With our recent rains it’s been a good time to work in the garden. Weeding is far more simple, and it’s ideal to transplant perennials. I was blessed this evening with a tremendous bounty of mature perennials from a friend of Maranna’s who is moving from Malmstrom Air Force Base to New Mexico. Libby has gorgeous beds around their home, but they just won’t do well in NM. She had Maranna and other friends take a lot of them, but there were a few that still needed homes. So, I met Maranna and Libby at the Visitor’s Center to obtain a pass for operation ‘Save the Flowers.” It didn’t take long to fill a half dozen bags to overflowing with thyme, grape hyacinth, daisies, black-eyed Susan, salvia, yarrow and daylilies.
I’ve had a devil of a thyme growing perennials up here. Even my tangerine southernwood, pervoskia and buddleia didn’t survive the winter. I’ve never lost those – even in Coram. I’m hoping by planting well-established plants and babying them this summer, they’ll take hold. (I also might mulch and cover them with a floating row cover this winter, but that’s a topic to discuss later in the season.)
On Sunday I spent a little time weeding, even though many of the plants I’m removing aren’t the standard dandelions. I had to – sniff, sniff – weed out cilantro and sunflowers. I’m maintaining my resolve to keep the sunflowers down to a few instead of a forest. It’s painful. What’s even worse is eliminating the cilantro from beds. I love it, and can’t wait to be able to pick it fresh from the garden so it kills me to weed it out. But, it’ll take over and out compete the peas and spinach so it has to go… or at least be kept to a minimum. 
Who knew the chickens would be such entertainment. Sam takes the “weeds” to the hens, including handfuls of mint that I really don’t know if they like. He tosses it in and runs around the pen, partly because Sam doesn’t need much of a reason to run, while John sits outside of the pen watching them.
At this point, only one hen, Lilith, is laying. I think from what I’ve read that the other three are molting, which might last two to four months. I hope they snap out of it soon because Grant isn’t too keen on feeding pets that simply dig and poop a lot. Plus, I have lots of great egg recipes and have been looking forward to the eggs for awhile. Let’s get cracking girls!
Tags: chickens, cilantro, perennials
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