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| Fragrant Flowers on our Morning Walk (**identified in bottom of post) |
That is not to say that I do not have organic food gardening as a priority! This year my husband has stepped into the gap in a big way (the 'gap' being my spending less time in the garden). He has a 5-gallon pail of compost tea burbling away at all times, another pail of comfrey tea brewing under the grape arbor, and is experimenting with strewing agricultural lime in any patch of ground my eyes have fallen upon.
We have just put in Saskatoon berry bushes, a few Sea Buckthorns, and 3 Sour Cherry trees (or bushes or whatever they will be) as well as the usual assortment of greens (kale, chard, collards, cilantro, parsley, romaine, etc.) and beans and a vast forest of little tomato plants, many donated by kind friends and neighbors.
We also have a square-foot herb garden, a burgeoning Rosemary bush, a pear tree, a fig tree, a prolific thorn-free Blackberry, a golden plum, a Rainier cherry tree, a derelict old apple tree (translucent), two young Haskap bushes, strawberries, blueberries, and a filbert tree. So, we are not short on food plants.
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Foxglove But I am attracted to doing most of my pottering in the front flower beds. It rained incessantly for several days over the past week so today was the first day where I actually went out and pulled weeds-- a whole wheelbarrow full, actually! We're heading away for a couple of days so I won't be able to get at the rest of the front yard bloom beds until Monday. I'm more than a little embarrassed by the masses of weeds. I think fondly of my Dad who weeded his latter-year gardens with such diligence that nary a weed could be spotted. I think equally fondly about our son (the "nomad farmer") who is big on "cover crops" and who is not so persnickety about weeds, explaining that it is better to have a vigorous protected plant than a weed-free garden-- I think he even said once, "Mom, weeds are NOT the enemy". He doesn't comment much on my flower gardens, but he does offer suggestions for growing flowers that have medicinal qualities (I guess to validate their floral decorative quality vs. being truly useful as food). Therefore, I have comfrey in many locations with its pretty attractive little purply puffs, bee balm, mints, stinging nettle, and lots of lavender drifts (lately full of grass, ugh).
While I was pulling weeds today I had to stop for a few minutes to breath in the horecandy smell of the catnip. Earlier in the morning, I enjoyed the fragrance of a flow of soft-mauve woodland flowers, maybe a bolt from someone's yard. I am trying to ID them as I write (with the help of my Facebook friends). They have a nice spicy scent. I feel so tranquil when I see them. I remember that my grandmother and my Mom both took to flowers in their senior years. Perhaps it is a convention or a trend in our family. Maybe it is wider spread that women begin to enjoy flowers as they start the later part of life's journey. Maybe it has something to do with retirement? Food seems like work, maybe, and the flowers seem like a way just to *be*.... a human being vs. a human doing. Do you have any thoughts? **Oh-- by the way, the beautiful fragrant "wild" flower that we couldn't identify at first is known as Lunaria. It starts out quite early in the Spring in woodsy areas as this pretty floral, and as the summer intensifies, the blooms are replaced by little silvery papery seed pods that you can see the seeds through. It is often referred to as "Honesty", "silver dollar" or "money plant" because of the seed pods (size of a silver dollar?) In another time, the dried seed pods were in a vase in just about everyone's home-- not so much anymore. I am now growing Lunaria in my front yard in front of the lavender. My seed pods are white, mauve, and a sort of magenta. I love them!  Mullein: An Essential Herb for Health  Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Etsy.ca When you purchase either seed purchase above, I receive a small fee. You will not be charged any additional costs. Thank you for supporting Etsy.ca entrepreneurs and Organic Granny! |
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