12 Weeks of New: Week #3

Three weeks ago I wrote a post called 12 Weeks of New. I have completed my third week of learning or trying something new. In addition to running in new places (and you know what? Those 7.5 miles this morning weren't as difficult as they were last week, and especially five weeks ago. I am making progress...), and learning to cook a few Vietnamese dishes (just last night that Spouse o' Mine asked where the Vietnamese cuisine went...I think it was a success that will be revisited soon.), I have learned some horticultural doings this week, Week #3 in my departure from Rutsville.

Now that our pasture is horseless, I thought it might be fun to plant some lavender out there. Not over the whole area, although wowee - wouldn't that be beautiful? I ran my idea by that Spouse o' Mine, who has a PhD in Biosystems Engineering. He liked the idea, but suggested I start with a test plot. Good idea! (I am not great in the manual labor area, so maybe he is merely trying to placate me till I come up with another outstanding idea.)

Now, it would be very expensive to buy ~ 100 lavender plants next spring. I went online and studied several sites that discussed lavender propagation. They made it sound pretty simple. I called one of our local greenhouses, and spoke to a lady there who is in charge of their lavender propagation. She was very kind to explain her procedures and experience. Hmmm...30% success rate? No wonder the plants cost so much.

I purchased some rooting powder (a rooting hormone), snipped a bunch of lavender stems off our existing plants, dipped them in rooting powder, and now, we wait.


In addition to the lavender, I have decided to try to propagate some roses and some salvia. It would be nice to have fourteen rose bushes instead of seven, and a perennially, salvia-lined front walk would be a dandy addition to the place. I have more lavender to work with at the moment. I am not sure if this group will take root, and I know I am supposed to keep the soil temperature at 70º. That's a difficult one: I don't even keep the house at 70º, much less some test twigs' soil!

In other gardening news, I planted 150 iris and daffodil bulbs out in my cutting garden last night. I am eager to see what it looks like next spring. That is in addition to the 40-odd iris bulbs I already have planted out there ( and the 7 rose bushes), and the 80 or so tulip bulbs I have planted out on the front walk.

In pastoralist news (new word in my vocabulary today, thank you, Gillian: must insert it here.), two of our young Indian Runners have begun laying eggs. In a few weeks, we should be collecting a baker's dozen each morning. I can perfect my soufflé!