Plant of the Week
I love on my daylilies so much you might think they are the plant of the week as you listen to the pod. What a great plant—there are early, mid-season, late, and everblooming ones. They range in color from cream to deep purple, and they can survive a drought or a flood. Unfortunately, deer love them as much as we do, so be careful where you plant them.
The REAL plant of the week is lavender. This flower is used in everything from essential oils to cookie baking (check out the ones my sister @CookiesSAK made on Instagram). It’s easy to grow if you have great drainage. If not, give it a try by digging deeply into your soil, allowing the roots to nestle into gravel or well-draining compost instead of our brick-like Virginia clay. Check out this comprehensive article on how to grow lavender from The Spruce.
Also, Happy DIY Home has published an updated, comprehensive Lavender plant guide. It is completely free and you can find it here.
Lots of good info— have a look!
Guest
It’s The Chicken Lady! Also known as Lisa Steele, she has the most amazing knowledge, enthusiasm, website, and newsletter all about eggs. She has even written six books on the subject! Fresh Eggs Daily will tell you everything you need to know about caring for fowl (ducks and geese too!), cooking with eggs, even choosing garden plants to make yolks more yellow! In our conversation, I try to get her to convince me to have chickens in my garden. You’ll have to listen to find out if it worked, but read my old blog post from several years back to understand my mindset. I really want them! But do I really want them?
Playlist
Weed, pinch annuals, do away with browns and downs, deadhead, rinse, repeat.
If you spy poison ivy in your garden, protect your hand with a big hosta leaf and pull. If it’s a big one, protect your arm with a plastic bag.
Common purslane weeds are starting to show up. Not a bad weed, as they go, and supposedly extremely nutritious—if you’re into that sort of thing. Here’s some good info on it from The Foraged Foodie.
Listen
Tom Christopher’s podcast with Aimee Code, Pesticide Programs Director of the Xerces Society, is so informative. It turns out that the companies you can hire to fumigate your yard are NOT a good solution; not for you, not for your wallet, and not for the environment. Get other ideas (really good ones!) about how to control your mozzies by listening in. And here’s a quick tip from Doug Tallamy—very easy and satisfying. It keeps the little guys from ever even hatching!
Lisa Steele with some of her charges.