Our herbs are out of hand this year. Usually, the parsley and oregano die back in the Fall and come back in the Spring. Chuck has been replanting cilantro in a pot every Fall (because it’s a cold weather plant) and basil every spring (because it absolutely cannot take any cold.)
So.
We have a feral cilantro growing next to the kale bed. I’m not showing you a picture because it’s looking pretty punk this morning. It likes cooler weather and comes back after a freeze. But, it doesn’t actually like it to get beloew about 35º.
The parsley and oregano haven’t even paused for breath.
I thought I was going to be a little short on oregano by Spring because I didn’t get started drying before it’s first bolt this year. I pinched it back and got on it when the second flush got healthy and I did get a couple of batches done. But, we use a lot of oregano. So, I was a little concerned.
I did not need to be. When I went out to look at it, there was tons and it wasn’t even slightly frost nipped.
You may notice the onion leaf in between them. I’ve quit storing green onions in the fridge. I put them in the ground and they just get bigger while they wait to be used.
Anyway. This is what I did last night.
I hope I didn’t hurt this guy who accidentally came in the house for a while. I didn’t see it when I was clipping.
North Carolina State University is the largest agricultural college in the state and they run the State Extension Service. Each county has an office that does all sorts of useful things for their communities. They operate using public funds supervising 4H clubs and helping anyone involved with plants, from farmers and public gardens to someone trying to keep a houseplant alive.
Each county has trained volunteers to help shoulder the load. I start training in Guilford County in January. I actually live in Orange County, but the Orange training class is already full, Greensboro isn’t far and I have a friend who was signing up there.
Orientation is January 14 and we will have class nearly every Wednesday until the beginning of May.
Here’s my schedule
The star on 2/25 is because that’s not a day to miss. That’s the day we meet our mentors. We can miss a day and make it up. But, that one really needed to be on everyone’s calendar.
Application days are test days. Those aren’t days to miss either.
On the Virtual Wednesdays we have all day to watch the video on the MG intranet and there’s a little quiz afterward to prove we actually did watch all of it.
The intranet is how we log our hours, too. You don’t get to just sign up and say “I paid my $120 and I’m a Master Gardener.” You are expected to seriously put in some time.
MG Interns are expected to volunteer a lot as we continue working with our mentors. Once we are actual Master Gardeners, we are expected to serve a minimum of 10 hours per year. (There’s a party in November when we have completed our training. Friends and family are invited to celebrate.)
In our first year, we are expected to put in 40 hours after we finish the class:
16 in demo gardens (There’s a bog in one of them.)
8 at the plant sale or other events.
12 on the Infoline. (4 times for 3 hours. A MG will be with us.)
4 extra hours. If I recall correctly, this is helping to man the information table at farmers’ markets.
Continuing education is expected, too. Notice there are some optional days for that included in the training schedule.
We have a book and we’ll be expected to read before coming to class. We can buy a hardback copy if we really want to have one in our hands for $50 or $60. Or we can download it from that website for free. You can get the HB from other online stores than the NC Extension service and they can be a little less costly. But, not by much.
We’re using the second edition, originally published in 2022. They’re working on a 3rd edition. But, it is such a great book that other services want to use it and #3 is going to be for the entire Southeast, not just NC. So, they’re putting extra effort into that one and it’s not coming out soon. Taylor said that the only differences between #1 and #2 are organizational and if we find an inexpensive copy of the first edition, it will have the same info in a different arrangement.
You can know I’ll be going with free on my tablet.
I have used the Infoline a few times and I’m looking forward to doing that, kind of giving back. That training is learning where to look for answers. Complicated stuff gets passed along to the Extension Agent.
I’m really looking forward to the Raleigh field trip on 2/2. We get to see how soil is tested and see what we need to know to tell people how to collect their samples.
Last night, we had the first burn of the season. And, then, I did more yard work. <great big grin>
The butterfly bush that has been swallowing everything at that end of the patio was crowding one of the chairs. It only had a handful of flower clusters left and those had very few open blossoms. So, I got the loppers out and freed the area where Chuck intended to sit.
We had a grand time burning 3 boxes of wood we’d accumulated from deadfall and yard waste.
When he went in ahead of me (the fire wasn’t quite done yet but it had died back enough that he was getting cold), I finished taking out the bush.
Now, we can see the beds over there more easily and, in a month, we’ll burn that bush.
