How to Eat Daylilies

One of my greatest late winter pleasures is scouting my gardens for signs of new growth. I'm not a fan of cold weather, so I usually begin looking far too early. But by February my searching is rewarded. One of the first perennial flower beds to show signs of new life are my daylilies. Yum, I'm hungry!

Many parts of the hardy daylily are edible. The earliest leaves which emerge from the ground are the first parts I harvest to eat, when they are very young and most tender. I pinch off the center few leaves from a plant, leaving outer leaves so they will continue to grow. Harvesting a few leaves from many plants scattered throughout the bed doesn't effect their growth as a flower garden later in springtime, and it provides me with a nourishing fresh winter green. The taste is very subtle, and the chopped leaves can be used raw or cooked. I have added chopped young raw daylily leaves to creamy dips and salads, and I've cooked them in omelettes, soups, and stirfries. Keep cooking to a minimum, to retain their crispness and bright green color.

Later in the growing season, the unopened pods of the daylily flowers can be snapped off to cook. I prefer these in stirfries and sautées. The petals of the bloom are also edible, and add lovely color to a salad without altering the flavor. I've also read that the root tubers are also edible (and reportedly delicious simply quick-cooked in oil or butter), although I've yet to try cooking with them. The only trouble with the latter is that digging the roots destroys the plants, while the other parts of the daylily are 'sustainably harvested,' allowing the plants to continue to grow. Daylilies are a workhorse, as you can see, as well as a striking bedding plant... I grow them in masses!

My gardens are all organic, so I have no hesitation about cooking with edible flowers and wildplants. For my most recent stirfry with daylilies, I harvested several other plants from my garden and from the wild, as the photo shows. Notice that I harvest the top growth from the garlic I plant in the fall (I harvest the garlic bulbs in June.) I added these fresh greens to my wok last, after cooking chopped onions, celery, carrots, napa cabbage, and sweet peppers. I added cooked rice-based ramen noodles (sans any pre-packaged seasoning - yuck!) and the spicy peanut sauce I've posted in this blog as an oriental salad dressing. It was delicious!

When picking parts of daylilies to eat, I stick to the traditional orange "tiger lily," which is native to Asia, even though I grow many other colors. Visit a daylily farm and you will be overwhelmed at the variety of colors, shapes, heights, and flowering time. It takes willpower to limit your purchases, they are so lovely and easy to grow. Or visit me... I usually have an over-abundance of plants to dig up and I love to share them!

It may be a bit late for my local friends to eat daylily greens this year, since our 7+ inches of rain in February and temperatures reaching the 70s have made everything start growing fast, but be sure to plant and try daylilies for your future kitchen creations.

My Edible Yard

My nine-month project of re-planting the sloping front of the house as an edible landscape is nearly complete - yeah! The area only spans about 65 feet x 20 feet, but I've done an enormous amount of work. Rick, with his tractor, initially broke up the hard yellow clay soil and brought in bucket-loads of fabulous soil from other parts of our property. I'd estimate that 95% of what I've planted in this new area has been transplanted from other gardens. And that was the point - to consolidate so that I don't have so much to take care of. The other 5% were new treasures, accepted from fellow gardeners or too irresistible as new purchases. I am also a strong believer in the theory that the closer to the house I plant the garden, the more likely I'll keep an eye on it and harvest its bounty. I get such pleasure walking down my steps and along the footpath, gathering flowers for an arrangement and cutting fresh herbs to go immediately into my kitchen concoctions.

Below is a list of what I've planted in the front yard. In many cases I know the variety name of specific plants, so this list makes a good personal record for me as well. I've also noted names certain plants are "also known as". These days, I label everything I plant… it's too easy to forget. And since I'm eating lots of this stuff, I want to be sure I know what I'm picking! It is a surprise to me that this list of plants is so long. It just goes to prove that you can grow a lot in a small area. Admittedly, I've planted things fairly close, but I wanted it to fill in fast since that cuts down on weeding.

