Tag Archives: vine

June 12, 2022 · 11:48 am

Garden of Life

Merry meet all,

Wow! My garden is so beautiful and lush, rich with green verdant life! I just strolled through it and wrote on a chart was growing well. I decided to make that my post. So here it is!

The witch hazel grew bigger this year. The ferns claimed lordship over the dark spot of the garden. I am letting them grow wild there, because that makes great ground cover. The hosta plants there are growing well too. I transplanted Solomon’s seal and I spied new leaves on the stems. Broad leaved dock is growing well too. The astilbe are sporting new buds and the lungwort flowered beneath the witch hazel. It was just lovely. Lungwort comes back bigger and better every year. 

The tickseed is showing lovely orange- yellow flowers. I plan to save the seeds. The purple coneflower has nice leaves so far. The lady’s mantle by the back door is growing quite nicely and showing new flowers and buds which will emerge soon. The buds of the tiger lilies are coming up. I am not sure about the Asiatic lilies. The calendula is slow but coming along, as well as the heliopsis and the red clover. The bleeding heart survived the transplant. It has grown bigger this year! The mullein is tucked in beneath the large rhubarb leaves. Dandelions are everywhere and the periwinkle is growing nicely on its own too. 

I hope my elecampane flowers this year. It’s sporting new leaf growth. Bees are busy pollinating the comfrey. I planted nasturtiums all over the garden as I do every year. They are taking off and will soon show their lovely flowers. The sage I started from seed is much bigger now and the lovage is taller. The other herbs growing well are lavender, lemon balm, chives, mint, parsley, and woodruff. Dill, oregano, chamomile, rosemary and purple sager recent newcomers to the garden. I hope the thyme comes back. I potted up the thyme, cut it back and added fresh soil. I just bought 2 pickling cucumber plants. I set them by the large box and put a plant support there. I want the nasturtiums and the cucumber plants to grow up the plant supports. 

The pumpkin plants are growing well. The rhubarb is showing off its big leaves. I added a pepper plant, tomatoes started from seed, scarlet runner beans, green beans, purple beans, potatoes, kale, winter squash and leeks. I hope all the veggies grow well. I have root veggies – radish, turnips, etc., in a box. The potatoes are growing in the large black cloth bag with beans. Beans and potatoes are companion plants and I hope that this deters the raccoons. The scarlet runner beans are germinating! The root veggies green tops are showing now. Soon I will thin them out. I just planted a chunk of ginger in the box with the root veggies. 

The haskap berries hung on to the stems during the rainstorm. They are still green. I enjoyed one purple/ blue haskap. I can’t wait to harvest more. Same goes for the strawberries. The blueberry plant is flowering. I hope the second blueberry plant flowers soon. The raspberry plants are up but not flowering yet. Soon they will. 

Every insect in creation is helping my plants grow or warring with other insects. The garden teems with life. It is so rich and lush out there. I enjoy being in my garden. It is such a stress relief. I do remember to wear insect repellent. I have to get sunscreen too. Protect yourselves, people! I look forward to hearing how your gardens are doing. Let me know in the comments below. 

Blessings, Spiderwitch

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October 2, 2021 · 9:40 pm

October Harvest

 

Merry meet all,

October is here!! I am so excited I hope you are too. I have a small pumpkin dwarfed by my  HUGE pumpkin. I am storing them for Samhain. I’m busy prepping for Samhain I look forward to reading the honking’ huge October newsletter produced by the Horror Writers Association. My blog post about doing a paranormal investigation goes live on October 11th, as part of the Halloween Haunts blog event. I was interviewed by Amanda for the Feminine Macabre interview. That went live on the 29th. Lots happening!!!

This is the time to stock up on root veggies! I have a few squashes, pumpkin in chunks, applesauce, elderberry jam stored away. Yup the cold season has arrived. Like it or not though, it does entice us with the gifts it brings, such as ciders, stews, foods to keep us warm and healthy. I have to puree the pumpkin, which I will do tomorrow. The rind on the squashes is so hard it’s like wood. I have no idea how to cut through that. Pumpkins can be cooked into breads, soups, pies and cookies. I buy smaller pumpkins for cooking – and roasting seeds. I get larger pumpkins for carving. Pureed pumpkin can be stored in the freezer. Once you puree squash, you have a variety of healthful options available for you. Butternut squash also makes good soups. Add ginger, cayenne, and lemon for some tantalizing flavour. 

