Tag Archives: beans

September 21, 2022 · 1:01 pm

Autumnal garden activities )O(

Merry meet all,

Tomorrow is the Autumn Equinox. It surprised us all  here in Halifax. The leaves are showing those famous fiery colors. The elderberries ripen on the stems, the queen Anne’s lace, goldenrod and burdock slowly go to seed. The sky is overcast here, and everyone is scrambling to get ready for hurricane Fiona. 

I was out in my rain soaked garden this morning. Slugs clung to leaves while wasps sipped pollen. This is a bittersweet time for me. The squash and tomatoes are setting fruit late this season, I am not sure why. It could be because we had a heatwave this summer. You would think that heatwave would have been beneficial for sun loving tomatoes but no. The tomatoes are growing now. Ah well. 

I have to put my garden to sleep for the cold winter ahead and I am sharing how I plan to do that in this post today. My witch hazel flowers late in the year. I love my witch hazel. I plan to buy a huge bag of soil and arrange the soil around the trunk, then I will add a big bag of worm castings into the soil to leave nutrients for the witch hazel. I might even buy some wood chips to act as mulch. I am trying to think of what else I can leave there as a nutrient rich compostable mulch for the roots to feed on all winter. I would have to remember to remove the wood chips because the lungwort blooms wonderfully under the witch hazel in the spring. 

The leaves cascade to the earth every autumn. I usually just keep the leaves there all over my garden all winter. They act as a natural mulch/ blanket that protects my garden during the harsh winter. I rake them away in the spring. I may sprinkle worm castings, bonemeal, eggshells and coffee grounds all over my garden. 

The leaves of the plants, the vines, flowers and whatever I don’t harvest naturally dies back. This is the most free natural compost ever. I have a wooden compost box. I will store the faded dead leaves, branches, stems in the box. Most of the foliage I leave where it is to act as a natural compost and soil nutrients all winter. I spread the soil I used to grow the potatoes over my garden. The soil was amazing! The soil was loose, loamy, obviously nutrient rich and dark black. I loved it and I am sure the garden did too. The rain washes away the soil so it was nice to add rich soil to the garden. 

I still have to harvest the celery, lemon basil, raspberry leaves, mint, tomatoes, healthy disease free witch hazel leaves and beans. The red flowers of the scarlet runner beans are growing so well now. The pollinators are busy. The beans also grow overnight it seems. The leaves I keep on the soil are a nice refuge for hardworking insects too. I’m letting the purple coneflower go to seed. The bees love purple coneflowers. The nasturtiums are still blooming, and I watched as a wasp visited one fiery nasturtium bloom this morning. The wasps built a nest on the inside of the shed door. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I harvested the beautiful Chinese lanterns in the photo above. I am amazed at how rich the colours are. I’m waiting and hoping the calendula blossoms soon. I have no idea why it takes so long. I harvested and pressed the lovely yellow heliopsis and I have pressed many other flowers. I want to make a Samhain/ autumn candle lantern like I did with the  Summer Solstice lantern. I want to paint the jar a rich deep Burgundy colour so the autumn colors really pop out. Yup I think it will be gorgeous. 

Pressed purple coneflower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still have to harvest the elecampane roots, seeds and flowers. The stalk is turning brown. I will harvest in October. 

I have recipes to make elderberry mead, hawthorn cordial, elderberry syrup, cranberry sauce . They are perfect for guarding the health of your immune system all winter. Winter is known for the time when colds, flus and illnesses spread. Those recipes are sure to boost your immune system! Elecampane has inula in the roots. I can’t wait to harvest elecampane and feel like a true herbalist. I have harvested mullein root, and I want to harvest dandelion and burdock after a cold snap. The winter squash has a flower now. I don’t understand why it waited till now but plants follow their own calendar, not the calendar we impose on them. 

Elecampane

 

What to Forage in Fall: 30+ Edible and Medicinal Plants and Mushrooms

I’ve included the recipes here for your own convenience. I hope you try them and let me know in the comments below how it went. I am available here if you have any questions on how to make herbal remedies to guard your health and your family’s health this coming fall season. Now is the time to stock up on ginger, onions, elderberries ( remember: they are not edible raw!), echinacea tinctures, etc. But more on that later! Blessed Mabon to everyone! Or, if you prefer, Happy Autumn Equinox! 

Blessings, Spiderwitch

How To Clear The Garden In The Fall – What To Do With Your Plants & Soil!

How to Make Elderberry Mead

https://theherbalacademy.com/homemade-bug-bite-salve/

https://theherbalacademy.com/homemade-fire-cider/

https://theherbalacademy.com/herbal-cough-syrup/

https://theherbalacademy.com/foraging-goldenrod/

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March 28, 2022 · 4:26 pm

Seeds of hope

 

Merry meet all,

I’m busy sprouting seeds. I have sprouted way too many seeds but this does mean that I get a better harvest come autumn. !! I have sprouted brandywine tomato, Scotch Bonnett peppers, kale, leeks, german chamomile, lavender, cucumber and purple echinacea. I can’t wait to grow them in my garden! I have too many starter seeds here. The more, the merrier. 

Tomorrow I plan to sign up for the Botanical artwork class at the Herbal Academy. I’m buying the sketchbook for the course too. I want to get the apothecary labels for bottles and jars too. I can’t print in color. I want to order rue and yarrow seeds. Yarrow is good for our health and rue is witchy and guards the home!! 