This garden isn't limited to edibles; I added lots of perennial flowers and ornamental shrubs to accent, adding color and variety. I love flowers! In my list below, I have placed an asterisk (*) before anything which has edible parts. For this post, I won't go into whether the fruit, flowers, leaves, and/or roots are the edible parts. In the herb list, in particular, are many intense culinary herbs, but I've also planted quite a few medicinal herbs. You'll also notice a couple of common "vegetables" - I just popped those in since I had more than I wanted to put in the official vegetable garden! Note, my photographs are not all taken at once - perennials flower at different times, and this collage shows a variety of my favorites in the new front yard garden.

* edibles

Berries & Fruit
* Blueberries (7 shrubs: including both rabbiteye and high bush varieties)
* Blackberries - thornless Arapaho
* Red Raspberries - thornless Killarney
* Strawberries - June-bearing varieties: Tennessee Beauty and Chandler
* Pear - Keiffer
* Elderberry
* Goji Berry
* Garden Huckleberries - Chichiquelite

Herbs/Veggies/Greens* Mint, including regular mint, chocolate mint, spearmint
* Hyssop - Anise and Lavender
* Lavender
* Lemon Balm
* Lemon Grass
* Dill
* Chamomile
* Comfrey
* Borage
* Sage
* Oregano
* Creeping Thyme
* Rosemary
* Stevia
* Perilla (Shiso)
* Garlic
* Lamb's Quarters
* Marsh Mallow
* Beets - Bull's Blood
* Bloody Dock (aka Red Sorrel)
* Tomatoes - Matt's Wild Cherry
* Fennel
* Chives
* Garlic Chives
(my basils and parsleys are in the main veggie garden)
* Grove Pepper
Stinging Nettles
Plantain
Ornamental Shrubs
* Lilacs - One old-fashioned and 2 hybrids: Tinkerbell & Dark Knight
Forsythia - Lynwood Gold
Weigela - Wine & Roses
English Laurel - Otto Luyken
* Roselle Hibiscus (for tea) - Thai Red

Flowering Perennials
Bearded Irises - 6 varieties, my favorite is yellow "Total Recall"
Flag Irises - yellow, purple, white
Wild Irises
* Wild Violets
* Pinks (aka Dianthus)
False Indigo (aka Baptisia) - yellow and blue
Yarrow - yellow
Ajuga (aka Bugleweed)
* Daylilies (4 varieties)
* Shasta Daisies
* Rudbeckia (aka Black-Eyed Susan)
Creeping Phlox - white, pinks, purples
Garden Phlox - pink
Sedum - Yellow Stonecrop
Sedum - Autumn Joy
Purple Coneflower
Showy Evening Primrose (beware - invasive!)
St. John's Wort (beware - invasive!)
Red Poppy
Wild Orange Poppy
* Chrysanthemums - many colors
* Bee Balm - lemon
Lunaria (aka Money Plant)
* Pansy - Swiss Giants
Lenten Rose (aka Hellebore)
Wild Columbine
Sage (salvia) - Hot Lips
Lily of the Valley
Lilies - deep magenta
Liatris (aka Gayfeather)
Daffodils
Crocuses

Foliage Plants
Blue Flax
Lamb's Ears
Hosta
Hens & Chicks

Please Eat the Flowers!

"Am I supposed to eat the flowers?" I often hear this question when I add fresh flowers to a salad I've brought to a potluck. Many flowers are edible, but we are more accustomed to eating other plant parts in our salads, like leaves (lettuce, spinach), roots (radishes, carrots, onions), fruit (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers), stems (celery, asparagus), and seeds (chick peas, peapods). Add broccoli to your salad, and you are even eating unopened flower buds. Flowers can add color, beauty, flavor, and, in many cases, nutrients, to a dish.

