E is for Echinacea and Edamame and Everything Starts With Soil
Season 7, Episode 19, April 9, 2025
As spring processes on, our episodes seem to be getting longer. It must be because there’s so much to do in spring. On this week’s episode, we chatted about flowers and veggies starting with "E", plus a new book on soil.
We also lamented the weather. I’m happy to report that the Oklahoma April snowstorm was much ado about nothing. I never saw even a flake, and the dreaded freeze was minor. So, that’s good news.
Carol was very excited about the Groot-Pow garden weeder she’s trialing. I worked steadily in the garden in between weather events. I mentioned my new Essex peony cages and my Hori-hori knife. I like both. I also bought and planted a Zigzag Redbud from Monrovia. Here’s my Instagram reel showing planting and our wind. For other stuff, you’ll need to listen to this week’s episode.
For our flower topic, we discussed echinaceas, elephant ears and epimediums. Here are links to the All-America echinacea selections and All-America Royal Hawaiian elephant ear, one of my favorites.
Our vegetables were eggplants and edamame. I’ve never grown edamame, but Carol has. I’ve grown a bunch of eggplant including most of these from All-America selections. Here’s a blog post with my Thai-Basil eggplant recipe. Pay no attention to the title and scroll on down. We didn’t give our posts straightforward names back then because we were unfamiliar with SEO.
On our bookshelf this week was Start with Soil: Simple Steps for a Thriving Garden, by Juliet Sargent (Amazon Link.) We thought it was well-written and helpful.
For our dirt, Carol looked into Does Birdsong Help Plants Grow? You’ll have to listen or visit the link to get the answer.
Rabbit Holes:
I’m still firmly in my French potager rabbit hole. It’s quite pleasant so I may stay a while. Teresa’s Oak Grove Garden Instagram reel seems very French to me too.
Carol found this bizarre rabbit hole about Koreshan State Park in Florida and Hedwig Michel. There’s more information on YouTube. Also, Carol’s latest Lost Lady of Garden Writing is Algine Neely.
Here’s the registraton for Herb Society of America's program presented by Carol on Lost Ladies of Herbal and Garden Writing, which will be held April 22. It should be enlightening.
If you’d like to register for the National Garden Bureau's Book Authors Talk Gardening on April 10, just click on register above.
Here’s the quote we promised to put in the newsletter:
“The world needs the home. If there are only workers and no homes, then man will become nothing more than a piece of machinery; children will certainly be trampled. Beauty will be drained out of life.” - Leila Marie Lawler
That’s all for this week! Enjoy our chatter.
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