2021 Second Year of Corona - Gardening 

What's Happening in my World?  

Last year was not what I would call a huge success with my gardens.  They were productive but they were by the end of the season, not pretty.  I did not adequately compensate for the size of many of the plants and my strawberries took over the beds with their runners and unfortunately I was not in the best of health to be able to stay on top of it all.  My helper did what he could to manage things but it was difficult to say the least.

The 2021 growing season has been a total ramp (disaster), the weather has been relentless with the rain and the cold, followed by a few decent days which started all the trees and perennial's to start budding out and blooming.  Case in point my apple, pear, peach and plum trees.  I attempted to cover the apple and pear and peach but the wind made that an effort in futility.  So I am not sure if the trees produce much if anything this year.  Last year the pear tree which was less than 3 feet tall produced 12 beautiful pears which were actually the most delicious pears I have ever eaten (to my surprise).  I battled with the ants and aphids on the pear tree and my neighbor across had the same but worse.  I ended up using my grandfather's old method of cotton cloth soaked in olive oil and wrapped around the base and sprayed several times with Acetylsalicylzuur that finally stopped the ants from sucking all of the sweet nectar from the new leaves.  I attempt to only use natural substances in my garden, thus it took some time to finally find the correct method for that particular scenario.  I also had an issue with mildew on my kruisbessen plant (a cross between black berry/raspberry/and red or white currant).  That particular plant has two different species, one white and one red on the same stem (a hybrid), and it was expensive and I did not want issues with it.  I sprayed it with milk and with baking soda several times, and even resorted to the Acetylsalicylzuur towards the end of the season.  That was all before I figured out that the culprit was probably my neighbor spraying all her fruits and vegetables in the middle of the day which of course with the wind blew to my plants and the sun made spots on the leaves, then they were more susceptible to getting sick.  Strangely enough, she is the one that made issues over the mildew, but she had it already on several of her plants BEFORE it reached mine, but of course she did not tell the allotment committee that when she complained.   So last year I fought those two issues, then this animal that digs undergrown tunnels, a type of rat called a woolratten.  He was digging holes everywhere.  The only thing that seemed to work was putting black powder in the holes.  Surprise, not really, he is back at it this year.

So my goals this year are a bit simpler than before I was sick, I need to make things easier to manage with less bending and stooping, less weeding and more just enjoying the time there.  So I hope over the course of the summer to create more raised beds to help alleviate the issue of weed control (or at least make it manageable); and to create more habitats for the bees and good insects.  I have made a large habitat for the bees and insects from a large outdoor glass lantern I had that was broken by the neighbors cat.  I have filled it with different pieces of wood, stalks, moss, and inserted some tubes for the bees to lay eggs in.  I have also taken some wooden slabs and drilled holes to hang for the bees also (more like there normal habitat).  I am planning on building a very large wooden frame with wire mesh on the back and filling it with bamboo tubes and different types of dried grasses and wood pieces for both the bees and the beneficial insects, but that probably will take until next year to totally complete because I need to find enough material to fill out a large frame.  I have a small water source in the form of a clay pot and saucer for the bees to drink from on top of rocks in the pot, and I would like to incorporate a small water feature, but I have to formulate a plan on where I can put it so that it does not get spray in the water from my neighbor because I do not want to poison them.  (We are suppose to be all organic, but since her weeds die in one day after she sprays, I am not so sure that she is using organic products).  

My goal is to have a fully stocked herbal garden and I really want to have a tea garden with many varieties of tea.  This will have to be an ongoing project since the plants here are not cheap.  

My goal is to have the following by next year in my garden:

Anise Hyssop - Agastache Foeniculum
Bronze Fennel - Foeniculum vulgare "purpurem"
Cardamom - Elettariacarda momum 

Feverfew - Tantacetum Parthenium
(Plain Hyssop) Hyssopus officinalis

Camellia Sinensis - (Tea Plant) -the Chinese plant and the var assamica, the Indian Tea Plant

Lemon Balm - Melissa Officinalis (bought today)
Lemon Basil (ocimum africanum)
Lemon Grass - Cylnbopogon citratus
Lemon Verbena (My favorite plant ever).  I don't think he survived the winter (had for 6 yrs)
Mountain Pepper - Drimys larceolata lanceolata -- original one with dark blue color

Monarda - Monarda Bee Balm
Ginger Mint - Mentha x gracilis 'variegata;

Rosemary - Rosmarinus officinalis (I have a huge one in 2nd shared garden).
Stevia - Stevia rebaudiana
Lemon Thyme - Thymus citridorus
Variegated Lemon Thyme - Thymusxcitridorus variegatus
Tulsi/Holy Basil - Ocimumtenuflorum/ocimum Sonetum
Roman Chamomile - chamaemulum nobile
German (Duits) Chamomile - Matricaria recutita
Lavender Hyssop 

Linden Tree Flowers - tilia cordata tilla platyphyllos
Saffron - Crocus satirus
Violet - viola odorata 

Pipsissewa plant - (Called a stone beaker plant)
Cat tails