tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post1739404350386714128..comments2024-03-18T16:49:08.253+11:00Comments on All the Blue Day: Green and ThriftyJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-51867691023599154642018-03-19T17:49:37.164+11:002018-03-19T17:49:37.164+11:00No, nor've I- garden is far too public for tha...No, nor've I- garden is far too public for that!<br /><br />I have read Farmer Boy so I must have just forgotten that bit. I think it's in there that Almanzo says you can put a whole cup of milk onto a whole cup of popped corn (or the other way round) without it overflowing. My son had to test it and he still often has popcorn and milk :-)Hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05388175819512214533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-10398234828730084062018-03-19T10:53:28.350+11:002018-03-19T10:53:28.350+11:00Hazel, thank you for mentioning lemon verbena syru...Hazel, thank you for mentioning lemon verbena syrup - I looked it up, and it is on my list of things to make this week! Looks delicious! Farmer Boy is the Little House book that follows the childhood of Laura's husband, Almanzo, on a farm in New York State. It is one of my favourites, and includes the squirrel ear-sized oak leaves. <br />I have to admit, that while I have heard the folklore about sitting on the ground on your bare bum in spring, I have never actually done that prior to planting my potatoes..Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-85754739610345086872018-03-18T19:10:29.992+11:002018-03-18T19:10:29.992+11:00My lemon verbena is in a pot in the greenhouse but...My lemon verbena is in a pot in the greenhouse but I think the unusually low temperatures we've had this year may have finished it off. I'd like it to make tea from, and syrup. I drink a lot of lemon balm tea in the summer but it's not as lemony as the verbena.<br /><br />I love the squirrel ear-sized oak leaves. I don't remember that from the Little House books (must add them to my list of books to read/re-read). An old gardener once told me that you shouldn't plant potatoes until the soil is warm enough to sit on with your bare bottom which is more prosaic but a very good guide! Hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05388175819512214533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-26241001295926238722018-03-18T14:40:36.206+11:002018-03-18T14:40:36.206+11:00Grentchen Joanna, I think the good life consists o...Grentchen Joanna, I think the good life consists of being able to stop and smell all the good things. Lemon verbena is one of the best!<br /><br />Hazel, I am shuddering at the thought that Bloody Bones corner (fantastic name) was because of an army hospital. Ugh. <br />I do love bits of gardening lore. Here in Northern Tasmania folklore has it that you don't plant out tomatoes until after Show Day (first week in October). In one of the Little House books the farmers know to plant corn when the oak leaves are as big as squirrels' ears.. but all that does get lost when you learn to garden out of books or on the internet. I love that you are writing all this down.<br /><br />Pam, I figure I can always borrow something if I need it again. abut piles of timber - yes, they are pretty important. You can do so much with a pile of timber..<br />Have you and Hazel thought of keeping the lemon verbena in a pot inside over the winter? It just needs to be somewhere where it won't freeze too hard, not necessarily warm. My lemon verbena pops back up in spring after dying back to bare branches in the winter. It survives frosts at my place.<br /><br />Linda, yes, it sprawls! I was reading recently that cutting it back before it flowers helps to keep it compact, but having to brush past lemon verbena flowers is not a hardship, is it? Have you tried making tea with it? I really enjoy it.<br />Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-18662630577444309672018-03-18T14:24:00.986+11:002018-03-18T14:24:00.986+11:00Lemon verbena is the most treasured plant in my ga... Lemon verbena is the most treasured plant in my garden. The perfume is just beautiful, and I can't help myself - I pull off a few leaves every time I pass it. I cut it back almost to ground level in winter, and it never fails to grow back into a sprawling bush each spring. I can't persuade it to remain compact, though. It reaches out and demands to be picked!<br /><br />Linda in NZAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-41476389523508876322018-03-18T00:49:27.115+11:002018-03-18T00:49:27.115+11:00Hi, Jo:
You have accomplished much, and doesn'...Hi, Jo:<br /><br />You have accomplished much, and doesn't that tidiness and organization just make life that much easier? But I have such a terrible time letting some of this stuff go as, really and truly, there have been too many times when, as soon as I send something off to a charity shop or consent to have something hauled off - like a pile of old lumber - then I need exactly that thing for a project. It is a good thing that at least we have a small barn for stuff that the mice let us share.<br /><br />I feel sure that I have been green and thrifty this week, but darned if I can remember where - maybe much has become habit? I certainly hope so.<br /><br />Like Hazel, I am envious of your lemon verbena as mine always dies, too. But I do have lettuce growing!<br /><br />PamPam in Virginiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00895842137691734477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-26660363138037315172018-03-17T17:51:07.328+11:002018-03-17T17:51:07.328+11:00I'm in the UK and envious of your garden and s...I'm in the UK and envious of your garden and sun. It's been a long cold winter here. And it's just started snowing again...<br /><br />I've been telling anyone that will listen about our local and weather folklore recently. There's so much that I can see is going to get lost as it's not passed on to the next generation. People don't use local names for lanes and areas any more (A sharp bend in the road on a hill near us is called Bloody Bones which my children used to like saying when they were a bit younger because it sounds rude to a Brit! It's supposed to date from a Civil War field hospital. True or not, it would be so sad if we forgot that history.) <br />I parrot weather sayings to everybody because I think they hold some truth. People have watched the patterns of the year for generations and we wouldn't say that if March comes in like a lion (which it definitely did this year!) it goes out like a lamb or vice versa if that didn't generally hold up. I have started to document things like that in my garden book so I can see how often they're true. My other favourite is watching the leaves to see which emerge first- 'oak before ash we're in for a splash, ash before oak we're in for a soak'- to predict how soggy the summer will be.<br /><br />Anyway! I'm also envious that you can grow a lemon verbena so big you can't walk past it! I'd settle for one that didn't die over winter...Hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05388175819512214533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-29673199029412746152018-03-17T15:58:10.676+11:002018-03-17T15:58:10.676+11:00I agree about the good life with lemon verbena!!I agree about the good life with lemon verbena!!GretchenJoannahttp://www.gretchenjoanna.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-36649649551865668222018-03-17T09:21:10.429+11:002018-03-17T09:21:10.429+11:00Marieann, I get the same itchy fingers when lookin...Marieann, I get the same itchy fingers when looking at Northern Hemisphere blogs in our late winter.. and yes, you are right, maybe we are the first generation that actually can't benefit from the collected gardening lore about when to plant, as everything changes.. that is a sobering thought.Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-55998326351061727122018-03-17T03:28:06.713+11:002018-03-17T03:28:06.713+11:00I am envious of your garden and it's wonderful...I am envious of your garden and it's wonderful plants...we are still in the grip of winter here (Canada)<br />I am also envious of your garlic braid...I want to do one just like it come garlic season.<br /><br />I have gardened for 40 years in this backyard and the way the weather is now, none of my local knowledge is helping me this year, actually the last couple of years have been weird.<br /><br />Someone asked me the other day when they can plant out their tomatoes. May 15th is usually the answer but I hedged my bets this year "perhaps later in May" I said with my fingers crossed.<br /><br />Your post gave me really itchy garden fingers :)<br /><br />Marieann<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com