So it's August 1 already.  Sunday morning.  Air is cool and a great day to get outdoor work done.  Weeds are out of control  10 foot wild lettuce going to seed is growing in asparagus ferns  

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The rain garden is beautiful.  The delicate looking Nigella is coming into bloom.   If you love the flower, Nigella, or Love in a Mist, and you are growing it, then you already have black cumin. Black cumin has been known as a medicinal plant for thousands of years, especially in the Orient. It is used as a spice and as an oil in many ways. Its beneficial properties are mentioned in the Bible and the prophet Mohammed is quoted as saying: “Black cumin cures every disease except death.” In Egypt it was called the gold of the pharaohs and Nefertiti is said to have rubbed herself with it regularly. The botanical name of black cumin is Nigella sativa, while the plant is popularly known under many names, like “kalonji” (from Hindi), “Roman coriander”, or in Germany “Catherine’s flower”, due to its wheel-shaped flowers. In Europe, it was first cultivated during the Middle Ages as a medicinal plant by monks in their monastery gardens. Packed With Antioxidants. May Lower Cholesterol. Could Have Cancer-Fighting Properties. Can Help Kill off Bacteria.

May Alleviate Inflammation. Could Help Protect the Liver. Can Aid in Blood Sugar Regulation. May Prevent Stomach Ulcers. Crack the seeds like you would black pepper and use as a seasoning.

My new Primary Care doctor is suggesting a STATIN drug. Heck no. My bloodwork shows an increase in cholesterol. I just ordered black cumin seed and will use it in a pepper mill - 1/4 teaspoon a day to flavor foods and lower the #'s.

 July 29 2021 -  I've been so busy fostering baby starlings that were just released on July 25th, that I forgot to make July entries here.  

                                       June 23 2021.  2 nestling starlings. 

                                                 July 15 2021 - fledglings

Being so distracted with fostering the birds, the property has sadly returned to weed heaven with a record amount of rainfall this July egging the weeds on.  I've been working slowly on the driveway project and sorely neglected the organic veg garden and the re-painting of the 1929 kitchen.  Why didn't I drop more cardboard down over the insidious weeds germinating faster than lightening?  This morning, I filled a bucket with a plethora of promiscuous weeds that germinated wildly, and I picked a handful of green beans amongst the many weeds turning into seed heads this week.  I have to rip out as many as possible, but another storm is coming today.  And I'm scheduled for a hair cut - first one since 2019. 

Still in physical therapy, my  body has slowed down, and on those mornings when I feel no pain, but am very tired upon awakening,  I love to rest in bed, and listen to the birds. There are so many wonderful bird species living on my property. I could stay in bed for hours with the dual aspect windows wide open and listen to them. I especially love the increase in number of Northern Cardinals who have found the Borage flowers growing wild in the organic veg garden very appealing. They may being eating the flower and the seed.

                                            Cardinal nest and eggs.  

Cardinals eat the seeds of the forsythia shrubs in late Spring .  This is what the seed looks like. 

Bright red male Northern Cardinal.

Bright red with a pointed head crest and black bib, male cardinals are always a welcome sight here. Cardinals prefer thick underbrush for nesting. Cardinals have been expanding their range northward from the south for many years.

Both male and female cardinals sing almost year-round. Common calls include "cheer cheer cheer", "whit-chew whit-chew whit-chew" and "purty purty purty". Cardinals eat seeds, fruit, and insects, and are easily attracted to bird feeders, especially those containing sunflower seeds.

Male cardinals defend their territory. Females usually sing after males establish territory but just before nesting starts. A cardinal's nest consists of a tightly woven cup of roots, stems and twigs lined with fine grass and hair.

I've been seeing many young fledgling cardinals everywhere on the property.  And this brings me back to the veg garden and the wild, overgrown self-sown return of the Borage plants.  Bees are everywhere.  And the cardinals are competing for some of those tasty flowers and seeds. 

I started growing Borage in the mid 1980's. And decorated a lot of cakes, and English Trifles with their flowers. Borage has limited culinary use in today’s foods, but the borage flower is often used as a garnish. I crystalize them for cake decorations. Borage was used to treat many ailments, from jaundice to kidney problems. In medicinal use today it is limited, but the seeds are a source of linolenic acid. Borage flowers are also used in potpourris or candied for use in confections. Their cucumber-flavored leaves are used for tea and other beverages as well as bright, starry blue flowers for decorating salads. All parts of the plant, except the roots, are edible.

