TIMING IS EVERYTHING, THEY SAY, AND WITH GARLIC HARVEST that’s especially true. But since the crop is hidden underground, how do you know when this edible Allium is ready—when it’s just the right moment to insure a well-formed head that will also store well through the winter and beyond? Like fortune-telling, it’s all in reading the leaves, apparently. [read more…]
herbs
Which oregano is the real one? How to grow and preserve a year of parsley, basil and other green herbs. Garlic, from planting to harvest and curing to storage. All these and more herb gardening topics to browse through.
the tricky matter of when to harvest garlic
July 13, 2010 at 7:27 am
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vegetable-garden tuneup: make room for more
June 6, 2010 at 9:09 am
IT’S NOT JUST THE BEDS OF FADED SPRING PERENNIALS and gone-by flowering shrubs that need a tuneup around here (and maybe in your yard, too?). The vegetable garden is screaming for attention, as cool-season darlings—the spinach and broccoli raab and various other once-succulent things—stretch up in protest, saying “No more!” How to achieve a continuing harvest with some simple succession-sowing tactics, in words and a captioned slideshow: [read more…]
waste not, want not: dill and other volunteers
May 18, 2010 at 4:18 pm
WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH ALL YOUR ‘VOLUNTEERS,’ the self-sown plants that sprout from seedheads of last year’s adults? I have to confess I let most of them get big enough to be useful (like this dill, above, now uprooted and on my windowsill, about to spice up some dish or other), and here’s how: [read more…]
planting my year’s supply of parsley
May 12, 2010 at 11:57 am
IF YOU THINK OF PARSLEY AS A GARNISH, plant a seedling or two and be done with it. To me, parsley is a staple ingredient in salads and pestos, red sauces and soups, and egg creations like frittatas (and so much more). So I grow 365 days’ worth, and stash lots in the freezer–much better then dried, if you know how. Learn the tricks to growing, and storing, a year of parsley.
playing favorites: some ‘must’ vegetable seeds
January 14, 2010 at 10:25 am
IHAVE BEEN AT THIS GARDENING THING LONG ENOUGH to know what I like, I told my indecisive self the other day as I sat, overwhelmed, surrounded by far too many seed catalogs. I don’t have to try everything anymore—I’m allowed to play some favorites, right, and make some snap decisions? With kale and chard and mesclun mix and a few other key greens, at least, I need not browse or comparison-shop, because I like these: [read more…]
pineapple sage, heroic late bloomer
November 11, 2009 at 12:13 pm
ISMILE AND NOD WHEN GARDENERS FROM ELSEWHERE tout pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) as a hummingbird plant. “Elsewhere,” as in wherever the plant blooms before the hummingbirds have been long-gone for six weeks, meaning decidedly not here. Yes, after probably 10 frosts, my pineapple sage decided to bloom the last week or so, even with its foliage all frost-tinged, brave soul that it is, sole survivor among the tender garden plants used as “annuals” here in 2009. [read more…]
harvest continues: what’s in your freezer?
September 18, 2009 at 8:28 am
WHAT’S IN YOUR FREEZER? Or should I say freezers, because here I fill two, and am well into the second one already. Tomato- and herb-based concoctions took up all the room in Freezer 1; applesauce and pureed winter squash are quickly populating Number 2. A roundup of harvest-stashing recipes and other tips: [read more…]
garlic harvest and curing: i did something right
August 8, 2009 at 8:58 am
I MENTION GARLIC HARVEST IN this month’s chores, but each year I need to remind myself of all the finer details: when to dig, exactly; how long to cure; where to store. So shall we have a quick review (and a look at the largest heads I ever grew, thanks to following my own advice carefully and feeding when the shoots were up and growing in spring)? [read more…]
growing and storing a year of parsley
July 28, 2009 at 7:24 am
F LAT-LEAF, OR ITALIAN, PARSLEY IS MACHO COMPARED TO CURLY-LEAF, particularly the selection called (grrrr!) ‘Gigante.’ I like my parsley big and strong, and I get just that by growing my own, and stashing it away for year-round use with two easy freezer tactics. No $1.99-a-bunch stuff for me except in recipes when only fresh will do, and no dried parsley for me, ever: insipid! Welcome to Week 1 of Summer Fest, our Herb Week, the kickoff to a four-Tuesday-long cross-blog celebration of garden-fresh foods and flavors. [read more…]
