather wise. Only time will tell.
Woad
One of my dye herbs that I planted at the house was woad. Unfortunately I was only able to have one plant growing at the house. All the rest never came up from the seeds that I started, you will have this and I hope for better luck next year in that department.
Any way I got some leaves from the plant to make a vat of dye. Before anyone says anything I know that one plant is not enough to dye large patches at once so I’m only going to do small ones and keep over dyeing to see how dark I can get the samples.
I used Rita Buchanan’s book A Weavers Garden, to help me with creating the vat since I’ve never worked with fresh woad or any woad come to think of it before. The first step was of course to pick the leaves. Which I did and placed them in a clear quart jar, then the book says to bring water just up to the boil and pour it over the leaves I did this as well.
The next step was to leave it alone for about an hour till you have a tan red color liquid. I didn’t do that part, what I did was to leave it set for twenty four hours in full sun. I used the hot water to get the process started and left the sun do the work of keeping it warm for the rest of the time. I left the leaves in for this long to get as much of the blue out as possible. With such small amounts of woad at one time I want to get as much out of it as I can.
The next step is to remove the leaves then add some sodium carbonate also known as washing soda and a lot of air or oxygen into liquid to turn it blue. I will say that mine never turned blue when I added air with a whisk for ten minutes no less. No instead mine was a muddy swamp water color and at that point I was hoping I had the right plant. So I moved on to the next step.
For this step I could have chosen several methods to remove the oxygen from the vat to render it usably. Since I really didn’t have a lot of success with some of those options in the past with indigo vats I went the easy way out and used Spectralite also known as sodium hydrosulphite and left it sit for about an hour. As the oxygen is removed from the vat the vat will turn a yellow tan green color.
Of course mine is neon yellow, so here the moment of truth has arrived, is this a woad vat or did I pick a foreign weed thinking it was woad. I am happy to report as I removed my neon yellow yarn from the vat it started to turn green and then blue. So yes it was woad and I did every thing correctly and I got cool results. I was never expecting a dark color, there wasn’t enough leaves for that but I did get blue on the first try too.
For any one new to woad or indigo dyeing I want to recommend that you use the power of the sun to keep your vat at the correct temperature. Also if you use a clear jar you will be able to see the changes in the vat and learn from them. Last year I had a hard time with my indigo vats trying to figure out which step I was at. This way I can see the different stages as they happen. Or you can wow all the kids in the neighbor hood with this fun experiment or project.
Any way I got some leaves from the plant to make a vat of dye. Before anyone says anything I know that one plant is not enough to dye large patches at once so I’m only going to do small ones and keep over dyeing to see how dark I can get the samples.
I used Rita Buchanan’s book A Weavers Garden, to help me with creating the vat since I’ve never worked with fresh woad or any woad come to think of it before. The first step was of course to pick the leaves. Which I did and placed them in a clear quart jar, then the book says to bring water just up to the boil and pour it over the leaves I did this as well.
The next step was to leave it alone for about an hour till you have a tan red color liquid. I didn’t do that part, what I did was to leave it set for twenty four hours in full sun. I used the hot water to get the process started and left the sun do the work of keeping it warm for the rest of the time. I left the leaves in for this long to get as much of the blue out as possible. With such small amounts of woad at one time I want to get as much out of it as I can.
The next step is to remove the leaves then add some sodium carbonate also known as washing soda and a lot of air or oxygen into liquid to turn it blue. I will say that mine never turned blue when I added air with a whisk for ten minutes no less. No instead mine was a muddy swamp water color and at that point I was hoping I had the right plant. So I moved on to the next step.
For this step I could have chosen several methods to remove the oxygen from the vat to render it usably. Since I really didn’t have a lot of success with some of those options in the past with indigo vats I went the easy way out and used Spectralite also known as sodium hydrosulphite and left it sit for about an hour. As the oxygen is removed from the vat the vat will turn a yellow tan green color.
Of course mine is neon yellow, so here the moment of truth has arrived, is this a woad vat or did I pick a foreign weed thinking it was woad. I am happy to report as I removed my neon yellow yarn from the vat it started to turn green and then blue. So yes it was woad and I did every thing correctly and I got cool results. I was never expecting a dark color, there wasn’t enough leaves for that but I did get blue on the first try too.
