MarthaJeanne's Garden 2018

I'm currently reading A year at Otter Farm
This is the sort of 'garden' I would like if I were thirty years younger and wanted to be self sufficient. I wonder what my chances are of finding bulbs of Babington's leeks if we go to the UK this summer? I might have to order from there.

That looks like a yummy book, but not available yet at my library. I've read his The Speedy Vegetable Garden, but it's been 5 years. Ordered it again for a second look. Might as well, no garden work to be done at this season.

>2 2wonderY: catalogs...

I also want to grow agretti.

I got a row of peas in.

The neighbors rather messed up our parking spaces, so we poured 200 kg of gravel on them to try and get them back to good footing. While at the store I saw mixed oakleaf lettuce packs. May have been a bad idea, as we're supposed to get more snow this weekend.

Do peas need to be started indoors? Are you starting the lettuce indoors?

I plant them outside. Peas are quite hardy. I don't have space to raise plants in the house. The lettuce was 8 baby plants. I stuck them in the bed nearest the house. Might have been better to have put them in the greenhouse for another week or two. (No space in there either, really. It is a plastic tent that we put up in the winter for things like my three citrus plants.)

It was actually funny. One day I was out looking at snow on the beds wondering how much damage the late cold snap might have done. (Little or none. Even the Pak Choi is thriving. I had to harvest some to plant the peas.) The next day I was out in the warm 12°C sunshine starting to panik because we were well into March and the peas weren't planted yet.

We have a good supply of baby spinach and Vogerlsalat for salads. A few edible weeds seem to be mixed in as well as one that I avoid because I don't know it. The chard is looking sad, but can be harvested at need. I have removed the old large leaves, and new ones are coming in. There is also a little sorrel, but I harvested a few weeks ago, so not enough for a big harvest right now. I need to pull the last few beets from last year.

I see you are in New Hampshire. I'm in Vienna, Austria, so our climate is a lot milder than yours.

I'm rather concerned about my bulbs, as they were all sprouting before the cold snap. It went down to about -12°C, which is very cold for here, and practically unheard of in March. However, in the few sunny, warm days since we have primroses and baby iris blossoming.

Vienna sounds like a lovely climate! I can't even imagine planting outdoors in March. 22 inches of snow fell here on Tuesday.

I have a brown thumb, so I enjoy everyone else's gardens vicariously.

Yes, and I also harvest tomatoes into late October. Our last frost date is traditionally about May 20, but it has gotten very rare to have frost in May. The two times it has happened in the 9 or 10 years we've been in this house, we have had little damage - some of the apples were touched, and although they grew on, they had weird areas inside, but no damage in my beds. There are hedges on all sides that protect us.

We did get a few centimeters of snow earlier this month. I'm actually glad it got really cold. It keeps the slugs down.

I just love purple irises. I've had some success with bulbs because they don't really need a lot of attention (although I think the nasty chipmunks dig them up and eat them). Do you feed yours? The flowers are huge!

>10 MarthaJeanne: beautiful!

No irises here, yet, but I've lots of grape hyacinths and daffodils blooming.

Got timid this morning and unplanted the lettuce. Next week. They are predicting quite low temps tonight.

>13 MarthaJeanne: we saw snow flurries yesterday, unbelievable. We did have a warm February, so now we're getting the last bit of wintry weather, I guess.

I was at Schönbrunn today buying my normal imperial summer flowers. I was a bit concerned that there wouldn't be much left, as tomorrow is the last day of the two week sale. Probably better I didn't go last week, as I might have bought even more!

The normal geraniums 2each of 5 different varieties.
1 canna indica (yellow)
12 of the gumdrop flowers I fell in love with last year (http://www.librarything.com/topic/248099#6128370)
6 big marigolds - the little ones were all plain yellow. Don't know what these will be.
2 Santolino
4 Gaura white
And assorted other small things

And a large fuchsia.

>15 MarthaJeanne: Are those your Iris? You are lucky to be continents away from me; otherwise I might be begging for a couple of tubers to start my own. Those are spectacular!

Yes, they are really lovely right now. If you were here you'd be welcome to them.

>5 MarthaJeanne: Wow! What a color combination. What Lyndatrue said.

>15 MarthaJeanne: lovely, absolutely lovely!

And besides the iris, I got most of the plants into the boxes on the fence, so things look very friendly!

I got to both Stekovics and Ochesnherz today, so lots of veggie plants.

The tomatoes are planted:

Black Cherry - Pink Siberian Tiger - Italienisches Ochsenherz
Ivory Drops - Old Ivory Egg - Green Zebra

Also two Black Beauty zucchinis in the narrow bed.

Now to put the peppers in there.
Turunca Spiral - Kashmiri Mirch - Santa Fe
The first is hot, the other two are supposed to be fairly mild.

Working on the squash family, I realize that I have a Zucchini Costates Romanesco to put between the two Black Beauties. Before anyone asks if I am crazy to plant 3 zucchs for a two person household, I only bought two, but when I went to plant the Black Beauty I realized that there were two plants in the pot.

The two lemon cucumbers are on the fence. We were very happy with them last year, and the neighbors were happy to help out when we got behind on harvesting.

I still have two Green Hokaidos. Guess I'll put them back with the perenial veggies, as both neighbors have cut the shading trees/bushes way back.

OK, that's where they will go tomorrow. I was running out of steam, so I decided to water instead.

The hokaidos are in, also a row of beets. I forgot to buy chard plants. I still have a couple of blood sorrel and flowers to deal with. Later!

The lizards are out in force this year. The tailless one is doing fine, but please don't believe that they can just regrow their tails. This one hasn't, although he is an old friend. Nice to see/hear them scurrying around as I work. There also seems to be enough food for them, as I understand that they eat slugs. Bah!

Back to my weaving now.

>4 MarthaJeanne: Got the agretti seed at Ochsenherz yesterday, so I now have both the plants I really wanted for this year's garden. Not the Babington's leeks, though. I probably need to go by the garden centre today or Monday.

>23 MarthaJeanne: I've been seeing a lot more skinks this year, less anoles. Last year we had an anole explosion yet I saw few skinks.

I like my lizards. I hope the black racer (snake) living in the backyard weedy area doesn't eat too many of my lizard and frog friends. :(

But snakes are nice, too.

Oh, I like my snakes, except for the venomous ones (Copperheads) which I try to rehome if possible. The last one I found was too big for me to mess with, and in a very dangerous location, so I ended its life, quickly. :(

We have green snakes, brown snakes, worm snakes, black racers, black rat snakes, ring-necked snakes, possibly others. Those are the ones I've seen in the yard.