 

I want to harvest the remaining herbs from my garden before the heavy frost sets in. I have to collect all the lemon balm ( a huge task in itself(, the oregano, some thyme, lavender, and mint. I’m letting the tomatoes ripen on the vine. There is a risk of mildfrost tonight. Later in the month, the frost will be heavier. I bought a huge herb drying rack to dry my herbs. I am grateful for the space but it is too big. I figured it would cost too much to return it to Amazon. I nailed in a big hook in the wall. I need to store away a lot of herbs. The size of it helps. That is the only corner where I can hang it up. I’m just anxious because of the resident overly curious cat who may snoop and sniff out the herbs. Here is a photo of the rack:

 

But it will prove useful this fall and many years to come. I love fall. It is the most beautiful and magical time of year. The leaves are turning, pumpkins regal front decks and store baskets.This is a good time to harvest the herbs you grew with care all summer. Harvest herbs in the morning after the dew has dried but before the frost kills them. Let them dry completely before storing in jars to prevent mold from ruining the herbs. Put them in brown perforated paper bags, tie them upside down to dry or arrange them on cookie sheets to dry. Then, once totally dry and crisp, you are free to use them for tincture making, syrups, teas, cordials or whatever suits your fancy. Know the herbs from each other too. It is so easy to mistake lemon balm from mint. They look and smell alike when dry. It’s easy to confuse yourself. 

I went to the Farmers Market this morning. I forgot a turnip, but I did come home with carrots, leeks, basil + oregano sea salt, and parsnip. – and alcohol cider.  I love parsnip and crunchy sweet carrots. Later, I bought hamburger meat. I can now make stew. Yum!! The farmers market at the Forum was smaller than the market at Seaport. But since we are in a pandemic, a smaller market pleased me. I loved the cider. Oh my gosh it tasted so good. That man is a master at brewing cider wine. Wow I never tasted anything so fine. I am all set for fall. The people at the market ( forum) were so pleasant. I may return there. 

Last night, I removed mullein seed pods from the stalk. Unfortunately for me, the seed pods were hard as rock. I stored the seeds in a labeled jar. The seeds are toxic so I was careful. I am truly blessed with a harvest of herbs, veggies, seeds, and flowers. This is an ideal time to focus on what we harvested and to thank those who bestowed it upon us. Besides Mother Nature and Father sky, we can take the time to reflect who else is so generous to us. It’s a good time to give as generously to those who were good to us. That is an exchange of good energy and is a way of ensuring good energy follows you!!! The Universe hears everything you ask for, so keep sending out good energy and it will reciprocate. 

Blessings, Spiderwitch 

 

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September 30, 2021 · 12:50 pm

Autumn Herbs

Merry meet all,

Tomorrow is October 1st. I have a new rolling cart to store my multiple jars of herbs. By. herbs, I mean of course seeds, bark, leaves, flowers. I had to assemble the cart and that was a nightmare. Are you all getting ready for Samhain? I am! I am also preparing for the Materia Medica course I am taking at the Herbal Academy in addition to the Introductory Herbal course I am already taking. That does involve getting more organized, which is why I bought the cart.

I ordered seeds from a company on Etsy. They are as follows; German chamomile, black swan poppy, Scott bonnet pepper, black cumin, purple echinacea, halloween calendula, Howden pumpkin, borage, sunflower, black tar poppy, chef’s pick parsley, Larkspur, anise, purple echinacea, purple salsify, Vietnamese cilantro, and foxglove blend. Next spring, I will be having fun planting all that!  I gathered the Chinese lanterns, burdock seeds, mullein seeds, and I will soon gather the nasturtium seeds from my garden. I gathered mullein in an empty field and it also grows on the nature trail. A witch hazel grows on the trail too! 

A materia medica means healing materials. It basically means a book about herbal profiles. The profiles are called monographs. I plan to have the most amazing material media by the time I am done studying. The material media course teaches you how to complete a herbal profile. I have access to the Herbarium. I can download any herb monograph I choose to. I ordered a herb journal – titled My Herbology journal, A Green Witch Journal from Amazon. I also ordered a paper making screen deckle and mold! 

Here is the link to the journal: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08TQ7DX6J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 Several herbs that I need for the course grow on the nature trail. Goldenrod, burdock, mullein, asters, raspberry, elderberry, chokeberry, coltsfoot, queen Anne’s lace, black elderberry, staghorn sumac, creeping juniper, perennial sow thistle, red clover, and  thistle all grow on the trail. I may have already mentioned this. I have an app on my phone that helps me identify plants. If you want to forage in the wild, bring gloves to protect you, a charged cellphone that has an app for identifying plants, wear something to protect you from bug bites and poisonous plants, a water bottle to stay hydrated, and scissors. It helps to carry a big plastic bag or cloth bag to hold the herbs you gather. Don’t consume anything if you are not sure. You could make yourself sick. I want to gather goldenrod next summer to dye a piece of fabric yellow. I just want to try it. !!!

