HerbnArts

                                                                                                                                                                          Dandelion                                                         ...A damp chill crept through everything as the day unfolded.  An unseasonable 85 degrees had blown over the Magic City only the day before.  Now it was wet from the copious rai...

Spring Lilacs    ...Little green herbs in pots...It is officially spring now.  I have managed to buy my first herbs of the season.  Basil, lemon balm, and lemon verbena are the first new arrivals to Le Petit Jardin. Today's breakfast was an omelet that included the first harvest of chive from my garden.  Glorious! Thyme is coming alive in Le Petit Jardin.  Today's project will be to purchase another metal tub and potting soil for the new plant arrivals.  It is also time to replace my garden gloves.  Another goal is to beat the Mad whacker before he attacks my lavender plants.  My game plan is to plant my lavenders in containers this year.  Since I have to abandon part of my back deck area due to my neighbor's satellite dishes, the challenge is on.  Many more of my plants will be shifting to containers.  And it looks as though some of the container garden will be moving onto the front deck.        Neighb...

    ...Small tender blades of chive were poking their sturdy heads up in the pot I had left outside all winter.  Reluctantly spring was about to see the first of my herbs come to life after such a strange winter.  The bitter cold hadn't fazed them as they began to grow.  It was time.  I have even seen a dandelion hiding under the gray-green grass tufts that were beginning to green up. Le Petit Jardin was letting me know that it was time for spring attention.  A friend had already helped me by drilling some drainage holes in a metal container that I have planned to use for spring planting.  Hadn't it just snowed a few days ago?  But the good news is that nothing stuck or stacked up.  The ground had unfrozen, so snow was not going to make a difference.  Today was warmer, in the 50's, but gray.  I am still not quite ready to begin my gardening rituals.  My thymes and lavender have not returned to life yet.  I will have t...

...Puddles of liquid sky blue filled thestreet's potholes.  High winds dried up those same potholes as the next winter storm was racing our way. It didn't take long for the skies to turn gray with an occasional squirt of sunlight momentarily breaking through the clouds.  The last of February was showing us that March was going to prove to be an especially blustery month for us here in Ohio.  As we neared the end of February the Magic City was having a bit of trouble battening down the hatches, so to speak, as all sorts of item and trash blew across the city.  I watched the neighborhood trash bins travel down the streets until the found a house or fence that gave them a stopping place while the wind continued to gust at 50 miles per houe.  It's amazing how noisy wind can be.      In spite of the high winds I still managed to contemplate spring gardens and pots of little green herbs. All the outside cats in the neighborhood managed to hunker down ...

...December had seen a snowless Christmas for Ohio.  Somehow the holidays were in a "so what" mode in 2018.  It just didn't feel like Christmas . The New Year celebrations were much the same. Everyone went through the motions, but it wasn't worth getting excited about.  Here, it rained.  The good news was that none of the usual gun fire from the local rednecks happened.  But now it was changing. The big winter storm finally hit Ohio with all its fury.  It began to snow, and it snowed, and it kept on snowing.  At this writing an icy 12 to 15 inches of the frigid accumulation stacked up.  I burrowed my way out to my SUV to clear off the wonderful white stuff and to hopefully start up the engine.  Turning over with its usual ease the engine was purring as I managed to clear away some space around my car.  Thinking about the outdoor kitties who may have sought refuge from the storm in my garage, I shoveled out a small place where they usuall...

    ...A warm breeze shuffled dry leaves along the street.  It has been painfully dry here in Ohio.  For all the rain around us, Barberton has remained dry enough to keep all the lawns brown with only weeds flourishing in the heat.  Along with the heat came the brutal humidity for the August in Ohio.  Such conditions seem to be taunting us here in the Magic City.  Even so, I managed to harvest a wooden bowlful of herbs from my container garden.  That is the plus to raising herbs.  Many of them prefer dry conditions.  Having watered them through these dry times they have prepaid me with their green herby fragrance and bountiful leafy harvest.  I never did get the sunflowers to grow this year.  I really miss not having any to harvest for petals and seeds.  This year I will have no flower heads to put out for the squirrels and birds.  And there will be no sunflower potpourri this season.  One thing that has thrived ...

...Fields of blue flowers covered the devil strips as I drove along local roadways.  July seems to be the month for chicory to grow everywhere with wild abandon. Amazingly I have no chicory growing in Le Petit Jardin, which I shall have to change. Most people have no idea that chicory is an herb that can be used in many ways.  Roots of chicory were once used as a coffee substitute and the blossoms can also be eaten in salads.  I just like the blue flowers.  And then there are are plenty of Bachelor Buttons flowering in local gardens. They are another blue flower of which I am greatly fond.  They aren't an herb, but I just like their blue flowers      While driving to the Boston Mills Artfest I saw a huge hogweed plant growing along the road.  I have always been fond of Queen Anne's lace and was admiring them as they grew along the roads with the chicory.  Lately there has been a lot of concern about the terrible dangers of giant hogweed...