(and the start of the vegetable garden Spring 2022)
Spring has been such an amazing blessing for us this year. After sixteen months away in the South where we had zero access to a garden of any kind, we are finally back home in Western ME. It has been a joy to watch our fruit trees blossoming and showing the promise of a good harvest. I smile when I see the growing patch of purple columbine spreading out from the old well, and the truly deep scarlet of the flowering quince blooming in the front yard. The ancient lilac on the north side of the house now reaches two stories to the roof and floods both floors with its heavy scent. I have sorely missed this magical place!
The best part of coming home? Getting my hands in the soil, digging out the weeds, smelling the dank richness of good compost, placing the young plants in their new homes and watching them start to thrive. We had to start ripping and tearing our way through the raspberry bramble that took over the herb beds while we were gone though. It’s crazy how quickly they can take over a garden! Thankfully my herbs are well established and all but one yarrow plant survived the neglect.
I found a few new fun herbs to try this year: pineapple sage, chocolate mint (container only), valerian, and lemon verbena, plus some lemon thyme, an old favorite of mine. These will be a lovely addition to the garden along with the purple sage and chamomile I picked up. The existing thyme needs a little love but survived the winters, and the echinacea is coming up in full healthy mounds. It is such a gift and I am grateful everything survived as well as it did!
The world has changed so much since my last post. I am grateful to be able to return home and start a new adventure, yet I am conscious that so many are not able to do the same. So I give thanks and vow to always give back in as many ways as possible. Stay tuned for updates on the gardens, the fruit trees, and maybe even some hints on new tea blends! If you have any herbs you love to use in your tea blends feel free to share in the comments.
Have a magical spring! 🌺
Mistwalker Herbal 