I still have to dehydrate the elderberries. I brewed a jar of elderberry, rhubarb and blueberry am.  I should added cinnamon and clove. I am making a jar of elderberry tincture. The berries were dried and I added vodka. I labeled the jar and also lined the top of the jar with natural waxed paper. The metal can’t contaminate the mixture. I can’t wait to try it. But I do want to caution: elderberries contain cyanide, so please if you make a remedy using elderberries, use black or purple berries – not green, and be careful. I will make the tincture last a long time. I don’t plan to consume it every day. The berries are not cooked for making a tincture. Some cyanide could still be present in the berries. Everything in moderation. 

I gathered herbs for my first lesson in the materia medica course. They were lemon balm, goldenrod, thyme, lavender, mint and chamomile. It grows in the garden and on the nature trail.I need to study the herbs for the courses. (What a hardship, eh?) There are so many herbs to learn about and I live in the right environment. Fall is here. Many of the plants are winding down for the long cold rest. The nature trial is now full of the thistles, queen Anne’s lace, burdock, goldenrod all going to seed. The queen Anne’s lace seedbeds resemble bird’s nests. 

I have to collect the raspberries from my garden. The tomatoes are still ripening. The pumpkin patch is growing! I have tried for 11 years to grow a pumpkin patch and now I have! Hopefully the frost will hold off! I pickled my own cucumbers. The flavour is truly divine. I stored two jars of applesauce in the freezer too. I am well stocked. I have to puree the pumpkin. So much to do, so little time. 

I am enjoying my studies at the Herbal Academy. Well obviously right? I decorate my binder with butterfly stickers, protect the notes and printouts in sheet protectors, and do my best to keep it organized. I want to be a herbalist and work in a trade that involves herbs. It will be a long road but an interesting one!!

The link to the Herbal Academy- in case you want to study there!!

https://theherbalacademy.com/my-account/?awt_a=5cXw&awt_l=Bv79G&awt_m=mUTf3FOR61wS3Xw

Blessings, Spiderwitch

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August 9, 2019 · 4:14 pm

Pumpkins Vine Time

Merry meet all,

The Halloween stuff is in the stores!! Oh my I’ll grab my broomstick and fly over and won’t be back till I’m broke!!! October is three months away. I’m still waiting for my veggies to grow though. I am anticipating a big harvest though. This is the time of year when I get excited. I live for Samhain. It’s time to dust off our brooms and our cauldrons, don our striped socks and head over to the stores selling the Halloween stuff.

My pumpkin vine has flowers!! My zucchini plant has a new flower too. I can’t wait for them to get big already. My cucumber plant has lots of flowers but tiny cucumbers. Oh my goddess it’s not like they have all year to grow. Can you tell I’m frustrated?

A real gardener is patient. I still can’t find that gardener. Since we are in harvest season, I hope you enjoy reading this post and learn how to grow your own!

Here are some tips on how to grow our favorite Halloween fruit-pumpkins. Pumpkins need up to 120 days to mature. Pumpkins can be grown from seed. However this year I had luck with the transplants I bought from the local plant store. Wait until all chances of frost have passed. They will grow in warm weather. They can take over a garden too and need up to 30 feet of room to grow.

Before planting your transplants, add plenty of compost material to the soil. You can grow the plants in hills. You mound up the soil and then (If you want to start from seed), put one seed per hill and plant up to four seeds in each hill Make sure there is plenty of room between the vines.

Pumpkins need tons of water. Be sure to only water the plants enough and to avoid root rot. If they look wilted, then the plant has died. Feed the plants a healthy mix of phosphorus and nitrogen, and add more phosphorus than nitrogen, which helps them grow their very best.

If you want to prune the vines, then be sure the vines have pumpkins on them first. When you carefully prune the plants, then you force the plant to stop concentrating on the vine growth and it focuses on maturing the fruit vine. This produces better fruit growth in the long run. Also, consider sprinkling diatomaceous earth under your plants. I did all summer and I have a healthy big zucchini plant in my garden that is pest bug free!

If insects are a problem on your vines, then plant nasturtiums. You have to attract pollinators to pollinate your plants. Aphids, cucumber beetles and stink bugs are a pest to your plants. By planting flowers such as nasturtiums, you will attract pollinators and the insects that might like some aphids for a tasty meal. Plant lots of flowers to increase your chances of healthy plants overall.

Harvesting pumpkins is fun and saves you money!! When the stem looks dry and the fruit is an orange color, it is time to harvest them! Knock hard on the rind of the pumpkin. It should sound hollow. Scrape your fingernail on the rind. It should not scratch easily. Harvest before the frost!

Use your favorite witch tool or boline to cut the pumpkin from the vine. Leave a few inches of stem to avoid disease. Let the pumpkins to cure for a couple of weeks first and store them properly. When they are fully cured, you will know. Allow for air ventilation and don’t dry them out near other fruit. Fruit give off ethylene gas. You can coat a pumpkin in oil which seals it for storage.

Enjoy your glowing orange pumpkins after all this hard work. !!

Blessings Spiderwitch

 

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