A Grower Perspective

 When I want to take some time to renew my spirit, get some fresh air and have a bit of creative time, I pot up some big pots with a variety of plants from the nursery.  I’m like a kid in a candy shop choosing plants and tucking them together.  As I was out there today, a scene on the Paris streets went through my mind.  I went to Paris once.  It was winter, January to be exact, cold damp.  We never saw the sun or blue sky, but we were in Paris.  The scene was this; outside a lovely florist shop someone was arranging a huge bouquet for I assume something very special.  He had all the flowers and branches laid out around him on the sidewalk and he was using his special touch to put together something of great beauty. So I think of him, and Paris and the bathtub we soaked in every night to warm up after a cool winter day.   

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 Now is the time to harvest and prune your lavender plants. What a fragrant job! For some folks this is the culmination of a year of growing and the harvest bringing in flowers, which then turn into sachets, bundles, wreaths and oils. For the home gardener it may mean filling the house with bouquets of sweet scent that will last throughout the winter as a reminder of the sunny summer days.

To prune lavender I use two tools, a hand scythe and hand hedge pruners. I harvest the flowers with the scythe and then shape

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If you want to read a great piece about creating stress-relieving outdoor spaces, check out this article in today's (7/23/09) Register-Guard's Home & Garden special section:

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  If you want to know how trees cool the earth, take a drive in the country with your hand outside the window.  As you drive along you will notice the change in temperature between the grassland and the wood areas.  Enough said.

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Last night my daughters' and I planted a Vaccinium corymbosum ‘Duke' next to their sandbox. They are 2 years old and make the job take twice as long but they really enjoy it and it is fun to watch them learn where Blueberries (or in their terminology "Beedies") come from. The fruit isn't quite ripe yet so they were having a hard time not picking them. Planting edibles around children's play areas can supply them with healthy snacks that are just steps away and a knowledge that food doesn't just appear on grocery shelves, but is grown and cultivated by people just like them.

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