I like carrot soup. This looks pretty yummy to me: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/217913/vegan-carrot-curry-soup/ though I don’t think I’ve made this particular one.
@abasket - Wow! That was an amazing variety of hostas. I have a lot of shade - in addition to ferns and hostas I like bleeding hearts and Solomon’s Seal. I think my new garden plan includes a bunch of Lilyturf.
Lily of the valley does well in shade, and hydrangeas do also. You could look for more ferns too, especially evergreen ones. I had one called a ghost fern, that got to be about 3 feet tall and was quite striking.
If you’ve never tried Carrot Butter, you are missing out on one of life’s little luxuries!
5-6 large chopped carrots, pan roasted
3/4 cup macadamia nuts or raw/salted cashews
3 Tbsp olive oil (reserve 1tbsp for nut puree)
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
fine grain sea salt to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Toss the carrots in olive oil, lightly salt and pan roast, adding drops of olive oil as needed. Let cool.
Meanwhile, puree macadamia nuts and reserved oil in a food processor until a butter is formed - a nice smooth mixture with no large chunks but maybe a few little ones.
Once the carrots are cooled, add in the food processor with the macadamia nut butter. Add maple syrup and vanilla and puree until a smooth.
Spread on toast or crackers with your favorite toppings i.e. avocado, tomatoes, mozzarella, burratta etc - for a taste of Thanksgiving, a few chopped candied pecans sprinkled on top! Also great as dip! Yum!!!
I have two hydrangeas that get mostly shade and have not bloomed in the past 5 years I’ve had them (had blooms the first year when I bought them with blooms on it!) I’m going to try and move them this year. I think too much shade = poor blooming!
Wow, @abasket, I love all the color variety in those hostas - I would have to be on a hunt for more varieties than they usually sell at the place where I buy the annuals. Is there anything that would grow on some kind of trellis or something that would go up the garage wall behind the hostas without taking too much ground space?
There are some big varieties of ferns out there. My shade garden has a variety of ferns - certainly some sword ferns, but also maiden hair and Japanese painted ferns. I also have taller variety of hostas mixed with smaller ones, including a cute mini hosta in the top of a tall red ceramic pot.
You might consider a climbing hydrangea for the trellis. I have a nice big one. Pretty weird that they have the ability to attach to anything. Easy to keep in check but does a good job of attaching to a wall. Keep the trellis away from the siding.
I have 8 varieties of tomatoes under lights in the basement. Peppers are in pots on the heat mat. I had greens growing in the basement all winter in the basement but I put them out for the chickens this week. I’ve had baby chicks in the basement for a couple of weeks so we haven’t been eating the greens since then (because chicks are incredibly dusty creatures!)
Still have some kale in the garden.
I have a bunch of asparagus on the way, so I can expand my current asparagus bed. Also ordered a couple of huckleberry bushes for an area where we took down some trees last year. Other new item on the way is a vining kiwi, self fertile and not overly aggressive and supposedly grows grape sized fruit. I try to add two or so edible perennials each year. I’m squelching the urge to buy a dwarf cherry tree.
These seem to be better for at least partial shade - do you think the area gets some sunlight or no??
The garage wall not really - It is almost exactly facing due north, so only possibly very late in the day. H would kill me if I did something that would affect the siding so it can’t be too obnoxious, lol.
Plant Delights Nursery has a great shade plant list. Scroll down for all their specific shade lists and advice. Make sure to take note of what zone the plants grow in.
I just ordered 4 ferns and a trillium from them. Oh well!
New to the gardening thread but it is my part time job…
We had so many Meyer lemons on our tree last month, I ended up giving 10-15 lbs. away to friends. They survived our winter without any issues.
I woke up to snow on the ground this morning. 
I have several different kinds of hydrangeas and they all do really well in shade. But the deer do love them. One year I woke up to find every bloom gone.
In my shade gardens I have hosta, sedum, azaleas, rhodies, catmint, and the only ornamental grass that like shade. I adore it and have it as a border in three of my beds. https://wimastergardener.org/article/japanese-forest-grass-hakonechloa-macra/
Carrot Update!
