I knew I wanted to feature Geum coccineum ‘Totally Tangerine’ in this month’s bouquet, because it is a star in the home garden. This year, it started blooming in early February, and as long as I deadhead and give it a little extra compost, it’ll keep flowering until the first frost. It’s simply unstoppable. As you can see, even the spent flowers are attractive, and the foliage forms a nice tidy clump (prune back old leaves for best looks). It is reliably perennial in Zones 4-10, doesn’t mind being a little crowded, and creates multi-flowered, extremely long stems which are perfect for arranging.
Along with the Geum, I used a little Borago officianalis, which really never stopped blooming all through winter here in Zone 9b. Well, maybe December was iffy, but really, it just keeps on truckin’. It reseeds quite vigorously but is easy to remove if you find it thuggish, and the bees really adore it.
For a little greenery, I added some overwintering cilantro which seeded itself in my garlic and shallot beds and grew over the cold season. It’s just now starting to look like it might bolt, so I didn’t feel so bad sacrificing these tall stalks.
We have a new favorite way to eat beets. I pick them when young, peel and chop them in quarters, and roast them in the oven with olive oil and salt. While they are roasting, I make a glaze of equal parts butter, maple syrup, and balsamic vinegar, and cook on low heat until glossy and reduced. Then I pop the roasted beets in the pan with the glaze and serve. Delicious.
We’ve eaten all the broccoli and cauliflower, and have started in on cabbages. Carrots and sugar snap peas are being picked and snacked on daily, and of course we continue to eat the greens. We’re in the process of trying to germinate lettuce without the birds or slugs getting to it - some row cover, tightly pegged to the earth, might be the ticket. Tomatoes have been seeded in trays, and squashes started in the greenhouse.
Our new chickens have begun to lay! Above is a picture of a ‘normal’ egg next to a pullet egg. The pullet eggs are about half the size of the normal eggs. The young chickens lay these for a couple of weeks, allowing the vent to stretch, then the eggs become a more normal size. We’re looking forward to having enough extra eggs soon so we can make chocolate pudding!