Many edible flowers grow wild, and others grow on trees and shrubs, and in our cultivated flower, vegetable, and herb gardens. Use caution if you intend to harvest any flowers to eat. Here are good rules:

• Be 100% positive of the plant identity - Use reference guides, like my favorite for wild edibles, Peterson Field Guide: Edible Wild Plants. Some online references are included at the end of this post.
  
• Know what plant part is edible - Even though a plant is in your veggie garden, the flowers might be poisonous to eat, while another part of the plant is edible - such as the case with potatoes. Inversely, some flowers are edible while the other parts of the same plant are toxic. You wouldn't want to make a mistake and end up with a mouthful of poison ivy!
• It is best to harvest plants grown on your own property, from locations where you know they have not been exposed to pesticides, herbicides or pollution from vehicle exhaust fumes. Do not use florist flowers, which might be treated with chemicals. If you pick from someone else's property, get the owner's permission. Gathering plants is prohibited on most state and federal lands, such as in a National Forest.
• Don't eat too much of any one plant - Eating too much of even the most mild substance can cause illness
• Beware of allergens - If you are allergic to strawberries, you might also react to strawberry flowers, for example. Perhaps try only a very small amount of a blossom the first time. While blossoms might be delicate they can still pack a chemical punch. Introduce them gradually into the diet if you are not sure. Also, some flowers have known side effects, such as yellow violets which can act as a laxative when eaten in quantities.
• Harvest sustainably - In the case of wildflowers, don't overpick any one species or you might wipe them out from that location, and don't pick if there are just a few of one plant. Keep in mind that the flower is the plant part which produces the fruit and seeds… if you pick strawberry flowers, you'll have that many fewer berries. Also, tread softly in the wild and respect the land.
• Cultivate wild edibles - You can scatter white clover seeds as a groundcover, collect the fluffy white seed heads from dandelions and plant them in a pot, or grow your own chicory from purchased seeds, just as a few ideas.
• Learn the best way to eat your flower harvest - Flowers can be eaten raw, cooked, stuffed, fried, steeped as tea, coated with sugar to use to decorate cakes, or infused to flavor vinegar, jelly, wine, or alcohol. With some flowers it is best to just use the petals, others need the inner parts (pistils and stamens) removed.

Here is just a partial list of edible flowers:
WILD PLANTS or TREES
Bachelor's Buttons
Chicory
Clover
Dandelion
Redbud Trees
Violets
Mustard
Indian Strawberry
Pink Showy Primrose
Wisteria (note, only flowers are edible, everything else is toxic)
Blackberry
Daylily
Violet
Yucca - young flowers
Wild Rose

HERBS
Borage
Chamomile
Chive
Lavender
Mint
Basil
Calendula
Fennel
Dill
Cilantro
Oregano
Rosemary
Sage

CULTIVATED FLOWERS, BERRIES, SHRUBS, FRUIT TREES
Carnation/Dianthus
Chrysanthemum
Strawberry
Citrus
Apple
Fuchsia
Gladiolus
Hibiscus
Hollyhock
Impatiens
Jasmine
Johnny Jump-Up (violet family)
Pansy
Lemon Verbena
Lilac
Nasturtium
Rose
Sunflower
Violet

GARDEN VEGETABLE PLANTS
Onion, garlic and other alliums
Radish (don't harvest the root, let the plant grow)
Squash, Pumpkin, Zucchini

Peas, Peapods

Broccoli, Collards, Mustard Greens

There's lots of information online about edible flowers, helping with identification, plus creative ways to use them. Here are some websites I've used:
http://www.foragingtexas.com
from the UK:   http://www.torrens.org.uk/FFF/index.html
http://www.pfaf.org/user/default.aspx (Plants For A Future)
http://www.eattheweeds.com/

Have fun using edible flowers and let me know of those you use and how you use them!

DISCLAIMER: Judy's Good Food Blog cannot take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. 

