Rain Garden Today

Between rain showers this afternoon we were able to work on the rain garden and produce some more castings from the first worm condo. I spread wood chips on the rain garden and my wife, Pat, sifted the castings. The rain garden has most of the plants in, but needs some work plus some growth. I need to hook up the rain barrel to the gutter and drain the water through the barrel and tea bags to the garden. Also we have a row of wild sunflowers to plant along the neighbor’s driveway and some blocks to put in place along our sidewalk. One nice thing I learned about rain gardens from watching one develop at a neighboring house is that they flower three seasons and are low maintenance. So diverting water from the overused sewage system to the rain garden is a doubly good green thing to do.

Also between rain drops Pat and I took a walk in the park nearby and picked lots of Grape Leaves to clean and freeze for some good eating. Also on the way home from our foraging walk Pat mentioned that I needed to cut the front grass — what is left of it after the rain garden. When she said that my first thought was to pick all the violet leaves in the grass for drying and storage before I cut the grass and those food weeds. I think I will dry them out for soup use next winter since I need to use the dehydrator soon anyway for picking and drying all the mint leaves in the yard. Now mint is one of the easiest plants, outside of weeds, to grow. It comes back each year with abundance, and unless you contain it, it will expand and expand. Mint with basil, parsley, violet leaves, left lettuce greens, arugula, sunflower sprouts and chives is part of the home grown salad mix I keep on hand for dinner salads. Mint dried and flaked, however, is a popular item in Middle Eastern cooking such as Grape Leaves.

With all this rain, castings and now sun and heat the garden, vegetable and rain, are ready for a growth spurt.

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