Another cream-of-veg-soup, I know. This time, however, featuring an edible native plant that is generally considered a weed to be destroyed – lamb’s quarter. It’s been growing everywhere in my new gardening beds, regardless of the drought. I’ve been using young leaves, and will use some of the stems shortly, along with some more mature leaves as the plants, um, … Read More
Potato Joy – and I’m not even eating them yet.
Pride and food are a combination I’ve been giving an awful lot of thought to. More on that later, but for a quicky tonight I’m posting a photo of my first significant crop of potato plants. I’ve had the odd one before crammed into a bed here or there, but this is my first year with about 40 hills of … Read More
My Explosion of Kleenex Needs Bees
Our Red Sparkle apple tree is a giant riot of white. It makes me happy, many times a day. From afar it looks like a kleenex box exploded all over it. If number of blossoms correlates to number of fruits, we’re in for a crazy yield this year again – last year was 100kg+. Now all we need is those … Read More
Cream of Green Soup
I’ve been flogging variations of this dish for a few months now – but today was the best it’s been. A recipe would be a bit ridiculous, really. Today it was asparagus, broccoli, and celery with a base of shallot and garlic. I normally dig the bright flavor from a shot of frozen peas. In a few weeks it will … Read More
Extreme Gardening
The scope of my ambitious gardening project that has been tackled head on in the past week is taking its toll on my body. No, really – it’s fantastic in theory and I have really nice drawings from a winter of planning. Really. But what I didn’t plan so much on is that moving trees, shoveling gravel and soil, digging … Read More
Seedling Tray 1
My February of revising seed catalogs seems to quickly have passed. And now, here we are, mid-March. Some of my online orders have been making appearances at my door. Time to seed stuff? Already? Wasn’t it -30 with 3 feet of snow two days ago? These little trays of jiffys are quick and easy, although I’m resolved to settle on … Read More
Asparagus, Bacon, Poached Eggs & Toast
Asparagus is in season. Somewhere in the world, at least – certainly not in my garden that’s under 2-3 feet of snow still. But it’s half the normal price and it’s fresh, starting in Feb around here. I happen to hold asparagus at the top of my favorite-veg-list, and although I’ve been tempted to hold out for local asparagus season, … Read More
My Edible Garden Taking Shape
Garden planning is at the bottom of the list of things I thought I’d ever get hardcore about. But it has consumed me. We bought a very average city lot in this area, which is 115 x 48 feet or so, and although I knew I’d have more room to garden, I didn’t realize how much. So I’ve been engulfed … Read More
Biggest blog break…ever?
Thanks for the prod, Des – and yes, everything’s good. Barring perhaps the January lull of food inspiration. But it’s February now, and that lack of inspiration is changing like the weather and the length of day. It’s time to get my seed catalog orders in. Which means it’s time to do some extensive garden planning – something I was … Read More
Chard, My Way
There’s a soft spot in my heart for chard. So under-rated. So under-appreciated. Among its many attributes: it’s healthy for you; it’s easy to grow from seed; it’s super-prolific – a few plants growing more than most people need; it’s hardy; you can harvest it from early spring to late fall. It’s an easy go-to green that makes you feel … Read More