Chipper [gardening]
May. 19th, 2025 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterYesterday was Commencement. This year's ceremony was around 4.5 hours long, around 2 hours of which consisted of the reading out of every graduate's name as each graduate walked across the stage. This was our largest-ever class so it was just going to take a while no matter what.
I tried to get as many chores done ahead of time as I could, including baking scones and a quiche for breakfasts for the week:
By midafternoon, I was tired from the chores hustle plus commencement plus the 4 miles of walking to get to commencement and back. While my cardiovascular fitness is pretty good, I can't say the same for my walking stamina!
But the chores weren't all done, and I also wanted to tackle some time-sensitive garden projects.
At the top of the list was harvesting out as much chocolate peppermint as I could. Here's what the main garden bed looked like after I harvested:
The peppermint and the strawberries compete with each other, so I figured this would both yield a bunch of leaves for tea, and try to ensure the strawberry plants get a bit more sun.
I suspect that younger, more tender chocolate peppermint leaves may taste more delicious. I will probably wind up doing a series of experiments (ahem, experimints) to dial in my chocolate peppermint tea recipe. But I've got to start somewhere, right?
I soaked the clippings to get them cleaned off, gave them a whirl in the salad spinner, then put them in the dehydrator overnight. As of this morning, the leaf tips still aren't entirely dry. But that means they should be dry by this afternoon/evening, ready for the next step, which will involve misting them with chocolate extract.
I still have some of the Stash tea remaining in my office, so I can eventually do a direct taste test comparison. Stash also augments the chocolate flavor, so we'll see if my homemade methods compare.
After the mint harvest, I got out Mr. Chippy to see how it behaved, and chipped down the entire older pile of twigs. Some of the stuff in that pile had been there for over 2 years! It felt really good to clear that whole area out, especially because some of the Evil Vines were starting to grow back in among the twigs (ripped out on the lower right of this photo). Left to their own devices, the Evil Vines will climb all the way up the side of the house, providing entry points for any and all mice that want to try their luck indoors.
And just look at this glorious tub of mulch!
I will probably actually use this bin's contents as mulch around the shrubs out front. That can only help with suppression of evil vines out there.
Because...here's the next pile of clippings to shred, from pruning the shrubs last weekend:
The next batch of chips will probably mostly just get set aside as compost and worm bin additives.
--
I tried to get up and go rowing this morning, but failed. The lymph nodes in my throat felt a touch swollen, and I still felt tired from the weekend, and those are my excuses and I'm sticking with them. If the exposure to 4,000 people yesterday means I'm coming down with something, better to rest. And if I'm not coming down with something, well, better to not get even more run down via overexertion.
Skipping rowing did mean I could finish up some lingering weekend household chores (namely, vacuuming and cleaning the sink) and tackle a couple more garden projects.
One project is getting the soaker hose system set up again. Here are the irises in the side bed, saying hello and that it's about time to get hoses going.
Much to my amazement, I managed to find the roll of teflon tape to wrap the hose connections!
But to my dismay...when I turned this faucet on, I found that there is water leaking out of that silver cap on the top.
That cap actually kind of looks like it's constructed to fail in the case of water freezing in the line, which is something that might have happened. I was pretty sure I turned the water off in January, but when I went to test the faucet a week or two ago, I discovered that water was still running to it. Argh!
Aside from that, I also just noticed yesterday that the Dark Dahlia would like to have my attention for a moment, please:
That means it has successfully survived the winter, hooray! I wasn't sure it would, because I only got to dig it out in late December, and I don't know how much cold it had to survive prior to that.
I put it back in its customary spot, next to the sunny promiscuous rhubarbs:
I also played Compost Fairy with the rest of the compost I harvested out last weekend. Always fun. Hopefully the compost gives the strawberries an extra boost!
Last but not least, check out this luscious lettuce!
Today is day 1 of Homegrown Lettuce on Sandwiches Season. Yum!
When I was shredding, I also noted that we've got a woodchuck again, in a burrow back behind the garbage cans. S reminded me that a woodchuck previously DECIMATED our lettuce boxes at one point. So I'd better get those lettuce cages secured on sooner rather than later...
Saturday was also Flip the Switches on the Ceiling Fans Day. Temperatures cooled off again as of last night, but these things are all lovely signs of the changing seasons. Summah in Upstate New York!
