Y’all know I I have bonsai and vegetables. No vegetables made it through the winter, so today I cleared a place in the garden for six chard plants. Anyone who has grown chard knows this is enough for two or even three families so my neighbors will have chard this year.

My deciduous bonsai are now leaf out and look gorgeous. Heck in two weeks I’ll be giving away chard ha ha.

In the title, I put optimistically. I had brain surgery three months ago so today I felt optimistic enough to plant chard. There is not enough sun in this spot for tomatoes, so I will have peas and radishes and garlic. I have done carrots, but they end up short and fat.

Anyhow, since my 90 days recovery was up March 7, I have been feeling more and more optimistic about the future.

Is anyone else putting in a garden?

CDFIngers

I'm starting an herb garden. Starting with cilantro and sweet basil - chives, rosemary, thyme to follow. Already planted garlic in fall, but appears only two survived. Mint is coming along quite well and will be plentiful come Kentucky Derby.

BTW, Stay optimistic and heal well.

Yes, I forgot to add basil to my list. I have rosemary and thyme already in the backyard. Yeah I am hanging in there. Thanks.

CDFIngers

Wow CDF, I had no idea. My best thoughts and prayers to you in recovery.

Also, bonsi pictures please.

Good work Professor!
Speedy recovery. Bountiful greenery.

CDFingers wrote: Wed Mar 20, 2024 8:23 pm Yes, I forgot to add basil to my list. I have rosemary and thyme already in the backyard. Yeah I am hanging in there. Thanks.

CDFIngers

I didn't know, CD. Now I feel like you're one of my brethren, having had SERIOUSLY major surgery, especially in the last year.

Once my mom planted mint, we always had more fresh mint, spearmint and peppermint, than we knew what to do with. Didn't need tending, just came back year after year after year!

Last year was a "Start over" year for garden growing for me (first year in new-to-us house). It was not a huge success, but it wasn't a total flop, either.

It doesn't help that I lack the gene my grandfather had for growing stuff. He could put a broken stick in the ground and have a tree two years later. Seriously, he could pick produce from his garden in February. In Williamsburg VA. My thumbs aren't green, they're black from the truck grease (I used to be a truck mechanic for U-Haul).

That said, last year was our first year with raised beds made of IBC totes cut in half (based on what this guy shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InQW7838HrM&t=578s ). A friend found me two IBC totes at "the right price" (i.e. I had to haul them off). I have some drainage issues in the yard that I need to hire a contractor to help me resolve, and then I'll have an area for another set of four raised beds built on the same concept, if I get that far this year.

My wife was talking about putting in cole crops the other day.

We'll see how it goes.

Good for you, CDF!

Me? Starting a garden would be a clear sign of pessimism. Not only would it indicate my lack of faith in the future of stable trade and food production, it would also mean the local wildlife had been wiped out.

I could try ranching deer though.

I like chard. We haven't planted any this year. However, our kale from last year is still kicking and looking pretty good. We usually do some lemon cucumbers. We'll be trying eggplant this year which is not my favorite but is delicious grilled. Last year, we also did potatoes which were superior to store bought in every way. Mostly, we experiment with a bit of this an that.

I forgot also to mention our mint. My wife brought some home from her grandparents' garden in Indiana about twenty five years ago. One sprig. We rooted it and planted it. Yes. I could harvest a bale of it if I didn't hack it back. But I must say, during the hot summer months of California's northern Sacramento Valley, pretty much nothing beats the heat better than mint tea. I prefer it ambient temperature, and I make it the sun tea way. A bit of sugar. My wife prefers it iced. But somehow it beats the heat.

Our rosemary is in a similar state. Twenty or so years ago we planed one sprig. Now it's everywhere unless I harvest it. A little goes a long way. During mosquito seasons I rub a sprig of it over my hair and clothes if I'll be out around sunset. Mozzies hates rosemary for some reason. Works for me.

