Sunday, October 26, 2014

I'm still gardening and still harvesting...

Despite snow in September, October has proven to be a beautiful Indian Summer.   I am still gardening.  I pulled out the last of the annual flowers and put the strawberry bed back into strawberries.  I was quite slow ordering and ended up with 50 June bearing plants.  Normally, I do 25 June bearing and 25 ever bearing.   Of course, I don't garden alone.  Ella is my gardening partner, or maybe I'm her pine cone throwing partner.  Either way we got the job done.  

She acts like she cares about my gardening, but really she is staring at a pine cone she dropped in the midst of my work (in case I didn't know what she wanted).  She can't understand why I'm not as excited about that pine cone as she is.








I'm also gathering leaves to wrap my roses against the pending winter.  Some went into the compost pile.  I have no idea where the pine cone pursuer is at this point.

I managed to harvest my herbs.  They have been drying for awhile.  They were finally ready to be put in jars and put in the pantry for this winter.  I gathered pine cones for that little planting partner of mine.  When the snow falls it is hard to find her favorite toy.  Needless to say by the nose in the photo, she was very happy about a plethora of pine cones.


The jars hold:  Top left to right; peppermint, blackeyed Susan seeds, parsley.
Bottom left to right; sage, chamomile, thyme.    I will use the peppermint for tea.  The seeds will be gifted and sown around the place.  Parsley is one of my favorite cooking herbs.  I will mix the sage with honey and lemon for sore throats.   The chamomile goes into a hair de-tangler and facial toner.  The thyme will be used with chicken and also in my hair de-tangler 

How is the weather elsewhere?  Do you have a planting partner?  What is your pet's favorite toy?  What are your plans for the harvested herbs?

7 comments:

  1. How lovely to make your own herbs and dry them in this way - that is my plan when I get a garden, I plan on starting off with herbs! Maybe even a kitchen window garden or something. Any hints?

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  2. Awww...I like your planting partner! Our yellow lab likes to lay almost under my feet when I'm in the garden. As for herbs...this year I grew and dried some rosemary, then put it in jars of olive oil to give as gifts.

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  3. My husband and I recently gathered some black walnuts. We hulled them and they are now drying. It's always difficult to crack them and get the nut meats out--but black walnuts are one of my favorite food and well-worth the effort.

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  4. I had some help harvesting, one of my dogs picked peppers all summer to chew. I still have a few things left, but will mow when frost comes. Those leaves are a big job for what little yard area I have. I put them into my garden for some good organic addition.

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  5. Mild weather here. I mowed and dumped leaves on my shrub roses too. I have to know -- did you grow your own chamomile? Is it easy to grow? I always thought I hated chamomile tea until I bought some loose tea from the health food store (German Chamomile) and now I look forward to my evening tea.

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  6. Our plan is to move pots of herbs into the greenhouse for winter and one year to get round to drier the ones that won't overwinter :)

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