Tag Archives: basil thai lemon

Pear Tree Pruning + Zinnias, Strawflower, Coleus and Herbs sown…

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It’s the first of June, but it’s seems like it’s winter or early spring. In fact, it was raining for a bit this morning, but luckily it stopped by the afternoon.

Dead Pear Branches

I did major pruning on our four pear trees. I noticed that there were a lot of dead branches, so I pruned anything that was dead. I didn’t get everything, and I may leave one of the tall branches in the middle Bosc Pear since I noticed that that where our neighborhood hummingbird loves to perch and sing. I still have more to prune, but it was getting late and I was getting tired.

Dwarf Border Sunflower Potted Up

Before going in, I planted the 5 Dwarf Border Sunflower plants into a 5 gallon container. I’ll move this to the front later this week.

Zinnias and Strawflower Sown

I also sowed Zinnia ‘Whirligig’ Folia, Zinnia (Fall 2005) Folia and Tall Double Strawflowers Folia.

Inside, I sowed 8 kinds of Coleus from seeds I saved:
– Coleus (Unknown Burgundy G2-2006/2011) Folia
– Coleus (Dapple Apple G2-2006/2011) Folia
– Coleus (Sedona G2-2006/2011) Folia
– Coleus (Amora G2-2005/2011) Folia
– Coleus (Kong Green G2-2005/2011) Folia
– Coleus (Kong Salmon Pink G2-2010/2011) Folia
– Coleus (Dark Star G2-2005/2011) Folia
– Coleus (Splash G2-2006/2011) Folia

Coleus and Herbs Sown

I also sowed some herbs:
– Basil ‘Hybrid Thai Lemon’ Folia
– Basil ‘Lettuce Leaf’ Folia
– Basil (Sweet, Chia brand) Folia
– Perilla frustescens (Shi-so) ‘Vietnamese, Tia To’ Folia

Planting, Harvesting and Cooking…

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12:48pm I’m cutting down the Kohlrabi that has bolted and I saw the first Aphids this year… Dangit!

12:58pm The Bumble Bees are going crazy of our Borage flowers!

7:35pm Planted 8 squares in veggie bed #3: White Russian Kale, Redbor (G2) Kale, Swiss Chard and Green Arrow Snap Peas

8 Squares Planted

7:39pm Harvested some Red Russian Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled Kale and Snap Peas…

Harvested Kale

Harvested Snap Pea

I made Kale Soup with the Kale that I harvested today.

I used this recipe as a base: http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/2007/11/portuguese-kale-soup.html

Kale Soup

11:22pm The Hybrid Thai Lemon Basil is sprouting…

Back to Sowing…

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I’ve been feeling ill since Saturday. It was like I had severe allergies and a flu all in one. I was so stuffed up and had such a hard time breathing. It sucked!… I had a 4 day weekend and wasn’t able to garden any of those days.

Although, I don’t quite feel 100% better… I planted a whole bunch of seeds in these cool cell packs I got last week from Big Lots. The 12-pack Mini Greenhouses were 99¢ each and the 9-cell packs were 97¢ for six. As an added bonus, eight 9-cell packs will fit perfectly into my Jiffy (72 pellet) Greenhouse.

Six 9-packs   12-pack Mini Greenhouses

Here’s what I planted:

– Mighty Red Oak Lettuce (3)
– Simpson Elite Lettuce (6)
– Maiko Garland Chrysanthemum (3)
– Smooth Beauty Luffa (6)
– Zinnia (saved from Fall 2005) – I think it’s ‘White Profusion’ (9)
– Thai Lemon Basil (3)
– All Red Edible Amaranth (3)
– Red Stripe Leaf Amaranth (3)
– Borage (3)
– Large Leaf Korean Perilla (3)
– Tia To Vietnamese Perilla (3)
– Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard (12)
– Lemon Cucumber (8)
– Sikkim Cucumber (4)
– Gold Dust Alyssum (4)
– Orange Cosmos (4) (thank you treebreeze :)
– Poached Egg Plant Meadow Foam (Limnanthes douglasii) (4)
– Plains (Bicolor) Coreopsis (4)
– Envy Zinnia (4)
– Candy Cane Mix Zinnia (4)

Seed Purchases

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I had some time to kill at work and did some seed shopping online:

I ordered these Asian herbs and veggie at Evergreen Seeds:

– Large Leaf Korean Perilla – Coleus-like Perilla with a unique flavor between mint and basil
– Tia To Vietnamese Perilla – Green color leaves with purplish red on the back
– Red Stripe Leaf Amaranth – Edible large green leaves with red stripes
– All Red Edible Amaranth – Edible all red leaves
– Mino Early Daikon Radish – A long-time Japanese Daikon Radish favorite
– Smooth Beauty Luffa – Light green skinned edible Luffa
– Maiko Garland Chrysanthemum – Edible Asian Greens
– Thai Lemon Basil – Thai Hoary Basil

I also ordered these hard-to-find and usual plants at Amishland Heirloom Seeds:

– Strawberry Spinach – (Chenopodium capitatum) Spinach and Strawberries in one
– Sikkim Cucumber – (Cucumis sativus var. sikkimensis) Cantaloupe-like Cucumber
– Brandywine OTV Tomato – A sub variety of the famous Brandywine Tomato
– Scarlet Chinese Eggplant – (Solanum integrifolium) Miniature Pumpkins-like fruits
– Great White Tomato – Big white Beefsteaks