The rosemary that talked

The little rosemary that said... please take me home.. I need a good home. 

I need a good home

And while it was still a tad early to be bringing plants home from the store (and it wasn't even the nursery) rosemary is used for so many things in our home, we really needed to get one started so we will have enough rosemary for all the things we do.

And in the ground

Good thing I knew just where to put it. Right in the spot of an old rosemary that was pretty well dead. Now to get it established enough that we can start harvesting.

Rosemary oh Rosemary how we missed you

I admit it, I broke down. I was tired of using real conditioner, and really Pooka's hair looks so much better with our homemade stuff. However, I wasn't sure if our rosemary out front was even alive. So I broke down. I bought one of those little herb plants at the grocery store.

Rosemary from the grocery store

It was in fairly good shape, if a bit small. I just was hoping to get something to get us through until we can either figure out if the stuff out front is alive, or it can replace it. The plant itself, aside from being slightly root bound is in good shape. Daddy has already used it more then once for dinner. I think he misses having the fresh herbs to cook with as well. I guess this means spring has begun and plants are invading.

Welcome home rosemary

Getting the herbs for the front bed

On Wednesday, I really wanted to finish the front herb bed. In fact, I was so tired of looking at the holes in the bed. I decided that I would go get the last few plants we needed for it. Off to the nursery...

More herbs

We came home with a bay plant, onion chives, Greek oregano, lemon balm and another rosemary. The rosemary we use so much of it, we always need more. The lemon balm I wanted to try out since it supposedly goes really well with mint to relax a person. The bay Pooka loved the big leaves on it. Brother picked out the Greek oregano and the onion chives.

Laying the plants out

I got the bay home only to really read the tag. Supposedly it could get 25' tall. I guess I will be pruning that back quite a bit. The rest were fairly straight forward and things I was use to growing.

Big bay

 After a bunch of planting, it turns out I still missed a spot. I guess its another trip to the nursery. I am finding I like just dropping them in the ground instead of trying to grow them. I think the herbs will be bought next year.

Hello Harvest

This week we have finally started harvesting something from the garden. On the menu this week was Tuscan chicken with Tomato and basil pasta. Both need fresh herbs and I just couldn't bring myself to buy the nastly little clamshells at the store that cost a fortune. Not when I was going to need basil and rosemary for the front bed.

As a result, on Monday when Pooka and I went out to buy the last of the mulch for the front bed, we bought a few plants too.


The flowers are for another project

I made a point to measure out to the nearest foot where I wanted them so I can kinda stick to that whole square foot garden thing (loosely) but its a better determination then anything I have done so far.

Newly mulched bed

After mulching the bed, Pooka and I got to work playing in the dirt. I promise I laid it all out before we dug holes, I just forgot a picture of it. The basil went in the bottom tier of the bed around what would become the home of my lilac.

Basil in its new home.

 The rosemary went in the top bed, I am not sure how big this guy may get, so I put him here for now.

one of the rosemary plants

Tuesday night Daddy got some basil and some Rosemary from the new plants and used it for dinner. Cost of a package of each - $3. Cost of a plant that regrows, $3.48. Add to the savings that I plan on drying herbs again this year, and I should have my money back in no time.

Thursday, Daddy asked if we had any green onions. The tacos we were cooking didn't need green onions, but we figured why cut a whole one when your green onion sets look like this.

I think the green onions are doing well

Pooka and I went out and gave the plant a hair cut. It looks much nicer now. I left plenty of growth on there for another harvest later. Plus, with all the rain we have had, it will grow back fast.

Post haircut

I even remembered to weigh the harvest. Now to go figure out how much green onions cost at the store so I can start figuring out savings. I am so happy to finally be getting something out of the garden. Especially when lately my entire grocery store runs are just veggies. I really miss being able to just walk outside and grab what I need. Just a bit more and maybe that will change.

 

Green onions ready for dinner

Rosemary Hair rinse

Yesterday I talked about our love of rosemary and how Pooka is using this new rosemary hair rinse. This rinse has been great at keeping the tangles out of Pooka's lower back length hair for days at a time. I admit I stumbled across this on pintrest. I was very skeptical, but I thought if I could find a cheaper way to keep it untangled and healthy, it was worth a shot.

I will say it works great. Even if she misses a bath or two, I usually have very little tangling. I am tempted to try it on my hair, but that is another day. Before I continue to sound like a commerical, let me show you how to make it.

