HerbnArts

   ...A few days ago I was attempting to clean up around the flower beds around my back door.  It was warm and I was feeling the inspiration to put new wreaths and door decorations up in honor of spring and the sunshine.  When I looked up at the baskets I had displayed at one edge of the garage door I saw that it had already been spoken for.  A robin had already made her nest and was sitting on eggs.  Well, okay, I thought.  So I'll wait for another time to change my decorations.  As it turned out, that was a good plan.  Last night we had terrible winds with gusts up to 60 miles an hour.  My indoor kitties were nervous but not totally freaked.  They did, however, stay very close to me the entire night.  It was so noisy with the high winds rattling everything that I went downstairs to curl up on the couch and watch the Weather Channel.  Since the prediction for the high winds to calm down was 10AM, I did the best I could to ignore the roar and get some sleep.  Once I was up and

   ...Today in Ohio we have 80 degrees of blustery weather.  It's very moody, broody with the cloudy skies giving way to a few spurts of sunlight, then some sprinkles of rain.  I consider it wonderful gardener's weather.  Soggy though they may be, the flower beds are perfect for digging out the weeds and over abundance of volunteer herb plants.  Everything is growing by leaps and bounds!  Yesterday I tried potting up a few of the herbs that I had water-rooted.  It was so windy that I had to stop what I was doing.  Every time I poured soil into the pots it blew all over the place.  I got tired of getting soil in my eyes and up my nose so I decided to opt for a less windy time to pot the herbs.  But I can't wait too long.  They need to get going in their own pots so that they will be ready for the plant exchange at my work place.  Already everyone is asking me, "What have you got, Wendy? "  Well, I have sweet basil, sweet cicely, forget-me-nots, tansy and chive so

   ...Still soggy in the garden but it doesn't seem to bother the herbs by much.  It is warm today, the day before Easter Sunday.  I know it won't be as warm tomorrow, but it sure is nice to feel mid-60's and even 70 degrees before day's end.  With the warmer evening temps in the 50's I'm tempted to put my potted indoor plants outside.  But I know I'll have to drag them back inside again as the temperatures do their spring rollercoaster ride.  What to do, what to do....!  Well, maybe I'll put the geraniums out for a while, anyway.  And maybe I'll put the rosemaries out.  They would love the rain water.  Sorry lemon verbenas, not your turn yet.  And the potted basils will have to stay in for a while longer.  The tarragon would like it outside.  That rain water will really make it take off.  Okay, okay, so I'm putting some of the studio plants outside.  I'll put up with dragging them back in if it turns colder than 50 degrees.  Ah, spring!  Ya

    ....So here we are into the middle of April.  It's cold, it's blustery, and very, very wet.  But this is a good thing for the plants and trees.  As I've walked around the soggy garden to consider my gardening option for this planting season I can see that the faithful herbs and flowers of spring are popping up.  Everything is a glorious bright and fresh green.  The lavender doesn't look like much yet, but a it dries out a bit in May it will perk up.  Meanwhile, the daffodils are blooming their little hearts out and there are jonquils right behind them.  I can't wait for the tulips to bloom.  They are my favorite flower.  There's nothing like bundles and bundles of freshly cut tulips to put me in my happy place!  Do I have enough tulips to produce bundles and bundles?  That's a no, thanks to the terrorist squirrels who raided my gardens and ate most of my tulip bulbs.  Hope you guys enjoyed those tasty morsels.       Some of the herbs that are coming alo

   ...April showers bring May Flowers, as the saying goes.  And so, it is raining buckets here in Ohio.  Not complaining, mind you.  It could be snow, after all.  Lots of thunder today along with that rain.  It is in the 60's finally.  The grass is distinctly greener than it was 2 days ago.  I'm keeping a keen eye on the daffodils to see when they will open.  Their swollen buds are just aching to burst open any time now.  The first squirt of sunshine will do it, I'm sure.  We wrestled out the last of March and its cold weather and snow, and now we are looking forward to warmer days.       People at my workplace are asking if I will be bringing in plants again for a plant exchange like we did last year.  I've assured everyone there will be plants.  And so now I am busily pinching off basil, catnip, and sage to water-root.  I should be able to transfer them to pots in time for the exchange.  It has been so cold that I just couldn't get started with my seed pots.  Tho