Nine by Eighteen

Late Start

SabineApril 23, 2026Leave a Reply

It has been an excruciatingly slow start to the season. Such a cold and rainy spring so far, which after this long and cold winter is especially hard. So, things in the garden have been slow to come up. I did not plant peas this year, and have not started anything yet in the garden plot. But both, the garlic and the rhubarb are coming up nicely. As are the grape hyacinths and a few tulips, which have yet to open.

My dining room table is full of seedlings. I thinned the basil seedlings on March 30th and plan to re-pot tomatoes, Swiss chard, sage and thyme this weekend. I will also start hardening off the snapdragons. The kale has been living on the porch full-time for about a week now. This weekend, I also plan to plant my shallots and start my cucumber and squash seedlings.

The radishes and spinach on my porch are coming up nicely. I had started them on March 30. Because it was so cold (we even still had a few frosts), it took them a while. On April 21, I also started leaf lettuce mix in one of the big containers.

Awakenings

SabineMarch 26, 2026Leave a Reply

It has been a long, cold and snowy winter, and things in the garden are just starting to emerge. The rhubarb is looking healthy, as is the garlic. Yay to new beginnings!

Starting Tomatoes

SabineMarch 22, 2026Leave a Reply

Today, on this raw and rainy early spring Sunday, I started my tomato seedlings. As usual, I went for a mix of early, mid-season, and late tomato varieties. This year, I am growing some favorite heirlooms and some new-to-me disease-resistant hybrid varieties as I had a lot of issues with some mysterious (fungal?) disease last season. I started two each of Stupice (early), Mountain Sunrise (early), Ailsa Craig (mid), Marmalade (mid), Galahad (mid), Dr. Wyche’s Yellow (mid/late), Caiman (late), Purple Zebra (late). I also started four Mountain Magic and two Peacevine cherry tomato plants for the communal flower/vegetable bed.

*Hot pepper seedlings* *(with basil seedlings in the background)*

Today, I also started strawflowers (Tall Double Mix), Swiss chard (Five Color Silverbeet), and butterhead lettuce (Salanova green butter and May Queen). And I repotted the kale (7 plants).

Finally!

SabineMarch 8, 20261 Reply

Hope

SabineFebruary 24, 20261 Reply

This winter has been brutal. The record cold temperatures we had in December and January and several major snowstorms (the last one – the historic Blizzard of ’26 – just yesterday) make me long for spring. My seedlings have all sprouted. First was the thyme, followed by leeks, snapdragons, sage and peppers. The marigolds I sowed on February 20 are also sprouting, and this morning, I saw the first kale seedling (also sown on February 20) making its appearance.

First Seedlings Started

SabineFebruary 12, 20261 Reply

I started my first seedlings today – leeks, sage, thyme, snapdragons and two kinds of hot peppers (Thai and Tennessee Spice, the latter was a freebie from Sand Hill Preservation Center, and I have no idea what that pepper even is). The leeks and hot peppers are for myself, the snapdragons (mostly) for the communal flowerbeds, and the sage and thyme are for the new community garden at the Mildred Haley Housing Development in Jackson Square. They are currently undergoing a redevelopment, which will include creating community gardening spaces, and I will start seedlings (flowers and herbs) this spring for the borders of that garden.

*Not looking like much right now but I find it most exciting: Seeds all tucked in, under grow lights and with a heat mat to warm the soil.*

Ordering Seeds

SabineJanuary 25, 2026Leave a Reply

This afternoon, while the biggest snow storm in four years was howling outside, I cozied up inside with tea and seed catalogs and made plans for the upcoming gardening season. I ordered seeds for disease-resistant tomato varieties from both Territorial Seeds (Galahad and Purple Zebra) and High Mowing (Marmalade, Caiman, and Mountain Sunrise), and shallot sets from Fedco (Roderique). I still need to place my order for herbs, flowers and some vegetable seeds with Sand Hill Preservation Center, which needs to happen soon, as in mid-February, I will need to start my first seedlings. Dreaming of spring 🙂

PS. The Baker Creek catalog is a piece of art. Such a pleasure to browse.

