Phaedra's 2023 Adventure

[ducks4you]

Never! I wish I could clone you so
one of you can come help me

Two clones. I don't want to share with @Cosmo spring garden

 

[Phaedra]

I am watching 'The Good Witch' Season Six and love one sentence so much:

What you give power has power.

This is where I gave power (and love), and it shows its power now, my small forest garden patch. Most of the plants are perennials, so the patch will be even more lovely next year, when everything is better established.

Aren't they gorgeous and better than 'only-the-lawn'?

I did 'chop and drop' - the grass clippings from this area will become mulch for this patch.

Water recycled from the kitchen also belongs to this patch. Guess what? The plants are thriving!

This flower bed is also doing nicely, as I expected. I am glad that I finally transplanted those Hydrangeas.

See a volunteer tomato? Well, why not?

Now, the plants keep feeding me with their energy every day. That's what @flowerbug said, life supports life, 100% true.

 

[Phaedra]

Runner beans are amazing this year, and everyone in the family loves them. I also harvested pot marigolds for the first time.

Time to cut back some more plants - I picked this Geranium and used the cuttings as well.

Cutting back, feeding, and propagaing

Shiitakes are on the way! This is one of the best ways to 'utilize' a cold summer, I guess.

Chop and drop practices - direct mulch on the pathways

My tea collection for the shop is almost ready. Next Monday, the new window and door will be installed, can't wait.

 

[Phaedra]

Another hard-working day, I extended and created another patch on the full sun area.

The right side is done in early spring and established now. I don't need to give them too much water. They are all perennial and some of them are quite drought tolerant. The plants I picked for the left side will prefer such a similar growing condition.

At the end, I picked Echinacea, Tea MUMs, Helenium, Crocosmia, Iris (drought-loving variety), a few foxgloves (pretty small, their first year), artichokes (drought resistant), a few Hyssop (grew from seeds and stayed in a container till today), two chili plants, wild blueberry plant (more tolerant than the normal ones), and some basils growing from cuttings.

I didn't finish planting everything yet, but 65% I guess. I added a thin layer of mulch from the grass clippings and other green waste pruned these two days. I will finish the rest tomorrow morning, and might even create a small spot for veggies.

One of the happiest achievements is, most of the plants were propagated by myself. I just need to relocate those will appreciate this site.

Hydrangea transplanted in early summer from a container, oh, I love its color!

The globe thistle transplanted last autumn starts to show the lovely color, too. The plant is much established now and looks just amazing while blossoming.

And I finally tried to insert those mushroom sticks into a log! Not sure if it will work or not, but let's see.

 

[flowerbug]

And I finally tried to insert those mushroom sticks into a log! Not sure if it will work or not, but let's see.
View attachment 59466

you probably know this but with how much of a problem mushrooms can be if they are not the right type to eat i wanted to put this comment here for those who might come along later...

i'm not sure what type of mushroom you are trying to grow but usually it is not recommended to use old wood for growing mushrooms because it is likely infected with other mushroom spores by that point. i'm assuming you know the mushrooms you're trying to grow really well or are very careful. good luck!

 

[Phaedra]

you probably know this but with how much of a problem mushrooms can be if they are not the right type to eat i wanted to put this comment here for those who might come along later...

i'm not sure what type of mushroom you are trying to grow but usually it is not recommended to use old wood for growing mushrooms because it is likely infected with other mushroom spores by that point. i'm assuming you know the mushrooms you're trying to grow really well or are very careful. good luck!

Yes, I only grow Shiitake and King Oyster Mushroom.
Thankfully, those mushrooms are also becoming more popular in the supermarkets here. I chose shiitake because they are not available since last December. I missed them so much!

I will pay extra attention for the old wood one, thank you for your kind reminding.

 

[ducks4you]

I'd like to see how your asparagus started from seed has turned out.
I have had so much interruption this year that I never started My seeds.
I learned on Mid American Gardener that most asparagus are hybrids, so you don't know what you will grow from their seeds.
I saw that Your seeds were from purple asparagus.
Did they make it?

 

[Phaedra]

I'd like to see how your asparagus started from seed has turned out.
I have had so much interruption this year that I never started My seeds.
I learned on Mid American Gardener that most asparagus are hybrids, so you don't know what you will grow from their seeds.
I saw that Your seeds were from purple asparagus.
Did they make it?

Yes, they did, although I didn't pay any attention to them and just left them where they are.

These are two-year old purple asparagus, more established.

These are what I sowed this spring and look a bit sad now. Some tiny ones are about to enter dormancy.

For me that's more for fun. If you want to harvest your asparagus, buying crowns will save one to two year time.

 

[Phaedra]

Most of the time, I got up early for house chores and reading. I love the quietness and a clear mind.

Reading and making note, I am a more old-school learner.

After an overnight heavy rain, what we transplanted looked much happier than yesterday.

We did our weekly grocery shopping in the morning, and worked a bit in the garden when the rain paused. Forest Master has turned the huge pile of pruned forsythia branches into lovely woodchips within ten minutes. It's so far our best investment regarding to the garden tools. It handles fresh and moist softwoods as excellent as the drier hardwood. The tiny woodchips and leaves are perfect for both composting or direct mulching.

Next week DH and I plan to use it to create a heap of woodchips and let it decompose there until we incorporate them into normal compost heaps next year.

I also harvest fresh Shiitake mushroom today - I missed them so badly.

Can't be fresher!

 

[Phaedra]

Garlic shrimps with homegrown potatoes, Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes), and runner beans.