Potted Parsley

With winter coming, one of the things the bunnies and I really miss is all of the wonderful fresh herbs from the garden.  In the summer, I grow parsley, rosemary, basil, chives, and several kinds of mint.  Every summer morning, I bring in a "bunny salad" of various greens and herbs for the rabbits.  I use a lot of these herbs in my cooking too.

Caterpillars on the Parsley

Black swallowtail larvae on parsley

This evening I found eight little caterpillars on one parsley plant that I am growing in a mixed container out on the patio, and fifteen more on another plant out in the veggie garden. They are fascinating-looking little guys, mostly black with white stripes. Even though I hate to lose the parsley, I'm leaving them alone to enjoy their meal. I hope that at least some of them make it to adulthood, as they are the larval stage of a really lovely butterfly, the black swallowtail.

Edible Garden Update

Strawberries in stacking planter

This morning I picked six strawberries. There are lots more that should be ripe in the next several days.  I don't have a large strawberry bed; just one small area along the driveway, and the stacking planter described in a recent post.  But it's enough to give me a handful of tasty berries day after day here in the spring; and since those planted in the stacking planter are an ever-bearing variety, I get a few along throughout the summer. Even a few strawberries are great on cereal or salads.

Results on Overwintering Plants

Pop-up greenhouse

Last fall I moved a number of plants indoors for the winter, and others into my little pop-up greenhouse.  Those I cherished most, or were most in need of warmth, like the lemon tree, geraniums and  the jasmine, ended up in the house.  Other plants that went into the greenhouse for the winter included one pot of mint, a potted patio tomato, the papyrus plant from the pond, petunias, rosemary, basil, parsley, and the stacking planter of strawberries.

This greenhouse is just a layer of heavy plastic, and is unheated, so it has been an interesting experiment to see what difference it could make in helping plants survive the winter.

Enjoying the Harvest

Garden Fresh

I just finished a tasty little salad earlier; with fresh tomatoes, peppers, radishes, parsley and mint from my garden.  The cucumbers, feta cheese and olives were courtesy of Dillons.  But since most of the ingredients were from my garden, it was a great feeling to sit down to a meal of fresh stuff I'd grown, and had just picked minutes before.

I'm hoping to have even more variety coming in soon.  The green beans, cucumbers and cantaloupe vines are all blooming, and the sweet corn is growing fast.

April Showers

We may get the first April shower of the year tonight. Rain has been forecast for yesterday and today, but nothing has come down so far. We don't really need it after the big rains last week, but I planted things over the weekend that would probably do better with some moisture as they get established. I did a lot of weeding over the weekend, but I did plant out a few more flowers and veggies.

Trying Something New!

Last weekend a friend and I went to Dutch's Greenhouse to get a little fix of spring. We enjoyed wandering through looking at all the tiny seedlings, and just soaking in the incredible aroma of fresh growing things.

While there, I noticed some little plants getting a start, but not in the usual potting soil. I checked it closer, and it seemed to be brown styrofoam.