>26 fuzzi: No snakes in our yard (that I know of) but I just saw 4 out at Orth. Three were in the snake enclosure, one in the turtle pond.

>15 MarthaJeanne: Those iris are past. These are the current ones.

>28 MarthaJeanne: pretty!

Back out to Gänsendorf Süd today. I replaced the lemon cucumber the slugs got with a Poona Kheera. (I lived in Poona as a child. Isn't that as good a reason as any for choosing plants?) I also picked up the chard I forgot last time and a few specialty basils - Thai and cinnamon.

Later we were out at Schloßinsel. Lots of snakes today. I saw 4 in the snake pit, one in the frog pond, and two with the turtles!

I also saw a lovely large butterfly. The underwings were brown spotted, but the top was very dark and blue shimmering with orange spots, but I never got a really good look. I wouldn't swear to it, but it may have been a purple emperor. I hardly dare to believe it, because I have read what effort people go to for this one, but from my butterfly book, the two purple emperors are the only possible choices. (Apatura iris, Apatura ilia)

>30 MarthaJeanne: how exciting about the butterfly! Oh, and the snakes. :D

My garden birds just got a lot safer. One of the cats who like to hide near our feeders suddenly is wearing a collar with a bell.

Jerry took some produce to church today. The zucchini disappeared. He totally forgot what I said about the basil and had to call about 'the other herb mixed the basil'. (I have various basils mixed together this year.) The szechuan pepper went to someone other than the intended recipient. And someone asked, 'Where is the chard?' Well, the chard will be harvestable in a few weeks. If the Africans are that crazy about the basil, I can send some most weeks. And we'll have to have a szechuan pepper harvest party if they are that eager to get it. I don't use anywhere near what I harvest, but I also only harvest the bottom bit of the tree. So if they want to come and clear the upper branches, they are very welcome to it. But no, I'm not climbing up on the ladder for them.

Oh, yes, I'll send zucchini and chard whenever I have harvestable amounts that we won't use.

>32 MarthaJeanne: The joke around these parts is to not leave your windows down in the summer, or else your neighbors will "gift" you with their extra zucchini. I usually plant two, even though that produces far more than I'd eat. Some I give away. It makes me nostalgic for a few years ago, when there were still cattle in the pasture on the corner, and horses that were also happy to get the extra.

I bought two plants this year, but one of the containers actually had two seedlings in it, so I have three plants going into full production about now. However, most of the people at church are in city apartments, and anything I am willing to harvest on Saturday evening gets snapped up on Sunday morning, especially by the Africans, so it isn't really a problem. I did refuse to grow turnips for a former pastor. My space is limited, so I grow things I like. If anything, there are arguements over whose turn it is to get the stuff. 'And if you waited until after choir practice to put it out, I'd have a chance at it, too.' Like I said, there are people asking for the chard before it is ready to start cutting.

People put their extra produce on a table in the lobby of our church.

I've never witnessed any arguing or fussing over it, but it disappears just the same.

I think we may be the only ones with extra produce. After all, this is a city church, with most people in apartments. And it's not really arguments, more people telling Jerry they want a cut next week. It all goes.

After the discussion in http://www.librarything.com/topic/287291 I dcided I had to experiment with fruit gins.

I prepared three pint Ball jars (even found three rings!).

In the first I dropped a cinnamon stick and filled it 2/3 full with blackberries. (Blackberry gin with cinnamon)

I split my remaining blackberries between the other two jars.

To one I added a spoonful of rosehip jam and then raspberries. (Hedgerow gin)

To the last I added blueberries. (Black and Blue gin)

Then each jar was filled with gin to the top of the shoulder, and pure alcohol was added to about half the remaining space. Each jar seems to have gotten 200-250ml of gin.

Now they have been put away. They need to be shaken every day for the first bit, then now and again, and be filtered and bottled in three or four months.

Harvest for church: Quite a bit of chard today. Two zuccas - one just a bit on the large side, the other very big.

Inalso picked several tomatoes, but we have decided to keep them. Now harvesting all varieties except Black Cherry. Those will be ready in a day or two.

I made pesto on Thursday, so the basil doesn't need trimming, but I might anyway if I'm up in the morning. It grows fast.

Well guess who else was out hunting slugs in our garden tonight?

Sorry the picture isn't very good, but I couldn't shine the flashlight directly on him because that made the light really bad. I then brought him the next few slugs I found to make up for disturbing him. He may also be after the fallen apples, but he was right on the patch of gunk under the suet ball holder that the slugs love.

>39 MarthaJeanne: Cute critter!

I love hedgehogs!

I've edited the hedgehog and reuploaded. He's clearer now, I think. Also the extra text didn't showup before for some reason.

>42 MarthaJeanne: I'm grateful for the editing. It's really an amazing photograph, now that my old eyes can see it. It's a lovely creature, and thank you for sharing it.

Hedgehog was out there again tonight in the rain.

I think I'll buy a hedgehog house, and stick it under the hedge near the birdfeeder where the cat likes to sit. This will at least make the cat move. The store has three models. One is wood, and needs both a support under it, and to have some sort of wax/paint/whatever added to protect it from the elements. A second is made of wood cement and includes a base. This one is fairly expensive. A third has a steel framework topped by braided willow. This is the cheapest. ... Several specifically say the entrances keep cats out.

Anyone have any advice?

BTW they also sell hedgehog food formulated from several kinds of delicious insects.

>44 MarthaJeanne: **squeee!**

It certainly makes my evening slug hunts a lot more pleasant when I also see the hedgehog.

I found a better light than my flashlight. Better light, better picture. I'm quite sure this one is smaller than the one I saw yesterday.

So much for viewing the eclipse. I was out in the garden, not finding any slugs becuse it was so warm and dry. Decided to give that up and wander down to the end of the road where I might see the eclipse and Mars. So I gathered up a few helpful items, and opened the front door just as rain started to pour.

>49 MarthaJeanne: I'm sorry you missed the eclipse, but I envy you the hedgehogs. I've never seen one (I tend to live in desert climates, and suspect I never will see one). Your last photo was especially lovely.

Yona! Yona!

Watership Down reference.

There was a hedgehog out there again last night. Today I bought a hedgehog house and set it up. (Only 'Kinderleicht' if the Kind has stronger fingers than me.) It's now under the hedge with a bowl of water and a bowl of hedgehog treats in front of it. It has a 'labyrinth' entrance to keep out cats and such and I half filled it with hay. Now we wait and see if anyone finds it and moves in.

