Monday, June 24

Well, the spring that wasn't quite spring ended over the weekend. The weather people are promising more seasonal weather with warmer temperatures. I will believe it when I see it. We had monsoonal type rain yesterday for a brief period during which we got almost an inch. The gardens, which I finally got completely filled in, survived it nicely.

I harvested quite a bit of spearmint last week--enough to, when dried and chopped, fill three quarters of a pint jar. I used the remains of last year's peppermint and lavender for a herbal tea mix. I also chopped the lemon grass I harvested a couple of weeks ago with the remains of the hibiscus tea and added that mix to some hibiscus/lemongrass mix I got from my favorites morning herbal tea supplier. That gave me about a pint of that mix so I won't have to add it to my list of teas for our next shopping trip.

We have had on-and-off again sun and clouds so far today with more thunderstorms this afternoon. However, I got out to pull some weeds and do a few other small chores in the gardens. A major task though was pruning my large rosemary. I don't know what happened but about a third of it died back. It was the side I had facing the window in the living room and it was constantly brushed by the curtain when the wind blew while the window was open. I checked to see if the pot was well watered and it was so water wasn't the problem. I cut off the dead parts and generally pruned it before giving it a really good watering. All my rosemary plants are outside for the season unless we get a severe, unseasonal cold spell.

My agenda for harvesting, when I get some dry and sunny weather, include lavender, chives, lemon grass, catnip, and lemon balm. That last was a surprise survival from last year's garden.

Coming soon: pictures of my latest projects as soon as I get them off the camera and onto the computer.