This morning, I planted 40 spring bulbs, 20 in our front yard and 20 in my large flower container on the back porch. It is a mix of White Splendour Anemone, Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica), King of the Striped Crocus and Blue Grape Hyacinth.
Category: Container gardening
Back Porch Semi-Cleanup
Yesterday, with temperatures forecast to be in the 30s at night, I decided to bring in my tender perennial herbs. I had brought the basil inside a few weeks ago, and now moved the thyme, rosemary and lavender. Thyme and lavender are winter hardy, but in containers, I have not had much luck overwintering them in the past. The thyme resides in the kitchen now, and the lavender rosemary live in the back hallway.
I still have two containers with parsley and also kale, some very skinny leeks, tiny radishes, chives, mint and nasturtium growing outside. The full porch clean-up including covering and/or putting away furniture will happen in a couple of weeks. We will have a few more warm days this week (sixties and even seventies), and I am looking forward to enjoy the afternoon sun on the back porch.
Ginger
This year, I experimented with growing ginger in a container. I started in February with a piece of store-bought organic ginger that I misted with water for about a month to encourage formation of growth buds. Then, on March 12, I planted it in a pot, very shallow, with the roots exposed.
I let it grow indoors for a couple of months until temperatures were warm enough to bring the container outside.
Today, I harvested the ginger. The pot I used had a smallish diameter, and I did not get as much ginger as I had hoped. The new ginger is so juicy and fragrant! I am very excited to use it. Next year, I will grow ginger again, but in a wide shallow planter.
I saved a small piece with several growth buds (and two stems) and replanted it in the same container. I plan to overwinter it in my back hallway.
Thai Hot Sauce
This morning, I harvested my Thai hot peppers from the back porch and made Thai hot sauce. I used this recipe, but did not strain the sauce. I only had about half a cup of peppers, much less than anticipated, so I made a tiny jar full of sauce. I know the sauce is very potent, so it will last me a while. It will keep forever (my last batch lasted two years in the fridge).
Porch Update
Zucchini
I turned three zucchini I had recently harvested into a very tasty side dish. I first drew out some water (because one of the zucchini was pretty big) by sprinkling the finger-thick slices with salt and letting them sit for 15 minutes. After blotting them dry, I sauteed them and finished them of in the oven at 450 for 15 minutes. I then added chopped pistachios and chopped fresh parsley and basil from my back porch. Super delicious with fresh baguette.
Front Porch Preparation
Today, I finally transplanted the asparagus. It was very root-bound and definitely ready for a larger pot. I planted it in three large grow bags and sowed Zinnias (small mixed, and Giants of California mix) and cosmos (Rubinato and Sensation mix). I also planted one Dahlia tuber each (Top Mix Purple) into two medium pots and surrounded those with Nasturtium (Alaska mixed). Those five containers will go on my front porch, which I plan to revive this year. I put them on plant caddies with casters for easy moving and to prevent the floor boards from being water-logged.
Mid-May Back Porch
Nice and sunny and warm today. I took an afternoon break to transplant some Salanova lettuce (4 tiny heads) from their peat cells into their own bigger pot. I planted the Thai pepper (from Neighborhood Farm because my seedlings strangely never set true leaves) with the radishes, and two basil cells (5 to 6 stems each) plus leaf lettuce mix in the large pot with the flat parsley. I also planted two Topmix dwarf dahlias (one purple, one salmon) in the pot with the fading tulips and sowed small mixed Zinnias and Alaska nasturtium in the same pot.