I got that done just before it started raining.

Jerry took yellow tomatoes and chard to the office today. I'm planning on pasta with chard and sausage for supper tonight. The Garden-fresh vegetable cookbook has a recipe I like. Last time I added grated zuccha as well, and it worked.

Right now I have lots of chard, lots of tomatoes, lots of various herbs. The zucchini are about to produce another wave, the beans are starting, and carrots and beets can be harvested as needed. The latest lettuce hasn't bolted yet. Apples are also beginning to be useable. They will be a constant now until September.

The Italian oxhearts are not a big success as the slugs love them and damage most of them before they are ripe. I love the siberian pink tigers, although I would say they are dark purple and red. My very favourites this year are the green zebras. The ripe one of those did not go to Jerry's women. I ate it.

>52 MarthaJeanne: "I ate it."

Ah! Confessions!

Hey, I drove to Burgenland to buy the special plants. I planted them, cared for them, water them most days, weed and mulch regularly. I harvested the ripe tomatoes. I sent most of today's harvest off to people I haven't even met. I kept back one tomato to eat. OK, my favourite, but the others are good, too. Not a 'confession'. A declaration of passion.

If I didn't want to eat the tomatoes they wouldn't have had any, because I ------ well wouldn't do the work involved.

I like having more than we can use, because that way we can pick what we want to eat when we want it. I do have to find ways of getting rid of the rest, though.

The simple declarative just made me smile. I heard your satisfaction through it.

It was good.

I'm wounded. As usual on Saturday evening, I went out in spite of the heat to harvest whatever we can spare for the people at church. Quite a few tomatoes, one small zucchini only this week. Then I started to cut chard. Suddenly, as I lifted a leaf to get my snips around its stem PAIN!; a finger on my left hand exploded with it. I screamed and cried out. There was a small red dot on the finger, no sign of a stinger in it. The pain actually stopped fairly soon - or after an infinity of time, and there is only minimal, if any, swelling. But there is only a little chard in the bag, and I'm not picking more tonight.

BTW, we got out of the city today. (34).An hour south of Vienna it was only 30, and up the Rax cable car in the low 20s. Nice. We saw lots of wild flowers, several butterflies, but none stuck around to be looked at or photographed. But the trail was just too hard for me. Oh, well, worth the try, I guess. And I did get some exercise. I think I've got sore muscles that are really muscle pain.

I don't think the hedgehogs have discovered their house yet. I'll clear the food dish tomorrow and try again.

>57 MarthaJeanne: sounds like a spider bite. I've started wearing gloves to garden, partly due to mystery stings/bites like the one you described.

>58 fuzzi: Or caterpillar sting. Some are excruciating.

what do hedgehogs like for a treat?

It is madeup of 'various sorts of delicious insects'. Actually : Fleischkroketten Rind 50 %, Mehlwürmer 15 %, Seidenraupen 15 %, Heuschrecken 10 %, Shrimps 10 % which is to say ground beef, mealworms, silkworms, grasshoppers, and shrimp. They don's seem very impressed, but then the slugs I snip open disappear overnight. Who wants dry stuff when there are nice fresh juicy slugs around? They are being moved around though, and the water is being drunk by somebody.

We had ovenroasted mini tomatoes over pasta for supper tonight. I also threw in some small peppers and the left over sausages from last night. Not sure this will be a favourite, but it used up all of the smaller tomatoes I harvested. Several big ones need eating up still.

>57 MarthaJeanne: Sting/bite update

I just picked a bag of chard, and have come to the conclusion that it was probably a wasp sting. There are lots of wasps this year, and that includes a lot of them flying around and crawling in the chard. I guess for now I only pick chard in good light taking extra care. I hadn't noticed them there before. (Just nests in the neighbor's mail box, then our mail box, then the garden shed, then my roof window.)

Sunday I didn't notice anything in particular out of the ordinary. Couldn't see the dot. Any weird sensations in the hand were no more than normal. But Monday the dot was back and itching with a red patch around it. By evening I was wishing for antihistamines, but we seem to have been out, so I only got some Tuesday afternoon. They seem to have done the job.

On Tuesday we went out to Schlosshof. Lots of Ziesel (Ground squirrels) this year. They are really cute. I bought new hose guides, as one had broken, and picked up good flour at the farmer's shop in Mannsdorf on the way home. I see the hose guard only lasted a year http://www.librarything.com/topic/248099#6128672, but maybe this one will do better.

We tried to go to the zoo yesterday. Obviously a good idea. So good that lots of other people had it, too. (A holiday, sunny but with less high temps than we've been running, but due to go up again today.) We settled on Laxenburg palace South of Vienna. Also much busier than we've ever seen it, but parking was available and the grounds are big enough that we mostly avoided the crowds. Lots of butterflies and dragonflies.

>63 MarthaJeanne: ground squirrels are cute! I saw some for the first time, while we were on our vacation.

https://www.jerrybarton.eu/Miscellaneous/DailyPicks/i-dBVSkqd/A

I'll try to upload the one we saw at Schlosshof once Jerry has finished fiddling with it. This one (the link) is from The Schlossinsel at Orth. The Ziesel there are supposed to live in a contained area with some sheep, but they have other ideas.



This guy was the sweetest one we saw on Tuesday, but they were all over the place, popping in and out of their holes.

Ah! They really do look like squirrels. Unlike our chipmunks; which also go by that term sometimes.

This one is in a hole, just looking out to see if it would be safe.

>67 MarthaJeanne: such big eyes you have!

I was looking through Hymns from the Soil again recently and saw a recipe for Peach Chutney that appealed to me. I'm still in the processing stage, but quite like it. It could use even less sugar, and more ginger. Other than that, based on the note that it makes 2 cups, I made 1 1/2 recipes, and have over 5 cups, so not enough sterilized jars.

I hasten to add that the fruit is from a grower in the next town. The only things from my garden are the bay leaves. The acid is red currant and lemon, not vinegar.

It's raining! And this is a real soaking rain. It's also the end of a heat wave. Over thirty days with the average high over 30. We have had a few short thunder showers during that time, but in spite of my best attempts at keeping things watered, a lot of my plants had just turned off.

>70 MarthaJeanne: You are lucky. While we don't have a lot of rain (at any time, but especially in the summer), we usually see some, here and there. I cannot remember when the last rainfall was, but it was at least prior to June. Enjoy your rain for the both of us. :-}

The downside is that some towns in Austria are having floods and mudslides. Too much water at once for the dry earth to absorb.

