Mints, Part 1

Most perennial mints aren’t perennial in Alaska. There is an Alaskan variety which is perennial (and it is, typically for the genus, wildly invasive) and the ginger mints (Mentha x gracilis, a hybrid of arvensis and spicata) occasionally survive our winters. Both of these flower in the axils, rather than at the terminus.The rest are annuals in our climate, though they can be transplanted to the garden far earlier than most plants, and continue growing until buried in snow.

I generally buy plants of named varieties and plant them in a raised bed where they have only each other to compete with. Here are a few of my favorites:

Corsican Mint (Mentha requinii.) It looks like baby’s tears, but has a very strong mint odor.

Strawberry Mint. I suspect this is a hybrid, and relatively new. It really has a strawberry overtone to its scent.

Variegated Ginger Mint (Mentha x gracilis.)

 

Variegated Pineapple Mint (Mentha suaveolens.) It really does have a pineapple scent.

Orange Mint (Mentha citrata.) More flowery than orange, to my mind.

North Pole Weather 6/2/14

The sun will rise this morning at 3:32, and set tomorrow morning at 12:11. Yes, we’ve crossed the line where the sun doesn’t set until after midnight. It’s now over 47° above the horizon at noon, but we’re only gaining about 6 minutes a day. Temperatures are now fairly reliably above freezing here, though mixed snow and rain is being forecast for the higher elevations.

It’s a little cooler in the daytime (upper 50’s) but that’s because it’s somewhat cloudy. We’ve even had a little rain, but the fire danger is still high. We might have some scattered to isolated showers, but I don’t expect much rain. I watered some this weekend, and will have to water more next week. I do hope to get the rest of the transplants in the ground Tuesday.

Most of the perennials are up, and a few are even blooming. The white violets and the strawberries have been blooming for some time, and I think the dwarf columbines will be fully open by midweek.  I think a couple of the annual strawberries have even ripened, but the birds got them. I put floating row cover over them today, in hopes I could get some. Definitely spring, and I just wish I felt more energetic. Thank goodness the radiation therapy will be over in about a week!

DIY Blogathon

Well, I did it again.

The 2014 Blogathon is a good deal more a DIY project than in previous years, but I’ve once again signed up to do a blog a day for the month of June. Since I have regular features on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, this just means I’ll be posting—mostly garden pictures—Tuesday and Thursday as well. Since there is no “official” badge this year, I might make one up myself. Am I totally insane?

North Pole Weather 5-26-14

The sun will rise at 3:50 this morning, and set 19 hours 57 minutes later at 11:48 this evening. By next week, it’ll be setting after midnight. The rate of gain of daylight is slowing down by a few seconds a day, now.

It’s also warmed up at night, although cooling down in the daytime, as the air flow has shifted to the southwest, bringing moisture to the interior of Alaska. Not much precipitation yet, though we’ve had a few sprinkles and enough clouds to warm things up at night and cool them down during the daytime. With luck, it will stay above freezing now. With even more luck, the fire danger will ease off.

I’m crossing my fingers on the squash and basil, but we planted most of the garden Saturday. I still have the plastic up on the hoops, but I hope I won’t have to use it on anything but the squash. I’ve planted two of the raised beds with mints and herbs, surrounding them with flowers, and tried something new this year with strawberries. If it works, it should keep the berries cleaner and much easier to pick, but I won’t know for sure for a few weeks yet.

North Pole Weather 5/19/14

The sun will rise this morning at 4:14 am, and set 19 hours 10 minutes later at 11:24 this evening. It’s now reached above 45° elevation at solar noon, and it never gets darker than civil twilight.

Mints. I pulled the plastic sides down last night.

Unfortunately the lovely warm weather of the past couple of weeks is fading, even as the trees continue to green up (and shed pollen.) We are once again skimming freezing at night. I now have almost more flats of plants hardening than I have room to bring them in at night, but even with floating row cover I hesitate to leave them out overnight. It would probably be all right if the clouds stayed in place, but with this much cold air aloft even a brief clear spell at night will bring a touch of frost. Only the mints are actually planted, and they will take some frost. (I have the mint bed under plastic, too.) But the other herbs and the flowers still have to be brought into the heated garage when frost threatens.

At least this year the radiation and Herceptin aren’t bothering my energy level much.

North Pole Weather 5/12/14

Today the sun will rise at 4:48 am, and it will set 18 hours 21 minutes later at 10:59 this evening. It was warm enough last night that I left the hardening plants out, and I’ll probably get the mints planted this week. Civil twilight doesn’t start until after midnight, and lasts less than 3 hours.

