Dill is a versatile herb, one that I really use in cooking. First planted in 2005, I’ve never had to buy another plant. I love volunteers, but this is different! This monster dill has found a place it loves.
The Dill, looking somewhat Dr Suess-y
This dill seeded itself next to the potted mother plant, stashed there during Fall patio cleanup. When Tractor Man isn’t tractoring, he looks out this west-facing window and the wispy feathery leaves have been growing up this early Spring to peek in at him. They don’t call it weed for nothing.…
This snowy, drippy day…what else to do but check on past projects. Getting rid of Mexican Primrose 10-15-2010 Invasive plants and impatience in the garden March Update: There are a few sprouts coming up of the Mexican primrose which confirms that it’s the right decision not to have replanted the plants I removed from the front…
I first noticed the beneficial qualities of rotting logs when I gardened in the suburbs. The tree trimmers left stacks of logs next to the street trees and I promptly snagged as many as I could for flower beds edgings. As they broke down over the years, I could see that they were home to…
What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~Charles Dudley Warner
Since our backs don’t have hinges, we need to take a few precautions, before getting into the strenuous jobs in the garden. Whether it’s simply wearing gloves and protective eyewear or strengthening and stretching muscles, a few tips will hopefully help you protect yourself from garden gremlins.
Keeping fit and warming up
Yoga is a great way of exercising and strengthening your muscles and preventing injury when gardening. “Just a few simple poses, says Carolyn Masuda, a yoga teacher in Fullerton, CA, “will tone the legs, stomach, back, the whole body.”
She stoops to conquer
Cheryl, of Oakhurst is sadder but wiser, after a month-long bout with back strain and is determined not to let it happen again. She believes it was from digging, a common cause of injury in the garden, and now calls her new rose area the ‘Garden of Pain’!
She now stoops using her legs instead of her back when digging and also makes a conscious effect to dig with her right foot instead of the left, she says, which helps her back. To lift rocks, like many of us do here in the foothills, she uses a dolly, and then rolls it to where she needs the rocks to go.
*See this entertaining, and informative video, courtesy of The Horse Tail Trails Team, for ways to dig without hurting your back!…
Becoming stewards of our forest For some of us, here in the California foothills, especially those who live near the national forest, nature provides the perfect landscaping. Using the existing trees and native plants can help your garden design blend smoothly into the surrounding landscape. Caring for a large forest property has its challenges and rewards.…
Jan 1, 2011 This afternoon when it warmed up to a brisk 40F degrees, I tapped little soil ice cubes out of a planting tray, getting ready for my first attempt at wintersowing. I have a lot of seeds saved, and after counting how many grape boxes I had, selected a number of varieties to…
Is there a gardener who doesn’t know about wintersowing? Well, now the first day of the year is a great time to start! Here is the general idea of how and why, and then tomorrow, I’ll tell about how I did with my first try. You can start seeds in January, using recyclable table grape or salad…
Here’s a good reason to do so: When you have a pumpkin left over from Halloween and Thanksgiving, what can you do with it? If it is still firm, you can bake it and use it for making holiday treats, saving some of the puree in the freezer for later. If my pumpkin has not…
1st Week I’m ready to move some plants around and plant more in a new area of the garden. It’s a sloping hill, about 30×30 on the south side of the house going down to one Sycamore tree planted about four years ago. You know how you think and think about a part of your…
These Favorites are ‘Gardening Links’ I use often, some are local and some are websites anyone can use to get more enJOYment from your garden. Two are wildflower ID sites. Fun!
In late summer, Nature has a way of reproducing each plant and all you have to do is take notice of how it’s done naturally. Take a good look at your flowers and vegetable plants and notice that their seeds are developing. The seed pods start to swell and dry when the plant has achieved its goal…
Some folks can live and let live in the garden, but meat bees push my limits! A friend told me about this simple way to make a trap for pesky meat bees (or yellow jackets) that can keep them from getting between you and that bite of juicy hamburger next time you BBQ.