First you need to put some water on to boil. I generally just fill the containers I will be using with water and add a bit extra to cover any that may evaporate off.

Why does water boiling look so cool in still life?

While that is boiling away, you take fresh 6-8 sprigs rosemary and place it in a glass jar or glass that can take a bit of heat. This jar I got as a alfredo jar or something, and it works great. This is where you will pour your boiling water, so make sure it is in a safe and sturdy spot where it won't spill when pouring your water.

Sturdy jar

However, I didn't have any fresh rosemary since the nursery only had single cuttings and I didn't buy any at the store thinking I would buy a couple of plants at the nursery and use it. Instead, Pooka was completely out of hair rinse, so I used some of our home dried rosemary from last fall. I had this whole little jar of rosemary that worked great. I didn't use it all, so I have enough for probably one more batch.

Dry rosemary works in a pinch

Once the water is at a boil, add the water to the rosemary. In a way, it is just like making tea. You will need to let this sit overnight in the container. Don't worry if it floats, as time goes by, it will all get the good oils and things out of the rosemary.

Dry rosemary +boiling water

Allow your rosemary water to sit overnight. I like to put the lid on the jar since I have little hands running around. However, for some reason I can't find my lid. I think it has something to do with the new dish helper and he is still learning what goes where. So once I couldn't find it, I improvised with press n seal.

Allow to sit overnight

In all honesty, my water sat for 48 hours before i could get to it. That whole life and kids and homework thing. Fortunatly it just gave it some extra time to steep and get all the good stuff out of it.

After 48 hours

Anyway, once you have a nice jar of rosemary water, get your squeezeable bottles. I bought these for like a dollar, but I am sure if your of a greener nature, you could clean something out. You will want to make sure you have a nice cap to put on it so it doesn't spill if it gets knocked over in the tub.

Bottles and apple cider vinegar

Next add some apple cider vinegar to the bottle. I promise you may smell like vinegar a bit when the hair is wet, but once dry, it doesn't smell.

Fill the bottles

Fill the container you will be using with about 1/10 to 1/5th vinegar. I just kinda eyeball it. The next step is to remove the rosemary from the water. If you used fresh sprigs, just pull them out, but since I had dry loose rosemary, I strained it into another jar. I will say don't do what I did here. About a minute after my picture, it all came crashing down. Nothing broke, but there was water from the top jar everywhere.

Remove rosemary soilds

Now you have a nice set of rosemary water and your containers. Just pour the rosemary water into your containers and shake.

Rosemary water plus Vinegar

Put a lid on and your done. I will say we keep one bottle in the fridge while we use the second bottle. Then when the first bottle is empty, pull the fridge bottle a couple hours before use or you get very cold and Pooka was mad for a bit. Not that I can blame her. Cold water in a hot bath is no fun.

Ready for use

We used this after every shampoo with Pooka. Her hair really does look good and it's detangled it and works just as well as any other conditioner we have found.  Even with buying a clamshell of rosemary from the grocery store, it is still a ton cheaper the commercial stuff and I don't have to worry about it getting in her eyes.

Going to the Nursery

Monday Pooka and I went to the nursery. We were hoping to buy a bigger rosemary plant and some romaine lettuce for salads. However, it didn't go the way we hoped.

They didn't have any big rosemary plants. Instead, they had a little guy, and the romaine had been hit by a late frost.  Pooka and I use alot of rosemary in our Rosemary Garlic bug spray and Pooka's new Rosemary hair rinse. So hopefully this little guy likes his new pot and gets bigger fast. He got placed in the same pot that had some cumin seeds didn't survive in. At least it was already full of dirt.

New Rosemary going into a pot

Pooka and I also bought a new lavender plant. Our other ones didn't seem to handle the winter very well. I think they drowned.

Baby lavender

We got this since I found Pooka a Lavender Rosemary hair rinse she wants to try. Plus, lavender is very calming and I am hoping to remember to use the flowers this year. Although the tag did come with a nice little recipe for Lavender lemonade. Since Pooka loves lemonde, I am sure this will be tried at least once.

Lemonade anyone?

However, we have had an issue with having enough pots this year. Well I was out recently at Kmart and got this little guy for 75% off which is cheaper then a regular plastic pot. Pooka picked out the color.

Easter--No, its a pot now.

