Sunday, June 29, 2008

New Plants in the Garden

I have had to find homes for some of my herbs outside of the raised bed. Since I first thought I had waited too late to buy vegetable plants, I bought herbs to fill my bed. Then, later finding some good plants at Home Depot, I bought vegetables too so my driveway flower bed has become home to basil, parsley, salad burnet, and rosemary.

The bed had been overrun with weeds and I had a losing battle getting rid of them. Brian and I basically shoveled of the top of the bed weeds and all and then backfilled with MiracleGro Organic Choice Garden Soil. Then I covered the soil with weed barrier cloth followed by an organic mulch.

To plant the herbs, I brushed back the mulch then, using scissors, I cut an "X" in the cloth, scooped back the soil and placed the plant. Next I pushed back the soil and then folded back the weed barrier around the base of the plant. The final step was to tuck the mulch in around the plant.

Most of the herb seedlings will need to be trimmed up to give the roots a chance to develop. The great thing about trimming the herbs back is that you get to eat the trimmings! I added basil, parsley and salad burnet to our dinner salad Friday night. The flavor was incredible. I am looking forward to more herbs as they grow. With all the basil plants that need trimming I will by some pine nuts next time I go to the grocery so that I can make some pesto sauce. Yum!

The raised bed was a pleasure to plant. The growing medium mix was easy to push back by hand. The best part is knowing I will never have to till this bed! Pictured below is the left side of garden. Left to right: Two tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, dill, zucchini, two more peppers.

Zucchini tucked into a 2' x 2' corner of the bed.



Right side of bed. Left to right starting at the top: two tomatoes, dill, rosemary, white eggplant,
three varieties of oregano, basil, purple eggplant.


Tomatoes in circular wire cages. Tomato on the left is an heirloom variety purchased at Home Depot. All the plants I purchased at Home Depot came in organic, biodegradable peat pots. No need to take the plants out of the pots which is healthier for the roots.


Two eggplants in the corner of the bed. The smaller one is a purple eggplant and the larger is a white eggplant. The herb on the left is a small-leaved basil and on the right is a rosemary.


I will add the varieties of each plant later to this post. The plants were rather stressed and root bound. I will research the best way to give them a boost organically and let you know what I find. They have definitely perked up now that they are sitting in rich garden soil. Next on the agenda is to get a soaker hose for the front herb bed and a timer. The timer is working very nicely in the raised bed. It is nice to know the bed is being watered at regular times no matter where I may be.

I also have to get creative again since I purchased seeds to plant and I need to find a place to plant them. I have three varieties of bush beans, okra, and cilantro.

I called Uncle Jim's Worm Farm yesterday since my red wrigglers had yet to arrive. Turns out they only ship on Mondays, so my worms ship tomorrow. I turned my compost bins yesterday and incorporated recent grass clippings and the dirt and weeds we raked off the driveway garden bed. The recent addition of manure last time I turned the compost really made a difference. I will be adding red wrigglers to the compost once they arrive. From what I read on Uncle Jim's site, I am hoping for even better composted results with the help of the worms. I will also be putting worms right into the raised bed where they can start creating nutrient rich castings to help feed my plants.

Leon Russell is the Bomb!Another weekend has passed and the work week awaits. We had a great weekend in the garden. We also went to Knuckleheads Saturday night to see Leon Russell in concert. It was so nice to see Leon again! He puts on a fantastic show and his band is excellent. I can't remember a concert that just made me smile like Leon Russell's. Pure fun. Seeing Leon Russell in this small venue was a dream.
Four Fried Chickens and a Coke Rock!
The opening band was a local group: Four Fried Chickens and a Coke. First time for us to see FFCC. We will plan to see them again. Good local band show.

If you are in KC and get the chance to go, Knuckleheads is a blast. It's an adventure just getting there. It is tucked back into the "east-bottoms" on the rail road tracks and sometimes the road in is blocked by a parked train. GPS comes in handy. You really wonder what the place will be like as you drive by the industrial area and trains, but once in the place you discover it is a little music paradise of a dive bar. They have received several awards and most recently the "Keepin' the Blues Alive 2008" award. I first experienced it when my daughter invited me to go with her and her girlfriends to see Cowboy Mouth. I was sure I had lost half my hearing the next day, but it was so much fun.

Today we spent more time at Oceans of Fun. It was like a mini-vacation this weekend. Gardening, blogging, concerts, swimming - weekends are my happy time.

Buzz it up

6 comments:

Price said...

Great photos from the garden! We're experimenting with salad burnet this year...have you made anything with it yet?

The band's name - Four Fried Chickens and a Coke- may be the best one ever.

Price said...

Oh, and Joy...I just added a link to your blog from mine. Just FYI. Thanks so much for linking to my feed. ;-)

Liberally Beautiful said...

You are welcome!

We have had some of the salad burnet raw in our salad and it was very good. It has a sweet almost cucumber or melon taste.

I also toasted a bagel and spread it with cream cheese and the topped it with salad burnet, basil, and parsley all trimmed from my garden herbs. It was very tasty!

Here is an interesting article about salad burnet that you may enjoy. It seems to be a plant enjoyed in colonial America having been first brought to the new world from Europe by the Pilgrims. That might just qualify the humble plant as a heritage or heirloom plant.

Liberally Beautiful said...

Another salad burnet idea: Cranberry/Raspberry Cider
(makes one serving)
1/2 cup Woodchuck Raspberry Draft Cider
1/2 cup Kirkland Cranberry/Raspberry juice
2-3 sprigs of salad burnet.

Pour the chilled cider and juice into a stem wine glass and float the springs in the cider. Or you can snip the leaves off and just float the leaves in the cider. Makes a pretty and refreshing adult beverage.

anajz said...

I know you are excited about receiving your worms. I have a worm bin in my kitchen that is great for some of my kitchen scraps.

Living in the "middle of nowhere" we have few opportunities to attend concerts, except during Dodge City Days. Visiting dives and listening to some real home music is something I miss the most from my days of living in the Dallas area. Adairs and Luke's Outhouse were my dives of choice back in the day. :)

Price said...

Thanks for the tips and info. on the salad burnet. I don't have any cider, but I do enjoy sparkling water with cranberry and pomegranate juice..I might try dropping in a few leaves tonight. Can't hurt, right?

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