Self seeders. Gotta love 'em. (and some perennial veg goodness thrown in for good measure)

A boon to having a ridiculous amount of plants/herbs: self seeders.

Many years of letting the plants "just go" has made my garden basil/parsley/cilantro/oregano (a perennial.. I know, but it's flowered and seeded too!)/garlic (off shoot bulbs, yada)/Egyptian walking onion (YES!)/dill (sort of) and now recently feverfew, California poppy and bells of Ireland seem to be going on autopilot.  I find my India mustard to be easily self seeding too, but I know I'm supposed to "rotate" my beds and etc to avoid pests and disease.  I try to tear up the mustard from the bed each year and replant it in a different place, but those everlasting seeds always crop right back up in the bed or wherever I've dragged the plant off to.

Not that I mind (I eat all the errant little child plants), but it can be a little weird when I find self sown seedlings in the garden path or in the flower bed or by the trash can.


Ah, an entirely self seeded vegetable/herb garden is THE perfect garden for me...
 
Diane Meucci at Gardens Oy Vey has self seeded Siberian kale ALL over her nursery, not just for looks, but for eatin' too.  Definitely a worthy goal to aspire to. 

On top of the self seeders, I'm working towards the perennial vegetable garden and have the asparagus bed, mache/corn lettuce/lambsquarters, (hopefully sunchokes), strawberries and garlic down.  I'll probably be getting rhubarb sometime soon-ish from my awesome mother in law.  Artichokes are a possibility, but seems a bit limiting for the space they use and I understand that sunflower buds are just as nice.

I'm still working on getting the horseradish to take to the pot I've been babying it in, but it was an abysmal mess last year.  Incredible for horseradish too.

I had an air potato plant that I was worried would be invasive but never got to eat it.  Then I lost the little seed air potatoes in the great frost/amongst the vines.

This book: Perennial Vegetables: From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles caught my eye a while back and I am somewhat interested, but I think it's geared towards those who are lucky enough to live in very nice zones, ie 8/9+


If you live in the right climate, lots of vegetables can become perennial.  I hear in Florida eggplants and tomatoes are known to live just about forever .

Either way, I can't move my garden to Florida (and I'm not a huge fan of beaches anyway).  So it's best to make do, get tricky with Mother Nature and build cold frames.  Lots of them.

Finally! My Seven Things: You Grow Girl Meme

To me, and many of you out there, there is nothing like growing edibles.  Specifically, if I lived in a smaller location than I do and had such limited space that I would have to choose only a few things to grow with me and take along with my travels, it would probably be my herbs/spice plants.

Herbs/spices are space and resource efficient plants that make a great difference when used even sparingly.  Many too that I love and choose taste, smell, and look great structurally and texturally and my even favorite aspect of them tends to be their ease of propagation, with usually a simple cutting in water to get the process started.  Therefore not only can you increase your herbalicious numbers easily, but you can also have SUPER easy gifts on hand.  Why do you think I got into plants in the first place?  Cheap gifts? I'm there! (j/k, I do spend money on those who I love ;)

I am afraid that the items I am posting may be somewhat banal to those in the edible gardening world, but there is a reason why people love these specific plants!  Hopefully my banter will make up for the predictability of the seven.


(1)  BASIL(s)
It would be a crying shame (and I would probably be beaten by many) if I left out basil.  Or to be specific, the entire basil family.  The sheer variety of basils from sweet, Italian, spicy, lemon, clove, cinnamon, lime and MORE makes it an extremely versatile herb loved in all cultures.  To not love basil would be inhuman.  Basil means pesto, Thai/Vietnamese springrolls, tom yum soup, teas, and many other deliciousness.  Though the basic shape within the varieties is the same, the leaf colors and sizes are delightfully mixed.  A garden devoted entirely to basil would be a worthy feet.  I would have tiny miniature spicy globe basils in front and an undulation of purple/blue ones with the larger ones in back of course.  If possible I've love to roll around in it too :)  Not only do basils tend to self seed in my garden, but as with many of my favorite herbs, overwintering is a snap:  take cutting, strip off bottom leaves, place in water!


