Spring is coming!

February 19, 2014—What a wonderful afternoon we (2 staff and 1 volunteer) spent in the Victory Garden! We pulled weeds, and in the process discovered some volunteer plants from last year’s garden—a few mustard greens and lots of dill and cilantro. The bonus was that we had a great time talking and catching up; that’s what happens when you garden with friends.

On one of the first warm sunny days of the year, we attacked the weeds in the Victory Garden.

We found at least two clumps of plants that we can’t identify—we’ll have to wait until they bloom. If they’re weeds, they’re awfully pretty ones, so they can stay for a while, at least. We also left a few dandelions, as they make good salad greens. There are so many plants eaten in other cultures that Americans don’t or won’t eat!

February 21, 2014—It rained last night and you can almost hear and see the nut grass growing—after all that weeding, too. There was just enough time this afternoon to get out in the glorious sun and dig out a few deep roots; also, it was a calm day, so we sprayed Avenger on the walk where the nut grass is struggling to come back between the bricks. Fingers crossed that it will work—nut grass is the most stubborn stuff in the world—or is that Bermuda grass?

The haul for the day: some rosemary, a bit of dill, some fennel leaves, and lettuce.

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

Our Victory Garden is resting peacefully for the winter, but there’s still work to do—adding layers of mulch and cardboard in some places. When it comes to gardening the green way, we’re no experts here at the McFaddin-Ward House. But we’re doing our research, and learning as we go. We hope you’ll learn with us, as we figure out what works, what doesn't work so well, and everything in between! We've also got a great group of volunteers who are ready to help out—we just need to schedule our garden days.

The garden's lemongrass, which did not survive the winter.

Most of the plants died, or died down to their roots; the snapdragons amazingly survived the heat of summer and the first round of freezes but finally succumbed to the 20-degree (Fahrenheit) nights in early January. Surprisingly, the lemon grass is all brown! We thought it would overwinter better, but again the severe cold must have been too much for it.

The sage, rosemary and thyme survived, however; bring us a little parsley, and we’ll sing you a verse of “Scarborough Fair!” Plus last fall we planted lettuce, beets, cabbage, and kohl rabi, and they’re all green and growing. They’re obviously a lot tougher than they look! We may try to plant some other crops—carrots or greens or spinach—Peter Rabbit would love us!

 

The garden's rosemary is doing quite well, despite the colder temperatures in December.

The garden is, for now, weed-free.

Hooray! The Bermuda grass and nut grass are at last all brown and dead-looking. Last summer they were the scourge of the garden. We sprayed them with Avenger, an organic herbicide made with orange oil, and it (along with the cold) seemed to work. We don’t trust them to go that easily, though, and plan to put black barrier under the bricks in the walk to keep them down.

Just before Christmas we planted tulips and daffodils for early spring color. Can’t wait for them to come up! 

Stick around, and learn with us as we go!