20120415

Edible wilderness


So, Friday night my wife called my garden an "edible wilderness."  She wasn't insulting it.  She was actually excited because going out to pick something felt more like going to the woods than gardening.  Whatever she meant, I took it as a sign that I needed to get some stuff done out there.  I have been favoring hardy perennials and annuals that reseed themselves easily, going for more of a natural look than you might see in some gardens.  I've also been allowing some beneficial weeds to go to seed.  Above, that's the rosemary that dominates the place.  You can see carrots in the foreground, spearmint gone wild to the left, thistle in the background and a giant arugula against the fence.  The carrots and arugula are gone to seed and so has a bunch of bok choy.  I've got parsley and dill that reseeded themselves and some red onions that were overlooked last year.  One cilantro volunteer came up, but we ate it a few weeks ago.  I've also planted garlic that I harvested last year.



The main focus of my work yesterday was to turn my compost pile for the first time this year.  It mostly looked like a brush pile overrun with weeds:
 
There was a lot of good, mature compost underneath:


This plant came up along my neighbor's fence:
I thought I had found the prettiest weed ever, but she told me that it's called the "money plant" and that it's spread from her yard.  It apparently reseeds very easily.  She keeps her yard under tight control, though, so I actually have more of it than she does.



The spearmint is out of control:
It seems to be mounting an assault on the rosemary.  Part of me is interested to see who would win that battle, but I'm going to intervene so that they both can survive.  Both need to be pruned severely, so if you're local and you want some, let me know.



You may be able to see it above, but the romaine lettuce has also reseeded:

Here is some of the dill that reseeded.  You can see a red onion and some parsley behind it:


The kitchen sage is blooming and the other salvias are starting to open up, too:



I did find a beautiful weed in the garden, though:


It's actually a type of grass.  The rest of the grass in my yard has green flowers when it goes to seed.  This one has a purple flower.



Today, I got out there to do a little more work and planted my first summer crops of the year.  I had started some tomatoes and peppers in a greenhouse flat and I transplanted six tomatoes out to the circle that had bee balm last year.  The seeds seem to have migrated when I watered the flat, so I can't be sure which variety they are, but I think it's two of the Peron Sprayless slicers and four of the Chadwick Cherry.  I also put out two basil seedlings that I bought at the grocery store.  This circle already contained two red onions, a romaine lettuce, a couple of dill and a parsley.  I'm not sure if the bee balm is going to be coming back.  It was beautiful last year and it might still be a late-starter, but there are no signs of life so far.  Around these seedlings and survivors, I sowed a bunch of seeds.  I mixed together bok choy, arugula, beetberry, lambsquarters, borage, marigold, calendula, cumin, cilantro and dill.  The plan is to eat the thinnings as they grow and leave a few to grow to maturity, at least one each of the non-greens.  Here's what the tomatoes looked like in the greenhouse before I transplanted them:

3 comments:

  1. I would LOVE some of the spearmint and rosemary!:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks very inviting and I love that you have so many edible plants. we call moneywort Honesty and I have it growing all over my garden, it seems to prefer the more shaded areas. When it sets seed you will see that the seedheads are transparent and look like coins, hence your local name.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! The seedheads are forming now. Hopefully it will find enough shade next to the fence. I found a bunch growing under some trees at the other end of the neighborhood and have seen it in several neighbor's gardens now that I'm looking for it.

      Delete