It did not have drainage holes, but that was easily fixed. I got lazy and didn't feel like finding Daddy's drill bits, but a screw worked quite well when Pooka and I went to add holes. There are a few that Pooka did "all by myself" while I just held the drill since it is kinda heavy.

Making holes

 Add a coffee filter and some dirt and the lavender looks quite happy now. I may have to repot it soon into a bigger pot, but right now, we are a bit cramped for space. Plus it makes a Pooka happy to see her "silly pot."

Happy little lavender

Another step in making more room

If you remember, last fall we had pulled these big ugly overgrown bushes out of this retaining block wall in front of the house. It was bad, and while I don't have a picture I can use of them, just trust me when I say I am glad that they and their spawn of Hades thorns are long gone.

However, in it's place, I had this very open and very empty planting bed that was 37" wide at one end, 30" at the other and had a big circle on the very end. This is a picture of the bed last summer after we pulled the very nasty bushes. It made the house seem so much bigger.


The front bed after bushes were removed, Sept 2012

Around here, we will be having some very busy weekeneds coming up, so I wanted to get this project done. That way, if the weather finally holds, I am not waiting till we have a chance to build it to finally get plants out of the house.

Time go get to work

This is a picture of it Saturday as we got to work. You can kinda see what I was looking to do. At 37" wide, it would of been hard to plant 2 rows of plants without staggering them to make sure they got enough sunlight. The hope was we could plant in each level and give us that much more space. These beds will mostly be used for herbs and some very spicy peppers Pooka wants to grow.

First row

Pooka's Aunt C and Uncle M came over and were a huge help to get this bed done. Here gentlemen had put in the first row of blocks and I could see it would work. It does have some narrower spots, but that should be fine for herbs. They did a great job keeping it level and straight. Honestly better then I could have.

Stonehedge end

Originally Daddy and I had thought we would only do 2 coarses of block, but once we got it in there, it looked rather... squat and slightly like we gave up half done. The boys took a trip back to the garden center and picked up enough to do another row. I like it much better, but the plan we had for the end, was too short. We had picked up an extra rectangular block and Daddy had the idea to split it and make cap stones. Aunt C suggested we turn the cut edge out to mimic the rough face of the stones. I love it this way, and Daddy just finds it entertaining that we have stonehenge in the front yard.

A look into the bed from the side.

Once it was all put together, we had to wait a bit to put the dirt in. We had useds masonary glue to hold the bricks in place. I have a feeling I will have kids run though at least once a year. I wanted to make sure it wouldn't give and the glue gives it that strength, but it also took 24 hours for it to dry. So the bed sat overnight till we could fill it.

Circle end

This is the circle end of the planting bed. It is full of rocks when this picture was taken, but Daddy worked very hard to clear it. This will be the home of the bigger of the 2 lilacs. I am just trying to decide to plant it now, or wait till fall. Decisions decisions.  

Bed all ready for plants

Here is the bed on Sunday afternoon after we got the dirt put in.Pooka loved being told to stand in the bed and push dirt around. Brother helped too, although he was a bit more work and less play then Pooka. In hind sight, we might need more dirt, but this gives us a starting point. We used a mixture of top soil and garden soil so it should be very happy for plants. The big headache now is waiting to plant. Then we will mulch and it should look really good.

Front view all done

This is a picture of the final product. It looks so much better now. I am hoping once the weather warms up and I have plants in it,I won't have to have as many pots in the back yard.


First plant

This is the baby rosemary plant we bought when were out on Sunday getting soil. It is tiny, but for the cost of the plant, it is the same as 1 set of rosemary herbs from the store. I will be getting more later, but this was a "I will need rosemary soon, so I will just grab one now." You can't really see it over the wall yet, but in a few weeks it should be looking really good. Now it is a waiting game with Mother Nature to make sure it stays warm enough to put the rest in.

Talk about confusing

Like many people, we have been hit with late winter storms. In fact, if you look out the back door right now, you will see well at least 4+ inches of snow. That doesn't count the ice that came before it.

Rosemary, Lavender, Audrey's empty pot

Basically, our dog loves it, Pooka went out and played in it this morning for a few minutes before deciding it was cold.  I am okay with it, (but I desperatly need a snow day), but it reminds us that winter is not yet over. Although one would think heading into March we would be past most of it. The rosemary in that small red pot is pretty much dead, the lavender in the green pot may come back and the stuff in the tan pot was the dirt from Audrey, so I have nothing to worry about in it.

