Quote of the Day: Monty Don
“The herbs are essential to the kitchen and we aim to provide ourselves with a limitless supply of the principal herbs so that we can cook generously with them rather than treating them as a precious garnish.”
Monty Don from Fork to Fork
In my garden grow many herbs, they’re one of my favorite things to have around. There are culinary herbs, medicinal herbs and tea herbs. It would be very hard to me to sit down and list all of the herbs in my garden, there are far too many. Consider thyme, there are 15 different varieties of thyme growing at Chiot’s Run.
I use mass quantities of herbs every day, at every meal. Of all of the herbs I grow, lemon thyme is probably my most favorite. If I had to choose only it would win. A close second would be cilantro.
Do you grow lots of herbs in your garden? Which is your favorite?
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Garage Queen
I must say, the Sweets is loving her new digs here at Chiot’s Run Maine. Back in Ohio she had a tiny two car garage with a large attached workshop. She had to settle for sleeping on an old rug we had in the back room, or up in the rafters. Here in Maine, she has a HUGE garage complete with a large second story.
On that second floor there are two old comfy couches for her to choose from. I often find her sleeping happily on the one right at the top of the stairs. Some feral cat!
She truly has become the queen of the garage, spending her days lounging contentedly. Pretty soon she’ll be demanding I feed her in a crystal bowl. Life is certainly good if you’re a cat here at Chiot’s Run! She must be doing her job, we haven’t spotted a mouse since she moved in.
Do you have any pampered pets at your place?
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Dealing with Pesky Deer Flies
The deer flies have been TERRIBLE around here this year. Last week I worked in the garden one evening, when I came inside I had been bitten 6 times. One of the bites was on my eyelid. When I woke up the next morning my eye was pretty much swollen shut. The funny thing is that I also had a bite on my cheek on the same side, which was also swollen up about the size of a macaroon. That’s when I searched to find something that might work against them. I came across this post explaining how to build a deer fly trap.
I ordered up the supplies I needed: Tanglefoot Tangle-Trap Brush On Sticky Trap Coating and Blue Plastic Cups. Yes the cup needs to be blue!
All you do is brush the sticky coating on the blue cup and you pin them to your hat. Really, it’s that simple. At first I was worried that it would catch other flying insects as well, like bees, thankfully that didn’t happen.
Our first test of our hats was a trip down to the mailbox, which generally ended with us running back up the hill swatting the swarms of deer flies that were chasing us. Mr Chiots arrived at the house with 9 stuck to his cup and I had 5 stuck to mine. We wore them the entire next day and didn’t notice a deer fly all day. That evening the final count was: 13 deer flies on Mr Chiot’s hat and 9 on mine. They work like a charm.
What’s the biggest garden pest for you, the gardener?
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The Elusive Golden Beet
I love golden beets, there’s just something about that beautiful golden color. Red beets are great too, but the golden ones are my favorites for roasting. Each year I plant seeds for golden beets and end up disappointed. Germination is never as good as it is with the red beets I plant, sometimes none of the seeds germinate.
This year was no different. I planted almost an entire packet of golden beets this spring and only about 15 germinated. The seeds were fresh, or they should have been as they were purchased this spring. My first thought was that I had planted them too early and the soil was too cool. However, I planted more seeds a couple weeks ago and not one seed germinated. I planted red beets last week and they’re already popping out of the soil.
Luckily, I do have a few golden beets in the garden, not as many as I’d like. Next spring I’ll be ordering seed from a different source to see if perhaps the seeds I’ve had in the past were not very fresh (I have tried seed from a few different places). I’ve been very impressed with seeds from Johnny’s and High Mowing, so I’m planning on ordering a packet from each to see how they fare.
If I do find a source of seed that germinates well I might consider trying to save seed from them. Freshness is often a key in good germination.
Is there a vegetable you can’t seem to grow no matter what you try?
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Tying up Your Tomatoes
If you planted tomatoes in your 5×5 Challenge garden you’ll want to provide support for them. It can be something as simple as a large garden post or a beautiful iron trellis. I usually use wooden stakes, but I used two metal trellises in my 5×5 Challenge garden (it is in the front lawn right by my front door).
There’s not really a trick to tying up tomatoes, you just don’t want to tie them too tightly and risk damaging the vines.
I like to use natural jute or hemp rope, but you can use all manner of things. Since I have a lot of tomatoes to tie up, I typically spend time one evening cutting a lot of foot long lengths of rope. This avoids having to stop often to cute lengths of twine, which saves a good deal of time if you’re tying up 30 tomatoe vines!
Tying up tomatoes is quite easy, but it’s a garden chore that shouldn’t be neglected. I check weekly to see if the vines need extra support. If you wait too long the vines have a tendency to sprawl and you risk breaking them when trying to tie them up.
What do you use to support your tomatoes?
