HedgeWitch (30 page)

My entries look something like this: “2008 Seeds—available in March; 2008 Seed Starters—available in March; Replacement Garden Tools—available in March; Most Herbs—available mid-April; Most peppers and tomatoes—available late April” (and so on). “Ferns—available in April, but wait for more lush varieties in May.”

Following the rules of the moon (plant above-ground crops new to full, below-ground full to new), I started most of my own seed plants (moonflowers, broccoli, beans, sugar peas, snapdragons, foxglove, and morning glory) between the new and full moons in April so that they would be ready to go into the ground in May. I placed the compact mini greenhouses in an upstairs room with the most light. They are doing great! My daughter, however, started her seeds two weeks before mine, during the waning moon. She reported that her seeds did absolutely nothing until the moon turned to new and began growing, yet my seeds sprouted in just three days and literally blew off the greenhouse covers with their accelerated growth! Here is an excellent example of moon garden timing!

My plant-buying guide page also has best-price information as well as notations for garden-related trips. For example, the local greenhouses this year are charging $2.49 for a single herb or tomato/pepper plant. Before we shopped at the greenhouses, we decided to visit a few other places. For the first time this year, our family went to the Herb Fest at the York Fair Grounds in mid-April. Here, about a hundred (or so, didn't really count) vendors plied their 2008 seasonal wares. As we'd never been there, we didn't know what to expect, but we decided no matter what we thought of it, a day out with our grown daughters and a great lunch would be a lot of fun. The show focused mostly on herbs and herb-related products (which was great, because that's what I grow), but only a handful of vendors actually sold live herbs. The remainder carried herb-related products—such as soaps, oils, teas, crafty thingamabobs, and such. Like many magickal gardeners, I've learned to make these things on my own over the years and therefore put my buying dollars in other areas. For the plants, however, prices here ranged either a bit below market or, more usually, at market price. If, however, you bought in bulk, some herb vendors gave a discount. At the Herb Fest, we found what I call local exotics (stuff you can't really find at the greenhouses or, if you do, there's only a plant or two), such as patchouli, valerian, vervain, etc., making the trip worthwhile as far as stocking my garden with some unusual varieties. Too, the show was well organized and aesthetically pleasing—overall a worthwhile trip for us. My journal notes that we should visit again next year.

The following week, our shopping agenda stop was the flea market at Williams Grove. Here, local farmers and small growers bring their plants and produce (along with all the other expected flea market regalia). Price range here was below market—from $1.00 to $1.69 a plant. Although everything looked great and healthy, the herb selection was somewhat limited—rosemary, globe basil, tomatoes, peppers—nothing too exotic, but if you were in the market for a nice azalea or other garden trimmings, this was definitely the place to shop, and absolutely the choice in pricing for those regular garden-variety herbs. So, I made a note in my journal to be sure and check out the flea market first next year before purchasing elsewhere. Perhaps there is a flea market or open market near you that will carry bargains like I found.

Items removed:
This category lists all the things I removed from the garden and property area, regardless of whether they directly affected the gardening process. I kept a record of this effort because sometimes you simply don't see the rewards in cleaning and organizing. I also listed whether or not this process cost me any money. For example, I had three trees and several bushes removed last year by a local boy. I listed how much I paid him for this service. This year, if I have him remove something else, I'll know how much I gave him last year and increase it. My personal motto is never insult hard labor; help him make his time valuable to both of you.

Gifts received:
When people know you are totally into gardening, they will purchase gifts for you that revolve around that interest. I kept track of all the gifts I received that related to my gardening, and then, in the fall when harvesting (and throughout the growing season when possible), I made sure that these individuals enjoyed the proceeds of their gifts, which ties into the next category …

Gifts given:
This can be separate or go along with the Gifts Received page. Not everyone likes everything you produce. For example, I make great herbal vinegars, but not a lot of my family members use herbal vinegars—yet they love herbal butters. I also make soap, and like other products, everyone has a particular soap they adore and those types of soaps they hate. On this page, I have listed who likes what, and what it is I gave them, so that during the 2008 growing season I can pay special attention to what is appreciated where. That way, no one is disappointed and the right energy goes to the right person.

Fertilizer chart:
Most plants should be fertilized about every two weeks or so. When I fertilized, I would write down the date and what plants received the fertilizer. I think I'm the only person in my area that fertilizes at midnight, but as the old moon lore goes, it certainly works, and it is kinda cool to be tromping around out there in the dead of night encouraging your babies to grow! I also till in the dark for optimum weed control. This page of the journal also lists how much fertilizer I use, so that I know next year how much of what to buy to last me through the season.

Watering chart:
Different plants require different amounts of water. I kept a list of which plants needed the most water and which needed the least so that I wouldn't overlook anybody, and next year I will plant accordingly.

Winter survivors/losses:
This is a new category I designed for spring 2008. Many herbs, such as basil, are annuals, so you know they aren't going to survive through the winter—dig out the roots when the season is done. There are those, however, like rosemary, hyssop, tarragon, and savory that can make it through at least one or two winters if the weather hasn't been too blustering. In early April, I began walking the garden, looking to see who would wake up and who had bitten the big one and gone on to garden summerland. At first, I thought nothing survived, but as the days grew warmer, I was pleasantly surprised at which plants had made it through my first bumbling attempts at winterizing. My list this year looked like this:

Winter survivors:
1 rosemary bush, 2 oregano plants, summer savory, winter savory, tarragon, hyssop, 2 Berggarten sage, 2 golden thyme (just barely); 1 crawling thyme; chives.

