Winter Interest
One of the things I love about hydrangeas is the winter interest they add to the garden. The dried blossoms look great throughout the winter, though this time of year they’re starting to snap off and tumbleweed across the yard during wind storms.
These are ‘Annabelle’ hydrangeas that look fantastic in the summer. You can see the echo of their summer glory.
None of my other hydrangeas have any dried blooms left, they are all planted in areas that get quite a bit of wind. Only these bushes planted up against the house get enough protection.
Hopefully, as hedges grow and windbreaks are planted more and more of them will retain blooms throughout the winter to add some much needed interest in the garden.
What’s your favorite shrub for winter interest in the garden?
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Grow Light Garden
Now that it’s almost time to start planting things directly in the ground outside, I have my indoor winter grow light garden going in full swing.
I’ve been harvesting greens for salads each evening, along with lots of cilantro and arugula for breakfast.
I water every Sunday with a diluted liquid kelp fertilizer, it seems to be keeping the greens growing nicely and producing lots of fresh leaves each week.
Grow light space will become quite limited soon, this past weekend I started four flats of onions and three half flats of other things (celery, fennel, and flowers).
What’s under your grow lights this week?
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Finishing up the Syrup
Sugaring season was a bit early this year, thankfully I got out and tapped the trees as soon as I did, it may not last much longer. The good thing about working from home is that I can be boiling sap while I work, the bad thing is that sometimes I get into a project and completely forget to check the sap every hour.
In the age of cellphones, I can now set my phone timer to remind me to check. As the syrup near completion, I check it every 15 minutes.
As it gets really close, it needs constant monitoring. Yesterday, I finished off 4 liters of syrup. That should be just enough for us for the year, we use a lot of maple syrup in cooking. If the sap keeps flowing, I’ll make more syrup for gifting and bartering.
What’s your favorite natural sweetener?
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Back Up Again
Years ago, my mom gave me this stitched clock. She made it when she was pregnant with me and living in the Amazon jungle in San Jose del Guaviare in Colombia, S.A. (perhaps some of you don’t know I was born in Colombia). I believe it was a kit that she purchased.
I’ve always loved it, for a lot of reasons. It’s quaint, it’s cute, it’s handmade. My dad made the frame/box. It has a very questionably attached piece of glass in the front, the wire is held on by small nails. I would like to figure out how to clean it, though I’m not sure if I can. It seems to have been glued to a piece of plywood before being mounted.
In our home in Ohio, it had a special spot in our living room. When we moved to Maine, I wasn’t sure where to hang it, so it was stored in the spare bedroom. This past weekend I finally decided to hang it in the dining room. It’s not the perfect spot, but it’s better than nothing. I love being able to see it as I walk by. Because of the placement I see it about 50 times a day and it makes me smile. Reminds me of my mom.
Do you have any family treasures that you keep in prominent places so you can see them frequently?
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Fresh Cilantro
I’m finally harvesting my own homegrown cilantro from under the grow lights and it’s AMAZING!!! I made a large batch of both corn salsa and guacamole the other evening for dinner. Freshly harvested cilantro is always much tastier than the stuff from the grocery store, much cheaper too.
I have the plants growing in soil blocks and this harvest was a thinning. I’ll let one plant continue growing in each block. In the past, I’ve grow in in a deeper windowbox style container. It did OK, but eventually got aphids. I’m thinking this method may work better, especially if I seed in succession.
Are you harvesting anything for your plate?
