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| Apple mint |
Gosh the heat is building again! I slept in a little this morning so by the time I woke up (which takes awhile), enjoyed my second cup of coffee, and made it outside for morning lawn and garden work... it was already well into the 80s.
With 90+ temperatures this week and even hotter weather projected next week (perhaps reaching 100 degrees), it is important to keep the garden watered and weeded... not to mention coaxing tomato plants upward instead of outward in their growth (while they can be controlled).
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| It's hard to believe this lemon balm started with one tiny plant last year |
Hubby has been asking for lemon balm tea in the evenings so I finally remembered to take my old Longaberger market basket (a lovely thrifted find a few years ago... cheap because it was really used in someone's garden) and my kitchen scissors to cut some lemon balm by the water spout and then apple mint in the garden.
Both were left for a good cold water soak in the kitchen sink when I came back inside. They are now drying in a towel with the lemon balm to be used right away and the apple mint to be hung up to dry.
I know homemade chicken soup is unusual in hot weather but that's what I made for dinner last night. I had baked a chicken over the weekend and wanted to turn it into soup and to be honest... the air conditioning is going so it wasn't like last year when we were melting just sitting in a chair (when the furnace/AC fan was broken).
I'm spending time this afternoon thinking and reading and making lists. Although Christopher has lived in an apartment near campus this past school year, he was still here a lot and I met him on campus quite often. So the true empty nest is just starting.
It's is not at all a bad thing, just ummm... different. Thus, there is a definite need to add or bring back some interests. I think it is time to make some of that lemon balm tea and ponder.
8 comments:
I enjoyed your post, and the empty nest comment jumped out at me. My heart goes out to you --- as mine has been dealing with the same thing the past little while. On another note, your lemon balm and mints are thriving! I think I'll go pick some of mine and make myself a cup of herbal tea as well! Enjoy a lovely day! Thanks for your posts on my blog. I am behind in responding to blog comments, but I appreciate you!
I wonder if you could make iced tea with the lemon balm in this heat.
Your plants look great.
What do you do to train your tomatoes up and not out?
Empty nesting...that video of the robin returning to her nest when the last one has left...gets me every time. Hopefully, Christopher and his bride will make their home in your community. Children living too far away is a challenge.
Wow...the lemon balm really is vigorous!
It's terribly hot in Northern Colorado, too. Yesterday, it was 103 degrees. One wonders what July will be like.
You will have an empty nest, now, but you have been getting used to the idea for a while, so it won't be so bad, and you will enjoy your "Mom Cave".
nancyr
Ahhh Brenda;
Does the empty nest really last? Or will dear Christopher and his lovely bride be able to live permanently close to you?? As for myself, mine keep coming home, along with granddaughter and great grandson. Lovely usually, but very tiring sometimes. Some quiet moments sound really good to me right now. Love and hugs, Nana
I am thankful our A/C is working this year too! Summer has arrived with a bang! 93 today and 100 tomorrow!
I forsee lots of iced tea....
Deanna
Wow when I read the title "Tea and chicken soup" I thought you meant you had made soup from tea and chicken! I wonder what that would be like? We have lots of Chinese tea you could use maybe a smokey black tea would go well in a chicken soup? what do you reckon?
I love lemon balm tea! Actually, one of my favorite combinations for making iced herbal tea is lemon balm with apple mint, so it reminds me of home to see these two plants together in your post!
I've found that lemon balm often tends to grow very vigorously, and spread in gardens. But, unlike mint, which seems to expand out directly in runners, lemon balm sometimes comes up from seed, and will appear in another clump elsewhere in the garden. I love it, so it doesn't bother me, but my parents complaint about having to constantly pull it out.
When I've grown it though, I am able to drink up so much of it as tea that I usually can harvest it as fast as it grows. Apple mint, though, once it gets established, usually grows faster than I'm able to use it up!
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