A Moment in Thyme

05/25/2026

05/24/2026

Had a great time putting together a few Summer Herbal Wellness Kits today. Thanks for coming out!

05/18/2026

Cleavers cold infusion

05/08/2026

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The trellis goes in before the plant. Not after. Driving stakes into soil once roots are established damages the root zone you spent weeks building.

But timing isn't the only thing that matters. Each climbing vegetable grips differently — tendrils, twining stems, or heavy fruit that can't grip at all. Wrong vine on wrong support means the plant either can't hold on or tears itself down mid-season.

Six vines matched to the support they need:

- Cucumbers — grip with thin curling tendrils. Need string or thin wire. Wooden lattice is too thick for tendrils to wrap. An A-frame string trellis lets fruit hang underneath and grow straight

- Pole beans — twine their entire stem around a support. Need vertical poles or string, not flat panels. Bamboo teepee or a string-and-stake setup

- Peas — grip with delicate tendrils. Need thin mesh, chicken wire, or netting. Heavy structures waste material — pea vines are light

- Tomatoes (indeterminate) — don't climb at all. They lean. Need a cage, stake, or woven twine system to hold them upright. No trellis teaches a tomato to climb — you're propping weight

- Small melons and squash — grip with tendrils but produce heavy fruit. Need a strong arch or cattle panel. Fruit over a pound or so needs a fabric sling or the weight pulls the vine down

- Passion fruit — tendrils that grip hard. Need a sturdy permanent structure — chain-link fence, heavy wire panel, or pergola. Will cover whatever you give it within a couple of seasons

One vine. One matched support. The rest handles itself 🌱

05/03/2026

Make lilac jelly this spring, when lilacs have their short bloom! This lovely flower jelly is low-sugar with a light floral taste.

05/03/2026

You cut your fall-bearing raspberry to the ground last March and had a full harvest by September. You did the same to your summer-bearing raspberry — and got nothing all year.

Same genus. Opposite pruning rules. The tag on the plant tells you which.

Summer-bearing raspberries (Latham, Boyne, Killarney) fruit on second-year canes called floricanes. Each cane grows one year, fruits the next summer, then dies. After harvest, the spent floricanes are done — remove them at ground level. But the new green canes growing alongside them are next year's crop. Cut those and you eliminate a full season of fruit before it forms. Leave them, tie them to the trellis, and protect them through winter.

Fall-bearing raspberries (Heritage, Caroline, Joan J) fruit on first-year canes called primocanes. They produce berries at the tips in late summer and fall of the same year the cane emerges. The simplest management is to mow the canes to the ground in late winter before new growth starts. Fresh primocanes emerge in spring and fruit again by August.

- Summer-bearing raspberry — remove only the brown, spent floricanes after harvest. Leave all new primocanes for next year. Trellis to two wires at 2 and 4 feet
- Fall-bearing raspberry — cut canes to the ground in late winter. Let new primocanes fruit in late summer and fall. No winter trellis needed
- Erect blackberry (Ouachita, Natchez) — tip primocanes at 3 to 4 feet in summer to force lateral branching. Remove spent floricanes after harvest
- Trailing blackberry (Marion, Boysen) — train primocanes along a low wire after harvest. Remove spent floricanes immediately. These need strong trellis support and winter protection in cold zones

The summer-bearing canes you mowed in March were carrying the berries you would have picked in July.

05/03/2026

You planted the seeds at the depth the bag suggested — and half of them never came up. The problem wasn't the seeds. It was the inch of soil sitting on top of them.

Some seeds need light to trigger germination. Bury lettuce a half inch deep and it sits in the dark indefinitely — the germination switch never flips. Other seeds rot if they're too shallow, exposed to air and temperature swings before they can anchor. The rule most seed packets skip: plant at two to three times the seed's own width. A carrot seed the size of a pinhead goes a quarter inch down. A bean the width of your fingernail goes a full inch. The seed itself is the ruler.

🌱 The short version:
- Surface to 1/8 inch — lettuce, celery, dill. These need light. Press them into moist soil and barely dust them over. Burying them deeper than a quarter inch can prevent germination entirely
- 1/4 to 1/2 inch — carrots, radishes, spinach, beets, turnips. Small seeds that need soil contact and moisture but not much cover
- 1/2 to 1 inch — cucumbers, squash, melons, peppers. Medium seeds that need consistent moisture and warmth around them to sprout
- 1 to 2 inches — beans, peas, corn. Large seeds that store enough energy to push through deeper soil and benefit from the stable temperature below the surface

The seed already knows how deep it belongs — measure it, multiply by three, and plant exactly there 🌿

05/03/2026

The tag says full sun. It doesn't say which sun. ☀️

Eight hours against a south-facing brick wall is not the same as eight hours in an east-facing bed that loses direct light by 2pm. Same count on paper. Completely different heat load. The herb that bolted wasn't in too little light — it was in too much of the wrong kind.

South-facing — full hot sun: rosemary, thyme, oregano, lavender, and sage. Mediterranean herbs increase essential oil production under heat stress. More sun, more heat, more flavor. These want the hot wall.

East-facing — morning sun, afternoon shade: basil, cilantro, and dill. Basil bolts weeks faster under sustained afternoon heat. An east-facing position extends the harvest by 3 to 4 weeks over full south exposure. Cilantro is more extreme — two weeks of hot afternoon sun and it goes to seed. Morning sun and dappled afternoon shade keeps it productive.

North-facing — 4 to 6 hours indirect: mint, parsley, and chives. The shaded side of the house, the spot behind the garage, the porch that gets morning light only. Mint actually produces more menthol under reduced afternoon sun. These three thrive where sun-lovers starve.

West-facing — afternoon blast, morning shade: the wrong side for most herbs. Harsh afternoon heat burns leaf edges on everything except the Mediterranean group, and even they prefer south over west. 🌿

Match the herb to the exposure you actually have. The rest follows. 🌱

05/03/2026

The same soil that's feeding your basil is rotting your rosemary.

Mediterranean herbs — rosemary, lavender, thyme, oregano, sage — evolved on rocky hillsides where roots dry within hours.

Rich, moist potting mix pushes fast foliage that dilutes their oils. Leaves that look healthy but taste like nothing.

Basil, cilantro, parsley, chives, and mint need the opposite. Fertile soil. Consistent moisture. Shallow roots built for wet ground.

One pot. Two mixes.

Mediterranean mix:
- Three parts coarse sand or perlite, one part potting soil, one part fine gravel
- No compost. No moisture crystals
- Terracotta pot — dries through the walls

Moisture mix:
- Two parts potting soil, one part compost, one part vermiculite
- Glazed or plastic pot — holds moisture steady

The herb that tastes the strongest grew in the soil that stressed it most.

12/21/2025

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