I am so happy--I got everything planted that I wanted to get planted today. (I'm not going to have time for the next week or so.) Last spring, I was traveling and missed the early spring. This year, I'm really hoping to make a delicious salad for Easter.
Not only that, but I harvested a wheelbarrow full of beautiful compost that I really needed to spread on half of one of my beds. And there's still more compost to use.
Today, I planted these seeds:
Radishes: How I love radishes. I went insane and planted a whole bunch of them. I put three varieties in: plain round red ones, a multi-colored mix, and a long white variety. I love all kinds. Radishes and dip are ever so much tastier than chips and dip. Radishes give a salad spice. They have to be harvested while they are relatively small and before the weather gets hot in order to taste good.
Parsnips: I've never grown these before, so I decided I would try them this year. I planted them in with my radishes. I was expecting parsnip seeds to look more like carrot seeds, so I was shocked to open the packet and discover how big and strange-looking they are. I'm supposed to harvest them after frost. I'm not sure how that will work out with such a long growing season here, but hopefully they will be tasty cooked in butter.
Carrots: I also planted these with radishes to mark where I planted. I put in a lovely rainbow mix. Carrots are fun, but I don't love them as much as radishes because they take longer, and I don't like the way they taste as much. But I think my kids will really enjoy harvesting them and eating them.
Dill: I planted a variety of dill that will grow extra tall. Dill is so important for attracting painted lady caterpillars. In fact, I mostly grow it for the beautiful caterpillars and butterflies, but we do use it some for cooking. It is also a tasty snack for my boys when they are out in the backyard.
Mache: Another experiment for me. Mache is a type of cool-season salad green. I'm worried that it was a little late in the season to plant it, but hopefully it will come up. I actually tried to plant it before but never found the seedlings. Either it didn't come up, or I thought it was a weed and pulled it. (Note to self: mache in approximately the center of far right garden bed).
Borage: This herb produces cucumber tasting leaves and flowers. I put it in the corners of the bed I will plant tomatoes in this year. Supposedly, borage is good for tomatoes somehow. I don't know if that's true, but I'm sure it attracts pollinators. It's fun for my kids to eat the flowers. And I love eating the flowers too.
Arugula: I already put in some arugula plants, but I sowed some seeds today too, as you can't really have too much arugula. I discovered the secret to making the plants last--just pick the leaves mercilessly. The sturdy, weedy plant does fine with just a few. But arugula inevitably will bolt, and then the leaves don't taste good, but the peppery flowers are delicious. Arugula is a funny plant, so expensive in stores but so easy to grow in cool weather. It is a million times better when picked fresh out of the garden, like all salad greens, but more so.
And my pea seeds were sown on Monday. I am so excited about snacking on what we call "pea candy" in late May and early June. (That makes my kids sound kind of deprived. I'm not one of those moms who doesn't let her kids eat real candies or sweets--they really do love the garden peas like candy though.)
To top off such a great gardening day, we're getting a gentle rain on the already moist soil tonight. With sandy soil and raised beds, I never have to worry about getting too much water. I love it when my planting works out to be in sync with the weather.
Grow, tasty little plants, grow.
Showing posts with label herbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label herbs. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Harvesting Herbs
I harvested a cup each of parsley, basil, and cilantro, and blended it up with oils, salt and pepper, and dried herbs to make a delicious herb rub.. I use the recipe from George Stella's book Eating Stella Style. I doubled the recipe and divided it into 4 small plastic containers, labeled them, and put them in the freezer.
The herb rub is delicious, especially on chicken. I like to put chicken thighs in the slow cooker, spread the herb rub on top, cook on high for about 4 hours. I'll put the rest of the rub on some peppers and onions and broil them for a few minutes right before serving. Add a little whole wheat cous cous, some yogurt, hummus, and/or chutney, and it becomes a delicious and very easy meal that even my picky children enjoy.
I change the herb rub up, depending on what I have available. The original recipe calls for parsley, cilantro, and basil, which is a delicious combination. However, when I don't have those herbs available, I have successfully substituted arugula, spinach, oregano, sage, rosemary, and thyme, in various amounts. It always turns out well.
It's hard to remember to harvest herbs in time and to remember to make successive plantings all spring. I went out tonight, and noticed that the 2 cilantro plants that I had bought at the garden center were just about to bolt! I was not happy. I picked a lot of leaves from those plants. I do still have 3 or 4 cilantro plants that I grew from seed to pick from. They are pretty far from harvest. Unfortunately, when the days start to get hot, cilantro bolts quickly.
Basil does much better in the heat, but it needs to be picked aggressively, or it, too, will flower before I've got a chance to get a good use out of it. I need to plant another row or so of it. Tonight, I also planted a new variety of basil that I bought at the garden center, a variety called "basil boxwood" that looks like it will keep from bolting for a while.
