The Garden in May

This year our mulberry tree was loaded with berries, and we have been entertained for over a month by the many creatures that have enjoyed its fruits: possums (including a tiny baby possum I saw eating fruit from the ground late one night), raccoons, squirrels, a box turtle, flocks of cedar waxwings, mockingbirds, cardinals, gray catbirds, brown thrashers, red-bellied woodpeckers, Eastern towhees, chickadees, tufted titmice, and a red-headed woodpecker. Here at the end of May, only a few berries remain, picked over by the brown thrashers and the mockingbirds, the cedar waxwings having migrated to their summer breeding grounds by now.

The bird sighting that most excited me this year was that of a wood thrush in the empty lot east of our property. I often hear wood thrushes singing in the wooded areas near our house and along the Tammany Trace, especially in the mornings and early evenings. Their song is very beautiful to me, ethereal, like a song coming from some magically-hidden forest glen. The birds' reclusiveness adds to that magic, as the brown backs and spotted breasts of the birds offer very successful camouflage in the leaf matter where they scrabble for food. Tom the federal worker heard one singing near our backyard and called for me to get the binoculars. And so I finally got a good look at a wood thrush.

 As the mulberries are dropping, our garden fruit is beginning to set. Tom planted four rows of heirloom tomato plants. These plants tend to drop their flowers early on before finally setting fruit, and I was worried that bumblebees wouldn't show up to do the pollinating. However, most of the plants now have small green tomatoes, and I saw tiny bumblebees working the flowers this week. To entice pollinators to our yard, I leave a corner of the yard unmowed, where white clover, daisy flea-bane, and blue spiderwort grow abundantly. Bees and hoverflies showed up there early in the season. I also planted mountain mint near our garden shed, and that patch of mint is spreading. Its unassuming flowers attract a variety of pollinators.

heirloom tomato plants in our vegetable garden, mid-May

heirloom tomatoes growing in our vegetable garden, end of May

figs beginning to grow on one of our fig trees

 Tom also planted several kinds of peppers and cucurbits (squash, cucumbers, gourds, cantaloupe), but some of those plants have contracted some kind of wilting disease, which I hope won't spread beyond the two or three plants that have succumbed. He recently harvested our garlic, the biggest pods we have grown yet. The onions, however, were underwhelming.

garlic from our garden

I worked hard in the cooler spring months, weeding flower beds, adding plants to beds, planting seeds, creating new flower beds, edging and sprucing up the beds. My red and blue-black salvia are blooming, as is the blue borage I planted for the first time this year, mainly to attract bees. The salvia attracts both bees and hummingbirds. We have had salads ornamented with nasturtium flowers and seasoned with parsley and arugula from my herb beds. The Mexican mint marigold makes a fine addition to salad dressing, and I'm planning on trying out a new liqueur recipe in which the leaves are soaked in brandy. I tried out a scone recipe in which I included the chopped leaves of some of my chocolate mint--very good.

red salvia, back; blue-black salvia, foreground

mint, south side of house

Mexican mint marigold, middle foreground (yellow flowers in late summer/fall), lemon balm beyond, banana trees, rosemary, blue borage (lower right-hand corner)--mid-May

blue borage and garlic, front; zinnias, dill in the back (mid-May)

back yard

The Louisiana legislature has been a great disappointment this year, with its emphasis on criminalizing more behavior and adding more punishment for non-violent drug offenders, with its aggressive attacks on Planned Parenthood, women's rights, and the poor--but my garden continues to offer respite from the idiocy of what passes for state governance these days.

RECIPE FOR HERBAL CITRUS SCONES

(from the 1992 Aug/Sept Herb Companion)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup butter, slightly softened
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup milk or light cream
2 tablespoons herbs (lemon balm, basil, mint, or sage) minced
grated zest of 1 orange
grated zest of 1 lemon or lime

Preheat oven to 425^oF. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until the dough resembles coarse meal. Stir in the eggs, then fold in the milk, herbs, and citrus zest.

With a melon baller or large spoon, drop the dough onto the baking sheet. Press the blobs lightly with the palm of your hand to smooth and slightly flatten, and leave about 2 inches between them. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the crusts are light brown. Serve hot or at room temperature, with a hot beverage or milk.