November in the Veggie Garden

Goodness... November is nearly over, and I haven't done my garden post. Life has been busy, even with my gardening work greatly reduced. My November garden looks empty, compared with previous months, but there's actually lots growing now. This autumn's weather has been the nicest in the seven years I've lived in East Tennessee. The first light frost didn't hit my garden until Nov. 10th, with a heavy frost one week later… late for our zone. Day length is short, but the leaves are off the trees so the garden gets lots of warmth from the sun. The warm weather crops have been dug up and added to the compost bin, and I've covered tender plants when the temps dipped below 32. I'm not certain about  some new things I've planted surviving the cold, but they will be on their own from now on, I'm not going to bother covering them any more. Here are the details:

1. BEETS - The chioggia heirloom beets went to seed and replanted themselves, so I"ve been harvesting both the roots and the greens continually. The heirloom "bull's blood" beets which I planted from seeds didn't germinate real well, but I have about a dozen plants growing so I've been harvesting the leaves for salads. I'd like to let them reseed, but I'll need to be sure both varieties don't flower simultaneously or I won't get new plants true to the parent.
2. LEMON GRASS - I moved the biggest clump of lemon grass to this part of the garden, and I also planted a clump in my "surplus garden" where I can let it grow without restriction. I am not certain it is winter-hardy here, so I've also taken a pot inside and it's growing well enough for me to harvest leaves occasionally… this way I'll have some to replant outside in spring if necessary.
3. STRAWBERRIES - The main strawberry bed is still looking very healthy, and I bought some half-price Halloween straw to nestle around the plants, protecting them better from the winter cold. I loved my strawberries, and I want to be sure they produce next spring!
4. CALENDULA - Also known as "pot marigold", the pretty yellow and orange flowers of the calendula are medicinal as well as edible. My summer plants bloomed profusely and I must have been neglectful in removing spent blooms, since I discovered many seedlings at the end of the summer. I organized them in a small patch, surprised that they would grow in fall. Mother Nature has her own tools for keeping growth to specific seasons; some seeds can lay on the ground for months, needing the freezing and thawing process to prepare them for warm weather growth. I had thought of calendula as a summer plant, like french marigolds, but this self-seeding might prove me wrong. In the meantime, I have some color in the garden, and I can harvest the petals, extract their vital components in oil, and create some nice salves and lotions with the filtered oil.
5. BRUSSELS SPROUTS - The four seedlings planted a few months ago all have formed lovely little brussels sprouts at the intersections of the main stem and each leaf. A little cold is supposed to "sweeten" them, so I am anxious for harvesting soon! The plants I started from seed are still alive, but only a few inches tall, so I should have started them much earlier… next year I'll know better.
6. ROMAINE - All the lettuce I started from seed is doing well, although everything grows much more slowly this time of year. Our occasional salads have been wonderful. Most recently I mixed lettuce greens, the dark red bull's blood beet leaves, the last tomato which ripened on the kitchen window sill, the last of the sweet green/red peppers, some crunchy sliced raw jerusalem artichokes, and fresh sprouts (alfalfa, clover, broccoli) grown in a jar indoors. Topped with my homemade Olive Garden style dressing it was a great meal. Lettuces can generally withstand temperatures as low as the mid 20's. I've also planted some in the cold frame, along with a few bull's blood beets, spinach and parsley.
7. KALE - I haven't witnessed a return of the "woodchuck" type critter spotted eating my sweet potato vines in October, but something ate the gorgeous curly leaves off my kale plants. To protect them from further damage, I have covered them with the collapsable net hampers which I used last summer to ward off fleas from my eggplants. So far it's working, and I just pull up the stakes to harvest leaves.
8. SPINACH - I love spinach, and I've now got it growing well in many areas of the garden, some still too small to show up well in this photo. This is one plant I know grows continually all winter, although slowly, and then takes off fast once the days lengthen in February. Yum!
9. PARSLEY - The curly and flat leaf parsley will likely grow all winter too, and since the onions have strong green tops I can harvest and I still have mint in the herb garden I plan to try using dehydrated tomatoes to make some taboulli.