Preserving today.

>37 MarthaJeanne: Tasted the gins for the first time. the blackberries have given most of their colour to the gin, they are now strangely pale. The hedgerow one is going to be good. The blackberry and cinnamon needs a lot more time. I did not add sugar back then, and it it noticeable that the sweetest one is easiest on the palate.

I needed to use up some 'kriecherl' - sour plums from my store, so I boiled up some of my not yet orange tiny citrus with a spice mixture, cut up the plums and used 2to1 jam sugar. The citrus plain was on the bitter side, and the spices understated, so I added more cardamon and some sliced fresh ginger when boiling up the jam, and I am very happy with the result. A pot on the table and 4 jars in the pantry.

* I think this is calamondin lime - citrofortunella mitis. James Wong says they are best when still green, and I had about half a dozen about to turn orange.

>73 MarthaJeanne: I noticed that too when I reversed a couple of jars of blackberry-gin. The vodka doesn't blanch the berries like the gin does.

Trying to recover from garden work. One of the local garden stores was advertising a sale, so I drove out there yesterday. The biggest thing I bought was a habanero plant that must have at least two dozen ripe fruits on it. I will harvest and dry them, but they will be mostly for the church people as they are too hot for us. (need to find my one use gloves first.) Then I bought a small tea plant. Apparently it should go into my greenhouse at least this winter, but could be planted out once it is bigger. Stupid label says how to harvest and prepare green tea, but no care instructions! That went into a pot that something had died in. It will need replanting in the Spring, but since my fig tree died, I have a big pot free.

I love what I call bubble flowers, and had both white and blue/purple ones that come up every year, but I saw pink ones - with darker pink veins, so pretty! So I bought two.
I see I should call them balloon flowers - Platycodon grandiflorus. Anyway, I am very pleased to have a new colour. The website I just looked at says they are great to grow with children. Guess I'm in my second childhood.

I also picked up some lettuce plants and some Pak choi. They are not very healthy looking, but I guess that is to be expected if they were grown in the heat. With any luck, though I'll have lettuce for my mother when she comes mid-October. I set these under the tomato plants. Looks like there are more tomatoes coming on some of the plants. The zucchinnis are also recovering.

I also bought seed for the greens I plant for overwintering. My chard still is fairly good, so I didn't buy seed. I bought Vogerlsalat (corn salad, mache?) and 2 varieties of Spinach. The Matador is the one I usually buy, but I also bought some Picasso, which is supposed to be darker. All planted and covered with horseradish leaves. But now I'm beat. (The picasso is nearer the house.)

Ah, you've inspired me! The containers we used for growing cucumbers are available, and it's the right time to start winter/cool weather crops like carrots, chard, collards. I'll have to see what seeds I have left from the Spring...

It's raining today like it wants to make up for everything we didn't get all summer, all in one fell swoop. Amazing amounts of thunder and lightning, too.

I harvested from the worm farm. First, because it was full, second because the plants can use a last bit of fertilizer before they hunker down for winter next month, and third because it gives several weeks before Mom comes to visit for it to settle down. The first week or so there is more odour than usual. I don't want to get desperate for more space just before she arrives.

I want to put the worm compost on the pots outside, but not in heavy rain.

>75 MarthaJeanne: Update on the habanero. Yesterday I found my one use gloves and harvested all the ripe peppers. I then created strings of 10 peppers each. There were 7 good ones, and and eighth that includes a few tiny ones and two that seem to be soft at the stem end. That one is in our kitchen. It's at least a nice decoration. The question is whether we will dare to use any.

A few minor incidents lead me to believe that they are at least hotter than I usually deal with, but the gloves did what they were there for. Jerry took them into church. Usually he just leaves the produce for anyone to take, but this time we felt that it was safer to make an anouncement and only hand them over to people who know what they are getting. Apparently he didn't have enough for the demand. I hope they live up to expectations. There are still a few green peppers on the plant, and even a few flowers. It is in good enough shape that I might consider overwintering it. I did trim off some of the longer branches. It needs a heavier pot if I'm going to keep it.

I had a report back on the peppers. One person who took some thought we were probably exaggerating, but 'only' put part of one into some guacamole. She now knows that we weren't exaggerating.

I harvested szechuan pepper yesterday. I got more than enough for our year's supply, leaving most on the tree, but there will be others coming to harvest their supplies.

It's been fun, in an odd sort of way, watching the subtropical vines react to this year's weather. We have had very warm weather for the time of year since April, with several weeks of very hot, dry weather in July and August. By mid August most of the plants gave up and stopped producing. Not really a problem, as I have never bought so few veggies as this summer. I was harvesting much more than we could use most weeks.

The heat broke, but with still warm weather and a little (too little) rain in September, they woke up and said, 'Hot season is over, time to produce again,' and have been running riot. Zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, all trying to blossom and fruit. Well, I'm still getting tomatoes and cutting flowers off, I harvested one good sized zucchini and six finger sized ones this morning before throwing the plant in the compost collection. Lots more blossoms. I harvested two mostly red pappers, and want to let the other half dozen or so ripen more. "Will you silly idiots stop trying to flower and just concentrate on ripening the fruits you are already carrying. This is not the start of a new growing season. There isn't a lot of sun left, and we will be having frost soon!"

I've got ratatouille in the slowcooker today. I did buy a bunch of veggies at the local farmer's stand on Saturday. Her harvest is slowing down, too. Between her garden and ours, it will be a good supper, with more in the freezer to bring some sunshine into the snowy months.

>81 MarthaJeanne: looks like a fat mommy there...

Well, even with the warm temperatures we decided to put up the greenhouse today. But once we had draped the cover over the frame we discovered that someone had been nibbling at it over the summer. I have patched it with layers of book covering plastic. Not a spectacular job, as sticky plastic is awkward to apply smoothly to an irregular hole when the surface is loose and you have to get to the other side of the hole, but not too bad either. The only question is how well this will hold up to freezing temperatures and for the outer layer to rain and snow.

Currently my husband is off to the office for a few hours. The tent needs to be zipped onto the base. The electric lines need to be led in and the driveway lights set up. The plants need to be set in. All that needs to be done before we get any major wind, but probably tomorrow is OK. Some of it I can do alone - the electric part. Some of it is a lot easier with two people, if only to share the misery - zipping. And some of it I can't do alone - moving the citrus trees. They are too heavy for one person alone. But it is getting dark early these days, and I want to see what I'm doing.I guess I'd better get the cables laid out.

