Signs of spring and renewal

Spring! In the form of forsythia forced to bloom indoors.

I’ve been away. I’m sorry for neglecting to tend this blog, my garden, my life.

Winter came and it was cold and damp and the sun didn’t shine for days. Some of you out there understand the condition known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) which afflicts people during the dark of the year. I could never live in the Pacific northwest because of the weather, the leaden sky, the incessant rain. I know it can be beautiful there and I remember a particularly spectacular July when I visited Seattle for business when the sky was blue and the air was crisp while back home it was humid and 98 degrees at 10 o’clock in the morning.

And there have been changes at our little estate on Lydia Street.  A job I (Dianna) held for almost exactly 12 years abruptly ended. And Christe added a part-time position as the choir director for a Unitarian Universalist church that we both love. And our close friends decided to become foster parents to a new baby two months before they learned they were pregnant meaning that our weekly “family dinners” are plus one and aren’t every week any longer.

Soon I’ll post photos of our new/shared home office and music studio where I’m starting my freelance writing and communications consulting practice. I’ll also get back into the Friday Dog Photo routine and share my (almost perfected) scone recipe.

And if the weather WOULD EVER WARM UP I’ll write about how we’re composting and show you early spring garden clean-up photos and share our garden plans for the upcoming season.

Thanks for your patience.

~ Dianna

Things to do with all that mint in your garden

Mint (photo from Rustic Garden Bistro) http://www.rusticgardenbistro.com/mint/

Mint! It’s one of those cottage-garden mainstays (once you plant it you just can’t get rid of it) and it WILL be a favorite of mine, once my transplants take root and spread.

You see, we enlarged our gardens (they are now 3 times bigger!) and are working hard to plant and transplant all the wonderful things we’ve received from friends and family in the new beds. As a result, there are some sparse and non-photogenic parts to our garden that we’d prefer not to show you.  This photo of mint is from the lovely people at Rustic Garden Bistro.

But what can you do with all of that wonderful, fragrant mint? Make Mint Juleps, of course!

Dear friends, we live in Louisville, Kentucky. That’s the home of the world-renowned horse race the Kentucky Derby which happens every year on the first Saturday in May. The signature spirit in Kentucky is bourbon. And the signature cocktail for the derby is the Mint Julep.

Now that “small batch” bourbons are becoming popular, there are so many more choices for your Mint Julep recipes. Our “house” bourbons are Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare but we also keep Woodford Reserve on hand. Maker’s Mark isn’t stored in our liquor cabinet — it’s in our kitchen cabinet because we love it for cooking (bourbon-basted roast beef anyone?).

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that a very famous brand of Tennessee Whiskey is bourbon — it’s not. Blasphemy!

For your Mint Juleps this year, we’d recommend Basil Hayden’s. Known as a good “starter” bourbon for new bourbon drinkers, it also mixes well and is, as they say, easy to drink. Here’s our recipe:

First thing: Make a simple syrup (just put a cup of sugar and a cup of water in a pan and boil until the sugar is dissolved. Store in your refrigerator for the week).

Next thing: Pick fresh mint from your lovely garden. Wash and dry very gently.

A mint julep at the Brown Hotel. (Photo by my friend Dana McMahan.)

Third thing: Chip or crush your ice cubes. You do NOT want large cubes but you will want a lot of ice.

Fourth thing: Polish your sterling silver julep cups until they shine like the sun. (Just kidding. Grab a tall narrow glass.)

In the bottom of the glass pour 1 ounce of the simple syrup. Add a few crushed mint leaves. Muddle them (that means stir them around with a spoon) to release the fragrance of the mint into the syrup. IMPORTANT – Remove the crushed mint leaves.

Fill the glass with crushed/chipped ice. Add 2 1/2 ounces Basil Hayden’s. Stir to mix the bourbon and the simple syrup and to allow the ice to begin to melt.

Garnish with another sprig of fresh mint. Add a straw if you’re that kind of person.

Sip your julep while sitting on your veranda.  Choose the horse you’ll be betting on in the big race on Saturday. Enjoy.

Our tip: Never bet on a horse with liquor in its name.

Tiny maple tree

Japanese maple (with spent tulips in foreground)

This little tree gets more beautiful each year. Only 18 inches tall and 30-40 inches wide, it makes a huge statement with its deep red leaves and graceful shape.

That fuzzy stuff under the tree is wooly thyme.

Growing basil from seed

This year we started basil seeds (outside! it’s been so warm!) so that we would have plenty of basil for ourselves and to share.

Basil seedlings

And let me tell you — if all of these baby seedlings turn into healthy plants we will have PLENTY to share.

Having fresh basil on hand is something we can no longer live without. Each year we seem to grow more and more of it.

Most of it ends up as pesto and just last week we used some of last year’s frozen for a wonderful pesto chicken recipe.

