Companion planting herbs article

I tend to pick up the current issue of Herb Quarterly if it looks to have an interesting article or two most seasons.  Tractor Supply usually has it, although I could not find the summer 2017 issue in any of the usual places last year ... I probably ought to subscribe.  I'll get round-to-it.

This season's issue caught my eye the other day last week, and then I got really excited: an article on companion planting with the focus on herbs!  I have Louise Riotte's books Carrots Love Tomatoes and Roses Love Garlic (both in one hardback volume), along with Tammy Hartung's Homegrown Herbs and Miranda Smith's Your Backyard Herb Garden, which have some notes on companion planting as well.  Just starting with the HQ article and a stack of 4x6 index cards, I can tell this will be more of a series of posts than just one long post, so I thought to post up my sources in case anyone wants to get these and follow along.  David the Good over at theSurvivalGardener.com has expressed an interest in my notes on the topic.  Right now I am thinking to divide the herbs into common versus uncommon and annual versus perennial, so it's looking like there will be four posts all told.

A few garden pictures

I may not have a green thumb, and still have more gardening fails than wins, but when something survives me - it tends to really thrive.  Here are a few notables thriving outside right now.

17 broccoli starts - all still going!
(Pac-Man hybrid variety, so no seed-saving)

the Greek oregano that must dream of world domination

3 hibiscus flowers in a row, that inspired me
to grab the camera and get pics

2 more hibiscus flowers

Italian oregano, two full season younger than the Greek
but expanding its reach nicely

surviving curled-leaf parsley
(the other is being choked out by the Greek oregano)

Planting notes, 7 Aug

So, hubby took my camera out the other evening while I was milking and grumping about getting hardly any pics in focus, and he took a bunch of pictures of all the goats (from all angles, as well).  I did try to pull those pics off the digicam, but apparently the computer and cam are not talking to each other today.  So, you'll get a text update.

First, our chicken thief returned last night.  This time it got a Silkie hen who was setting a nest, and almost everything in the nest as well.  I discovered it quite early this morning, when I heard a chick cheeping LOUDLY.  Along with the missing hen, I also found a dead hen - the last black one.  She has no marks on her, so either internal injuries or she literally died of fright.  I am guessing the wet smell of chicks hatching is what attracted it.  We still don't know what is preying on our chickens, but we did learn what the problem was the other evening: the pulser in the fence charger died.  Tomorrow afternoon, the big brown truck will bring us not only a new pulser, but new poultry netting as well - this one 48 inches tall.  Let's see if it can get over that.  Of course, if it does then we are dealing with something not only big enough to carry Feyd off the other night, but something that can climb the trees well enough to bypass the fence ... the only thing I can think of that could do that would be a Florida panther.  (Yes, they are real.)  Recap: good news/bad news first thing this morning.  One hen missing, one hen dead, one new (really loud) chick.

I managed to accomplish the task I wanted to do today a little after lunch: spreading forage and clover seed in the goat pasture.  The goats followed me around as I tossed the seed, trying to figure out if I had treats, then getting annoyed that they couldn't find the grain seeds.  I tried to tell them, "Curiosity killed the cat, ya know," but the look I got basically said, "What does our crazy little cousin have to do with this?"

Talking to Lynn afterwards, I asked if she starts any seeds this early.  She not only said yes, but she meant to tell me the other day that August and September were the months to start tomatoes and peppers as well as herbs.  So, I plan to start some seed trays tomorrow - parsley first as it takes just-about-forever to sprout.  One of the herb gardening books poetically puts it, "Parsley must go to the Devil and back seven times before it will sprout."  It may sound silly, but it sticks in my memory.  Speaking of memory, I read rosemary is good for memory, and students in ancient Greece used to wear crowns of rosemary for tests.  Again, odd visual ... and it stays in my memory.  My rosemary is still alive, but still not yet big enough to start harvesting.