We had put the base with the open side down. Does not work, as zippers don't match up.

>85 MarthaJeanne: Oh dear. I suspect this means that your work is through for today, until your husband returns, and you can change the base.

We did manage to get it fixed, and enough plants in for it to be stable. But we are waiting for a pizza delivery, as I wasn't in shape to make dinner after all that.

>37 MarthaJeanne: Hmmm. The information I would have needed at the garden store was in that post. Couldn't remember whether I did three or four varieties. Thought I'd used half pint jars. Grossly underestimated the amount of fruit. Result: I bought 4 200ml bottles. They were, of course, too small, but I now also have most of the fourth bottle of mixed berry gin. I also have about 3 cups of somewhat pale boozy berries. BTW I did this before 7am, so can't say how things taste. Jerry says the colours are nice.

Can't do anything with them today as our new oven and stovetop are being delivered. And there are also plants to be moved around.

New stove was an interesting experience. Old stove was very difficult to remove. To many years, too much rust and gunk. New stovetop did not want to go into the right hole. It would have fit once it was in, but ... The 'Meister' had to figure out a new configuration that would still allow everything else to fit.

Seems to be working now.

New stove - how fun! I recently replaced my rusty, molding refrigerator with a state-of-the-art model, and I go into the kitchen just to admire it.

>88 MarthaJeanne: OK At 5:30 (almost) it is acceptable to taste booze.

The Black and Blue did not impress. The Cinnamon flavour came through the second one loud and clear - perhaps too much for me, can't be too much for Jerry. We both liked the Hedgerow. Whether that's the raspberries or the touch of sweetness from the rosehip jam? Maybe both. I won't try the mixed until the flavours have had a chance to meld a bit. My experience tells me that these will all taste better after a bit of aging.

I can't believe how fast this new oven heats up.

Just for fun, a picture of a weird critter that was seen in our garden over 20 years ago.

>92 MarthaJeanne: That's really cute! Do you still have the costume hidden away somewhere?

No, we gave it to a family with young children when we moved to Geneva. I was really delighted to find the photos recently so that I have a record of it.

>92 MarthaJeanne: what a clever idea and design.

The basic pattern was from a book. I had just bought a new sewing machine, and decided to challenge myself. Basically, if it worked I would have forged a good relationship with the machine, and if not, well, then it would have been because I was crazy to try. That is a very slippery cheap polyester. The plastic 'fur' was horrible to deal with, and the silver stuff not much better. I did leave out the front zipper, and I remember doing some handwork on the head on a train. The head is quite big. I could wear it. My son was able to make the tail wag. An older son, who was very into dinosaurs was disgusted by it. "Dinosaurs weren't purple and black striped, and they didn't have rainbow fur on their bellies!"

Warm today, the sun was out, and neither of us had anything in particular to do, so we attacked the apple tree. We chopped off enough to fill the bio garbage bin, and to exhaust both of us. Maybe did a third of what needs doing. Fool tree wants to be much higher than we can deal with and to grab the telephone lines that go past.

BTW the tree gives much better apples now than when we moved in, so I think our pruning is doing it some good even if it is not a professional job. But it was easier back then. Not only were we ten years younger, but we also had a teenage son to help.

Well, neighbors have been complaining that another tree was growing into the power cables, so we contacted the owner. He arranged for a garden company to cut back that tree, the apple tree and the dying hedge. Advice on hedge: spraying might push full death out a bit, but it really ought to be replaced. Fine, no spraying then. Anyway they cut the poor apple tree back much more than I would have even if I could have, and it will take some getting used to. Not sure what that will do to this year's harvest. Not sure I care.

They also carted all the trimmed branches away. We watched their acrobatics on the ladder, but didn't have to be up there. All in all a good day.

On the other hand, the house woodwork should have been repainted before we moved in 10 years ago. The other half of the house changed owners last year, and finally something is going to be done. But suddenly it has to be done RIGHT NOW and can't wait for danger of frost to be past. They want us to take the greenhouse down. Well, it comes down in May. I'm digging in my heels. If it waited 10 years, a few more weeks won't matter. Good grief, 30 years ago we counted on a latr frost in the second half of May. Two years ago there was a bad one mid-April. And it's still March. Just because we are going to have high temps of 20 again this weekend doesn't mean that the frosts are past.

>98 MarthaJeanne: I'm confused, do the new owners also own your side? Why else would you have to take down your greenhouse?

No they don't own our side, but the painters will be doing both sides. Our greenhouse (plastic tent) is set up on the terrace right next to the house where they would need to put their ladders.

>100 MarthaJeanne: well, bummer. Hope they can wait until after the last frost, that would be the considerate thing to do.

I should mention that several days ago the leaves that covered the entrance to the hedgehog house were pushed away. Food and water are disappearing from the hedgehog bowls. The neighbor even claims to have seen one in the driveway.

We're off on Thursday to Bird Experience in Illmitz. When we get back I'll clear it out and put in fresh hay, just in case a Mama hedgehog wants to use it for her babies.

BTW I'll be quilting my bird quilt while we are there. The quilt top can be seen on my profile.

It's really much too warm for the time of year. Peas are coming up nicely.

I have a great feeling of accomplishment. One of my raised beds - that had never been really satisfactory - was falling apart. Over the past several weeks, little by little, I have taken out the soil, using it to top off other beds, fill new containers, ... , then taken apart the outside, using part of it to raise the sorrel bed higher (and fix problems due to my not knowing what I was doing when I created that bed). Actually, the second half still needs doing.

The final step was adding some compost to the footprint of the bed and putting my zucchinni plants in there.



I've got Black Beauty, Gold Rush, and something that is supposed to be green striped.

As you can see, the peas are doing well in the tomato bed, along with lettuce.

The middle bed is full of carrots, parsnips, beets, chard, and an 'ice' green that sounded interesting. Behind that there are more peas around the edges of the few spinach plants that came up last fall. They are now going to flower, and need to be taken out, along with lots of weeds. That bed will get the salad greens next time around, and whatever else I get tempted into trying.

Behind that is the narrow perennial vegetable bed. Sorrel, horseradish, I should try rhubarb again. Maybe I'll stick the caramel berry plant back there when I have the other corner ready. (http://fergustheforager.co.uk/recipes-articles/himalayan-honeysuckle/) I've had it for a year or two now in a pot, but it is ready to go into the ground. Actually, no. I have a better place for it that will also show it off.