I have tons of parsely this year. For some reason, I don't ever seem to be able to grow it well from seed, so I have given up and buy it at the garden center. It's a lot cheaper than buying it at the grocery store, and it's easy to grow once it's stuck in the ground! In my compost-rich raised beds, I don't bother adding additional fertilizer when I plant herbs.
Hopefully, this weekend I can make up and freeze some pesto. I think I'll try and alternate once a week between making pesto and herb rub and try and make a chimi churri as often as I can!
The herb rub is delicious, especially on chicken. I like to put chicken thighs in the slow cooker, spread the herb rub on top, cook on high for about 4 hours. I'll put the rest of the rub on some peppers and onions and broil them for a few minutes right before serving. Add a little whole wheat cous cous, some yogurt, hummus, and/or chutney, and it becomes a delicious and very easy meal that even my picky children enjoy.
I change the herb rub up, depending on what I have available. The original recipe calls for parsley, cilantro, and basil, which is a delicious combination. However, when I don't have those herbs available, I have successfully substituted arugula, spinach, oregano, sage, rosemary, and thyme, in various amounts. It always turns out well.
It's hard to remember to harvest herbs in time and to remember to make successive plantings all spring. I went out tonight, and noticed that the 2 cilantro plants that I had bought at the garden center were just about to bolt! I was not happy. I picked a lot of leaves from those plants. I do still have 3 or 4 cilantro plants that I grew from seed to pick from. They are pretty far from harvest. Unfortunately, when the days start to get hot, cilantro bolts quickly.
Basil does much better in the heat, but it needs to be picked aggressively, or it, too, will flower before I've got a chance to get a good use out of it. I need to plant another row or so of it. Tonight, I also planted a new variety of basil that I bought at the garden center, a variety called "basil boxwood" that looks like it will keep from bolting for a while.
I have tons of parsely this year. For some reason, I don't ever seem to be able to grow it well from seed, so I have given up and buy it at the garden center. It's a lot cheaper than buying it at the grocery store, and it's easy to grow once it's stuck in the ground! In my compost-rich raised beds, I don't bother adding additional fertilizer when I plant herbs.
Hopefully, this weekend I can make up and freeze some pesto. I think I'll try and alternate once a week between making pesto and herb rub and try and make a chimi churri as often as I can!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Weekend Projects
Today, I went and bought landscape fabric to cover my little coneflower bed. I plan to rake off the mulch and paper, fertilize and add soil, put down the fabric, cut slits and plant my little seedlings (20). Then, I plan to put paper over the patch right next to the sidewalk where the grass grows extremely vigorously (will already have landscape fabric on it) and put a rubber mulch strip down on top of that. I am hoping that this will be a very, very low maintenance bed!
A couple of pink tulips are blooming. I'm not real happy with the tulips. They seem to be a mix that blooms at all different times, so I won't get a big mass bloom. I may cut off the leaves after they bloom and start with a new mix next year.
I think I'm going to go ahead and plant the peppers out tomorrow.
I've got to put one shasta daisy and one banana pepper seedling in peat pots.
I really want to plant some flowers. I have some ideas for a row of flowers around the edges of my vegetable garden space. I don't know how much I'll be able to get to until next weekend.
The shasta daisies got really unhappy in my seed starters, and I had to move them all to peat pots in a potting mix. The coneflower is still in my seed starter, looking very happy and healthy. I hope it remains so out in its new home.
I bought a new plant friend today, a greek oregano plant, at Lowe's. I originally tried to grow oregano from seed with little success. And then I read that its best to buy a young plant because you can't reliably grow a really tasty oregano from seed--each plant will taste a little differently. Also, I had plain oregano seeds, and Greek oregano is supposed to be the best for cooking. All according to Ed Smith of the The Vegetable Gardener's Bible
, anyway.
I'll have to get a new clay pot for it. My perinneal herb collection now includes:
A couple of pink tulips are blooming. I'm not real happy with the tulips. They seem to be a mix that blooms at all different times, so I won't get a big mass bloom. I may cut off the leaves after they bloom and start with a new mix next year.
I think I'm going to go ahead and plant the peppers out tomorrow.
I've got to put one shasta daisy and one banana pepper seedling in peat pots.
I really want to plant some flowers. I have some ideas for a row of flowers around the edges of my vegetable garden space. I don't know how much I'll be able to get to until next weekend.
The shasta daisies got really unhappy in my seed starters, and I had to move them all to peat pots in a potting mix. The coneflower is still in my seed starter, looking very happy and healthy. I hope it remains so out in its new home.
I bought a new plant friend today, a greek oregano plant, at Lowe's. I originally tried to grow oregano from seed with little success. And then I read that its best to buy a young plant because you can't reliably grow a really tasty oregano from seed--each plant will taste a little differently. Also, I had plain oregano seeds, and Greek oregano is supposed to be the best for cooking. All according to Ed Smith of the The Vegetable Gardener's Bible
, anyway.I'll have to get a new clay pot for it. My perinneal herb collection now includes:
- peppermint
- spearamint
- sage
- garlic chives
- chives
- St. Johns Wort
- oregano
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