In case anyone is wondering, I am also trying to learn a bit of basic herbalism to go with the culinary uses.  I'll have to get a picture of all my herb books: growing/gardening, medicinal uses, and of course magical properties as well.  Those of y'all who don't believe in magic can just think of it as learning the old folklore associated with herbs.  If y'all want to take it a step further, plant herbs when the moon is in Libra (by the astrological chart, not astronomical one).  Same with pasture and field grains and grasses.  If it takes magic (or folklore, if you prefer) to overcome my black thumb, then magic it shall be.

Battening down

Alright, it's cold again.  Y'all up there need to quit letting those cold front wander down this far south, because we are really not equipped to handle it.  Hibiscus and lemon grass are back in the greenhouse, after being out yesterday for some warm rain.  Beds are covered again, although even with being covered the basil died anyway.  I still have a nice bell pepper on each of the two plants, so that bed gets the old comforter.  We gathered up all the eggs we could find outside, since it is forecast to get down to 28-30F and possible hard freeze (more than 4 hours below freezing).  Just not enough old blankets to cover the citrus trees, so here's hoping they do alright.  The Persian lime is dead down to its root stock, Lynn told me, so at some point will dig up the root stock unless I find someone who can graft.

I have sprouts now!  Both varieties of tomato - with a much better sprout rate in the Mortgage Lifter than the Old German.  Some of the Top Seven turnips are up, and last time I peeked into the pepper tray I saw jalapeno and pasilla sprouts.  That tray has a good bit of condensation in it.  Yesterday I planted two more trays: broccoli and spinach in one, and the other dedicated to Swiss chard.

chard tray, six varieties

broccoli and spinach tray

Now, about those hibiscus: one bloomed yesterday, and the other budded enough we could see the color, so I have one red and one yellow red-leafed hibiscus.

hibiscus and lemongrass out for some rain

red hibiscus flower

yellow hibiscus bud

More canning and some planting

I managed to wrestle one pic from the digicam's card: the previous canning party involving chicken harvested at the end of last month.  I am finishing up more canning today, after having a 100% seal rate yesterday on the four quarts of meat and three quarts of stock.  Today I finish up the stock (four more quarts) plus a quart and pint of stock from the time before last that didn't seal at room temperature but sealed at refrigerator temperature.  Pretty pic:

pints of chicken meat
and quarts of chicken stock

I do need to go out and put garlic cloves into the dirt - they sprouted on the table after I had given them a mild baking soda solution soak.  At least I know they are viable!  And yes, that is a correct usage for the often overused word viable ... able to live.  I have two cloves of elephant garlic, and two bulbs of regular garlic cloves.

It's supposed to rain today, but the sun is out and right now there are only a few wisps of clouds in the sky.  That could always change in under an hour though.  We kind of wish it would, as it is close to 80F again today.  Cold front is coming ... Friday's forecast low is in the 40s.

Rambling update 11 November

OK, so it's been nearly a month since I posted.  Whole lot of shtuff going on, just not typing away here on the blog.