We also put the hose out this morning. That will make things easier.

If you have a zucchini plant that produces a green striped zucchini, then you have the original. Those have such a good flavor. I still have some seed for them, myself, but have determined that I probably won't have a garden this year, other than the flowers from perennials, which are all doing well. I need to start waking up earlier, so that I can attend the big farmer's market. By now, there are more people than I care for.

Your photo of the raised beds is lovely.

And I got the bush in. Good thing, too, as it was getting pot bound. Very hard to get out.

I should mention that the landlord was pressured into having some professional pruning done as the telephone lines were being engulfed. The poor apple tree was cut back much further than I would have dared, and I can't believe the number of baby apples on it now. I pinch off a dozen or so every time I'm near it. They also whacked off the top of the hedge and confirmed my impression that it isn't worth trying to save. And of course the great big evergreen that wanted to eat the wires. Ah, I did mention this at >98 MarthaJeanne:.

>103 MarthaJeanne: nice job! Feels good, I'm sure.

I like the raised beds on legs in the background. I've considered investing in some of those...do you like them?

Yes, I had a few on the terrace last year. I have filled the legs with expanded clay balls for hydroculture. This year I have bought several more to take various vegetables. (Three have not yet been planted, but they have taken a lot of the earth that was in the old bed).

One warning. The one that was on the lawn did not drain properly. It is now there by the house and working fine. These have holes in the bottom of each leg for drainage, but they need to be on a solid footing for that to work.

Oh, and don't figure on moving them once they are full. They are very heavy!

The ones I have are available in black or yellow-green bright enough to look flourescent. The cost about €35, which I consider to be reasonable. I may even have bought the first two two years ago. There is a metal bar in the middle just under the soil line which has to be taken into account when planting.

Last year I had one planted full with various Basil plants. That worked really well, so I'm doing that again. The first ones have lavender in them.



Please do not comment on the amount of clean up the terrace needs.

It's not messy, it's picturesque.

>107 MarthaJeanne: why would I comment? Looks better than MY yard right now, ha!

>108 2wonderY: love it.

As I love to quip: "My yard and house will never be on the cover of Southern Living or House Beautiful, but I like them!"

Watching last night's Midsummer Concert, a cameraman was playing with some of the nearby flowers, bringing them in and out of focus. I think, 'I've got those!' Then realize, yes, of course I've got those. Bought at Schönbrunn when they sold off their extra summer flowers.

We had zucchinis fron the garden last night. Just two tiny ones, but Jerry cut them in half and grilled them. Lovely. And two mini cukes in tonight's salad. The peas have given up in this heat, but beans, tomatoes and eggplant are working hard to start producing. We have already had three 'sweet cayenne' peppers. The first word describes them a lot better than the second one.

Tomorrow is supposed to stay under 30. (Today was 37.) We need to go early to the garden centre for more earth and a few plants. I finally found the problem that was delaying rebuilding the perennial veggie bed. Horseradish root right up against the piece I needed to move. I've gotten rid of the horseradish. (Well, we'll see about that.) And I need more sorrel plants, though my tomato seller had it on Saturday, so I might not be totally dependant on the garden any more. And now that I have a good raised bed, I think I'll try rhubarb again. When we first moved in it wouldn't grow in the native clay. Lots of things wouldn't grow in the native clay, but I have improved the soil a lot, even where I haven't raised the beds.

>110 MarthaJeanne: the orange/red flowers look like Lantana. Not sure what the others might be.

> 111 there's nothing like fresh-from-the-garden vegetables!

>112 fuzzi: Those are the ones they showed. I will buy the video of this concert. Not for my flowers, but the pianist, Yuja Wang was fantastic to watch.

Also, a friend of ours, now retired actually who was a member of the Philharmonics was very much against these concerts when they first started. He was playing there this year!

We had Salade Nicoise, (sort of) for supper. Beans, mild chillies, lettuce, sorrel, cucumber out of the garden. Watering after supper I discovered eggplants and zucchini that we could grill tomorrow night. Also one zuccha that had been hiding under the leaves. Never quite sure what to do with those.

I need to try to enjoy the next day or two, as a new heat wave is forecast for the weekend.

Anyone here who can read German would enjoy Das grosse Fressen : lauern, stöbern, jagen, räubern. This is a new book of beautiful photographs of carnivorous insects, along with interesting text about how they hunt their prey. And of course for us there is an added pleasure in seeing ladybugs eating aphids.

That was disconcerting. I was just out watering, wearing one of these nice long, full Indian cotton skirts. And there was something under it. I suspect a grasshopper. It kept moving around, sometimes clinging to the skirt, sometimes trying to move onto my thighs.

Speaking of grasshoppers, we have rescued several from the house recently. I think they must come in on us.

However, last night, down in the basement, I saw a small, dense dust bunny hopping about. Remember, this room is where I spin, sew, quilt... There are dust bunnies under the sofa, because there are lots of fibres to feed them. Anyway, this one was hopping, so I grabbed a glass and a bit of cardboard and caught it. The easiest glass to grab was an opaque plastic one, so I couldn't see what I had. I took it out to the terrace and released it. Then, very carefully, I started to pull away bits of fibre. Once I had cleared most of the fibres away, there was a tiny frog! 1, maybe 1 1/2 cm. long. (No pictures, this was near midnight, and I wasn't up for fiddling with light and iPad.) As I went back inside the frog was headed straight for the terrace door. I rather doubt that it came back inside, though, as the sill is a good deal higher than he is long, and I tipped the door as soon as I got in.

>116 MarthaJeanne: great story. I catch and release most of what comes in from the great outdoors, except ants and roaches. Ick.

We are off to England tomorrow. Somewhat frustrating, as the tomatoes are finally beginning to produce. The peaches aren't quite ripe. ... Weather is finally cooling down to the bearable. Oh, well, England has also been hot this summer, so even if we had been able to travel earlier, we would not have enjoyed it that much.

Good travels to you!

Home again, Home again. Apparently the neighbour not only harvested, but also watered twice and even picked up fallen apples (and put the bin out for collection). So things aren't totally chaotic. I think that between the lawn and the roses and tomato vines that ran wild we will fill the bin again tomorrow (for pick up next Tuesday). I found a few quite large zuccini, but still cookable. Lots of tomatoes still to come, so with the beets, carrots, and chard, lots of veggies to eat the next few weeks.

