Possibly the last garden tip for 2010

In the spirit of giving, spend some time lending a gardening hand to a friend, neighbor or family memeber who may be behind in their outdoor chores. A little raking or stacking firewood will be a warm way to burn off some holiday calories and help give some warmth to those who may need the lift. I follow Winterthur Museum & Country Estate on facebook, this was their tip for today, 12/30/10. I thought it was a nice little diddy for The Herbal Bouquet. Happy New Year garden friends

....A SEASON COMES TO END...

Here in the Northeast the gardens have fallen to the frosty mornings but yesterday when I went out to see if I could "scrounge" some fresh basil (am I crazy or what)!! for my tomato sauce I noticed that a rosemary plant had not been harvested ....so out came the shears and  now I have some fresh rosemary to fill in little Christmas stockings I am making....some days are just filled with surprises.  (no basil though) !!!

Fall Veggies

Here is our bounty from our neighbors garden and ours. The tomatoes and sweet peppers are ours, the rest is from our neighbor. I think this will be it for the garden. Cooler (dare I say COLD) days are coming.

The Dye Garden

Here in Berks County, Pa the autumn days have been beautiful and the last few nights have been stunning with glorious moonlight. We are undergoing a major landscaping project between the house and barn so I am thankful for each sunny day. As I clean up around the gardens my thoughts have been wandering to what plants would be good for dyeing wool. About 7 years ago I spent a weekend dabbling in the dye pot with a variety of plants from the gardens but I've sinced turned to the "little brown packages". Do any of you have a dye garden? I'm curious as to what you enjoy collecting for the dye pot. Earlier this month, at a local historical village I saw a hank of yarn that was dyed to a beautiful shade using orange cosmos. Maybe someday I'll get around to harvesting my orange flowers! Here's a pic of my orange cosmos. You will notice that Miss Paisley wanted to be part of the picture! Since she's been giving such beautiful eggs lately, I thought I would indulge her vanity.

Terri

from high on a hill in Berks County, Pa

LAZY HARVEST...

I have to admit my harvesting was not nearly as productive as it should have been.  No fault to the herbs...they grew beautifully with the TLC I gave them ....but time got away from me (Tony's broken ankle, open houses...etc.) and I really let the gardens go.  I still have some sage and ginger mint I can salvage...but the weather turned so HOT again and it just takes all my energy away!
Andrea your home and pumpkins make the best header for our blog!
Happy Harvesting to everyone.....XO, Judy

Falltime Harvest

Hi Everyone! 
This is such a wonderful time of year for us Gardeners :)  I get just as excited to harvest the herbs & flowers as I get when I plant them.  This year I've decided to dry as much as possible.

Here's a basket of fresh Sage, Anise Hyssop & Basil that I'll be hanging in the barn~ There's also lots of Silver King Artemesia & Hydrangeas that will be dried as well. 

Here's how my Rudbecia turned out this year.................HUGE!

 And here is the Rudbeckia mixed with Mints, Sweet Annie, Zinnias and other flowers.
 Another thing that did so well this year was my Pumpkins.   I was harvesting them in August!!

 And they wereSuper HUGE this year!!! 
Happy Fall everyone, I enjoy looking at all your garden pics :)

Andrea~

Just Wanted to Say Hi!

Just wanted to say hi and thank Judy for asking to me to participate in The Herbal Bouquet.  This is our front garden in western Pennsylvania.  I know it's a little crazy!  I'm a Penn State master gardener and I volunteer answering the public's gardening questions for our Gardenline.  I also guest blog for The Herb Companion magazine.   The Herbal Husband and I have a large garden and no kids or pets.  My passion is all things herbal, but I do answer a wide variety of questions for the extension.  So you will see and hear from me when I can and when I can come up with an answer for questions that's what I love to do.  Talk to you soon.

