Choice Morsels

T oday's Garden Pic is a nice January shot of some Common Ajuga draping over the edge of a large container out front & my bumper crop of lettuce Ajuga: It's a ground cover with a burgundy tinge to it's leaves. It reaches it's best color in shade, but can tolerate light sun. This Ajuga just gets morning sun. It throws runners like a strawberry does, spreading along the ground. It's reaching for the ground and will establish once it touches around the shady side of the stump the container sits on. It's a member of the mint family.  My Winter Crop of Lettuce: This is a french head lettuce I got ordered from Seed Savers for spring 2021. It went to seed in May 2021, then dozens popped up around Sept. I separated them, this whole 4 x 8 raised bed with them. I dined on fresh crisp lettuce all winter! I've left 2 to go to seed on one end of the raised bed, so can have lettuce all winter again!  I've joined a group a ladies in a Book Club that meets once a mo...

A couple weeks ago we were visiting our friends Bernie & Jacqui (pronounced Jackie) in Pensacola and she was proudly showing me her dirt filled seed-starter trays that had seedlings sprouting. She said she'd planted pole beans in them. I looked over the collection of sprouts thoughtfully, but saw only one single bean.  The other dozen sprouts clearly had the fan-shaped leaves of some kind of squash. I pointed them out, saying, "This is a squash, this is a squash, this is a squash and this is a squash." Then I pointed at the only pole bean. " That is a pole bean." "Are you sure?" Jacqui asked, her expression completely surprised that she had squash she hadn't planted. "Yup," I replied.  I pointed out a pole bean stem in another tray that had been eaten down to the dirt. "Snails or something have been eating your pole beans." However--the reason Jacqui had uninvited squash sprouts is because she mixed compost from ...