I heard a few recipes on the radio this afternoon, so I am rather eager to pick apples and/or buy plums tomorrow. Plum butter that starts with a good amount of red wine vinegar sounds good, and if I use the deep pan that came with the oven, I don't have to stand over the stove all afternoon. For apple butter I think I might try apple vinegar.

We put the greenhouse up yesterday, and moved the plants in today. I still have to put the driveway lights up. However it was warm enough that I preferred to do weaving until 5, by which time it was really dark. Winter time! Yuck!

>121 MarthaJeanne: we're fully dark by 6:30 now and the tree leaves are falling. Saturday we change our clocks back one hour. Yuck.

>122 fuzzi: We did it yesterday. The EU is trying to end changing time twice a year, but it is not yet clear which countries will chose which time to keep. My boys used to not be at home when it was light on school days in winter. Our current sunrise is 6:30 and sunset 16:40. But by Christmas we will be at 7:43 and 16:04. I really need to get the lights set up.

>121 MarthaJeanne: Over the weekend we still had summer temps - mid to high twenties. This morning one road near Vienna had snow. Our outside thermometer reads 1.7 at 20:00. Good thing we put the greenhouse up!

Lights are up. But whoever cut back the trees along the fence just made a few passes with a chain saw, so the cut off branches made several new twigs just outside the fence that blocked the bulbs until I cut the branches off further in and then had to cut the little twigs off to get the whole thing out of the fence. Not fun. Warm today and windy. Great for this job, but I don't think I want to weave.

And yes, we have had frost.

What kind of lights?

We had frost beginning two nights ago; early for us. I’m in Kentucky to put the cabin into winter mode.

I have a string of little white Christmas lights that I string up along the driveway in the winter. They're on a timer so that they are on from 16:00-23:00. That way we can see to get to the house and the neighbours can see to back in when we come home 'late' in the winter. The streetlights barely light up the entry to the driveway. Both house entrances have lights (if they are turned on) but it gets very dark between the street and the house. I don't like to put them up in October - too much like an invitation to the teenagers who are taking up Halloween.

>123 MarthaJeanne: three days into the "new time" and I'm still waking up an hour before I need to. 😡

Saw the British guy who sells gardening tools at the Christmas market on Saturday. He recognised me and we had a nice chat, but I didn't buy anything. Somehow, it just isn't a priority in December.

I've begun chatting at a site called Permies.com and they have give-aways. This month it's gardening tools. I'm hoping to win a hori-hori, whatever that is.

It seems to be a dangerous looking Japanese gardening knife.

BTW I did buy other things at the market. Vegetable soup powder, Beeswax clothes for covering dishes, and a new tunic from a favourite business. Then I finally had everything together to dye an old skirt, and it will be really good with the tunic.

I'm currently enjoying Dave Goulson's The Garden Jungle. And in case you thought my garden looks untidy in the winter, leaving the dead plants at least until new growth starts in the Spring is a really good thing to do for the various moths that are so important in our environment. Good for the moths, good for bats, good for Coocoos ... And you thought I was just lazy.

We did go out in the sun on Thursday and collected lots of garbage from the garden. Amazing how fast those old plastic plant pots fill a garbage bag!

>132 MarthaJeanne: some gardening experts advocate cleaning up your gardens of dead leaves, etc, to reduce the population of overwintering pests, but cleaning up the gardens in the fall also removes the "good" insects that lay eggs or survive in that messy garden debris. I leave most of the dead stuff until Spring, too.

I thoroughly recommend Goulson's book if you are interested in insect life. It was very funny when he described how woodpeckers can get at solitary bee larvae in insect hotels, how some of that can be prevented, but in the end admits that woodpeckers are also quite nice to have in the garden.

If the specific ones he recommends are Bird Experience next year, I might have to finally break down and buy an insect hotel.

Out in the garden today enjoying the sun and the bird song and the bees buzzing around. I filled up the bird feeders in case we really do get some winter. 14 today, 18 yesterday. Celsius. Beginning of February.

>135 MarthaJeanne: we've had a warmer than average winter thus far, only a couple nights in the mid-20F range, warming up to above freezing during the day. And no snow or ice storms so far. I've been outside almost every weekend trimming branches and volunteer privet saplings.

And the frogs have been sunning themselves on the warmer days (50F).

But that's still only 10C. We've had a lot of that. 18C is about 65F. I was uncomfortable in a cotton turtleneck with an open flannel shirt out walking in the sun. And the bees shouldn't be out and about. There is very little nectar for them. Well my greenhouse has been open all day, so the lemons should be fertilized.

Currently reading Einfach natürlich? A nice collection of recipes - some food, some cosmetic, some other using garden plants and weeds.

How about using violets and primroses to flavour the cream for a mousse. Then remove the innards from tulip blossoms and fill with the mousse. Top with candied pine nuts.

Or combine Waldmeister with the lavender in bags to keep the moths out of the closet.

So far I've read the Spring chapter.

My husband ran over a curb yesterday while I was downtown. We both came home in taxis. Luckily he only seems to have damaged the tire, so after paying for two new ones, he can pick it up again today.

I guess the new garden year has officially begun. I was at the garden centre yesterday to get more suet balls for the birds. But wandered in further just in case ... And they had lettuce starts in. I chose a dozen lolla blonda and a dozen red oak leaf. They had a mixture of lolla blonda and rossa, but the oak leaf tastes so much better. Anyway three each are in one of my flower containers. If the weather stay the way it has so far, we can enjoy them right up until I get summer flowers in late April or early May. The rest I've moved into larger starter pots and stuck them on the floor of the greenhouse. Warmer there but probably less light. Certainly less root space. I'm guessing that they will develop more slowly, so they can be planted out in the vegetable beds later, plus if it really does ever get cold this winter, we have backup.

Speaking of the birds, the only weekend all winter when we didn't have birds in the garden was the weekend of the bird count. We have regular visits from great spotted woodpeckers, blue tits, field sparrows. Crows and pigeons are around, but aren't really interested in our garden. Every now and then a couple of European jays fly in quickly to see if there are any pieces of suet ball on the ground. Anything else is rare, even in the summer, but even these give me a lot of pleasure. Recently there has been a lot of wind, so they prefer the suet and peanuts in a protected area. Today is fairly still, so they are out and about looking for more interesting food.