I also want to grow lemon basil, and start growing the witchy seeds I ordered months ago. Black cumin, howden pumpkin and vietnamese cilantro are just a few. It sounds so tasty! I have a few big starter pots sporting my tender seedlings. I don’t have enough starter pots for the seeds. I have successfully pre-germinated chamomile seeds on a damp paper towel in an old pet food bowl. It worked!! There are so many tiny chamomile seedlings I can’t even count them all. They will grow into the beautiful daisy like apple scented herb we all know and love. It is too exciting!

I sterilized a pot from the garden and washed it well. I use bleach to kill any possible insects/ insect eggs that may have hibernated in the pot over winter. Then once clean, I filled the pot with soil. The pot was 12 inches in diameter. I put pre-germinated parsley seeds, and added sage seeds, basil, dill, radish and carrot. Mmm I can just taste it. The pot sits on my kitchen counter. I just can’t wait for the seeds to germinate and fill the pot with their earthy goodness. I may move the pot out once the warm weather arrives. But for now, the pot is indoors. It is too cold yet. I want to plant  potatoes in a grow bag. I can start that in mid-April. I have to grow the tubers at my Mom’s to protect them from ravenous raccooons. The masked thieves just bite a potato then toss it. It’s wasted. Nope not this year. I will be ready for those bandits. 

I want to start nasturtium seeds early this year. If I wait till later in the summer, they will take forever to get growing. The time to start seeds is now. I have lovely scarlet runner beans in air dried brown pods. I plan to grow those this year too along with green beans and purple beans. The purple beans turn green when cooked! 

That is a good start to spring! Beginning a plant from seed saves you tons of money later. It can be expensive to buy lots of transplants. There is a time and place to transplants though. I do it too but later in the season when the perennials have filled the garden. I know what to plant and where I can plant. Put your intention into the seed starting! Happy planting!

 

Blessings, Spiderwitch

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August 16, 2021 · 3:00 pm

Witches Herbs

Merry meet all,

I just finished reading the book titled The Witching Herbs by Harold Roth. This wonderful book is meant for anyone who aspires to grow the bane herbs, or poisonous herbs in their gardens. Don’t grow any bane plants until you read this book. It will save your life. You really need to understand on a very sound and deep level how to work with the plants and not kill yourself or someone else in the process. I don’t want anyone growing any mandrakes, belladonna or nightshade without reading this book. I can’t emphasize enough how crucial this book is to your health and safety. 

I am growing mandrake from seed! It is stored up high where it gets the fresh air and sunlight from the window. But it is up high where my cat can’t reach it. That is for her safety. Mandrake is a toxic plant and I will never let anything harm her- and me, as well. I want the mandrake for the root and I have just the spot to plant it. I have to wait till it is big enough to defend itself from slugs. Then it gets planted out. I almost grew wolfsbane. Wolfsbane is a plant that is exceedingly toxic. It goes by a few names such as wolfsbane, aconite, aconite – it’s botanical name and monkshood. Yet people grow it in their gardens! If you get that plant on your skin and touch your face, you can die right on the spot. The juices of the lovely but toxic plant can’t get into your bloodstream. I pitched the seedling container that had the wolfsbane seeds in it to the compost bin. There is too much risk in growing it. Children, animals and people all frequent the garden. No way would I risk harming them. This is why it is so vital to read that book. 

I harvested the mugwort in my garden. The mugworts grew six feet high! I’m drying the leaves and stalks indoors. The leaves look so pretty on the branches as they slowly dry to a crisp. When it is ready, I will store the leaves in jars. I can’t wait. I bought a new set of jars just for that purpose. I am also drying chamomile. I will store the chamomile in jars too. I don’t crumble the leaves and flowers before I store them. They remain potent for a longer time when you do it that way. Just before you are about to use them, then you crumble the herbs. I plan to store more herbs this fall. I am just waiting to harvest them just before the frost. 

Mugwort is a VERY invasive plant. I uprooted the strong healthy roots of the mugwort patch and put the mugwort into a planter. It will choke out anything else that grows nearby. Mugwort is best grown when it is contained. I hope the mugwort grows well in a container. The planter pot is very very deep. The roots were quite large so I needed a container that could accommodate the big roots. I have never seen such strong healthy roots such as the mugwort roots in my life. I have another plant I at first believed to be a poppy but now I think it is another mugwort. I don’t recall planting mugwort there but more mugwort is OK with me!

Today I cut off all the browned pea vines from 2 pots I was growing them in. I snipped away any remaining stems and tossed it all in the compost. I stirred the soil in the planters and added Gaia Green Organics fertilizer! This fertilizer is a miracle worker in your garden. It’s improved my plants and soil! My comfrey came back when I added it to the soil! I thought my comfrey died! It’s been given a second chance. I planted the sad looking onion seed sets that looked all wilted at the back of the garden into the plant pot. I added the fertilizer. The peas also fixed nitrogen into the soil. The onions might grow better now that they are exposed to more sunlight and are receiving more nutrients! I sure hope so. I am growing potatoes and my shallots grow better near the potatoes. I planted beans and chard in the second planter. I also fed them fertilizer and water in the pots. I was busy in my garden. I also just planted a few turnip seeds in another planter where I have potatoes growing. By the time I harvest the potatoes the turnips will really get going if the bugs keep off. 

I harvested 4 pickling cucumbers so far! My tomatoes are growing too. I trimmed the bottom leaves that touch the ground to avoid the risk of disease. I also fertilized each tomato plant. Now they are growing yellow flowers and tomatoes! Many of my other herbs and flowers are growing beautifully! That is a post for another time. The bees keep visiting the lemon balm, cucumbers, and astilbe, clover and dandelions to pollinate. The lemon balm patch in my garden is huge. It is why everything else in my garden is growing well. Ok by me. 

Blessings, Spiderwitch

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