Happy New Year, everyone! I can hardly believe that 2017 marks out 10th year here in Virginia, and my 10th year writing Home Garden Joy. It’s been an incredible journey from moving onto a bare patch of dirt to building up the gardens, orchards, and farm we have today. I look forward to sharing more of my journey with you, hopefully for the next 10 years!
I spent some time this weekend working in the garden and it felt wonderful to be outside again. The trees are dormant, of course, but just walking around the orchard and noticing little details…like how tall the pear trees are now, for instance. They are about 16 feet tall, a far cry from the little twigs we planted 10 years ago. The alley between the apples and peaches is starting to look like a beautiful tunnel of branches, and I hope during the springtime to see a tunnel of green with pink buds like snow sparkling on the ground.
The two pond fish, Snack and Appetizer, are still alive. We may have to do something later this week to protect them from snow if we do get some snow. Right now they lost their cover of lotus leaves after the plants died, but the creeping thyme I planted around the rim of their pond offers a little bit of protection, although not much. I can’t believe how big they grew. If they survive the winter they will be as large as some of the koi I have seen at garden centers. It’s pretty amazing that two tiny pet store goldfish can thrive in a garden pond like that.
The indoor work continues with a seed inventory this week to count up the seeds I have, see what damage our resident mouse did to the seed collection, and mark my orders for next year’s seeds. Yes, despite owning six cats, I have a mouse that’s managed to eat through the squash seeds. We caught the telltale signs near the seeds – droppings, mostly – and put the remaining seed packages in sealed plastic and glass containers so Monsieur Mouse couldn’t eat his way through my spring garden seeds. As for my lazy cats…no comment.
There’s so much I want to accomplish in the garden for 2017. I am continuing my herbal studies and am brewing all sorts of wonderful healing teas in my kitchen along with immune-boosting tonics like fire cider. Never heard of fire cider? I never did either until this year when Mountain Rose Herbs published a blog post about it. Soon, I started noticing articles about it everywhere, and by chance, I accidentally pulled up some horseradish root when I was cutting back the asparagus two weeks ago. Perhaps it wasn’t by chance – fresh, grated organic horseradish root is an ingredient in fire cider. I made a batch this weekend and it is in the pantry today aging. It smells good even if it needs a few more weeks until I can taste it.
The fire cider, freshly made and aging in my pantry.
I hope to expand the healing herb garden this spring, adding tulsi (holy basil), lemon thyme, and more lemon balm to the garden. I would like to take cuttings of my lavender “forest” and expand my lavender collection, as well as expand my mint and rosemary too. In addition to drying more herbs, I can’t wait to craft more personal items for my family’s use, including flower essences, herbal teas, and tinctures.
Herbs from my garden dried for winter use. Most jars have labels on the lids.
The butterfly garden needs extensive cleanup, as does the new perennial area we just cleared. The wire grass has really taken over the corners of that area and it will take some hard work to clear it out by hand.
In the vegetable garden, I would like to get a real pea trellis so my poor pea plants don’t have to rely on my string trellis that always looks like a kindergartener made them; and I’d like to order some floating row covers so that I can keep the squash beetles off of my plants without pesticides.
And I am, as always, continuing to look for the best plant markers I can find. I’ve used old blinds, cans, popsicle sticks, you name it and the ink always fades or the sticks break. Any ideas? What do you use in your garden?
2017 holds so much promise. Here’s to a happy, healthy gardening new year for us all!
