New Place, New Witch's Garden

 Well, a lot has happened since the last time I posted. Unfortunately, last month I received notice that I had 30 days to move out of my beloved Victorian home where I rented rooms. Apparently the owner decided to renovate and did not want anyone living there during that time. To say I was unhappy is an understatement. Though the house needed (a lot of) work, it was in a great location and had a big, wrap-around porch that I loved during the summer months. I also had a lot of space and a more or less private kitchen.

A local Craft friend was moving, too, into a duplex and she had an extra room that she very kindly let me rent. I don't have anywhere near the space I did, but it's a place to stay and there are some interesting trees around me. Now, before I knew I had to move, I had put in a huge raised bed and a lot of pots of things. Unfortunately I was not able to reuse my raised bed (there just isn't room here) but I scooped out all of the good soil, put it into pots, and planted a ton of seeds and such. I also bought an Elder tree and planted it in a large pot, and yesterday I purchased another one, too.

My Elder tree when I bought it. It's WAY bigger now

On the front porch, in my container garden, I now have two Elder trees, several pots of Henbane, some Wormwood, Meadowsweet, Calendula, Marigold, Mullein, pumpkins, and Lavender. When the seeds come in this week I will be adding Vervain, Belladonna, Mugwort, Aconite, and others. We don't get a lot of sun on the porch, so I've had to put some things on plant stands and move some things around to ensure they get the proper amount of sunlight. My next project is to purchase some herb drying racks so I can harvest things over the growing season and dry them out for use in the next year. Obviously, many of the herbs I listed are toxic and can be dangerous, so I always adhere to safe handling instructions when working with them.

I'll post updates as more things come in bloom. One of the great things about living in the Pacific Northwest is that I can grow almost all of the traditional English witch plants. I won't get Elderberries this year, but hopefully by next year I'll have my first crop. So exciting!

My two Elders, my pumpkins, and various seedlings

Plant stands holding various seedlings. The half empty big pot is going to hold my Elder tree when I repot it.