Friday Favorite: Compost Treasures
It’s always a happy find when you come across something that shouldn’t be in the compost pile. On Sunday I came across a fork. I’ve been known to find all sorts of things in the compost pile, knives, wood spoons, serving spoons, lids, etc.
What sorts of things have you found in your compost pile?
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Harvesting Popcorn
One of the things I’ve been working on this week is harvesting the popcorn. While you’re supposed to let it dry on the stalks, there’s rain in the forecast and I don’t want it to mold. Plus we’ve had a pesky raccoon that’s been getting in and eating a few bits off of each ear, ruining about a third of our crop so far.
I grew four different varieties of popcorn this year, hoping for a four color mix. The black popcorn outperformed them all and did beautifully. Amazingly, it was also the least favorite for the raccoons. You can bet I’ll be growing this variety again in the future! Popcorn is one of our favorite snacks, we love making it the old fashioned way in a big pot on the stove with lots of ghee.
Are you a lover of popcorn?
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Rest Stops Along the Way
Last winter I read about how planting things like tithonia and zinnias in the garden provided important rest stops for migrating monarchs and hummingbirds. This year I have a huge patch of both in the main vegetable garden behind the barn, planted just for this reason. I’ve been watching dutifully to see if the monarchs would stop by on their migration. Sure enough they have…
Not only are the monarchs and other butterflies enjoying this patch of flowers, the bees are loving them as well.
I’m more than happy to plant a large patch of plants to provide much needed sustenance for the monarch and other pollinators in the fall. It’s always a happy thing to see the results of your efforts, even on such a small scale. We can make a difference, even if it is just by planting a few late blooming plants in our gardens to provide much needed rest stops for migrating monarchs and hummingbirds.
Do you have any late blooming plants that the butterflies and bees are loving?
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Friday Favorite: Springtime Cassis
This spring, I started seeds for Springtime Cassis. They germinated beautifully and I had a mass number of plants to use in the garden. When they started blooming I loved their variety of colors.
I expected them to quit blooming once the hot weather and the drought hit, but they just kept on going and going. They’re still looking fantastic and blooming beautifully.
Generally I’m not a huge fan of annuals, they’re a big showy and flamboyant for my tastes. These beauties are different, from now on I’ll be starting a flat of them every spring.
What’s your favorite annual for long term color?
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Monarda (Bee Balm)
I have a very large patch of monarda in the potager, in fact I keep splitting it to increase the amount that I have. It’s a lovely plant, drought tolerant, easy care, and beautiful. The pollinators love it more than I do, it’s a constant buzz during it’s long blooming season. Besides the lovely pink/purple blooms, my favorite quality is that it outcompetes weeds like no other plant. It spread vigorously, but is really easy to pull the offshoots if you want to maintain the size of the plant. Since I have a very large garden space, I’m not worried about the spreading. In fact, I’m thinking of dividing mine again so that it can fill a 1000 sq foot hillside that I don’t want to weed or mow.
With such a large patch, I’m now in need of companion plants, one, maybe two, that will combine well with the monarda. They need to be tall, my monarda is between four and five feet tall. Right now I’m thinking a large planting of ‘limelight’ hydrangea would be nice, and perhaps a variegated grass as well.