I tried to get as many chores done ahead of time as I could, including baking scones and a quiche for breakfasts for the week:
By midafternoon, I was tired from the chores hustle plus commencement plus the 4 miles of walking to get to commencement and back. While my cardiovascular fitness is pretty good, I can't say the same for my walking stamina!
But the chores weren't all done, and I also wanted to tackle some time-sensitive garden projects.
At the top of the list was harvesting out as much chocolate peppermint as I could. Here's what the main garden bed looked like after I harvested:
The peppermint and the strawberries compete with each other, so I figured this would both yield a bunch of leaves for tea, and try to ensure the strawberry plants get a bit more sun.
I suspect that younger, more tender chocolate peppermint leaves may taste more delicious. I will probably wind up doing a series of experiments (ahem, experimints) to dial in my chocolate peppermint tea recipe. But I've got to start somewhere, right?
I soaked the clippings to get them cleaned off, gave them a whirl in the salad spinner, then put them in the dehydrator overnight. As of this morning, the leaf tips still aren't entirely dry. But that means they should be dry by this afternoon/evening, ready for the next step, which will involve misting them with chocolate extract.
I still have some of the Stash tea remaining in my office, so I can eventually do a direct taste test comparison. Stash also augments the chocolate flavor, so we'll see if my homemade methods compare.
After the mint harvest, I got out Mr. Chippy to see how it behaved, and chipped down the entire older pile of twigs. Some of the stuff in that pile had been there for over 2 years! It felt really good to clear that whole area out, especially because some of the Evil Vines were starting to grow back in among the twigs (ripped out on the lower right of this photo). Left to their own devices, the Evil Vines will climb all the way up the side of the house, providing entry points for any and all mice that want to try their luck indoors.
And just look at this glorious tub of mulch!
I will probably actually use this bin's contents as mulch around the shrubs out front. That can only help with suppression of evil vines out there.
Because...here's the next pile of clippings to shred, from pruning the shrubs last weekend:
The next batch of chips will probably mostly just get set aside as compost and worm bin additives.
--
I tried to get up and go rowing this morning, but failed. The lymph nodes in my throat felt a touch swollen, and I still felt tired from the weekend, and those are my excuses and I'm sticking with them. If the exposure to 4,000 people yesterday means I'm coming down with something, better to rest. And if I'm not coming down with something, well, better to not get even more run down via overexertion.
Skipping rowing did mean I could finish up some lingering weekend household chores (namely, vacuuming and cleaning the sink) and tackle a couple more garden projects.
One project is getting the soaker hose system set up again. Here are the irises in the side bed, saying hello and that it's about time to get hoses going.
Much to my amazement, I managed to find the roll of teflon tape to wrap the hose connections!
But to my dismay...when I turned this faucet on, I found that there is water leaking out of that silver cap on the top.
That cap actually kind of looks like it's constructed to fail in the case of water freezing in the line, which is something that might have happened. I was pretty sure I turned the water off in January, but when I went to test the faucet a week or two ago, I discovered that water was still running to it. Argh!
Aside from that, I also just noticed yesterday that the Dark Dahlia would like to have my attention for a moment, please:
That means it has successfully survived the winter, hooray! I wasn't sure it would, because I only got to dig it out in late December, and I don't know how much cold it had to survive prior to that.
I put it back in its customary spot, next to the sunny promiscuous rhubarbs:
I also played Compost Fairy with the rest of the compost I harvested out last weekend. Always fun. Hopefully the compost gives the strawberries an extra boost!
Last but not least, check out this luscious lettuce!
Today is day 1 of Homegrown Lettuce on Sandwiches Season. Yum!
When I was shredding, I also noted that we've got a woodchuck again, in a burrow back behind the garbage cans. S reminded me that a woodchuck previously DECIMATED our lettuce boxes at one point. So I'd better get those lettuce cages secured on sooner rather than later...
Saturday was also Flip the Switches on the Ceiling Fans Day. Temperatures cooled off again as of last night, but these things are all lovely signs of the changing seasons. Summah in Upstate New York!
no subject
Date: 2025-05-19 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-19 04:49 pm (UTC)Also, yesterday I was thinking of you, because I realized that I should really plan on picking OODLES of cherries so I can dehydrate a whole bunch of them! Is sour cherry season early July?
no subject
Date: 2025-05-19 05:25 pm (UTC)I looked up sour cherry harvest times before I wrote my comment to you! (When I saw July, I thought, Nah, too soon. Don't bring it up. 😀)
Great minds...