OTHER GARDEN NOTES:
SWEET POTATOES - I had only planted half as many sweet potato hills as last year, since I was overloaded, but my harvest this year was very disappointing. I am blaming it on the grasshoppers, zapping the energy from the plants to grow more leaves instead of roots.

WINTERING OVER PLANTS - Where I have empty space in the vegetable garden, I have submerged some potted outdoor plants in the soil. Plants in pots are more susceptible to freezing, but burying them gives added protection. I've done this with a lilac bush I had rooted during the summer as well as with some chrysanthemums. By spring the temperatures will be warm enough for me to dig them up and plant them in permanent locations.

HORSERADISH - Two years ago I bought a big ugly horseradish root from the supermarket and planted it in the veggie garden. It grew! Beware: it can be very invasive. So this spring I replanted the major root elsewhere, where it can flourish, and I kept digging up all the little volunteers which popped up. It grew vigorously all summer and I've dug up some roots recently. I'll do a later blog post on how I've preserved some of this spicy condiment.

HERBS - Many of my herbs, besides the parsley and fennel still growing in the vegetable garden, can be continue to be harvested, such as mints, thyme, rosemary, and lemon balm. I discovered a few years ago that cilantro is a cold-weather plant, when I found it had reseeded and was growing strong in the fall. So this year I planted cilantro seeds directly in the veggie garden. They are very slow to germinate, but I have a two foot bed of seedlings growing now. I'd rather have it when the tomatoes are ripe, to use in fresh salsa, but I have other recipes for which there is no substitute for the taste of cilantro.

May in the Vegetable Garden

My May vegetable garden attests to the long growing season here and to the favorable conditions this spring has presented… although 45 degrees felt very chilly this morning, just a week after we sweated at 90 degrees. I've never had such a variety of crops at one time, and I've already harvested a great deal. Since my garden only feeds two, I can get by with just a few plants of many vegetables, unless I plan to preserve excess harvests.

Miraculously, the garden was spared damage from the tornado which hit us 3 weeks ago. The garden photo reveals some of the tornado damage beyond the garden - a huge uprooted shagbark hickory on the left and a dogwood which was partially uprooted so we trimmed, uprighted, and staked it to see if it will survive.

WEEDS - Visitors ask why there are no weeds in my vegetable garden and I say "I don't plant any." I'm not trying to be a wise guy, it's true. If you continually keep weeds from the garden, they don't have the chance to grow tall, flower, and drop seeds for new plants. This is especially true in the springtime. If you keep up with the weeding early in the season, you'll have fewer and fewer weeds growing as the garden matures through the summer. My largest source of weeds is from the composted cow manure I use which came from free-ranging cows - evidently the cow digestive system does not destroy seeds in their pasture. My own compost also sprouts lots of tomato seeds, which appear to be strong enough to remain viable through the heat process of breaking the plant material into compost.

