Category Archives: Gardening

Garden Update–All this rain has been good for something…

We have had a relatively coolish spring, and May has been record tying/breaking rainy. I have struggled to keep up with the yardwork between raindrops–our yard has looked like a hayfield at times. BUT, the rain has also been good for the gardens. We’ll start out by the garden shed. This is the asparagus thatContinue reading “Garden Update–All this rain has been good for something…”

Spring Gardening–Shitakes

So in the EARLY spring of 2023, my husband innoculated some sweet gum logs with shitake spores. We forced them to fruit last fall by soaking them in our big wagon filled with water. We did the same thing again this spring, and were aided by TONS of rain this spring. Here are some photosContinue reading “Spring Gardening–Shitakes”

An Argument for Lenten Rose

I have a LOT of lenten rose planted in the perennial bed on the north side of our house. I love it because it stays green all year. It does well in dry shade–not many things do. It does well in part sun/part shade too. And the flowers (once seed pods have formed) are justContinue reading “An Argument for Lenten Rose”

More Mushrooms–Maitake edition

My husband was feeling really ambitious when he was shopping for mushrooms, so in addition to the shitake spawn and all the tools, he also bought Maitake spawn, also known as Hen of the Woods. So the process for this type of mushroom is VERY different from the shitake mushrooms that we did. First ofContinue reading “More Mushrooms–Maitake edition”

Making Mushrooms

My husband bought me a Shitake mushroom “log” for Christmas 2023. It was a really neat gift and I loved it. So for Valentine’s day 2024, he did a bunch of research and bought the stuff to innoculate a bunch of logs–and this post is about harvesting Shitake mushrooms from those logs: https://cathyathomeontheriver.com/2024/09/22/fall-garden-update-shitake-edition/ I amContinue reading “Making Mushrooms”

Forsythia Update

The forsythia that we planted back in 2021–some in the spring and some in the fall–have really come into their own. They are HUGE, which is a little hard to tell from these photos. For those of you that weren’t here back then, we ordered bare root forsythia bushes (Lynnwood Gold) from Musser Forests inContinue reading “Forsythia Update”

Prepping for the Arctic Blast–Results

Like most of the rest of the country, we are preparing for temperatures that are WELL below normal, and it’s also supposed to be windy. This is a combination that will kill my rosemary plant. So I decided to try to save it. Unfortunately the rosemary plant is a little floppy. So the first thingContinue reading “Prepping for the Arctic Blast–Results”

Preserving the Kale harvest

The super cold forecast prompted me to pick the kale that I planted back in August. The Lacinato type has grown well, but I was afraid that the super cold weather would damage it, so I harvested all the viable leaves and left the rest. We’ll see if any of it survives. So I startedContinue reading “Preserving the Kale harvest”

Prepping for the Arctic Blast

Like most of the rest of the country, we are preparing for temperatures that are WELL below normal, and it’s also supposed to be windy. This is a combination that will kill my rosemary plant. So I decided to try to save it. Unfortunately the rosemary plant is a little floppy. So the first thingContinue reading “Prepping for the Arctic Blast”