GARDEN UPDATE 4/20/2017

HI FRIENDS!!!!

I'm hoping this spring season is finding you well and your gardens flourishing.

Here's what's happening in mine:

Seedlings are beautiful and mostly ready for transplanting.  

Of the 72 plants I started, very few didn't make it. My onions were from old seed and mostly an experiment that just never germinated, I killed my one okra seedling in potting up, and my Aji Dulce peppers are not growing as well as I'd like but overall I'm really really happy with my seedlings this year. I didn't forget about any of them! The curcubits (squash, zucchini) and herbs will get transplanted out this weekend and the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant will stay on the porch a bit longer.

Flowers go in next
I'm trying something new this year! I'm going to be starting some flower seeds for my front beds in addition to my veggies. Can't eat them and they're not anything useful but they'll be pretty! I have zinnias, impatiens and snapdragons.

Pretty sure my dang apple tree is dead
Georgia said it's just growing sticks. The one that is still alive is BEAUTIFUL though. Probably won't get any apples off of her for another year but the blooms are just gorgeous. I've since cleared all the weeds, fertilized and conditioned with neem oil and fish emulsion, and laid fresh mulch since these pictures were taken. Sadly, the tree is just as dead.

Direct seeded plants are popping off nicely!
Cruciferous bed of broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, and cabbage is growing well. I have some radishes and beets mixed in there too. I'm hoping to get something out of it before it all bolts. The weather in Maryland changes so quickly. Winter drags on forever and then suddenly it's summer. I did an earlier planting that all washed away before it germinated so I fear I didn't get anything in early enough for cool weather. I've also planted a few rows of cucumber and okra that is coming along nicely.

pickles loading...

My strawberry bed is my moon and stars
FINALLY I get to enjoy strawberries. Last year I reluctantly pinched off flowers, knowing that doing so would force the plants to put out more runners and lead to larger yields later. I enjoyed the few berries that I missed. This year by strawberry bed is huge is popping off and I can't wait to dig in! It's full of pretty white flowers that will turn into tasty strawberries!
I'll soon top the bed off with more compost and plant my beans along the edges. They'll share nitrogen love with the strawberries and provide shade, possibly prolonging their growth in the hot hot heat.

My chickens are still dumb

not pictured is the dummy that flew over the fence

I currently have 3 and I'm getting an egg a day from each girl that they typically hide under the deck. It seems to be either feast or famine around here on the eggs. Either we have none or we have dozen or so just hanging out. I want to have more to be able to barter/give away to friends so we're adding 3-4 more to our flock.

I'm thrilled with what this season has to hold for us.
What's going on for you??
 

Allergy Protocol

This time of year in the DMV is notorious. I constantly hear from folks that never suffered from allergies until they come here and suddenly they're itchy, stuffy, sneezy messes.

So what do we do?

Do we treat with conventional medications?
I'm not one to judge. If that's what works for you and your body chemistry, great.
For me I prefer to avoid conventional medications as a first step and the side effect "medicine head" is worse than the allergies I'm treating. I get a headache and just feel out of it for days. Also, as a nursing mother, I need to be careful with what I ingest.

Do we seek help from herbal allies?
This is the route I go. I use mechanical and herbal interventions to alleviate my allergy symptoms.
This is what works for me.

Mechanical:
Step one is to remove regularly whatever you're reacting to. Washing your face nightly, including warm compresses to your lids and lashes, gets the irritants away so they're not just sitting there bugging you. Cleaning your lids and lashes (either with just warm water or with something sold for this purpose) will help a lot with managing itchy, teary eyes.
Now that you've got it off your face, you need to get it out of your sinuses where is really messing you up. When my allergies are bugging me it feels like there's ants inside my nose. Use your neti pot to rinse those ants out! Look it. Using a neti pot, for me, is miserable. I hate doing it. I'm convinced I'm going to drown or that I'm going to get brain amoeba. I'm calmly pouring water in my nose but inside my head I'm screaming. BUT y'all. It works. I hate doing it so much and put it off but when I do it I feel so much better. I use the little packets that come with it because I'm afraid I'll get brain amoeba otherwise and ALWAYS use distilled water.

Herbal:
This is what I do and what works for me. What works for you and your allergens might be different.
Twice a day I ingest nettle and Centro Ashe's Aller-Support (with nettle, eyebright, and goldenrod) tinctures along with my usual skullcap. I ingest tinctures by adding to a small amount of water in a shot glass and taking it like a shot. Sometimes I'll take my shirt off and yell SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS for old times' sake while I'm at it.
 My daily tinctures vary but almost always include skullcap and nettle.
Along with my tinctures, I also consume 1/2 teaspoon bee pollen twice a day. Local is ideal and I have had great success with the brand pictured above. To consume the bee pollen I either just throw it in my mouth and swish it around with some water or I'll mix it in with yogurt or a smoothie. The difficulty with the latter is that you then have to make sure you consume the entire smoothie/yogurt so that you know you got it all.

I know that for me, this works. If I do this I will not be miserable. There will not be ants inside my nose and my eyeballs won't itch and I won't have a constant throbbing sinus headache.
I'm dying to know what works for other folks.
What's your allergy protocol?