That’s wonderful! I have long wanted to get my master gardener’s certification and looked into it in every county I’ve lived in. I know it is a ton of work. Congrats!
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Serious question: What do you do when birds poop on your plant? I don’t mean just the foliage, but the parts that you might want to eat too. I have a lot of birds in my yard and I’ve been lucky that whatever I grow hasn’t really been badly pooped on. The occasional big leaves get hit, but for those plants it’s usually the fruit or veggie I’m after and I haven’t noticed bird poop hitting them. Maybe I’m lucky and the rains clean them up well before I see them! But I noticed that when I grow cilantro and parsley, I get a lot of birds who seem to let it fly right over those plants. What the heck - it’s like they’re aiming! I understand that the supermarket cilantro may be all pooped over too and been washed clean, but there is something to not knowing that gives you peace of mind.
Do you just hose those plants off? Do you use bird deterrents? Do you try to protect those plants in some way?
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First, I hose it off outside and let the sun hopefully sterilize it. After harvest the produce gets washed with a bit of dish detergent in the water , thoroughly agitated or scrubbed; then carefully rinsed off .
If you can minimize perches, it may help.
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New to me, sculpit. An Italian herb. Waiting for it to get to get a bit bigger🙂 before trying it.
Here’s a link for more info. I hope I see the flowers, they look interesting.
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Thanks, @bogman. I always rinse and wash my veggies, but never though of diluting a bit of detergent. I’ll give that a try.
I don’t have any perches above the cilantro and parsley, but they are closer to my house. My neighborhood generally has a lot of houses close together, and there are quite a few trees on the streets and in yards (I have a lovely cherry tree myself), but none directly overhang my garden areas. Strangely, I have a raised bed right by the fence and they don’t porch over that and poop, like they do all over the other spots of my fence. 
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The most beautiful day of this year yet in my corner of the PNW. I used the opportunity to take a few photos to share. This is my favorite time of the year in the garden. The energy is quite rajasic – I feel like I grow an inch every time I pass by the peas.
Below is our corn. We built a modular cold-frame for it. Both the lids and front come fully off, if/when needed. We start the corn in a greenhouse in pots, and then transplant into the cold-frame, which typically stays fully closed until the weather gets nice. Currently it is open during the day, and closed at night. By the time the corn starts to hit the lid, it will be time to remove the lid all together. The cold-frame also acts as a wind-break; it can get quite windy on our property. We’ve had good results with this method and the variety we’re using now, but it took us a long time to get here.
The following is one of two cinderblock beds we built. We use the beds for all kinds of things, but on a more permenant basis grow strawberries in the cinderblocks themselves. The berry plants love the heat retained by the concrete blocks. We have strawberries growing elsewhere in raised beds - both wood and metal - and none do as well as those in the cinderblocks. These are June-bearing strawberries, and the different response we get from the different beds helps us extend our season. The peas you see were planted last fall and wintered over, giving us an early start. We’ll start picking these in a matter of days. We planted peas elsewhere in the garden in early spring this year, and they are nowhere near setting.
Below is one of two walk-in berry cages we built, primarly for growing blueberries. We keep loading it up with other stuff, in addition. Here there are also cabbages, carrots, lettuce, spinach, scallions, tomatoes (under accelerators), and beds and pots we’re prepping for summer squash and peppers (both sweet and hot). Behind this cage, on the north side, we built on addition for growing peas up the back of the wire fencing.
On the east side of the property is a lot we acquired just a few years ago. We are attempting to cultivate an orchard there. It’s very boggy ground. So far, cherry trees and apple trees seem to be doing the best. We’re also trying pears and apricots, which are not doing as well, perhaps because they are in some of the wetter spots. It’s a work in progress and we’ll take what we can get. We have little to no experience with fruit, and I can say getting good results requires a lot more thought and is more labor intensive than growing veggies. I hope we achieve something!
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I’ve tried it fresh, but really don’t know how it’s used. The leaves were pretty mild raw. There are wild plants growing here, which I did not introduce. They’re also called “Bladder Campion”, as wildflowers.
Please let us know how you prepare it and like/dislike it! Cool that you’re trying it out!
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For real, it is just glorious here today. Hello from Tacoma!
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That is amazing!
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Wow! What a beautiful set up!
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First jar of pesto for the year. For those of you in warmer climes, fresh basil pesto is probably no big deal, but here in the PNW, fresh basil pesto in May is a treat!
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The greens I planted April 25th are coming up. The white flower is my new clematis, in the corner of my veg garden.
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I 
your green amphian friend.
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Nice! Beautiful clematis. I used to try to grow them. So re-inforcing when it worked, but the cool roots and need for water tended to be a deal breaker. They are beautiful and intriguing.
What’s happening with what appear to be garlic leaves? Are they woven?
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Yum! Basil has a much better flavor when the plants are young. Even if you prune off the flower buds; the flavor still changes as it ages. Since it’s less hot there, I wonder if the flavor transition is slower.
Since pine nuts have become a sketchy commodity, with a lot of counterfeit “Italian” pine nuts coming from species which have not been proven safe or cause pine mouth, I’ve substituted other nuts. What do you use?
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Clematis do like very cold winters and a cool spring. Passion Fruit should do great there. For flowers and fruit, they’re hard to beat. There are several self-pollinating varieties. Passiflora edulis won’t take frost, but it also doesn’t send runners 30 feet from where it started, like the P. incarnata here!
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Yes, both the flavor and the texture of the basil plants change as they age. I plant continously most of the season, at 3-4 week intervals, to insure a good supply of young and tender basil.
For pine nuts, I pretty much buy off the shelf: nuts.com is currently my preferred source.
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Impressive!
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I braided them to keep them down. LOL.
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