CDFingers

Forecast calls for 6-10" of snow Saturday, so no outdoor gardening yet, though the tulips and daffys have shown their faces in the last week or so. Our gardening (my wife's gardening technically) is limited to flowers, which never make it more than a day or two before becoming deer browse, rather than veg. And the only heirloom plant we've got that I'm aware of is an indoor plant, Swedish ivy from the White House. Which is pretty cool when you think about it. Maybe I'll learn to propagate.

https://www.instagram.com/ovalofficeivy/

Water is too expensive where I live for a vegetable garden, maybe my next house. Nothing but desert landscaping around here, no lawns or things that have to be watered.

Glad to hear you're mending CDF, it just takes time. When you're ready to renew your CA DL, there are practice tests online that help and the DMV renewal application and testing can be done online. The eye test, signatures and thumbprint were all did in the DMV office.

Mint is a voracious spreader. You and your wife can harvest all the mint tea you want and still it will take over your garden!

Ah, but the ubiquitous Moroccan mint tea in small glasses with lumps of sugar and boiling hot water…

Or the Mint Julep, the drink of the Kentucky Derby.

The Mint Julep gained prominence in the southern United States during the 18th century, and it first appeared in print in 1803 in John Davis’ book “Travels of Four and a Half Years in the United States of America.” He wrote that the Mint Julep is a “dram of spirituous liquor that has mint steeped in it, taken by Virginians of a morning.” An ice-cold whiskey drink is certainly one way to start your day.

https://www.liquor.com/recipes/mint-julep/

My 15 year old peppermint bed went south this past year, so had to replant. Have spearmint in box for ten or so years and it's going crazy currently. I prefer pepper vs. spear for my Juleps, so hope the pepper propagates quickly. Also, love my Mojito's in summer with peppermint. My meds have me off booze for the past month, although I do sneak in a beer with meal on occasion.

I have put mint in rice to eat with spicy foods. Basil is my go-to with rice, but with a spicy curry lentil dish, mint goes great in the rice. At first I over did it, but I learned the right amount. Went to the nursery again today, but they were out of basil. I'll pick up a six pack on Tuesday. Maybe they call it a pony pack.

CDFingers

I've been working on my chuck roast over the winter - vegans, cover your eyes - and never quite got it right until tonight.

Thyme. It needed thyme.

Stupid amounts of garlic and rosemary, yes. But that wasn't the key. Thyme was.

It's true about thyme and roasts. I remember my mom's stellar chuck roasts.

On another front, it appears I'm about a week early up here to get basil plants. Some rain today will keep my little chards happy.

CDFingers

I put in two pots of basil. By the looks of the chard, I'm going to have to start eating it pretty the quick. It's already big. I hope the basil grows as quickly. The two go great together or separately, or mixed with other stuff.

CDF

Chard = VILE WEED!

I seed planted some basil, chives and cilantro. Anxious to see if any results.

Addendum: also planted some seed thyme. The basil has popped thru the surface.

To me, there's nothing better than going out to the garden as I'm making dinner and getting fresh herbs for flavor, or fresh chard to add to the mix. I have mint, rosemary, now basil, and chard. I think I'll put in some chives this year. I made a blueberry lime salad the other day and thought a few chives would liven it up a bit. I have a couple neighbors I can give the extra chard to. I mean, it came in a flat of six, and we just can't eat all that. The basil out of two pots might be just exactly perfect. Fresh basil is a joy.

CDF

We have a rhubarb plant that just won't quit. Wife likes r-crunch, but can't make it as good as her mom could. Has quite an aroma.

papajim2jordan wrote: Tue Apr 09, 2024 11:54 am We have a rhubarb plant that just won't quit. Wife likes r-crunch, but can't make it as good as her mom could. Has quite an aroma.

The first time I ate strawberry-rhubarb pie I did not know what to do, so I ate a second piece. I did not look back. It's one of my top ten favorites. I never met a piece of pie I did not finish, though I did not go back for seconds on frozen coconut custard. To me it tasted like bathroom tissue soaked in Bailey's Irish Cream. Don't ask how I know--sort of embarrassing.

CDF

CDF