The birch trees are green but unfortunately they are also shedding pollen at a great rate. Birch pollen is high and total tree pollen (including alder, willow and poplar) is very high. I just hope I don’t sneeze during my radiation therapy tomorrow. Certainly I started dripping and sneezing Saturday, and I’m pretty sure it is allergy rather than a cold. Fire danger is still high, though having the trees leafed out should help.

North Pole Weather 5/5/14

The sun will rise today at 5:03, and set 17 hours 32 minutes later at 10:28 this evening. Solar elevation at noon is over 40°, and civil twilight will last almost until midnight. As far as daylight is concerned, we’re rapidly approaching summer.

Temperature, too, though I’m not actually putting anything in the ground yet. But I’m leaving the mints, which have been hardening for a week, outdoors at night now that it’s supposed to stay above freezing, and added the thyme, lavender and rosemary to the hardening table.

The birch leaves are swelling fast: greenup time! The two photos were taken about 24 hours apart, Saturday and Sunday afternoon, so you can see how fast the leaves are enlarging. And we’ve broken 70°F.

Of course I don’t trust it to stay that warm, but right now I’ve broken out my shorts and don’t need a sweatshirt to work outdoors. I’ve started watering, too. Right now the fire danger is extreme, though we do have a sprinkle of rain today. Not enough, though.

As of Monday at 8:30, the Sunday YouTube of the weather report had not been posted. If it shows up later today, I’ll add it. It looks a little cooler next week, but still very springlike.

North Pole Weather, 10/7/13

The sun will rise at 8:20 this morning and set 10 hours, 36 minutes later at 6:56 in the evening. Noon elevation no longer reaches 20°. It’s still generally above freezing in the daytime, sometimes as warm as 50°F, but it freezes most nights now. Once the winter snow cover is established, which at this time of year will probably be whenever we have three to four inches of snow on the ground, the temperature will stay below freezing around the clock.

I’m not sure what happened to the maple this year, but it certainly did not turn red.

The leaves have mostly turned color but a lot of them are still hanging on the trees. They look very dry, though, and I suspect most of them will be down at the first good wind. Enough have fallen to pile on the mints and perennials for insulation, and I hope those plants make it over the winter. I hope also that I’ll be able to get out earlier next spring than I did this year, and that my balance has recovered enough that I can work outdoors. This year I’ve had to hire people to do most of the work.

The second monitor I use for the internet died last week, and I just bought a new one Saturday. I just hope it fits on my desk, as it’s a good deal larger than the old one. Funny how electronics are one thing that seems so stay fairly constant in price while having all kind of larger sizes and new features.

North Pole Weather 9/30/13

The sun rose this morning at 7:59, and will set after 11 hours 22 minutes at 7:21 this evening. The days are getting shorter by about 6 minutes 38 seconds a day, and the maximum solar altitude is down to 22.1°.

At least it’s warmed up enough to melt last week’s snow, though chances of snow at night (and rain in the daytime) still continue. The trees are almost all yellow to russet now, and the leaves are beginning to carpet the lawn. It’s time to get the moose fence up around the Amur maple, and the leaves piled over the perennials. This year I’m going to try the leaf piling over the mints, though I’m not very optimistic. The named mint varieties aside from ginger mint have not proven very hardy up here, though they are bouncing back from the frosts we’ve had so far.

The potted plants I’ve brought into the plant room are doing fine so far, and they do include rosemary, pineapple and orange mints, and pineapple sage as well as heliotrope and some scented geraniums. I hope the full-spectrum fluorescents keep them going through the dark days of winter.

North Pole Weather 9/16/13

The sun rose this morning at 7:17 , and will set almost 12 hrs 55 minutes later, at 8:12 this evening.  We’re still losing 6 minutes 38 seconds a day, and the equinox is less than a week away. Trees and plants in general are starting to respond to these shorter days, and some of the birches are now all yellow, though the leaves have only started to fall.

Plants respond to day length as well as temperature, and with clear skies the last couple of nights frosts have finally arrived. I’m not up to fall cleanup this year; I’m still too much off balance. So I hired help to cut the perennials short this year, as well as bringing in the potted plants, pulling the squash plants, draining and storing the hoses, and a few other things that were needed before it got any colder.

Aside from the lingering balance problems I’m doing well. Chemo is over (I hope) and I’m back to the stationary bicycle just about any time I watch TV or DVD’s. I can now manage a couple of hours a day. My hair is still showing no sign of growing back, and while the wig looks good if it is properly positioned, it keeps wanting to slide down my forehead. It’s going to be an interesting reunion in Tulsa next month.

P. S. Monday morning: it’s now official that the first frost at the airport was early Sunday morning, and my thermometer read 28° F at 8 this morning. What’s more, snow is forecast for Tuesday night, though it isn’t expected to stick. Summer may not be over officially, but it certainly feels like fall here.