Butterflies

I read today on Lemon Verbena Lady's blog about the butterflies that are visiting her gardens. Back in early Summer I purchased a hanging pot of purple petunias and hung them on the North side of our home. They were suppose to have full sun, but like Les says, I never read the directions. They are doing just great. I dead head them a couple times a week and water them every other day if we don't get rain. But, lately (last week or so) they are covered in butterflies. Now, I don't know my butterflies, but that doesn't matter I just enjoy watching them from the screened porch and so do the cats. Enjoy your day ladies.

????????? ANY GUESSES...

I haven't a clue what this is growing....I know it looks like a sunflower BUT take a close look at the flowers that are blooming on it... Strangest sunflower I ever did see.  It is a "volunteer" - which means I didn't plant it - it just grew!!  Any ideas???

I have a lot of "strange" growings in my gardens this year....but the Fairy garden is looking great...

Honest to goodness fairies live here - and are hiding under that thyme!!!

Does anyone recognize this Herb?

I thought I would post this picture of my cat taking a nap in my little herb garden. Judy had posted some pictures of some antique wash stands and I thought I would show you what I did with mine. It makes a great herb garden.

Tomato Blight, Again

Our plum tomato plant has the same blight that the tomato plants has last year. I'm so mad I could spit (not really). But, when we bought our plants this year, we were very aware to buy local plants, supposedly the plants last year were not local. I have nursed this plant long enough. It gets these great looking RED tomatos, but don't look at the bottoms!! They are rotten and mushy, not very attractive. So, hello trash can for you tomato plant. A pepper plant might meet you there if it doesn't fly right!! Is anyone else having problems?

CALENDULA BLOOMING...

The bright orange and yellow blossoms of the herb "calendula" are a sight to behold....I went out this afternoon and picked a small bouquet and then sprinkled some petals  on my salad....it was so pretty !! I have a good recipe for" calendula butter" - makes a plain old piece of toast very festive!!!  I will find it and post it here....How are your gardens growing....???  Share some pictures....!!! 

Andrea...

Now I am sorry I didn't take pictures of my two old sage plants at the store...they were magnificient with their spokes of purple blooms!!!   I have a minature (can't think of the right name) sage plant here at home that is so pretty too....ahhhh...Dwarf Sage....(big smile- I am just old and it takes awhile !!)  LOL!!  I think my "johnnies" smile right back at me too - so maybe with are both alittle "crazy" !!!
Sadly the weeds are taking over and a whole bunch of work needs to be done in our gardens.....just so much always going on.
Share some pictures girls.....let us see how your "garden grows" !!!  If you need the Login and password just email me....   cinnamonstick@comcast.net    

AND Susan...I hope those "babies" have flown the coop and you can rest easy for a bit......!!!!       

Sage & Violas

I can always count on this old Sage plant and these adorable Violas to bloom there little hearts out!!

Every time I walk by this cluster to go into the back door it's like their little "faces" are smiling at me..........or maybe I've been gardening in the sun too long!

Either way I can't help but Smile back :)

MY FINE FEATHERED FRIEND.....

NOT!!!!!!!!!

This is mama Robin and she attacks me whenever I go out the front door of the store.

She built her nest over the door so every time it opens she's there squawking and carying on.

Here is what all the squawking is about.

Please enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.

Be safe and happy.

Herbal Blessings everyone...

Susan

New Herb Plants~

Woohoo!! The herb plants have arrived from the local greenhouse & everything is Good Again :)

It's amazing how plants can lift our spirits!

I can't believe how big the herbs in my yard have gotten already! I'm going to have to divide up the tansy in this pic. It's already taking over~

ps. Judy- What are those herbs hanging in the front of your shop? They look Great :)

SHARING....

Hi girls...this is meant to be a "sharing" blog and although I know everyone is busy....(ahem...me too!!) I would LOVE to see your herbs as they grow....If you are not a member of this blog and just a follower - I can send you an "invite" which will give you the LOG IN  information.  Email me at  cinnamonstick@comcast.net to join!!  Everyone is welcome...novice to expert !!  Come share, teach and learn....Judy

MINT TO BE FRIENDS...

