Herbs Doing Well

 I've harvested vast quantities of herbs over the past couple of days. From outside in the Greenstalk, I've had cilantro, parsley, and dill. I also have marjoram and fennel, but I'm not sure what to do with them.

Herbs in the top tier of middle tower (pre-harvest).
Eggplants in bottom 3 tiers of blue, peppers in bottom 3 of green

It's all experiments, both growing and harvests. I made a dish that used a cup of cilantro, and then the rest of it I chopped in the mini-food processor with a small amount of olive oil to bind it, and froze into just two ice cubes. I'm always startled how much the volume goes down. The dill, I stripped off the stems with my fingers and then stuffed it all into a small 4 ounce plastic container and froze it as is. I'm pretty sure I'll end up having to use all of it at once.

From left: mint, basil, thyme, Thai basil, parsley
I started these in December, and really chopped them back today
Hydroponic, no dirt, and no bugs!
I found this shady windowsill benefits from supplemental lights

The Thai basil (really great flavor!) I treated like the cilantro, except I used a neutral oil instead of olive oil. Again, two ice cubes. The mint, I mostly discarded after using some in a drink last night. It's ok flavor, but I don't use mint a lot and it grows fast a vigorously. The window-sill basil I decided to handle differently, since I already have basil/olive oil cubes from last year. I'm trying to dry it in my air fryer (which has a "dehydrate" setting). Then I'll crumble it into a jar. It's not done drying yet, but again, the volume decrease is amazing!

Where to Put my Vegetables?

 I have limited space to grow vegetables. While I have a substantial yard, I can only grow vegetables where there is (1) sufficient sun and (2) protection from the deer. In addition, I'm reluctant to plop a vegetable bed down smack dab in the middle of my yard - I'd rather have them on the edges. As a consequence, these are the spaces I have:

This is a metal 3'x4' raised bed on the side of my house.
It is planted right now with broccoli and red cabbage.

This is a wooden 4'x8' raised bed I built years ago, at the back of my house.
I bought the frame and netting that covers it (new netting this year).
It has tomatoes in half of it, and I plan for zucchini in the other half.

This is a collection of pots, all planted with tomatoes.
They are easily moveable. Currently sitting on a wooden pallet
next to my driveway. Needs more deer & rabbit protection.

These are my latest additions, "Greenstalks". Not a gimmick.
Each tier has six pockets, so I have 72 planting pockets to fill.
I'm in the process of building a barrier behind them for deer protection.
They are where the Vespa used to park, at the end of my driveway.
(Now the Vespa is on dirt in the shade, I need to build a new pad).

 I try to rotate my crops in the raised beds, to minimize pests that overwinter in the soil. Last year in the metal bed I raised zucchini, so this year I've gone for the brassicas, broccoli and cabbage. Also, conveniently, this bed was easy to clean and prepare for spring planting with the addition of bagged compost, so it was ready when I spotted broccoli, a cold weather crop, at Home Depot. Last year, the big 4x8 bed had tomatoes in one half, and corn and beans in the other half. So this year, I've put tomatoes in the half that had corn, and I plan to put zucchini in the other half once it warms up enough.

I refresh the dirt in the pots and the greenstalk, so rotation isn't necessary. Basically, I empty them out (usually to a tarp on the ground) and then stir new compost and maybe new potting soil into the old dirt. I fish out any big chunks of last year's roots, and then put the refreshed mixture back in the containers. It's actually a fair amount of work, but since I wanted to move and add greenstalks, it was worth it this year.

The big experiments are the Greenstalks. I belong to some on-line gardening groups which is where I learned about them. I had seven tiers split into two stacks last year, mostly with peppers and basil. They revolve on their bases, so I can vary the sun exposure. This year, I have twelve tiers, with six spots each, for a total of 72 planting pockets. But I've started more seeds than I have spaces!

So far I have 18 various peppers out in the bottom 3 tiers of the light green tower; lettuce and scallions from seed in its top tier. The top tier of the mixed tower has various herbs from farmers market; the second tier has mini cabbage plants. Inside under lights I have a dozen pak chois, six Swiss chards, 18 eggplants, and 30 (!) basils coming along. The seedlings are too small, and it's too cold, to set them out today - but it'll be time soon!

I'll be able to squeeze a bunch of basil plants along the perimeter and between tomato and zucchinis in the big raised bed. Discounting them, I've got 36 planting pockets, and 36 seedlings (12 pak choi + 6 chard + 18 eggplants), so it just works out! 

Also, I am going to start harvesting my broccoli (in the metal raised bed) today. It'll continue to bear from side shoots for a while, but I may end up ripping it out and putting something completely different in there. Some of the herbs and greens in the greenstalks will also sputter out and I'll be able to put something new there. So as long as I don't go overboard at farmer's markets or starting any more of my many seeds, I guess I'll be ok.

Roses and Peonies, Oh My!

 While I'm all in on native plant gardening, there are certain ornamental flowers that are long-lived and spectacular. I've got roses planted in four places in my yard. On my fence along the walk up to my house, a single climbing plant is enormous and amazing. Peonies are well known for lasting fifty years or more. there were a couple already here when I bought the place, and a few years back I added a bunch more. In contrast to the elegant roses, peonies are overblown and, in the phrase of a friend, "always seem like they belong in a French whorehouse". But they certainly buff up a place!

 

Still Growing!

I'm still kind of coasting on gardening this year, but I haven't been completely inactive.

First, on the coasting, I've got some blooms showing up from prior years:

The trout lilies have made a big patch,
but not so many blooms

The bloodroot continues to shine bright
It moves around as the ants plant seeds

The sole remaining tulip from a big bunch
planted in 2019.

I do have plans for vegetables this year. I've rearranged some things in the yard, because I realized the parking pad I built for the Vespa was the sunniest spot in the whole yard. So I moved the Vespa, and I'll be doing Greenstalks on the parking pad. (Need to build a new pad for the Vespa but right now its on the dirt.) I'm rotating crops in the ground - I'll grow cruciferous veggies in the raised bed where the zucchini was last year. I got a six pack of broccoli at Home Depot and plopped them in there, after topping off the bed with LeafGro and compost. I plan to put tomatoes in the half of the big raised bed where I had the corn and beans last year, and zucchini in the half where the tomatoes were. I'll need to put some tomatoes in pots.

My baby broccoli

The hard thing is deciding how to fill up three 4-tier greenstalks - a total of 72 planting pockets. I need to get going on seed starts or buying plants will bankrupt me!