The Potting Shed (Part 1)

[Blueberry]

I was gardening a bit today mostly planting oldish hyacinth bulbs, which may or may not come up again in spring. But at least they're no longer hanging around the basement waiting to be planted maybe, sometime. Also sowed hand-collected seeds, like pinks, cosmos and colt's foot. I never seem to have time or get round to it in spring. Some seeds germinate years later, others don't. I'll see.

It feels good anyway because I'm using up resources I have instead of stock-piling. It feels as if there are fewer jobs to do now, and more space in my apartment and/or basement for other things. Not that seeds take up much room. But somehow that's the feeling - more space. More space in my mind and soul.

[Blueberry]

Well, my ground elder is still on the go in the kitchen. Not enough for a salad or anything, but a few leaves a day. Maybe it'll grow more profusely the longer it sits there. I'll see.

I put some seeds in my really mini-greenhouse, which sits on the kitchen inside window-ledge, and they're all up and flourishing. So today I put one variety into bigger pots to grow properly. Unfortunately I didn't note which seeds I put in the green house  so it'll be interesting to see what comes up. They're herbs, that I know, but which? The other mini-greenhouse variety is still in the greenhouse - could do with a bit more time in there. Don't know what it is either 

It's time I started harvesting and using Jerusalem artichokes. The plants are completely grey. Well, we've had some night-time frosts so not surprising. Though other plants are still green.

P.S. One type of seed is chervil - that I can see now. The other might be rocket, but I still have to wait and see.

[Hope66]

Hi Blueberry,
I made a soup once from Jerusalem Artichokes - what do you think you'll do with yours?  Great that you're been planting seeds in the greenhouse etc, and it must be great to see them grow.

Hope you're ok and that the day on the farm went ok.

I might plant something - on my window sill - I often start things and then don't manage to tend them for long enough to see the resulting plant!

Hope 

[Blueberry]

Hi Hope,

I'm not too green-thumbed indoors either! But I thought I'd try this year. Today I harvested enough ground elder to add to my bread and cheese and there are a good few shoots appearing in the soil for the next little while.

Today I just boiled up a few J. artichokes as I would potatoes. You're meant to start consuming small amounts at first so as not to wreak havoc with your digestive system. There are lots of recipes online, so maybe I will get more adventurous as time goes by.

Day on the farm was fine, thanks. I was there early today too since a client cancelled.

It snowed here today so not so much left to do this year in the outside garden. Just as well I have my window-sill garden.

Blueberry

[Blueberry]

Two of the seeds I was trying out on my window sill are hokkaido squash, really old seeds too. One of them sprouted a while ago and is now big and strong. I re-potted it today to give it more room. I'm not seriously thinking it'll even bloom, never mind produce squash but I just wanted to see if it's worth keeping the rest of those seeds to start them off inside in the spring and move them out into the garden in about May. Oh those northern climes  Yes! It is worth it.

Chervil, ground elder and what might be rocket are all not doing too well. But that's OK. I'm glad I tried them. You'll never know till you try. I eat a few leaves of the chervil and ground elder from time to time but rocket isn't even recognisable.

[Blueberry]

Well, my ground elder is still on the go in the kitchen. Not enough for a salad or anything, but a few leaves a day. Maybe it'll grow more profusely the longer it sits there.

One type of seed is chervil - that I can see now. The other might be rocket, but I still have to wait and see.

The ground elder is not growing any more profusely even though it's being sitting there in the kitchen for a while now. In fact, I'd say it's doing worse. Oh well, it was worth trying.

The chervil is doing even less well and the thing that might have been rocket has given up.

Out in the real garden some patches of snowdrops are up. There's lots of moss including in one of my beds. A nice little job clearing that sometime to let air back into the soil and space for something else to grow. Much better activity for my fingers than SH.

