Today in the Garden

Today was a wonderful day in the garden. I'll start with how it ended. I made some delicious salsa and yummy soup. I used one of my all time favorite white bean soup recipes. I forgot to add the mushrooms in the end, but the soup was delicious nonetheless. My sage and rosemary were in fine form. Sadly, I am out of thyme. Last weekend, I planted some thyme seeds so I am hopefully that a new crop will be bursting forth by next month. My tomatoes are still little indoor babies (started a bit over a month ago), so I bought an armful at the downtown farmers market on Friday. I pulled green onions from my beds as well as scrumptious cilantro. I have so much cilantro that I hardly know what to do with it! Most weekends, we get together with my cousins in the OC, but this weekend we're busy and they're busy. When I don't get together with my cousins and I forget to take a bundle of cilantro to friends at the office, I trim it back and put the fresh cilantro in my vermipost. I'm sure the worms love it, but it makes me sad to not be able to use all of the cilantro.

Back to my salsa, I have vine ripened farmer's market tomatoes, my green onions, my cilantro, and onion from the refrig (source unknown). I completed the masterpiece with limequat juice (from my tree on the roof), sea salt, and red-wine vinegar. We walked to our favorite little shop around the corner on 4th and Main to buy the only missing ingredient: chips! Needless to say, that salsa won't be around for long.

I am still finding aphids and sadly, my lacewing heros have yet to arrive. I actually saw a "wild" lacewing the other night. He was working alone, but I told him he is very welcome on my roof. I read somewhere that mint is an excellent bug repellent, and there are no aphids in my mint so I did something a little crazy. My most recent issue of The Herb Companion did a spread on dividing plants. So, I decided to plant some mint babies in more of my pots. I know that is a "playing with fire move" because mint spreads like wildfire, but it's worth a try. I put it in pots where the "main" plants are climbers and I don't thinkg there will be much of a dual for the ground space. Even if the mint twigs don't "take" in their new homes, I hope they will discourage at least a few nast aphids. It will be an interesting experiment.

Trade for THIS on Broadway

So the scaffolding on Broadway seems here to stay... could we maybe trade out that ugly metal stuff for some bamboo scaffolding?

I'm Liking Renee

Renee and I met when I bought some of her seeds last weekend. I'm liking her blog - especially this post about container gardening. I think you should check her out.

Lavender Family Tree

Remember how I was worried about the pedigree of my Lavender? I took a stroll over to Renee's Garden website and I feel much better!

Arsenic and Old Lace(wings)

My sister went to see a college troupe perform Arsenic and Old Lace last week. I created my own version tonight... I bought some green lacewings. The aphid war continues. All but a remnant of the ladybugs have flown. So, I decided to take it up a notch.

I bought some green lacewings larvae at the store - kind of. I though I was all set to release the "aphid lions," another name for lacewings. (Side note: why are these little guys called lacewings? That name is kind of a weak-sauce name - aphid lions, that's something I can get behind. I am looking for killers, not ballet dancers.) The packet instructed me to put paper cups out as new homes for the larvae. I dug around in my cabinet and found my best left over Starbucks cups from a party of Christmas past. I placed a mini-buckies cup in each planter (mind you I have what felt like 100). I pull out the scissors, open the packet with excitement, my pulse is racing with anticipation of the battle, and, nothing. The packet contains a voucher for me to mail in and request my aphid lions. Kind of lame, but I'm committed for the long-haul. Actually, I appreciate that the company, Orcon, doesn't try to do some crazy store ready package and ships fresh larvae, but I was ready TONIGHT. I want to take these aphid jerks down, total destruction.

Well, Ryan, and everyone else cheering me on, stay tuned.

Sky-Rise Garden

I think we could use some of this action in downtown LA. What buildings could we use??? Check out the mystical wall gardens here.

Seed Excitement

Few things in life thrill me as much as the promise that is wrapped up inside a new seed packet. My newest love affair? Lavender. Not just any lavender mind you. Oh no, this is French Perfume Lavender cultivated especially for container gardens. I just hope these seeds are heirloom... I have a strong conviction for heirloom seeds, and I buy them whenever possible, but this little packet did not actually say one way or another. The seed company is Renee's Garden. Do you have experience with this company? Some of Renee's other seeds were labeled heirloom so I'm praying she's principled enough to use heirloom seeds. In any event, the promise of this "compact, deliciously fragrant, hardy Lavender" won me over with dreams of a hot California day encrusted in Lavender. My bees will love it!

Speaking of bees, the past few days I've seen some baby little bumbles on my roof top. I speak a blessing on those little guys and tell them they are always welcome on my roof.

Coming to a photo near you will be my Lavender starts. These seeds are recommend for an inside start. The packet says they take 18-28 days to germinate and mature to 12-18 inches. Stay tuned!