(2)  MINTS(s)
 So many people talk about the horrors of mint let loose in the garden and I can empathize, sort of.  I tear this lady up all the time, but I believe there is so much use (and tea) that mint is capable of that I don't mind its stubbornness.  As with basil, oh the variety! Chocolate mint is the ultimate no calorie non-candy delight, and who can fault a mint julep on a hot summer day?  Now THAT, is how you garden!  Though I do only have 2 mint varieties, with a million and a half kinds out there (see the Richter's online catalog), I shudder with ecstasy and fear at the idea of have many varieties.  There would simply be nothing in your garden after a summer!  Like the basil though, this would probably be as or more roll-around-in-worthy


(3)  Ginger

My life would be so much less fantastic without this herb/spice.  How would I make it through the cold days without a cuppa of boiled ginger and brown sugar "tea"?  My faux-asian cooking would be so obviously faux-ake without it!  I love ginger so much that I may name my first born child Ginger (if it's a girl... potentially Basil for a boy... they are going to hate me aren't they?)  So easy to grow here too, and propagating with the fresh stuff at the Asian-mart!  At one point in the season, the ginger is red speckled and perfect, I just chew on it after I give it a good rinse.  Ginger is my hot other soul.


(4)  Rosemary
Another spicy hers that I could not live without.  I actually use this less than I like as I make so few meat dishes nowadays.  It's a little depressing, but the scent!  it's evergreen nature and cure little blue-purple flowers make it so worthwhile.  As a child, and obsessed with herbalism, I loved the mythology behind rosemary, its symbolism for wisdom and the fact that a boiled to a red color rosemary makes my black hair shiny and spifferific.  I liked to pretend too that wisdom = smart and I would gain a few IQ points with its use, but alas, not the case.



(5)  Pineapple Sage
The cooling weather for some reason brings out the the brilliant scarlet tube-like racemes of pineapple sage, and am I ever grateful for that extra color when everything else is dying!  The leaves are lightly pineapple scented and make for a great tisane.  I think its addition to a something like a pork dish would be great too for real pineapple in a pinch.  Hummingbirds love it, so I do too. The fact that it spreads like the absolute dickens in the garden is a plus/minus (I think it decided it was alpha sage to the culinary one next to it and summarily smothered it).  And... like all my favorites, this baby roots up like nothing else.  It got so big this year (and it was rainy enough to spur this) that its branches were attempted to root its 6 inches above ground!  Talk about wanting to spread!  Usually I dig the entire thing up and bring it in for the winter, but I think I'll just go with a cutting this year.

(6)  SCENTED GERANIUM(s)
     These belong in their own category of awesome.  Scented geraniums, are not true geraniums but perlagoniums, and like basils and mints, come in nearly every freaking color and scent!  From my "intense reasearch" (aka, obsessive internet and catalog clicking/page turning), their foliage and scent variety is seems innumerable and my excitement about this plant makes me want ONE OF EVERY KIND, they are totally not outdoor hardy for me here and the prospect of hauling them all in for the winter is daunting.
    Currently I have mint, ginger and rose scented varieties, but I think gaining the coconut, apricot, apple, chocolate, lime, and... gooseberry (?!) are all worthy ones to get and not too much of a hassle to bring in for the winter...?  Oogh, that greenhouse needs to happen.
    The other reason scented geraniums are so near and dear to my heart is because they are one of the smuggled plants I brought with me from my trip to California this year.  Nowhere near me stocks scented geraniums (oddly other than Home Depot was stocking these, though their selection was very limited) and so for me to procure them would be slightly expensive and highly mail-ordery.  Something I try to avoid doing.  Perhaps I just need to make more trips to California (because THAT is cost effective... at least I'll be in the state?)
      Though I have had less luck propagating these, once I get the hang of it, I hear it's a pinch (no pun intended).
 Links on Scented Geranium info/purchase:

http://www.hobbsfarmgreenery.com/care.html
http://www.superbherbs.net/geranium.htm
http://goodwincreekgardens.com/
http://mulberrycreek.com/cgi-bin/herbman/search.cgi?Botanical=Pelargonium