Borage, orange day lilies, and asparagus ferns. Rear of the organic vegetable garden in mid-July.  Is it any wonder that the bees and butterflies birds love this peaceful, pristine garden?  

 June 26 - Summer has arrived.  We had a beautiful Full Strawberry Moon on June 24th.  Summer memories always revolve around nature's aromas and scents.  One plant that you wouldn't think contributes to a flowery essence is the common privet hedge - Ligustrum ovalifolium. When you study & memorize the phenology of a garden, if you ever became deaf & blind, you'd always know when the seasons come and go by the fragrance in the garden. You'd learn that Spring is over when the wild roses stop blossoming, and that summer is here when the wild privets are in full blossom. The fragrance of these small, seemingly insignificant flowers is a trademark of summers on Long Island. If you take the time to sit in nature by the untrimmed, wild privets growing in your yard like I do, memories of childhood summers most surely will flood your thoughts. A great shrub to attract bees. The entire yard is intoxicatingly fragrant, today. I am remembering my adolescence living on Jackson Ave. in Lindenhurst, and walking along Copiague Road toward Zahns Airport in Lindenhurst and smelling these flowers that filled the air with summer's perfume. And while walking from the small airport, I searched the ground for yellow buttercups to hold underneath my brother's chin to test whether he liked butter. Ahhh the memories of a childhood out in nature. Priceless!

                                 

Triodanis Biflora - June in the organic Gardens.

 It's a delightful cool Sunday morning - 62 degrees and no wind.  A perfect day to burn these piles of wood.  While I tend to 2 burning pits and use the chain saw and pruners to make smaller pieces to burn, I can clean up and trim, rake and tidy up the north organic gardens.   There's a special plant I've been observing and want to share info on it, this morning.   It's Native to America and so sweet and clean cut, upright, and interesting to look at.  

Today I saw the very first dark purple flowers open up.  But only on the top of the plant.  I love it's cupped leaves.  It's got a strong stem and is upright, but still small and dainty. 

Blooms in various stages of development.   Today there are the first purple blooms coming out and they are on the top of the slender plant. 

Triodanis perfoliata is native to the United States and Canada. This species grows in all of the lower states in the United States except Nevada; it also grows in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec.

Tridanis biflora is also native to the United States but only grows in the lower U. S. from Oregon and California through Arizona and New Mexico. It also grows in states south of and including Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia as well as in New York State and Pennsylvania.

 A sunny hot Monday, June 7, 80 degrees and very humid.  I observed many many yellow flowers on tall firm stems.   Yellow Hawkweed.  It's growing in clusters so no fescue grass can grow.   I need to dig them out.  

Hieracium caespitosum

Yellow hawkweed has clusters of many small, yellow dandelion-like flower heads on top of mostly leafless stems. The erect, bristly stems can grow up to 3 feet tall, each topped by 5 to 30 bright yellow flower heads in a compact, flat-topped cluster. Each plant produces 10 to 30 flower stems. Flowers in bud are distinctively rounded and black-hairy in tight clusters at the tops of the stems.

The leaves are long and narrow, up to six inches long, not lobed, somewhat hairy on both sides, and form a basal rosette. There are also usually one or two small leaves on the stem. The entire plant contains a milky juice. Yellow hawkweed has a shallow root system and underground creeping stems called rhizomes. New plants can arise from buds on the rhizomes and plants can develop several creeping stems (like strawberries) that are also capable of producing new plants.

Yellow hawkweed is a perennial and spreads by seeds, stolons and rhizomes. It flowers from mid-May to July and usually sets seed by August. Yellow hawkweed thrives in disturbed areas such as roadsides, gravel pits and pastures. It can also invade meadows and forested areas and is well-adapted to life at higher elevations. Usually found in sunny areas, it is somewhat shade tolerant.

Hawkweed identification can be difficult and often requires technical details such as hair types. Also, hybridization between species can make it even more confusing. 

 So it's already June and still light at 8:20 PM when the sun sets.  Sunrise is 5:24 AM.   The white Spirea has all faded as has the dogwood bracts.   Forsythia are long gone and desperately need to be pruned.  Mom's old climbing rose is in blossom and so is the black locust tree.   The invasive blackberry brambles have white flowers, and the golden raspberries are getting ready to bear fruit.   The lily of the valley was quick to fade from their intoxicating fragrance and now the honeysuckle have taken over the perfume counter in the landscape.  Shocked to see it wound all around the hedgerow.  This could be serious.  The fragrance reminds me of my Grandmother.   I had to pick a bouquet.    Amazing how the scent of a flower can transport you back into time and associate your memories to a loved one from your past or a lazy summer day in nature.  