1. PEA PODS are now being harvested by the bucketful! In late February I planted seven 15 foot rows, with two "bush" varieties: heirloom Oregon Sugar Snap II and hybrid Burpee Sugar Sprint. I didn't mail order these seeds because planting pea pods was an afterthought, so I bought these locally. Both types are sweet, stringless and delicious raw or lightly cooked. I've frozen 12 bags and I might try using some of the fatter latter variety as refrigerator pickles soon.
2. EGGPLANT - As in past years, I am fighting a pest which is eating holes in the leaves on the two seedlings I've planted. Next step will be to cover them with netting which I can remove when they flower, which won't be for quite a while.
3. STRAWBERRIES - My previous post extols the fabulous strawberries I've harvested for the last 4 weeks.
4. GARLIC - If you've planted garlic and it sends up a thick center stem with a small bulb shape at the top, then it is attempting to flower. Cut the stalk off as low as possible. I then take this piece and cut it into 1/2" pieces and scatter it as a repellent around plants which are most susceptible to bug attacks. These "scapes" also look exotic in a flower arrangement. Onions send up a similar flower stalk, so cut it also, to avoid a thick tough center to your harvested onions.
5. PEPPERS - One jalapeno has been in a red "Kozy Koat" for many weeks, staying warm and healthy, and I'll transplant one more jalapeno seedling from the cold frame in early June. I've also planted heirloom seedlings of one sweet California Giant and one Pimento sweet pepper into short tomato cages.
6. TOMATOES - All six plants are doing well, with very different growth characteristics for each of the 4 heirloom varieties. All the plants are flowering and there are green tomatoes on 4 plants. I've been at war with white flies on one plant, but I'm winning so far.
7. BRUSSELS SPROUTS - I think I see the little "sprouts" beginning to form at each leaf branch, and the pest that was eating holes in the leaves initially is no longer around…. yeah!
8. BEETS - I am thinning my beet plantings as I pick greens for salads and sauteing, and I'll allow some to remain in the growth to harvest later for the beet roots.
9. PARSLEY - I'm harvesting both flat Italian parsley and curly parsley now, from seedlings I set in the garden in early March.

Also in the garden:

• MELON - One "casaba" melon seedling has been planted and is thriving. I also planted seeds of Hale's Best cantaloupe in one hill, which have not germinated yet (planted a backup in a pot and three little sprouts have emerged from the potting soil).
• ZUCCHINI - When I planted my one strongest seedling it already had tiny flowers starting, and is looking healthy now. I'll be on the watch for the squash vine borer.
• LEEKS - When my seedlings got to 9" tall, I planted them in the garden, 8" deep. Most seem to be growing.
• AMARANTH - You might know this as a grain, which I would get as seeds if the plants reach 9 feet and grew a showy flowering plume, but I've direct seeded a 2' x 3' area thickly as a salad green… or I should say a salad "red", since that's the leaf color.
• CUCUMBERS - One seedling each of two heirloom pickling varieties is now planted and I am experimenting with growing vertically, training the vines up a twisted pole set inside a tall tomato cage.
• LETTUCE - We've been eating and sharing a great harvest of Black Seeded Simpson and mixed Romaine. I direct sowed seeds of the heirloom "Little Gem" which is supposed to tolerate heat better than other lettuces. I pulled out all the Amish Deer Tongue and donated it to my compost bin, since I didn't like the flavor or texture as well as the others I had available to eat.
• CARROTS - I've thinned the carrot bed so none are closer than 1", replanting those I pulled. Growing carrots is slow, but hopefully my patience will be rewarded at harvest time. I just planted a few rows of the Scarlet Nantes variety, next to the Red Chanterey and Danvers already growing.
• SPINACH - I harvested the fall planting of spinach and chopped and froze many bags. I am now harvesting leaves from seeds I direct sowed in March. If your spinach sends up a center stem with a triangle growth on top, it is beginning to "bolt" and go to seed. Three factors make this happen: length of day, heat, and crowding. You can't control the first two, but avoid the overcrowding by harvesting every other plant.
• GREEN BEANS - I've direct sowed three areas with rows of my favorite Blue Lake bush bean, which grows about 2' tall and doesn't need trellising. Hopefully I can avoid the pest which ate holes in the leaves and beans last year and have a bountiful harvest for fresh eating and freezing.
• KALE - as with the spinach, I harvested and froze the fall planting of kale and now I am ready to start harvesting a small square of kale I direct seeded in March. Like spinach and many lettuces, kale will "bolt" in hot weather.
• BOK CHOY - I'm throwing in the towel on chinese vegetables until next winter's plantings, since I can't ward off the bugs that are eating the leaves.
• CHRYSANTHEMUMS - These lovely garden flowers are edible, so they are justified to be mentioned in this blog. In oriental countries they also eat the leaves of some varieties as salad greens. If you've planted the potted flowering chrysanthemums from last fall, you'll discover they are quite winter-hardy and have sent up new growth. To keep your plants from flowering in August versus October, and to create beautiful nursery-type fullness, you need to keep pinching off the top growth now. I once read to cut the tops back "3 times before the fourth of July" for my area (zone 7), so you can adjust for your location. Basically, I keep pinching off the branches to about 3" tall, then let them grow untouched after early July. My fall flowering is fabulous, with flowers so thick in October and November that you can't see the green leaves below. Also, if those green tops you snip off are a few inches long, you can strip the bottom leaves, dip in rooting hormone, and plant your cuttings. They re-root very easily. I only have one white mum, lots of purples, so the first time I pinched back the white one I re-planted 30 little cuttings - and they are all growing! I could easily start a mum farm at this rate. I always plant cuttings in my vegetable garden, knowing they won't get ignored there. Once the cutting show new growth, pinch them as necessary too. Replant in permanent locations in late summer - or pot to give as gifts!
• ONIONS - Still growing strong. A friend told me last year that onions like being continually fertilized up until one month before harvest. This year I am fertilizing the entire garden with organic fertilizers every 2 weeks. Each green "scallion" from the onion indicates a layer of growth on the onion root. I harvest the greens for salads and recipes, one from this onion, one from another, and it doesn't disturb the onion growth.