Hostas love shade and we love hostas

The front garden has a shady area under the weeping cherry tree that we’ve planted with hosta and daylily. This garden started a few years ago with just a few hosta and a few lilies and every year we divide the plants to make the garden fuller. There’s also a rose bush at the corner of the house and we added lirope (foreground along the sidewalk) and  croscrosmia (which you can see in the back of this photo if you look really hard) to help define the space.

Our goal is to keep dividing the hosta in such a way that it completely covers the ground when it’s fully leafed out. The various varieties we have keep the garden interesting. We don’t know the names of all of the different types because the original plants came from friends and neighbors.

One thing I wish we’d been more aware of last year when we were dividing/replanting was to mix the varieties so that no two of the same are next to one another. We’ll probably move some thing around this spring before everything gets completely established — and I’ll add more photos later to show how full the bed actually gets.

Don’t you love hosta too? What’s your favorite variety? Variegated or solid? Light green, dark or “blue”?

Isn’t it nice to have friends who share?

This weekend was all about planting things we’d gathered from our friends’ gardens. Last summer we told all of our gardener friends that we’d love to have some plants from their gardens if they were willing to share. So this spring, when everything started to come up we got calls from people who said “Do you still want some plants?”

“Yes, of course!” Have shovel, will travel! We spent about 45 minutes digging Japanese Iris, Monarda, Toad Lily, Black-eyed Susan, Wisteria, Winter Iris and other plants from our friend Carol’s garden. These tiny starts will be perfect to fill in the spots where we had planted annuals last year.

We also planted Crocosmia and Blackberry Lily lifted from Linda’s garden a few weeks ago.

The fierce storm we had during the week knocked all of the blooms from the Weeping Cherry, leaving blossoms on the ground that looked like snow. We’re sad to see all of the blooms disappearing so quickly and hope that this early Spring we’re having doesn’t mean that a sudden cold snap will damage the plants that have already gotten a head start.

Most of the clean-up of dead plant material is finished — next up — dividing the Hostas with a goal of total coverage this year.

Steps to adding plants in your garden — without spending a dime

Our goal is spend less on the garden this year.

Christe had developed  a good plan and foundation for the garden in the years she lived here before I moved in, a nice weeping cherry tree, phlox and ground cover plants on the steep hill and some hosta and lilies.

Today we dug up our liriope, divided it and replanted it. Lirope, like hosta, spreads and grows a little bit larger every growing season. It was lush and thick on either side of the front steps and we wanted to bring it up  to the top of the hill and use it to border the sidewalk on both sides.

Christe dug up everything and carefully divided the plants into somewhat equal-looking sizes. She laid them along the area where we wanted them to see if we had enough to fill and it was amazing to see just how many plants we really had. These plants would have cost at least $3 or $4 each at a garden center but for us they were FREE! We ended up with 31 individual plants meaning we saved about $100 altogether.

We started planting them together, Christe digging out a shovel or two of dirt while I arranged the plant in the hole and filled it. We started at the top of the hill and worked our way back down to the steps (where there were already gaping holes) and we had plenty of extra dirt at the end for filler. I’m glad we did this at the beginning of the season because this way they will have time to get used to their new location and will look great when the other plants come in strong around them.

 

We planted salad!

This weekend has been warm and sunny and although our to-do list was long we managed to find time to visit our favorite greenhouse to pick up some already-sprouted lettuces, spinach and herbs.

Thienemans Herbs is an old-fashioned, family-owned operation where you can find herbs and perennials, heirloom tomatoes and more. We like it because it specializes in PLANTS — you won’t find garden gnomes or bric-a-brac — just healthy plants and good advice.

Last year we didn’t plant lettuces or herbs until mid-April but this year, because we had such a mild winter, many of our herbs wintered over. Our parsley is as green as ever, as is the oregano.

Our “salad bar” grows in Earth Boxes on the south-facing, sunny side of the house — just steps from our back door. We have five boxes, which is enough for our favorite kitchen herbs.  When the early salad greens are finished we fill in with basil plants that we use fresh and harvest for pesto.

Just to be on the safe side, we’re using upturned mason jars as mini-greenhouses until we’re sure freezing temperatures are gone. The jars are just the right size for the tiny plants. One of the features I love about the Earth Boxes is that you water them through a tube and the moisture comes up through the bottom of the box. That helps keep these delicate plants from washing away and the boxes don’t dry out as fast as other containers might.

It feels good to be in the sunshine and in the garden. And I’m sure we’ll enjoy eating from the varieties of healthy greens later in the season.

Waiting for spring

We had tornadoes and snow in the same week. How does that even happen?

Today was warm and almost sunny and I’m looking forward to real spring so I can work in the garden. In the meantime, let’s all look at this photo, taken last year in April.