And tonight I want to write about the Japanese Honeysuckle plant.   Did you ever notice or wonder why there are different colors on one vine?   When the honeysuckle flowers are white, it is their first day blooming.   The next day they begin to turn light yellow, and by the third day they are darker yellow.  Insects prefer colors rather than white flowers.   And with honeysuckle, there is an indication that inside the yellow flowers there's nectar in it's corolla (nectar tube), and it immediately needs pollination to occur.  

So as you study Phenology, stop and observe if bees and butterflies are landing on the yellowing honeysuckle flowers or the white.

And remember, any plant that has a name starting with a foreign country, don't plant it in your garden.  Now's a good time to find the Japanese honeysuckle vines and get them out of your shrubs that have stopped blooming.  You can see the invasive honeysuckle clearly by those sweet delicious flowers dancing all over your stately shrubs. How many of you were taught to pick a flower and suck on some sweet nectar as a child?   

Remove the entire flower, including the little green bud where the flower connects to the stem.

Carefully pull on the end of the flower. A white "string" should show up, connected to the calyx. This white "string" is the style, part of the female half of the flower. Continue to slowly pull the style down the center of the flower.  Luckily, the style has a little green plunger on the end of it (called the stigma) that just barely fits into the tube shaped flower, forcing all the nectar to pool in a little drop at the back end. 

Bring it to your lips, and enjoy!

Never Ending Late May Siege of Invasive, Noxious Weeds

 NE winds gusting to 22 mph, it's finally gone up to 51 degrees.  It was in the 40's last night.  After having hot summer-like temps, this is a drawback to March weather. It's the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, Saturday. May 29, 2021.  It poured rain all night, high winds, chilly air.  The east windows of the old house were battered with hard rain.  Secretly, I prayed it would rain the entire weekend.  Our Earth is parched from not having rain since May 10th.  Now the noxious, invasive weeds will run rampart all around the property entering through the neighbors' fences.  Blackberry brambles, English Ivy, Asiatic bittersweet, Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort),  Garlic mustard, Bindweed,  Virginia creeper, Cleavers, etc. All I do is hand rip weeds out wherever I walk on the property. It's upsetting and endless.  I'm falling way behind on the English Ivy on the north section.  

Within the first growing bed where Early Spring vegetables are growing (sown May 8 - 12th - a month late due to my disabilities) there are a bazillion carpetweed plants everywhere in between the rows, today.  This rain will enable them to grow fast so they must be gently hoed out. Using clear plastic over the 5 ft. by 20 ft.  row, I was able to solarize & force weed growth for a few months to eradicate the crabgrass earlier, and before sowing 18 rows of Spring lettuce varieties, carrots, spinach, turnips, chard, beets, onions, kale, radishes, fennel.  

Many many cans of invasive weeds have been taken by village sanitation early on.  Everything has to be hand pulled as this is an organic property.  

Only 2 summer sowings have been done.  A small cucumber patch on a rickety old trellis formed with old wire fencing and climbing nasturtium on the ends. Straight 8 & Munchers were sown last week.  

New Zucchini bed sown on May 27 2021. 

I purchased zucchini seed at Oceans Job Lot on May 27th.   They went straight into a prepared small row to be covered with a wire frame and grow cloth.  Inside the bed where 9 seeds were sown also went Alaskan nasturtiums and daikon radish to deter the squash bug.  Companion planting.  

I also purchased two rolls of artificial turf grass.  The weeds are getting so bad in the driveway I wanted to cover the area and make it a place of peaceful rest.  Also purchased weed cloth - commercial grade and put the hammock on it so I can have a place of rest.  The wooden table I found in 2019 has been painted and the grass rug will go under the table for weed free living space.  

The 2 giant maple trees were cut down on November 28 2020.  I left one 100 year old Silver maple standing toward the road that would cast long NE shadows onto the driveway in late afternoon when the SW sun is the hottest.   

I'm exhausting myself as an organic gardener to eradicate the never ending growing list of invasive weeds on my property.  

Spring rows are doing well but look closely and you'll see all the carpetweed getting ready to take over.