|
Welcome to Spring 2010 Newsletter
The end of winter—
Sun is shining,
days are getting longer, and the SNOW is piled up all
around the Mid-Atlantic! Hopefully the snow will melt
by Alloway’s opening day on April 7, 2010. If you can’t
wait to see green again you will just have to enjoy the
plants in colorful catalog or seed packets on display.
The Herb of 2010 is Dill, one of my favorite flavors.
As a child I enjoyed a dill pickle much more than a
candy bar and now I love the flavor of dill on baked
salmon or with sour cream and cucumbers. There are
several varieties of Dill that we grow; the common Dill
is good for both the seed and the leaf while ‘Fernleaf’
and ‘Bouquet’ are more compact varieties that have a
longer season and more leaf production. In days past,
dill was hung over doorways to keep out evil spirits and
given to cranky babies to alleviate colic pains. Dill
is easy to sow in the garden and should be sown in
succession to make sure the crop will be there when it
is pickle-making time. One of the pleasant aspects of
this plant and others in the family like fennel and
parsley is that the Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillar is
attracted to the foliage of the plant during an
important phase of the future butterfly’s life. He/she
doesn’t eat much—plant some extra to share with the
butterfly!
Perennial of the
Year 2010---Last year I said nothing about the named
perennial because I didn’t think the plant did well in
the Mid-Atlantic area. This year I am quite pleased to
let you know the Perennial of the Year is Baptisia
australis also known as False Indigo. We have had this
plant growing in our garden for quite a while and always
delight in its hardiness and beautiful blue flower.
‘Purple Smoke’, a deep purple variety will also be
available.
On the veggie
front, we will continue to offer more ‘heirloom’
varieties of tomatoes. Last year we grew the German
Strawberry along with the Cherokee Purple and some other
great tomatoes with even bigger names, like,
‘Blondkopfchen’ which translates to ‘Little Blonde
Girl’. Let us know of any varieties that have done
well for you in the garden. You can never have too many
tomatoes!
We are also
looking forward to our new collection of pottery for
container planting and decorating. Let us show you the
plants that will do well in your particular situation
and you can plant the container here at the farm. We
will also be doing a workshop on container herb gardens
at Union Mills Homestead on Friday, April 30th.
Check out our calendar for more information
And of course,
not to be missed is our Annual “Garden Faire at Alloway”
on Friday, June 4 and Saturday, June 5th.
And when you
visit Alloway you are always welcome to bring a picnic
and “sit a spell” in our gazebo—that is, when the earth
warms and the flowers bloom!
Until then—
Herbally,
Barbara and the
Alloway Gardeners |