For any one new to woad or indigo dyeing I want to recommend that you use the power of the sun to keep your vat at the correct temperature. Also if you use a clear jar you will be able to see the changes in the vat and learn from them. Last year I had a hard time with my indigo vats trying to figure out which step I was at. This way I can see the different stages as they happen. Or you can wow all the kids in the neighbor hood with this fun experiment or project.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Herb Sale
Today was an early day, for I had awakened at six am (which is unheard of for me) to attend the 70th annual herb sale that benefits the Herb Society of America, Philadelphia Unit, the sale started at 10am so Why did I have to get up so early? You may be asking, it is suggested that you get there as early as possible because there is a very long line.
Since we were un-sure how long the line was going to be we wanted to get there as early as possible to beat the mad rush. So we left about 6:45am this morning and arrived there about 8:45am. So with traffic it took two hours.
When we arrived we were amazed to find out that we were about the twelfth people in line. So that wasn’t so bad, while we were in line we got talking to some of the other people who were all very nice. Through those conversations we found out that since this was our first time at this sale it would be an orgasmic experience for us.
So as we waited and look behind us the line was getting longer and longer as the time got closer to the sale starting. Since we didn’t take a count we have no numbers to give, put at best we would at least say 100 to 150 or more. We were also told to head to the center tables where the scented geraniums are since that is were every one heads and if you don’t get there quick you may get run over.
The advice was well taken for when the gate opened that is indeed what happened. No not us getting run over, everyone heading to the center island for geraniums. To give you some perspective on how large the sale was the island was about 8’ – 16’, the main area was about 100’ with two 16’ sides, there were also one area of roses and one area of native plants about 10’ – 10’ each. The last section was about 20’ – 40’ tented area, that’s were you paid and purchased none herb stuff like books and yard ornaments and the lot.
The herb selection was wonderful and surprising they had things I was not expecting to see and the prices were good. There inventory consisted of several scented geranium, sages, rosemary’s, thyme's, lavenders and many, many more with the addition of simple single varieties of herbs. I have a list below of the small amount of thirty different things I got. It was definitely a worth wild sale.
Looking around as we were in line to check out you would see that about a third to half or more of the tables were empty. This was a half hour after the sale started (that’s why we were warned to get there early). Since I have been put on there email list I will get an update on when next years sale is going to be, which is good because I would love to go again.
As we were told before the sale as we waited in line that this would be an orgasmic experience. We are herb sale virgins no more for it was an orgasmic experience.
Since we were un-sure how long the line was going to be we wanted to get there as early as possible to beat the mad rush. So we left about 6:45am this morning and arrived there about 8:45am. So with traffic it took two hours.
When we arrived we were amazed to find out that we were about the twelfth people in line. So that wasn’t so bad, while we were in line we got talking to some of the other people who were all very nice. Through those conversations we found out that since this was our first time at this sale it would be an orgasmic experience for us.
So as we waited and look behind us the line was getting longer and longer as the time got closer to the sale starting. Since we didn’t take a count we have no numbers to give, put at best we would at least say 100 to 150 or more. We were also told to head to the center tables where the scented geraniums are since that is were every one heads and if you don’t get there quick you may get run over.
The advice was well taken for when the gate opened that is indeed what happened. No not us getting run over, everyone heading to the center island for geraniums. To give you some perspective on how large the sale was the island was about 8’ – 16’, the main area was about 100’ with two 16’ sides, there were also one area of roses and one area of native plants about 10’ – 10’ each. The last section was about 20’ – 40’ tented area, that’s were you paid and purchased none herb stuff like books and yard ornaments and the lot.
The herb selection was wonderful and surprising they had things I was not expecting to see and the prices were good. There inventory consisted of several scented geranium, sages, rosemary’s, thyme's, lavenders and many, many more with the addition of simple single varieties of herbs. I have a list below of the small amount of thirty different things I got. It was definitely a worth wild sale.
Looking around as we were in line to check out you would see that about a third to half or more of the tables were empty. This was a half hour after the sale started (that’s why we were warned to get there early). Since I have been put on there email list I will get an update on when next years sale is going to be, which is good because I would love to go again.