On the flip side you walk into the house, and you see spring everywhere. Pooka's Grow um seeds are very busy sprouting left and right. Daily I go through and turn them 90 degrees since they are reaching for the sun outside.  Here you see the lettuce, bok choy, Peas, broccolli, cilantro all fairly well established. The basil is just starting to really grow.

Half the grow ums.

At the other end of the table you will see the rest of the Grow ums.  The oregano has tiny tiny sprouts. I didn't see them but Pooka did since she takes her magnifying glass to them daily to watch for changes. This is her favorite part, she loves planting the seeds on top so she can watch the roots come out and go into the dirt. I also placed the clearanced herbs here so they are all in the same spot.

Rest of the grow ums and clearanced herbs

We have been very busy around here. We also got most of our veggies seeds started. I was worrying that the peppers would take too long to germinate, so I wanted them done early. Pooka and I did it very rushed on a Saturday night in those 16 cell starters. Those are an interesting contraption and I will get a post up on them later.

Seeds seeds at least they are started.

Then I realized I was well into the window to start tomatoes. Except I didn't realize till after I started to hydrate the pellets, did I realized I grabbed the 72 cell starter instead of the tomato starter, so Pooka and I just went with it and spent an entire afternoon on Monday starting the tomatoes, sunflowers, and well everything else. Now we wait. I still need to start the snapdragons, and most of our herbs, but those will go into peat pots probably this weekend. Right now, Pooka is having plenty of fun watching her plants change and grow, and I am running out of places to put seeds. Plus, I think if I have to use a third card table, Daddy may have something to say about it.

One little, two little, three little plants

Yesterday I planned out this post, but then my interwebs decided to be weird. They are being a tad flaky still today, but here is to trying.

Tuesday evening before I ran to work, I went outside to grab some more Rosemary to make more of our Garlic Rosemary bug spray.

I walked outside to see our Rosemary plant looked rather sad....

Sad looking Rosemary plant

I don't know if you can tell it in the picture, but about half the plant has been harvested and it is not rebounding as well as I had hoped. Mostly due to the heat around here. It is making alot of things look kinda sad. 

Well since buying a plant costs as much as buying the sad little packs of the herb from the store, I made a quick phone call to the nursery up the street. They said they still had PLENTY of rosemary that was in great shape.

So I grabbed a Pooka and off we went. Turns out they had less mature Rosemary, but they are very healthy and at 50% off, I was willing to grab a couple. (I was thinking of it as buy one get one free). As we are checking out Pooka looks at the cashier and says "We need these for our bugspray." The lady looked really confused and I had to explain what it was. Apparently none of the 3 ladies working had ever heard of it. I said it seemed to be working for us so far and one of the ladies said she would have to try it.

We brought them home but were unable to pot them that night since I did have to go to that whole job thing.

Yesterday afternoon Pooka and I got them potted. They actually went into our new $0.25 pots that were a clearance find from Target. I know they are small, but I am hoping by being able to pick off all of them it will allow rest more.

New additions

Pooka has started calling them her "Baby Rosemary plants". I am shaking my head and going with "This is nothing like a horror novel, so long as it keeps the bugs at bay" I am pretty sure if Pooka goes outside and loses all her plants to bug, I may feel like I am in a horror movie with the amount of screaming and crying. 

2 more additions

So after going to the store to buy a tiny package of rosemary to make a pest repellent, I remembered why I hate buying herbs at the store. For what I paid for that overpriced little pouch, I could of gotten at least seeds, if not the plant.

Fast forward to this morning and my decision that IF this works, and even if it didn't, I refused to buy more rosemary at the store. So I packed up the kids and off to Lowe's we went. We needed stakes for the tomatoes and a few other odds and ends, but a cute little Purple Basil jumped out at us and into the cart. It didn't help that one of Pooka's favorite colors is purple and that she really wanted to try a new food. (The trying new foods I really don't want to discourage since she will try ANYTHING).

Can you guess which is the basil? 

Now we have Rosemary and a second Basil plant. I am wondering how much the flavor is different in the purple. I suppose I should be more like a Pooka and just try it.

Tomorrow I will try to get the pictures up of my afternoon's work. Custom made tomato containment that is functional if not pretty and news on how the tomatoes are fairing.