(7)  Lemongrass

This was a surprise to me, as I usually am not into grasses, but as it is delightfully edible, I give it exception to that fact it's a grass especially as it is a main ingredient in one of my favorite soups, Tom Yum.  It tends to be so expensive at the normal grocery stores and dried out, and much less expensive at the Asian stores, but nothing is as good as mostly free and freshly grown, and GROW IT DID.   I found a couple of bunches of lemongrass with the bulb still intact and after using all but the last 3-4 bottom inches of the stalk, and popped it in a glass of water.  Soon it grew proper roots and pushing out leaves, and though I thought it was late enough in the summer that it wouldn't grow too tall, it of course did and front in center of my herb garden I have 2 large clumps of lemongrass that I cannot possibly use up!  I think I will use one patch to grind up and freeze and the other will be potted up for fresh use over the winter because as I've said, TOM YUMMY!

Thanks to the:
You Grow Girl™ - » Seven Things (Plus some extra fun things at the end)
for motivating me to complete this!  Hope I can get some free goodies, may lady luck take a shine to me!

Richters is a wholesale plant plug place that I like to fantasize about and hope that my relatives and I will go into and I can fill my yard with their splendid stuff that I can find nowhere!

Getting down with the Sickness: in search for the cure-all cuppa

Ironic that I spoke of the hibiscus syrup being "medicine" in yesterday's posting because all week I've been feeling a rather "EH," but yesterday night I started really not feeling good: headache, slight chills, some nausea and what I know is a fever but my dinky old electronic Walgreens thermometer swears I do not by  proclaiming me a cool 97.6 degrees F.

Though I wouldn't be surprised at having a naturally low normal temperature (I'm constantly cold), the fact that the highest this thermometer was getting was 98.3 degrees, and then a 99 reading and then back down at 98.2 degrees made me suspicious, so I am borrowing a thermometer tomorrow or having my lovely hubby purchase one for me because in my slight delirious headache-y state I don't think anyone wants me driving.

I will admit to an odd satisfaction at being sick only because it reminds me that I'm alive?  It sucks during the sickness, but afterwards there's a feeling of "Made it through that one!"

Only with the swine flu going around and my having just read fun statistics, I am feeling a wee bit worried.

As I can't do too much except: sleep, read, avoid throwing up and drink tea (and apparently blog some), out of all of those things that I am sure you would care to read about or at least be of interest or use to you would be the drinking tea part because this is where I can at least utilize my herb garden to the dickens.

I have loose and bag tea up the wazoo because I'm a fiend, but I'd like to believe that the fresh stuff straight from the backyard might have "active chemicals" or something that'll really make me feel better and fight this thing.

Tisanes, herbals teas without true Camellia sinesis tea leaves, are pleasant and relatively easy to make unless it's an herb like lemongrass where if you really want the super fragrant thick white bulby part, you have to bludgeon it with an object like a rolling pin.

Something that I am sadly not in the mood or have the energy for today.

No, I'll stick with some easy plucking of lemon balm, and maybe add some of the tropics to it like pineapple sage or mellow it out with bee balm (aka Oswego tea).

Or perhaps some easy yanks of my overgrown mint, either the plain or chocolate variety, though I am not sure I want to be drinking anything that would make me feel potentially cooler as I already have chills.

I started growing catnip (a member of the mint family, though what isn't nearly it seems?) earlier this year and haven't really tried it as a tisane yet, but this is a good time if any.  Supposedly it has a soothing effect, though you might not know from watching its effect on cats.

Same with my scented geraniums (lemon/citronella, ginger, mint and rose), they're edible, why not give them a go?  Their larger leaves would look lovely in the bottom of a cup.

I also do have a green tea plant, but have been very hesitant to use the leaves partially because there always seem to be so few leaves and of the potential let-down I am worried about as it is my understanding that a little processing (steaming/drying) does it good.