There is a gardenia at the bottom left, a hyrangea above that, the edge of a compost bin to the left of my herb bed that’s growing oregano and parsley, an empty shepherd’s crook, a pot of autumn fern, a bed of collards and a bed of kale, both draped with green netting to stymie the deer. The butterfly bush is behind it all. And there’s the log that my nephew gave us to grow chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms. You remember, the one that had already been contaminated with turkey tails. The tag on the upper left is that bottom of a wind chime.
I have not been particularly successful with roses. This doesn’t mean I don’t keep trying. There’s a pink ‘Nachidoches’ noisette and a yellow ‘Radsunny’ by the fence on the the south side of the house. I have periodically pulled the grass and mulched around them. But, I haven’t maintained that and keep having to do it again.
SO. I started pulling grass out a few days ago and got about halfway in between them before giving my hands a rest. Tuesday, Chuck wanted to clear the cypress vines off the front stoop and I collected a handful of seeds to put between those roses. (That may have been a bad idea. They do tend to swallow whatever they’re near.) Yesterday, I finish pulling the grass around and between them, outlined that spot with some edgers I had lying around and mulched fairly heavily. I’m considering another load of mulch.
I’d moved the trash containers and the old gate I use to try to hide them over to that side a few days ago. And the pot has a flowering purslane in it. I think it comes up randomly as birds scatter the seeds. Which is why it’s in that ugly pot. I’d lifted it from the ground and stuck it in what was handy. If it comes back in that pot next year, it will get a nicer pot.
I’m hoping to show you something really beautiful there next summer.
Giving myself credit for a good day’s work, I shifted the stepping stone I’d stashed under the stoop to the spot where we’ve set up the Solo Stove so I could use the edgers Chuck had appropriated for that and I moved the tall marble garden table farther along the patio, putting it more in the sun. I keep swapping out the carnivores and the bonsai from there to one of the other tables on the patio and I think that’s better placement for whatever plants I have on it.
I would kind of like to shift the bench down closer to it. But, that thing is heavy and we said that it never moving again when we set it there.
Those large pots hold (L to R, front to back?) basil, thyme and sage. The big bush is the Brown Turkey fig.
This is the junky patch between the patio and the driveway.
The bit between the walkway and the fence is where I had cannas trying to attack us all summer.
To my left as I took the picture is the yellow fig bush and the patch of green by the bucket is a gardenia. The big bush behind the fence is the brown turkey fig. The pot has thyme drooping over the side. The table to the left sometimes holds bonsai and sometimes holds pitcher plants.
The white thing hanging on the fence is a gate I had Riley Foster make for me when we had a deck. It was to keep Sophie contained. When we demolished the deck, I didn’t want to just dispose of it, so it became decorative rather than functional art. It kind of hides the trash cans, too. I guess that means it is still functional.
I’m thinking that I will let the cannas continue growing on the back side/yard side of the fence. If I do that, I need to move the trash cans out of that spot and move the white gate to the other side of the fence. That just takes pliers though. So, NBD.
That strip can continue to grow the yarrow that has crept over and I have some echinacea seeds from a friend to plant there next to the echinacea I had already put in. Those should be low enough not to be annoying to walk by next summer. She sent me some foxglove seeds I may try there, too. My chives and saffron crocuses are up by the patio. But, they don’t spread quickly and there’s room for all that, I think.
That area doesn’t seem to be eaten up with centipede grass. The other side, the gardenia side, is full of it. It’s also full of yarrow, mint and milkweed. So, full that the gardenia is NOT getting a fair shake. But that bush is established enough that I don’t want to try to move it because I’m afraid I’ll kill it if I do. And I don’t have a better place for the nice smelling shrub. At least not if I want to enjoy the scent when it blooms. I tried gardenias out by the front stoop and that was a disaster. FAR too much sun. And when I moved them, one did die. This one has been more determined.
The bucket is full of centipede grass I’ve been pulling up. But, it is so deep and so determined, I’m not sure it’s worth the labor.
I feel like I can either move the edgers and give up or dig out as much of the soil as much I can and fill it back in with topsoil, intending to fight the centipede as it tries to creep back in. Third choice is to just keep pulling it forever.
I feel like all my choices end up with centipede growing there because it’s such a sunny spot. Digging will just give me a little respite before it’s all back.
If I dig it out, the gardenia will need to be mown around. But, it will look less junky than that it has this summer. And the yarrow has already spread to the other side of the path. So, it’s not like that will be lost if the gardenia side is whacked.
See? I knew that if I’d write about it, I’d figure what I really want to do instead of looking at it and dithering.
I am the Audience 