Lemon Balm - Lemony and Balmy!

There is one plant that has not minded any of the weather one bit  - Melissa Officinalis. Lemon Balm (Its Latin name refers to its attraction to bees.) is a voracious grower, after only a few seasons in my garden it has staked its claim on a sizable corner. And this year all of last year's bee touched seeds seem to have found homes in the soil. I'm evicting most of them to gift to friends.

 Lemon Balm is good medicine. It's mildly antiseptic, soothing to the stomach and liver, and the scent calms and focuses. It's often used for problems of tenseness and tight muscles and it encourages sleep. Essential oils of Lemon Balm are useful, but the smell is strong enough off the leaf to simply use the fresh stuff! Rubbing a leaf on one's skin discourages insects.

But wait, there's more! It's a tasty plant! The tastes as though one has already added lemon, with a slight zesty bite to it. I also enjoy making syrups (see my how-to post) to use for lemonades and cocktail. A friend has asked that I make large quantities for her wedding, so it must be ok?

In a few weeks the bees will be buzzing around, and I'll be kicking back with a Lemon Balm mojito. Cheers!

Garden Update - It's Stopped Raining! Edition

 Usually, in Colorado, we like it when it rains. We were not, however, prepared for almost 30 straight days of cold wet weather, and it's put a damper on the garden season.


However, many of my crops that I got in early a thriving. The peas are podding, doing well with the sunshine. (Yes those are bindweed behind the pea plants, it's a scaffold for the peas to grow o- Don't Judge me!) The beets and carrots both look better than ever, they haven't much minded the cold, except being slow to come up. I added lots and lots of ash to the soil, hopefully I'll get a good crop of both this year!

The tomatoes, however, have not enjoyed this. In seedling form they were doing great! But the chill and wet caused many deaths in the ground. Let's be clear, I did not let them freeze! I'm not that bad of a plant momma. But 32 seedlings have turned into less than 10 surviving plants. I'm not even going to show the 4 remaining eggplants, or discuss their pepper friends who perished.

Cucumbers came up after three plantings (the first two were washed out by overflowing gutters.) And the ever-present tomatillos... I've potted several to inflict the invasive pest gift to other gardeners.

How does your garden grow?

Garden Season

First World Garden Problems - when you want to shovel manure but you have to fix your wheelbarrow first...

I've had this since I moved into my house five years ago, and time (my neglect) has not always been kind. Finally, the last straw, the wheel kept falling off and going flat. So I ran to the store to get a new tube, and a longer axle, and.... since I was there I figured I'd tackle the rust. Shiney red enamel baby!

TIL - It's way harder to change a flat on a wheelbarrow than on a bike. Like holy shit, this took me about an hour, and my hands still hurt, and I got blisters. Blisters. Not from shoveling or raking, my hands have good callouses for that. I got blisters from using a tire tool to jam the inner tube into the 1/4 inch gap around the rim.

Also, apparently this tire is "Not for Highway Use", which really puts a damper on my plans to strap on the roller skates and jetpack and cruise this guy up I-70. Thanks a lot safety warning...

Hopefully I can get all my plants in the ground tomorrow morning, as several days of rainy weather are predicted!