Then I noticed a few things growing where I'm wondering if that's a new interesting flower and / or edible weed or is it something I'd best dig out soon before it takes over the lawn? But I do have some time to check gardening books / Internet since the soil is undoubtedly still pretty frozen. It's just that there's no snow atm. It's only February and we could still be hit by a nice blast of Arctic air to cool everything off again.  Brr.

[Three Roses]

I'm getting excited for spring! Have plans to do echevaria, amaranth, nasturtiums, pumpkin, hellebore... can't wait to get started! 🌻🌺🌼

[Blueberry]

Sounds great, 3Roses! We had a hard frost last night so there won't be anything going on soon round here.

[sanmagic7]

i've never realized this was here before, but so glad i found it.  i love gardening, have had one everywhere i've been if it's at all possible.  one of my best results was in mexico with an orange tree.  the biggest, sweetest oranges i've ever had anywhere, including from calif. orchards.

i'm hoping someday to live in a place where i can have a garden again.  that would be the best. 

i have to admit that most of what i've read on here i'm not familiar with - jerusalem artichokes, chervil, ground elder.  don't have any experience with them, wouldn't know what to do with them.   i've pretty much stuck to the basics - tomatoes, peppers, corn.  those have been my most positive results.

i always like experimenting, especially with heirloom seeds, but haven't had much luck.  i'll keep giving it a shot if i get the chance, tho.  in the meantime, i'll come here and read about what's going on with you other gardeners. 

[Blueberry]

Welcome to the Potting Shed, san!

Chervil is a herb which looks a bit like parsley but has a tangier taste. Ground elder, also called bishop's weed, is a prolific weed in Western Europe. Idk if it grows anywhere else. If you don't have it in your garden, don't plant it. You will never get rid of it. But if you have it, one way to keep it in check is to eat it. In comparison to many wild herbs (aka weeds), it has a fairly mild flavour, not so bitter.

Jerusalem artichockes - the plant is related to sunflowers, but with a smaller, less showy flower. It's the root you eat. They look a bit like small potatoes and maybe they taste like artichokes? I think they are also called sunchokes, come to think of it.

Basics depend on where you live! Our growing season isn't long enough for tomatoes without a greenhouse, lots of care, and fertiliser/compost. Same with peppers. Corn?? Not even sure that any of the farmers round here plant it.

My basics are things that grow more or less on their own and are uninteresting to slugs

[sanmagic7]

thanks for the info, blueberry. 

i do like herbs and other greens, use them regularly in my food, but have never really grown them.  the places i've been, i haven't really had access to edible weeds very much, except dandelions.

where i am now, bramble berries run rife.  they're all over the place.  last summer, i'd walk to a park at the end of my street and pick containers of them (black raspberries, in this instance) to eat with my yogurt.  blueberries and blackberries grow like weeds here, too.  people here consider them to be weeds.  i consider them to be treasures!

[Blueberry]

oh yes, blackberries and blueberries are treasures - so full of vitamins. Blueberries are also pretty expensive here, so I like to pick my own in the countryside. This past year there were none. A late frost wiped them all out.

Our garden is covered in snow again, so not much going on there in the next little while.

[Blueberry]

Snow's all gone again. I did a little garden clear up today (well, um, yesterday actually  ). It's time I put some more seeds in my mini-greenhouse on my kitchen window ledge so that I can put the plants out in about May when the hard frosts are all over. Some seeds could go directly into the garden and be covered too though.

Wild garlic harvest should be coming up too. I don't have it in my garden actually, but a friend does and she doesn't like it, so I'm welcome to go and pick. I could make pesto with it. Another friend did that last year and gave me a little jar of it. It's a good  way of preserving since there's tons of wild garlic all at once which you can only harvest before it flowers.

Just thinking about my garden makes me feel energised and kind of peaceful too.

[Blueberry]

He he, garden's covered in a blanket of snow. 

[Three Roses]

Hubby surprised me by buying a ton of seeds for different types of blue flowers. I'm going to try to focus on mainly blues this season - delphinium, forget me nots, lithodora and blue salvia.