Little Successes

A mixed bed

I have this little bed under my studio windows that has always been rather unsuccessful. This year I added the shelf so I could put some potted plants to see if they did better. And then I added a hodge podge of other stuff. Sort of the nuclear option just to see what worked if anything.

The purple succulent I planted there a few years ago seems to have taken hold. As did the hollyhock I planted behind it because I had given up on it growing. First year for the hollyhock but it seems to think it is going to bloom. The peppers in the tins above were late entrants. And the geraniums suffered severely from a late frost. Thinking of weathering them over winter in the polytunnel to give them an early start next spring. One or two may be moved into the studio.

Just to the left in this photo is Borage. It is an herb good for kidneys and bladder and which I have tried here for several years. If it weathers over the winter I will be ecstatic. The Bee Balm seems to be making it too beside the orange mint. Maybe I just needed to overcrowd everything.

Borage Bloom among the onions
Onion Top

I generally eat all the onion seed tops in salads but didn't this year. This is a regular onion but a friend also gave me a start of Egyptian Walking Onions that are in this bed. Waiting for them to walk but I am getting some interesting tops from them. They should bend over and replant themselves.

Salsa peppers

The local nursery had a special half way through the summer on vegetable plants. And I bought this 6 pack of salsa peppers. It has now produced three peppers (2 red and 1 green). But seems to just be seriously blooming. Thinking of transferring this to under the polytunnel when the weather gets colder.  Cannot save the plants because they are annuals? But it might yield some more peppers.

This little bed is an experiment. And I learned quite a bit from it really. Hopefully the Borage, Bee Balm and Hollyhocks will be here next spring. The purple succulent has proven it can make it. And I have harvested onions from this bed into winter before.

Comments

  1. ShaynacwingsSeptember 8, 2013 at 4:36 PM

    The Borage plant comes back every year. It dies down for winter and come spring, up it pops. You will find the seeds go everywhere and you will have Borage coming out of your ears. LOL You can eat the flowers too as well as using the plant for other treatments. The bees absolutely love them. When the new seedlings come up I will get rid of some and let more grow where there is space.

    With your other plants keep the seeds of a really good fruit, pick the fruit when it is at it's best, take the seeds out and place them somewhere safe where they can dry out, then put them in an envelope with the name of it on the envelope. Better and cheaper than buying the plants from the garden center.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ien in the KootenaysSeptember 8, 2013 at 9:52 PM

    Borage is an annual! So winter survival is a moot point. However, it is a cheerful self seeder. It doesn't like to show itself until the soil has warmed, so don't expect to see it early.

    ReplyDelete

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