Happy gardening!

April in the Vegetable Garden

 

Take a tour of my vegetable garden! Starting with this post, I'll photograph it during the first week of each month, and describe what's growing. Keep in mind that I'm in Tennessee, USDA gardening zone 7, with an average last frost date of April 15th, and a frost-free growing season of nearly 200 days. My "birdseed view" is taken from my east porch.

This year I'm starting all my vegetable plants from seeds, either indoors to get a jump on the season or directly in the garden. Indoors, they move from the south-facing windows in our dining area to the south window in the walk-out basement, which is at about 55 degrees this time of year. From there they move into the cold frame to harden off with cooler nighttime temperatures.

The garden is about 20' x 40', running east-west. Big poplar logs hold the soil and I dig walking paths between raised beds which are about 3-4' wide. The garden is on a slight downhill slope.

Here is the April tour:

1. A thin red plastic mulch warms the soil and cuts down on weeds. I laid this down in mid-March, burying the ends with soil. I planted 3 tomato plants yesterday, cutting a 5" slot into the plastic, inserting the plant, and placing 4 rocks around the hole opening, to keep the wind from getting under the plastic. The south end has one tomato plant in a "Kozy Koat" - a red plastic sleeve with pockets filled with water to permit solar heating for the plant. I'll remove the Koat when the weather warms. (The other Kozy Koat shown with a white feed bag for mulching was planted in mid-March, to attempt a headstart on tomato harvests). The mulch is one of my attempts to prevent tomato blight.
2. The yellow flowers are on my Chinese cabbage, planted last fall along with the kale in this row. As soon as we got some early warm days, the cabbage set flowers. I've left them growing for several reasons: the flowers are pretty and attract bees; the flowers are edible, tasting like raw broccoli; the flowers produce tiny edible seed pods, which I have cooked in a stirfry. I just need to remove them before the pods ripen and drop hundreds of seeds into my soft garden soil!
3. Eight rows of snap peas were planted as soon as I could work the soil in February. This east end of the garden is where I have grown my sweet potatoes for the past 2 years, allowing the long vines to grow out the back end of the garden. I am growing the peas here not only to harvest their delicious pods, but also to utilize their ability to add nitrogen to the soil. I grow "bush" varieties, which grown only about 24" tall, and I push branches into the ground for the tendrils to wind up. By June, when it is warm enough to plant the sweet potatoes, the peas will be harvested.
4. My June-bearing strawberry bed runs along the north wall of the garden, and the plants are flowering profusely now. The big mass of greenery above the word "north" is an area where last year's strawberry babies congregated! I'll dig these up after my harvest; strawberries produce best when not too crowded. If anyone nearby wants to start a strawberry bed, please let me know and I'll provide loads of healthy plants. I think the variety was "Tennessee Beauty".
5. Next to the strawberry crowd I sowed seed beds in this row in March for black seeded simpson lettuce, kale, bok choy, and spinach - all cold-hardy plants. They have all sprouted and are growing slowly.
6. Nine brussel sprout plants, started indoors in January, are growing here. I have sprayed a few times with garlic spray, fighting an insect which is eating holes in the leaves. Otherwise the plants look good - this is my first try at growing this veggie. I never really liked it, but a friend prepares it in a very tasty way. I figured if I liked his store-bought brussel sprouts, I'd love home grown! The brussel sprouts are bordered by romaine lettuce and yellow onions (I put in about 150 onion sets in Feb). Along the south border are loads of spinach plants which I started directly in the garden by seed last fall. The little spinach plants didn't grown much in the winter, but they survived two snow storms and lots of freezes and are now growing strong… great raw and cooked!