Ugh,  I just want it to be easy and pull off some leaves, toss them into my boiling water and be done with it!  So many choices and too much icky feeling...why can't I train the dog in herbalism, give it my currently useless opposable thumbs (after this post at least) and tell it to make me a cuppa???

Worse of all, what's always good when I feel sick is fresh ginger slices (which I am growing, but would have to dig up and wash) boiled with brown sugar.  Ahhhhh....  now that's a panacea.

*looks out window* AND great, it's storming out.

I may have a problem.

I've been wanting to do this for a while, form an inventory of all my plants in stock and I am realizing that NOT maybe I have too many plants, but I do have a lot...

I have been thinking as a good winter exercise to blog about all the plants in my inventory and talk about their aspects. I might need to select the best of the list but... hey winter is long.

NOTE: I did this pretty much entirely in my head and when I think I am done, I always think of more:
(n.b. this doesn't count the prior structure landscaping plants of oak tree, nandinas, hollies, azaleas, otto luykens and etc.)

FRONT GARDEN
-random rose
-spiderwort
-iris (swamp and bearded)
-bells of ireland
-ice plant
-day lily
-california poppy
-icelandic poppy
-red and yellow and bengal cannas
-cinnamon, painted, tokyo, beech ferns
-purple perilla
-solomon's seal
-red hellebore
-asian ginger
-nasturtiums: India Empress, Jewel, Fordhook, Alaska mix
-hollyhock
-columbine (little lanterns)
-autumn joy sedum
-vinca minor
-(maybe) anemones
-camellia sinensis (green tea plant)
-2 various Chinese herbs
-scented geraniums: citronella, ginger, rose and mint

BACK reg GARDEN:
-hostas
-chrysanthemums
-strawberry begonia
-golden turkey vine
-creeping jenny
-pennyroyal
-osmandus fern
-white calla lily
-shade sedum
-May night and Friesland Salvia

VEGETABLE GARDEN EDIBLES:
-All American pickling cucumber
-Clemson spineless okra
-burgundy okra
-everbearing strawberries
-blue lake and kentucky wonder pole beans
-Scarlet Runner Beans
-passionflower (passiflora incarnata)
-Red Stem Malabar Spinach
-Jersey Knight asparagus
-Baritone Bush Beans
-sweet bell peppers
-eggplant
-Tomatoes: Green stripe zebra, Nebraska Wedding, Brandywine
-Sweet potato
-Siberian blue Kale
-India Mustard
-English and sugar snap and snow peas
-Zucchini and waltham butternut and acorn squash
-carrots
-parsnips
-purple top turnips

-hot peppers: jalapeno, poblano, serrano, cubanelle, tricolore garda, calico

HERBS:
-common and golden oregano
-thyme
-dill
-cilantro
-sages: purple, variegated, regular culinary (but it died), pineapple
-bee balm (coral reef)
-rosemary
-lovage (may die)
-rue
-feverfew
-(maybe) black cumin/nigella
-mints: garden and chocolate
-culinary ginger
-stevia
-lemon balm
-lemon verbena
-Basils: purple ruffles, sweet, cinnamon, thai, lemon, spicy globe, (random hybrids from basils crossing, eg. lemon-cinnamon???)
-Egyptian Walking Onion
-softneck garlic

RANDOM FLOWERS:
-morning glories (heavenly blue and grandpa ott)
-cardinal vine
-hyacinth bean vine
-Hibiscus: Red river, white one, Haight Ashby

MORE RANDOM PLANTS:
-random palm
-escargot begonia
-random begonia
-kohleria (black velvet, I think?)
-avocado
-purple passion vine

HOUSEPLANTS:
-2 phalaenopsis orchids
-1 cymbidium orchid
-deersfoot fern?
-parlor palm
-snake plants
-umbrella plant
-wandering jew looking sedum

I did not even want to count all that. Granted this is nothing compared to Diane Meucci's garden Oy Vey (http://www.gardensoyvey.com/), but I am also not a nursery and live on 0.2 acres...

I am starting to understand my husband for thinking that maybe I have enough plants?