Lost in my studies

So instead of being in the garden, I've been lost amongst tomes of books. The study of herbs has most of my attention. They're harder to learn than just the vegetables in my garden. And the garden suffers from my inattention. But I find I can only really pay attention to work and my graduate studies.

I miss blogging. And I miss gardening.

Spring has me looking more closely at the herbs, and lately, what catches my attention are seeds.

One of my beds was finally raided and cleared by the gophers. The dahlia in my profile picture is gone. I was out last Sunday trying to decide what to do. I think I'll see which of these herb seeds sprout. Jing jie (Schizonepeta tenuifolia) seems like a possible candidate. Then I'll make the bed a permanent planting, with individual gopher cages.

The gopher invasion had me a bit glum on Vernal Equinox, so I tramped around the edges of the garden looking at my weeds. I have a large amount of chickweed (Stellaria media) and plantain (Plantago lancelolata) growing everywhere. I decided to try and make salve. Added some Salvia apiana and Salvia mellifera leaves which gave the coconut oil a pungent smell. It's not to bad for a first try. But next time, I'll try and remember to have small containers to put it in, ready to go. I spent part of the afternoon madly looking for sampler honey jars to put the finished salve into, so I can share it with some friends and family.

The only other accomplishment was planting catnip on the deck for my cat. He was particularly happy that Spring is finally here. (I think he's getting bored with the dried stuff.)