Last summer I froze a lot of apricots. A neighbour made jam from our red peaches while we were in England. Yesterday I defrosted some of the apricots. I made some whole grain spelt bread. Before baking I pulled off a piece of the dough, and added egg, butter and honey. (And more flour, of course, some of which was chestnut.) I stretched the dough out into a rough rectangle and spread it with jam. Then came a layer of chopped walnuts. On this I lay out the apricots. Then I cut up an apple and set the pieces between the apricots. A little more jam was heated up with some peach and lemongrass liqueur from the same orchard where I bought the apricots. I spooned that over the fruit and topped with a little more nuts. It was spectacular! But I forgot to take a picture.

Wait! There is still a little bit left:

>140 MarthaJeanne: I just finished a small snack, and am trying to wait until dinner (halibut, asparagus, maybe some steamed spinach, and a slice of fresh bread with butter). I want terribly to have the slice you just photographed, and I'm sure it's very low in calories as well.

I love apricots, and wish it was time for them to be in season. Good thing you're so far away; I'd be knocking on your door right now.

Seriously, it's lovely. That's a nice shot.

The question now is, who gets downstairs first for breakfast, and does s/he eat the whole piece or leave half for someone else?

I made wild garlic salt today. I still mean to make oil, too.

In both cases the directions I have call for 200g Allium ursinum per kilo of the carrier. For the salt I decided that 1/4 kilo was plenty. The Bärlauch gets washed dried and chopped. For the salt it gets put through the blender with some of the salt, then dried (I used the oven) before going into the blender again with the remaining salt. For the oil it is covered with the oil, then left to infuse for a few weeks.

My choices for source were:
1) my own garden. Or would be if I had enough. I had plenty to flavour some of my homemade goat's cheese, but nowhere near enough for salt or oil.

2) the wild. Jerry even knows where some is growing in our local National Park, but it isn't near the parking, nor are the paths there really good for my walker after the rain we have had recently.

3) the supermarket. Sort of a comedown, I guess, but it was one of the few things in the fruit and vegetable department that wasn't being bought up in the corona frenzy, so I bought it along with some cheap olive oil.

>143 MarthaJeanne: short-sighted of people to not realize that garlic is good for any ailment. Local Aldi's this morning was very low on stock but still had a lot of chicken. I may go back for soup ingredients!

Jerry wanted some exercise this afternoon, so he cleared one of the raised beds for me. Great! I would be pleased to go get a couple of bags of earth to fill it back up and some fresh seed. Of course the garden centre is closed, so the best I'll be able to do tomorrow is rake it over, and hope that last year's seed is still viable. Blah! The garden centre does have an online shop, but it isn't selling earth or seed, and only the suet balls with the horrible plastic nets. Totally useless. At least I did buy balls recently, so the birds will get fed for a few more weeks.

And the promis on television tell us to use this time to finally do the projects we haven't gotten to for the last few years. But of course we can't get the materials. And if we need young, healthy help, they aren't supposed to come nearby.

The supermarket had earth today. Not what I would have otherwise purchased, but much, much better than nothing.

All restrictions extended at least until after Easter.

>146 MarthaJeanne: found fresh chicken this morning, SOUP TIME!

Before Jerry cleared the bed, I had harvested some of the plants there, and started to make purslane relish. http://ledameredith.com/purslane-relish-recipe/ I got sidetracked yesterday, so the veggies were salted for two days, not one. Also these were very young plants. I'm fairly sure it really is purslane, but the stems were thin. I am totally sure that the plants are edible.

Today I was also not very organized. So in the end I put the relish into two clean but not sterilized jars, and it is in the refrigerator for as long as it keeps. It tastes good, but will be much too sweet for Jerry. We'll see what I think in a week, as it is supposed to sit that long before you use it.

I did not get the soil spread. Too bad. today was sunny and 20C. Tomorrow we get rain and 6C. I may not be motivated to do garden work.

Good news! Stekovics is selling plants online. You don't get to pick your varieties, and a box is a dozen. No, I do not need a dozen tomato plants! But we have decided to order a dozen tomatoes and a dozen bell/chilli pepper plants.

This is good for us: we know we will have a good selection of heirloom tomatoes and peppers. And in the unlikely event that they really do have in person sales a month from now, we can still go and purchase personal choices. We have neighbors who would probably plant our rejects.

This is good for Stekovics. Although their main business is growing tomatoes and peppers and processing them, their plant sales are still a big deal, and there is no telling whether they will have harvesting help if borders are still closed over the summer. Any early order takes a tiny bit of pressure off. We really want to support the businesses we use as much as we can right now.

This is even good for the country: It doesn't do anyone any good if vegetable gardens aren't planted.

The Austrian government has just announced that as of Wednesday you have to wear a face mask to go shopping. I have found a quite good set of directions at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EsNIgSZ2W18, so I may make us some rather than rely on the ones they will hand out (if and when that really happens). They even pointed out on the news tonight that pandemics come in waves over 1 1/2 - 2 years.

>143 MarthaJeanne: Jerry called out to me today that liquid was coming out of my jar. It looked to me as though something was starting to ferment in there. Don't think that is supposed to happen. Anyway there is now one very clean shelf in the pan cupboard, and the bärlauch oil is being filtered to get rid of the bärlauch leaves. I think that should stop any fermentation in the oil.

Decisions, decisions. I had intended to have gone to the garden centre for small bottles. That didn't happen soon enough. I bought a 0.5l bottle of olive oil, just for this recipe, and made it in a 1/2pt (US) Ball jar that was fairly tightly full of chopped bärlauch, so maybe a quarter of the bottle is still left. Once the oil is filtered my two best choices for storing the oil are the Ball jar and the oil bottle. The oil bottle is a lot easier to use. Do I just pour the flavoured oil in with the remaining oil? Or empty it into my normal olive oil for cooking first?

Oh, yes. I tasted it on a small piece of bread. Very nice indeed.

ETA Turns out there is a lot more Bärlauch under the apple tree now than there was three weeks ago. I decided that 20 g would be enough for the remaining oil, and have set that up. Only remaining problem is that my funnel is too big for the bottle, but we will find a way around this, too.

Once the oil had dripped through I couldn't bear to throw the leaves away, so I put clarified butter and flour in a pan, browned it and poured milk on. After whisking a bit and letting it boil up a bit, I added the bärlauch and went at it with the stick blender. A bit of salt and pepper and we had a small snack of creme of wild garlic soup. (Sour cream on top.) It was good.

Oh! Bärlauch is very similar to ramps, which I have been trying to establish in my KY woods. I bought and sowed seed last year and last week confirmed that they are up. The supplier retired his business almost immediately after, so my timing was fortunate.