Both kiddos (who are vegetarian/vegan) sent me some carrot recipes
carrot hummus
carrot pie (like sweet potato pie but using carrots instead)
garlic parmesan carrot fries (I have some of those in the oven right now)
Carrot soups–
creamy Thai carrot soup w/ basil ( looks good–I’ll probably try this too)
carrot soup with ginger & lemon
curried carrot soup
carrots dogs (vegan alternative to hot dogs)
And I found a high altitude recipe for an orange carrot bundt cake that I might try.
D1 was amused to hear I’m planting carrots in the garden this week, but she also surprised me. She also told me pulling carrots out the garden and eating them after scrubbing them off under the hose was one of her fond memories of childhood… (Which surprised me. I can only remember 1 year when we grew carrots when she was young–and the crop wasn’t especially good. Small carrots and a poor yield.)
Okay, if you want to talk carrot soup…
Pureed Carrot Soup
By Martha Rose Shulman (NYT)
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 pounds sweet carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt to taste
1⁄4 teaspoon sugar
2 quarts water, chicken stock, or vegetable stock
6 tablespoons rice, preferably Arborio
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, such as chervil, mint, chives, or parsley, for garnish
1 cup toasted croutons for garnish (optional)
YIELD Serves 6 TIME About 1 hour
PREPARATION:
Step 1
Heat the butter and olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot over medium- low heat and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots and 1/2 teaspoon salt, cover partially and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender and fragrant. Add the rice, water or stock, salt (about 1 1/2 teaspoons), and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes, or until the carrots are tender and the soup is fragrant.
Step 2
Blend the soup either with a hand blender, in batches in a blender (cover the top with a towel and hold it down to avoid hot splashes), or through a food mill fitted with the fine blade. The rice should no longer be recognizable (it thickens the soup). Return to the pot. Stir and taste. Adjust salt, add a generous amount of freshly ground pepper, and heat through. If the sweetness of the carrots needs a boost, add another pinch of sugar.
Step 3
Serve, garnishing each bowl with croutons and a sprinkle of herbs. ALSO ADD: 1 T of whole milk Greek yogurt to each serving.
Tip:
Variation: Substitute 1 medium Yukon gold potato or 1/2 russet potato (about 5 ounces), peeled and diced, for the rice. Advance preparation: The soup can be made hours before serving, or a day ahead, and reheated.
My wife uses potatoes instead of the rice. Have had it 2 nights in a row now and it was delicious! The yogurt is a must!
My first weeding session of the season!! Yay me. Got rid of a giant patch of weeds in the back of the garage. That’s where the blueberry bushes from Costco will go as soon as my digger comes back from his business trip. 
And it snowed here last night…!! Just a little and it will gone soon but COME ON!!!
Do have some crocuses blooming. Ahhhh…
It was 69 degrees yesterday and tonight it is supposed to freeze! Ugh! 
Agree! The weather has been bizarre lately. Just a couple of weeks ago we had been digging from under epic snow, and today we have 60+ degree weather and UW cherry quad in full bloom!!
I went of a little tour of the local nurseries and got sad. Our best of the best, Molbaks, had very disappointing selection of plants. The green stuff has been replaced by overpriced junk like gifts and clothes. I did but some tiny sword ferns to plant in our ravine because they were cheap, only $6 a pot. Went to another nursery and found a better selection but still not as good as in the past. Sigh. So many little nurseries closed… the land around here is so expensive nursery owners sell their parcels and move on. I guess we will be making a trek next weekend to visit Raintree!!! Mister misses his quince tree - that is pretty much the only thing he misses about House1.
It was 78 on Friday. Saturday, there were 40-50mph wind gusts. Today it snowed. The forecast says it’ll be back in the 60s by Tuesday. Whiplash weather. Or a typical spring in New Mexico.
I yielded to temptation and planted one tomato (Early Girl) and 2 ancho chiles last weekend. I almost skipped putting them walls o’ water/freeze protectors because setting them up is a messy process and it’s been in the 60s and 70s for the last 2 weeks.
Looks like my big project for the garden this year will be replacing the garden shed. It’s an old metal shed (`35 years old) and is literally falling apart. As in the metal panels are popping out and the whole shed is listing to one side.