It’s been rather warm here over the last few days, and although we’ve had some rain, totals for the year remain quite low.  I was able to take advantage of recent rains, and scattered some seeds out in the various food forest plots – white and red clover, some carrots, and various herbs.  In other seeding news, I spent some time over the weekend starting some things in 4″ pots.  Mostly herbs – lovage, mint seeds collected from Lassen National Park, hyssop, sage, San Juan tobacco, and pimpinella, but also henbane and meadowsweet, potential ingredients for gruit, a mixture for bittering and flavoring beer that predates hopping.  I don’t brew beer myself, but I do have friends that do, and they’ve expressed interest in collaborating on some old-fashioned concoctions, such as this pilsenkraut recipe.

I also recently planted a 6-in-1 espaliered apple (I can’t quite remember the varieties), and a honeycrisp, both of which I plan to keep pruned very short, inspired by the low apple fences at the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, which every gardener and plant enthusiast should make a point of visiting!  I hope to spend the upcoming weekend in the garden – an early spring is making for lots of early prep work…