Winter losses:
All the lavender (this I attributed to really lousy soil in that area); both bay trees (started too late and the root system just wasn't strong enough); 2 rosemary bushes (this surprised me); parsley (this was also a surprise, as usually my parsley makes it through anything); all white sage (this was a disappointment); lemon verbena (caught a blight).

By keeping this list, I knew what I had to replace this growing season, which helped to save me money when shopping for 2008, which brings us to the last list …

2008 garden universal shopping list:
Here, in the spring, I write down everything I want. This doesn't necessarily mean I will buy everything on this list, so really it is a combination wish list and purchase list. I don't write “wish” because often people believe that many wishes don't come true. The word “wish” isn't a nice, sturdy, I'm-a-gonna-git-it wording. I find that if I write what I want in black and white (or green and white), many times I will be gifted with something I really wanted on this list (even though I didn't specifically ask anyone for it). That's why I call it a universal shopping list. The universe
loves
to give you a bargain, you just have to want to receive it! As the season progresses, I check off everything I've purchased or received and add new items as I think of them to the bottom of the list. For example, this year I knew I had to replace the fire pit, but like every other American family, we are minding our budget because of the horrendous gas prices. I didn't need the fire pit for gardening per se, I needed the pit for ritual and magick, so I figured I'd get the garden together first and then see what was left over for the pit. However, I still wrote down exactly what I wanted in regard to the fire pit. Here's a sample of this year's list and a note or two of what I generally use the items for (just in case you were wondering—also, this isn't everything in my gardens, simply what I want to buy or replace for the 2008 season):

Rosemary (food, ritual, magick, and for soap)

White sage (food, ritual, magick, and for soap)

African basil (food)

Golden thyme (food and soap)

Eucalyptus (for cleansing rituals, winter decoration, and soap)

Horehound (for cleansing rituals)

Valerian (for ritual)

Vervain (for ritual and magick)

Patchouli (for money rituals and soap)

Red wagon (for hauling)

Globe basil (food)

Peppers (red and green)

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Beans (seeds)

Moonflowers (seeds; ritual)

Four o'clocks (seeds; ritual and magick)

Morning glory (seeds; ritual and magick)

Cucumbers (seeds)

Marigolds (seeds; magick and garden protection, soap)

Sugar peas (seeds)

Parsley

Larkspur (seeds; ghost protection)

Sunflower (seeds; success magick)

Variegated sage (food)

Berggarten sage (food)

Purple basil (food and lavender-colored vinegars)

Lemongrass (cleansing rituals, dream pillows)

Chamomile (success and cleansing rituals, dream pillows, soap)

Trellises (need at least 10)

Gardening pots (large, need at least 8, 10 better for growing different varieties of mint)

Mulch (11 bags to start)

Lavender (cleansing rituals, dream pillows)

Electronic owl

Bird bath

Starter garden panels for seeds (8)

Selection of mints (for magick, teas, ritual, soaps)

1 load of topsoil for new flower garden area

1 load of organic soil for herb garden area

Shovel, red

Rake, red

Fire pit, moon and stars design with cover and grate

Bunny fence

Fish fertilizer

I wrote this list the first week of April. As of today, approximately two and a half weeks later, I have purchased or received everything on this list except for one item, the organic topsoil for the herb garden stash, and that is on the way—just stalled in transit due to inclement weather. It pays to write your list! Many of the items on this list were gifts from the universe (meaning I didn't have to spend any money to get them—like my new fire pit!). Get out your pen and start listing what you want!

Notes for next year:
These are just quickies, and for me they have a lot to do with timing. For example: “Put herbs in earlier next year—June was too late. Start moonflowers and other seeds beginning of April. Front bed receives too much shade, move tomatoes and peppers to middle or back bed. Cold snap in July split tomatoes. Front area needs better soil next year” (and so forth).

Journal entries:
These are by date, and I simply wrote down what I did on that day, or sometimes, what I had accomplished that week if the time of the season was slow. Last year's entries for April and May were minimal. We were waiting for our granddaughter to be born, and I knew I would be away for at least a week when the happy event occurred. I spent these two months cleaning, weeding, and designing. I began with a single spade (as I had no garden tools of my own, I'd always borrowed my father's tools) and did all the work by hand on my knees down in the dirt. As the season progressed, I purchased more tools to make the work easier. I'm glad I did it this way, because I learned what I really needed, and more importantly, what type of tools I liked to work with. I also learned which tools were not worth their cost. For example, I bought this weed grabber thing, thinking how much work it would save. It isn't worth the metal it was made of. I gave it away, thinking maybe I wasn't using it right, and told the person so. They couldn't make it work, either. Sometimes my journal entries would be only a line or two, and other times I would go on for a page or so. Just depended on my mood and how much I accomplished. Many of my entries contained the ingredients I used when designing a soap, butter, food recipe, or vinegar using the proceeds from my garden (many of these formulas can be found in this book). Here are some entries from my 2007 journal, to give you an example:

July 14:
Most of my moonflowers started at the end of May became potbound, so I had to prepare a bed (been meaning to do it) of their own. I transplanted several along the back porch (11 plants) and 7 plants along the garden fence row. The soil there isn't the best, but I have to put them somewhere. Moonflowers are climbers, and I had a heck of a time finding them something to climb on. Began clearing the weeds between the beds this week. My daughter's rose bloomed! Added 6 bags of organic Black Forest soil to herb beds. Could use 2 more. Cleansing ritual for Arnold. Made empowered herb water. Note to self: Buy more trellises next year.