As we were told before the sale as we waited in line that this would be an orgasmic experience. We are herb sale virgins no more for it was an orgasmic experience.
- Aztec Sweet Herb
- Calendula
- Stevia
- Horehound
- Dill
- St. Johns Wort
- Rosemary
- Catmint
- Savory (Summer)
- Violet
- Curry Plant
- Feverfew
- Bay
- Orris Root
- Brown Turkey Fig
Basil
- Spicy Globe
- Greek Columar
- Pesto Peretuo
Scented Geranium
- Ginger
- Peppermint Lace
- Ardwick Cinnamon
- Citronellum
- Nutmeg
- Dr. Livingston (Rose)
- Rose
Monday, May 11, 2009
Garden
Since March I have been working on enlarging my garden plot from a 12’ by 18’ to 12’ by 100’. The process though not difficult has taken longer then expect to the point I had too wait to plant some of my early veggies till all the prepping was done.
In March we of course started with the layout of the garden. Since the garden is placed in a nursery row the width is 12’. There is not much we can do about that until we decide to remove some of the old nursery stock. This would give us a total width of about 30’ give or take a little.
After staking out the garden we wanted to till it under add compost and till again. The area hasn’t been worked in several years about 25 to be exact and a couple of years ago when I had a garden there some of the produce did very poorly for a number of reasons so this year the addition of compost will correct some of that. We added a total of 25 cubic yards of compost to 1200 square feet of garden. So with that amendment and some other tricks of the trade there should be no problems with the lack of nurturance.
We wanted to get all the tilling done before we put up the fence it just made it easier to till and add the compost to the garden. This was all fine and good until we got a cold snap and the rains came. Making it very difficult to do either chore, so finally we were able to get the garden tilled, composted and fenced. This was all completed on the last day of April not to bad, I did want too get the early veggies in a couple of weeks prier but that wasn’t going to happen.
After all the work to get the garden ready and protected for the new seedlings I started this year, it decided to rain, and rain, and rain and yes rain some more a full seven days of rain to be exact. If it wasn’t raining during the day it rained at night so the garden was too wet to work in.
After it did stop raining and we had a couple of days with no ran and sun, the earth dried enough to be able to work and I finally got my early veggies planted. So I was able to get the cabbage, cauliflo
wer, celery, broccoli and cotton in the ground as of Friday. Thank God because I was getting worried I wasn’t going to get them in at all or at least too late to produce before they went to bolt.
I do have to get the early seeds in which I will probable do tomorrow. I was more worried about the plants since they were becoming leggy. While I was playing in the garden some one brought me a gift of tomato plants, all thought it is early to plant them for this area I decided to go for it. I figured they had a better chance of surviving in the ground then in a box. So I had to do some quick thinking on were to plant theses little guys in an already planned garden. I figured out a good spot and got them in I was given several plants of heritage and roma,
I was also given some fun tomatoes such as black, pink, yellow, gold, purple and green. So I should have a lot of fun with them and a very colorful salad.
One last thing on this very long post when I had the garden a couple of years ago something had gotten in and was taking a bite out of every thing. Never eating the whole fruit or veggie, so I tried to figure out what it mite be. But nothing was co
ming to mind and I found nothing livening in the garden or even an escape route. Till one day I found the culprit it was a box turtle. So I removed the little guy and sent it on his or her way. Well while getting every thing together this year the turtle is back and I have decided to make it the official guard turtle of the garden. So there should be no more thieves in the garden with this little camera shy guy around. Well as long as you don’t take its picture anyway.
In March we of course started with the layout of the garden. Since the garden is placed in a nursery row the width is 12’. There is not much we can do about that until we decide to remove some of the old nursery stock. This would give us a total width of about 30’ give or take a little.
After staking out the garden we wanted to till it under add compost and till again. The area hasn’t been worked in several years about 25 to be exact and a couple of years ago when I had a garden there some of the produce did very poorly for a number of reasons so this year the addition of compost will correct some of that. We added a total of 25 cubic yards of compost to 1200 square feet of garden. So with that amendment and some other tricks of the trade there should be no problems with the lack of nurturance.