Well....what a nice surprise I had this morning when I went to the back of the house to see if I could scare up a few "sprigs" of mint to take to the store with me today - (for the water tubes in the May Day cones)  AND I had a whole bunch growing back there.....apple, curly, spearmint and lemon balm !  I gathered a HUGE bouquet and took it to the store....(still didn't get it in jars - I like to use old canning jars for my herbs or milk bottles) I would forget it was in the basement  where the sink etc. is -( my "mini" kitchen)  Everytime I went down it was for a customer or something else....too many distractions today but first thing in the morning the store will have the sweet scent of mint!!

Have any of you made "Pot Lady" ???   This was a door prize for our Herb Faire.....not sure what will be the giveaway this year...better start working on it.   I am trying to talk Tony into making me two more of these gals....not his favorite thing to do.....guess I will have to "bat my eyelashes"   !!!

~~HERB FAIRE AT THE CINNAMON STICK~~

Seems everyone (including me) has been very quiet here lately....hopefully with gardenthyme arriving you will want to post and show us your gardens as they grow. Tell us what you are doing new and exciting - share some ideas and pictures!!

Our Herb Faire begins May 7th - this is when we sell our herb plants and really start the garden season in the store. We have been having a rather hard time finding vintage garden goods though...????.....seems that people don't want to part with what they have. We are selling some NEW (and really pretty garden tools) in the store...

If you have to pull weeds, might as well do it in style!!!

I am anxious for the weather to stay nice so we can get the gardens cleaned up.....seems we never do it in the fall before the cold weather comes and it is ten times the work in the spring..yi yi yi !!!  My golden oregano is popping up thru the layers of fall leaves and the lemon balm is 8 inches high in some areas....don't even ask about the catmint....it is all over the place.  

DILL IS THE HERB OF 2010

Here is a really good recipe to try -

"Dill & Lemon Mayonnaise"

1/2 cup light mayonnaise (like Hellmans)1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
Directions:
In small bowl stir mayonnaise, dill, parsley and lemon juice and optional ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve with grilled or roasted meats, poultry, seafood or as a delicious dip for vegetables. Makes about 1/2 cup.
I LOVE DILL !!!

They Have Arrived

Red Wing Blackbirds!! I read somewhere that the Red Wing Blackbird was the official bird of Spring in PA. And this morning there were two feeding on the ground under my bird feeders. So, Spring cannot be that far away. Yesterday on my way out to feed the ducks I also spotted Daffodils poking their little green heads out from under the straw. Now mind you this is the South side of my house, but who cares, its was a wee bit of green and that has got to make you smile. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

HI EVERYONE ....A NEW MEMBER....

Kim from Petals and Porch Posts......I am hoping everyone will welcome her and I promise if we start posting here again (with all our springthyme thoughts) it will come....SPRING that is...

Welcome Kim,
Glad you have joined us....so tell us about Petals and Porch Posts....sounds like a fun store to me. Judy

IT WON'T BE LONG....

The promise of spring will be on it's way soon.....after Saturday's snowstorm and then the BIG one yesterday I have started to make that my mantra!! Today the sun is shining and I sat down and made a list of the herbs I need to order for next week..I am hoping to be able to bring some plants into the store after visiting my favorite greenhouse ! I haven't talked to Alta (the herblady supreme) to see what is available but since we are "snowbound" I will wait till next week - I REALLY NEED SOME SPRINGTHYME PROMISES...and nothing says that better than an armful of herbs!!

My "windowsill" herbs and fairy garden from last summer are still going strong. Rubbing my hand up the spine of the rosemary is so mentally delicious!! The Rose Scented Geranium is just begging to have some leaves snipped for a Rose Geranium Cheese Spread - maybe tomorrow I will make some. The lone plant is Cuban Oregano.....sensually magnificent!

Enjoy my little windowsill of spring.

DAYDREAMING......

Hoping to have some herbs in the store right after Valentine's Day....depends on the weather if I can pick them up or not...we just get the basics....some rosemary, mint, majoram (cause it grows wonderful indoors), thyme and maybe some scented geraniums. Of course when I get to the greenhouse I want it ALL !! Nothing better for the soul than a greenhouse filled with herbs in February!!