Update: On January 28, I placed my Sand Hill Preservation Center order via snail mail. I ordered Tuscan kale, Altaglobe radishes, herbs (sage, thyme, lemon basil), and flowers (Petite Mix marigolds, snapdragons mix, Alaska mix nasturtium, Iceland mix poppies plus Polar Bear and Oriole zinnias).

Calendula Salve Part 3 – The Salve

SabineJanuary 5, 20262 Replies

It was time to make the calendula salve. I gathered the ingredients – homemade calendula oil, beeswax, unrefined shea butter, and essential lavender oil. I also needed a water bath, a spatula and tins for the finished product.

I started by weighing out the beeswax and the shea butter. The recipe calls for 1 oz. beeswax and 0.5 oz. of shea butter for every 8 oz. of oil. I had 12 oz. of oil and adjusted the amounts of the other ingredients accordingly. I melted the beeswax and the shea butter in a water bath and then added the calendula oil.

Once it was all melted – taking care not to heat the oil too much so it would retain its medicinal qualities – I added a few drops (around 8) of lavender oil for fragrance and filled four 4 oz. tins.

I left the tins undisturbed for the salve to harden and settle and added labels.

Voila! My first-ever batch of calendula salve.

Calendula Salve Part 2 – Calendula Oil

SabineJanuary 2, 20262 Replies

The next step in my calendula salve project was to make the calendula oil. I needed dried calendula flowers, a carrier oil (I used 500 ml of sweet almond oil) and glass jars. It is a simple process: Fill the glass jars with the flowers (about 2/3 to 3/4 full) and top them with the oil. There should not be much room between the oil surface and the lid as contact with air can make the oil rancid.

I initially used non-standard jars that held a bit more than a cup each. But I miscalculated the volume and ended up having to switch to smaller jars half-way in the process to make the oil fill all the way to the top (to minimize exposure to air). As I had already covered the flowers in the initial jars with oil, in the end, my jars held more flowers than intended. This will make the oil more potent, but also potentially will yield less oil as some of it will be absorbed by the flowers.

*November 17, the day I made the calendula oil*

I let the oil infuse for about 6 weeks in a warm, dark place (under a cardboard box next to the radiator in my dining room), turning the jars every couple of days.

After those six weeks, I strained the oil using a sieve lined with one layer of cheese cloth. I tried to squeeze out as much of the flowers as I could.

In total, infusing the flowers with just under 16 oz. of almond oil yielded 12 oz. of calendula oil. As expected, some of the oil (a surprising amount, actually) had been absorbed by the flower petals and the cheese cloth. I then stored the oil in a dark bottle in a dark corner of my cool bedroom for a few days. The oil can be stored this way until the original expiration date of the carrier oil. Onto the next step: calendula salve.

Calendula Salve Part 1 – Drying the Flowers

SabineDecember 31, 20253 Replies

I love growing flowers in my community plot. Last year (2024) was the first year I grew calendulas. I decided to grow more this year (which could not have been easier as they self-seed like crazy) to make a calendula salve. Calendula has long been used as a medicinal plant to soothe irritated skin and eczema as it has anti-inflammatory properties and is an excellent moisturizer. To make the salve, you need to make calendula oil. The first step is drying the flowers.

I had been harvesting and drying calendula flowers all summer and fall. I only harvested unblemished flower heads that had just begun flowering. I tried to always harvest early in the morning on a dry day. The flowers were then placed “face down” on a paper towel-lined paper plate and left to dry for two to three weeks in a darkened room, away from direct sunlight, until they were crumbly. I dried and stored them in a dark corner in my bedroom, the coolest room in the house.

*Drying setup in mid August (the window blinds are normally drawn, I just pulled them up for the picture)*

I harvested two plates worth once or twice a week and collected the flowers in a large mason jar once they were fully dried.