We wanted to get all the tilling done before we put up the fence it just made it easier to till and add the compost to the garden. This was all fine and good until we got a cold snap and the rains came. Making it very difficult to do either chore, so finally we were able to get the garden tilled, composted and fenced. This was all completed on the last day of April not to bad, I did want too get the early veggies in a couple of weeks prier but that wasn’t going to happen.
After all the work to get the garden ready and protected for the new seedlings I started this year, it decided to rain, and rain, and rain and yes rain some more a full seven days of rain to be exact. If it wasn’t raining during the day it rained at night so the garden was too wet to work in.
After it did stop raining and we had a couple of days with no ran and sun, the earth dried enough to be able to work and I finally got my early veggies planted. So I was able to get the cabbage, cauliflo
wer, celery, broccoli and cotton in the ground as of Friday. Thank God because I was getting worried I wasn’t going to get them in at all or at least too late to produce before they went to bolt.I do have to get the early seeds in which I will probable do tomorrow. I was more worried about the plants since they were becoming leggy. While I was playing in the garden some one brought me a gift of tomato plants, all thought it is early to plant them for this area I decided to go for it. I figured they had a better chance of surviving in the ground then in a box. So I had to do some quick thinking on were to plant theses little guys in an already planned garden. I figured out a good spot and got them in I was given several plants of heritage and roma,
I was also given some fun tomatoes such as black, pink, yellow, gold, purple and green. So I should have a lot of fun with them and a very colorful salad.One last thing on this very long post when I had the garden a couple of years ago something had gotten in and was taking a bite out of every thing. Never eating the whole fruit or veggie, so I tried to figure out what it mite be. But nothing was co
ming to mind and I found nothing livening in the garden or even an escape route. Till one day I found the culprit it was a box turtle. So I removed the little guy and sent it on his or her way. Well while getting every thing together this year the turtle is back and I have decided to make it the official guard turtle of the garden. So there should be no more thieves in the garden with this little camera shy guy around. Well as long as you don’t take its picture anyway.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Saturday Night
First let me apologize for not posting in a while. I have been working on many things simultaneously and just wasn’t able to blog while I was doing all of that. So now I can blog and let you know what I have been up to.
This past weekend I was at an art show held in the Riverview Arts Center in Phillipsburg, NJ. They are going to be having a show the first Saturday of every month thru the summer (except July that one is the second Saturday, the first Sat. is the 4th).
There were a total of 12 artists showing, with a real mix of mediums being shown. There were paintings, photographs, drawings, pottery and there was even someone there show his painting that he dos on cars and motorcycles.
The cool thing about these shows is the artists don’t have to pay a both fee and the center also looks for people that has never shown there work before. To make money the center does charge a $4.00 entry fee, that $4 gets you food, drinks and live music through out the night.
The reason I was there is of course to check out all the art work, and too show off my work as well. I was able to get six pieces done. Four of them are wall hangings and two are summer shawls. While I was working on them I was also trying to get the garden ready, with fencing, tilling so when the weather would stabilize I could start to plant.
The next show I’m going to be in is the August show. That will give me time to make up some more things. Also thru out the summer I will be working in the garden that is, if it will ever stop raining.
This past weekend I was at an art show held in the Riverview Arts Center in Phillipsburg, NJ. They are going to be having a show the first Saturday of every month thru the summer (except July that one is the second Saturday, the first Sat. is the 4th).
There were a total of 12 artists showing, with a real mix of mediums being shown. There were paintings, photographs, drawings, pottery and there was even someone there show his painting that he dos on cars and motorcycles.
The cool thing about these shows is the artists don’t have to pay a both fee and the center also looks for people that has never shown there work before. To make money the center does charge a $4.00 entry fee, that $4 gets you food, drinks and live music through out the night.
The reason I was there is of course to check out all the art work, and too show off my work as well. I was able to get six pieces done. Four of them are wall hangings and two are summer shawls. While I was working on them I was also trying to get the garden ready, with fencing, tilling so when the weather would stabilize I could start to plant.
The next show I’m going to be in is the August show. That will give me time to make up some more things. Also thru out the summer I will be working in the garden that is, if it will ever stop raining.
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