• Dad and Tammy visited right before the chicks hatched, and both thought the house and property and chickens were cool.  Tammy got a picture of every bird on the property!  LOL  Dad kept cocking his head and looking at the Silkies, commenting they look furry.  Tammy's best comment was about the Wyandottes, saying: "I always thought chickens were just ... chickens.  I never realized some could be so pretty!"  When the slips were let out, even more entertainment and comparisons to Jurassic Park.
• Hubby's grandmother died right before Halloween.  She had been bouncing between the hospital and the rehab wing of a nursing home for a little over a week.  The funeral was last week Thursday.  She'll be missed, and remembered fondly here, as she was our #1 fan of our chickens.  Not just watching them, she said our meat birds were the best she'd ever tasted.
• I finally saw a couple sprouts from all those seeds I planted last month - but only marigolds.  Everything else in the garden boxes are transplanted starts.
• A majority of those transplants are doing good!  The broccoli is going great guns, and the Greek oregano start I planted last spring is running riot and now takes up almost a sixth of the box it's in.  I found some curled parsley and fernleaf dill starts, and those are settling in nicely, although the three different varieties of basil are trying to stay alive.  One Swiss chard start from the spring is not only still alive, but thriving.  A nice big leaf that broke off last week made some tasty omelettes.  Most of the spinach starts are making an honest effort, despite insect damage that also hit the green sweet basil pretty hard.  The purple and spicy globe basil plants are untouched so far (knock on wood!).
• It is official: I am hosting Thanksgiving this year.  Just the in-laws, as brother-in-law is over in Korea, his wife and their two sons are down with her family, and Grandma will not be dining.  Since Uno the GLW full capon is not inclined to nanny chicks, he'll be the bird of honor for the meal.  I'll even be sure to serve him on the china platter I picked up last year at Pomona Park's "Everyone's Having a Yard Sale" weekend (which I skipped this year).
• We planned to move Uno to the isolation crate, but that was quickly changed when I saw one of the pied guineas getting pecked.  Neither of us know what started it, but the poor thing has lost feathers on its back and right wing.  I tried putting Blu-Kote on it, but then the little stinker got loose and we both had to chase it into the iso crate, so I'll try again after dark.
• We have a nice cool spell, and all I can think is, "Man if I still had my good pain pill, I could get SO MUCH done!"  As it is, VA took them from nearly everyone, and it's a high bar to get them back, so I'll just have to be content with what I can do without it.
• Two cockerels slaughtered this morning, another two tomorrow morning, then the last two from Luanne hopefully Friday, leaving Nipper and Brother, Feyd's test-breeding sons - for the weekend.  I need grow-out space now.
• Did the 4-week weigh-in for the Wyandotte chicks.  One pullet is lagging that far behind, and either had an injury or a neurological defect, and so needs to be culled.  I need to crunch numbers and play with basic statistical functions, not only because it is the geek thing to do, but because I would like to establish a baseline norm and also a cutoff point at four week intervals so I can compare among different batches of chicks.

For the upcoming rainy days, I have canning and baking planned.  Here's hoping.

Parsnips and Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds planted

Planting note: parsnips (Ferry-Morse Hollow Crown variety) and carrots (Burpee scarlet nantes variety) planted in the garden boxes where I transplanted the broccoli, red cabbage, bell peppers, parsley, purple and spicy globe basil, and Italian oregano starts the other week.  One of the bell pepper plants has opened a blossom, and the other has a couple ready to open soon.  The two success stories in the one box are Greek oregano and the green onions.  If neither of those two seeds sprout in two weeks, I'll plant some more.  Eventually, something ought to grow other than rope grass and sand spurs.

Transplanted raspberries, more seeds started

I started off this morning okay ... hubby volunteered to dig the holes for the two new raspberry canes we bought yesterday, so all I had to do was grab up a small bucket of compost and my gloves.  Mysore raspberries have thorns ... not that the dog is in any way discouraged from fertilizing the raspberries in the least.  No problem.  Just lean over, work the plastic container off them, massage the roots so it knows it can once again expand in its own shape, hold it ground level while putting some compost around, then firm up the loose soil.

two new mysore raspberry canes

No problem, and it gave me something to do while waiting for the clothes washer to finish up the final rinse and final spin.  Then I went to hang up the laundry ... and my back let me know I either moved wrong or did too much already.  Insert vulgar profanity learned in factories and the army here.

I took the half-(*donkey*)ed pain pills VA gives me nowadays and laid down for a few hours.  I had also sorted out the seed packets over coffee earlier, and had a handful to start in with the tomatoes and peppers in the little greenhouses.  (Note to self: need pic of little greenhouses.)  So I knitted and rested up then went back out to rearrange cockerels for tomorrow and plant some seeds: Carmen sweet peppers I had saved seeds from in fall 2013, pasilla bajo peppers, garlic chives, and catnip.  Almost all were in packets marked 2013 or 2014, except the pasilla peppers.  I know I bought some previously ... I just can't seem to find them right now.

Instead of using potting soil, I used our compost.  They really do look almost identical - the potting soil has little white and green bead-looking thingies in it, but that is the only difference.

I think I'll add three more raspberry canes to the patch, then see if that is enough or not.