Fibermania

I Believe in Basil

I believe anyone can grow basil. Dirt, seeds, water and sun are all you need. I start mine on a damp piece of paper towel, sprinkled with seeds and covered with plastic wrap and left on the kitchen counter. They swell and turn gooey and sprout in just a few days. They are much easier to find and move to the soil at that point. I use a toothpick to pick them off the paper towel and place onto the damp soil.

One cannot have too many basil plants and successive plantings is a good idea. This herb makes even grocery store tomatoes edible. A chunk of fresh mozzarella, a large leaf of basil, a slice of tomato and a dribble of evoo, salt and pepper is a feast.

I believe in Hardy Geraniums

Hardy Geraniums (perennial) or Cranesbill are a must in my garden plans. Their leaves are lovely even without their flowers and practically evergreen. They grown in sun or shade, in damp or drought, and have a multitude of different color combinations. One of them Johnson's Blue, above, is tall and an early bloomer. But they come in pinks, white and multi combos. They spread easily from seed, and can fill a space quickly, or can be ripped up with vigor and dumped in another spot and seem right at home. They filled up the front of my old garden in one season, where nothing else ever seemed to flourish.

I believe in French Intensive Gardening

I had my friend Meredyth build these 5x5' frames from 2x12" boards while I was away teaching, years ago. We then filled them with compost, top soil, rotted manure, or whatever was on sale that week at the grocery store garden shop. I always planted way too many plants in them, but it never seemed to matter. They thrived. Weeds didn't have a chance. We mixed annuals and perennials in these boxes and had both shade and sun plants.

Because the sides were raised, I could sit on them and reach across at least half way to plant something. And the height also allowed the soil to warm up faster in the Spring, making it easy to get a jump start on planting.

It isn't a good idea to plant veggies in a box like this IF your wood is treated, which these were. The preservative usually has toxic chemicals which leach out into the plants. Not harmful to the plants but not good for you.

I believe in Hostas

But then you know that if you have read this blog in the summertime. Here we have a gigantic hosta surrounded by hardy geraniums. Both love the shade. Hostas romanced me in my first home as nothing else would grow under our maple tree. We had nine varieties there. I thought that was a lot at the time, but O My! how many there are available now. Whole Hosta Societies are out there making everything from teeny to enormous, in all sorts of combinations of white, yellow and green.

One cannot kill a Hosta. And dividing them is like slicing an apple in half. I had to take this one with me from my old garden and we cut it up into several clumps, leaving the dried flower stalks as markers and planted them in our new yard. I look at the stalks daily to see if the new crowns are up yet. They will make this yard HOME.

Lupines...I must get some seeds.