7. Garden fresh carrots taste so good, that I am giving them another try this year. I planted 5 close rows and covered them with the tall grass I cut from my blue flax in the flower gardens - there were no seeds in the grass and it is fine and lightweight, so it has kept the carrot seeds moist and encouraged good germination. I started another 4 rows next the the first planting, and hand raked the grass clippings over them. Next to that tan mass are some garlic, planted last fall, with a row of Amish Deer Tongue lettuce. Along one side of the carrot bed is a late winter planting of Chinese cabbage, and along the opposite side is pak choy, a mini bok choy.
8. The front of the garden has been planted with loads of garlic since last fall, which will be harvested in June-July, in addition to more onion sets, Chioggia beet seeds set out for harvesting the greens as well as the roots (they are pink and white inside), flat and curly parsley, and fennel. 
9. My Juwel cold frame is permanently set in the corner, where I can easily adjust the lids according to the weather, harvest the red romaine and spinach that grew in it all winter, and move pots of seedlings in and out. Behind the cold frame I've planted some cilantro, hoping the shade will keep it cool enough so it won't bolt (cilantro likes cold weather, but I like it when the tomatoes are ripe for salsa!)

Have fun in your garden on these gorgeous days of spring.

Pumpkins

The pumpkins I painted for Halloween are still looking good, so they are hanging around for a while. But if yours are ready to retire, don't just throw them away. Pumpkin seeds are delicious and nutritious, and the puree is great for eating and baking into breads and pies.

Carefully cut the pumpkin into halves or smaller, depending on its size. Use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and inner pulp. I boil the seeds in water for 5 minutes, which helps clean the strings and pulp off, then drain well. You can season the seeds, with Italian salad dressing or olive oil, and sprinkle with salt or other spices. Bake in a single layer on a cookie sheet at 250 degrees for 30 minutes, stir and bake 30-60 minutes more, until crunchy.

To bake the pumpkin pulp, line a roasting pan with foil - do not skip this step... the pumpkin is full of natural sugars which carmelize while they roast and can ruin a pan with burned-on residue (I know, I've scraped a few roasting pans!). Place pumpkin pieces cut side down. Add water to the pan to help keep from sticking. I also recommend covering tightly with foil - keeps down the splattering and slows down the evaporation of the water. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 2 hours, until fork-tender. Remove. When cool, scrape pulp from shells. Puree the pulp with a potato masher or in a food processor and set in a colander over a bowl to drain out extra moisture, and you'll end up with a nicer puree than what comes from a can. The puree can be used immediately or frozen in a zipper bag, in 1 cup portions for easy use later.

Incidently, you'll see some of my mums in the photo. I'll tell you more about this in another blog, but, for now, if you've bought pots of fall chrysanthemums, they can be planted for next year. When the flowers die off, just cut off the tops and plant in your garden. It is a perennial and I've had them come back year after year, even in the cold of New Hampshire. More info on this later.