Last weekend we planted seeds in our garden and in trays that will be transplanted to our garden when they sprout, something we haven’t done in a very long time.
I don’t grow vegetables. They take too much care, they attract vermin. I grow herbs. At one point I had more than 50 varieties of herbs in my backyard garden but they finally succumbed to the successive onslaughts of dogs and home remodeling. We’ve now got a little fenced-in dog-free area and we’re growing herbs in it.
Last year we planted seedlings: sage, basil, lovage, tarragon, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme, sorrel, a few others. The sage, lovage, sorrel, oregano, thyme, and lemon thyme survived the winter well. We have been able to treat ourselves to one of the great joys of spring: soupe santé, essentially leek and potato soup with sorrel, flavored with our own fresh sorrel and thyme. The tender perennials, rosemary, tarragon, and marjoram, didn’t fare as well.
We’ve planted seeds for the following: marjoram, chervil, and basil. When we purchased our seeds the vendor also threw in a packet of seeds for Parisienne carrots, short, stubby little things. We planted those, too, along with nasturtiums.
If all of our seeds take hold, we’ll end up with bushels of marjoram, chervil, and basil. I’ll also plant some tarragon and rosemary seedlings. This year I’m determined to harvest and preserve them properly. We’ll see. I’ll post pictures as things develop.
Fenced in our garden a few years ago and besides herbs we grow lots of tomatoes, potatoes, hot peppers (sweet peppers elude us as they always die), scallions, green beans, tomatillos and cucumbers. Make our own pickles every year. Last year’s tomato crop was small, but the best tasting ever. The gazpacho was so good my wife didnt want to share. Have you tried the small grape tomatoes? You can grow them in a big pot and do well in salads. What kind of basil? The wife always gets a few weird ones, but we always grow Thai basil. Our rosemary acts like a perennial here (sorrel too) and would expect it would do so for you. Are you really that much colder than PA? I know nothing about lovage. WHat do you use it for? You should post your soup recipe. I made a sorrel soup from a recipe I found in old Amish cookbook. It was awful. I need something better.
Steve
The simple answer is that, yes, it’s a lot colder here although Western Pennsylvania (particularly in the south) is probably more like us than Philadelphia or Harrisburg. Inland.
Rosemary is a tender perennial. It rarely survives a Chicago winter. In California where my wife is from it’s practically a weed.
Lovage has a strong celery flavor. Use it in soups or stews or any other dish you’d use celery in. Use sparingly—its flavor is much stronger than celery.
See here for my recipe and here for my love of sorrel soup. I’ve got another recipe that I haven’t tried out yet. I’ll give it a shot and report back.
I’ve planted a variety of basil I’ve never tried before. Genovese. We’ll see. Since our primary use of basil is pesto, I’m hoping to prepare a couple of pounds of the stuff which I’ll freeze to tide us over through the winter.
As a St. Louisan I’ve found trying to grow tomatoes in Chicago a kind of thankless task. Most of the crop never ripens. Summers just aren’t long and hot enough.
I thought I’d told my story about cucumbers. I will when I get around to it.
Tomatillos, known traditionally as “ground cherries”, are frequently ignored, possibly because you generally need multiple plants for them to bear fruit. There are lots of old American recipes for them and “Cape Gooseberries”, very similar.
Rosemary is a tender perennial. It rarely survives a Chicago winter. In California where my wife is from it’s practically a weed.
You’re so right. In CA rosemary needs no tending.
We let the kids pick plants to grow in the garden each year. We grew bell peppers last year, but they tended to get black spots. My wife did some research and said the spots were fine, at least to eat around, but she had me throwing used coffee grounds on the soil to feed the plants. My impression is that peppers make a lot of demands on the soil.
A few years ago, the few pumpkin seeds we planted took off like crazy, invading the lawn.
I’ve pretty much given up on gardening for the time being since I move to a completely new climate every 2-3 years. About the time I get the hang of things, it’s time to go.
I suspect that it’s not in your regular garden, but you should give Shiso (aka Perilla) a try. It’s a widely-used Japanese and Korean herb that has a unique taste. The Korean version has leaves big enough to wrap pieces of grilled meat like a taco. The flavor is mind-blowing and is low-carb, too!
Previous to the dog/addition herb garden destruction I had shiso. As you say, it’s got a unique but not unpleasant flavor.
I learned something interesting before I completely fenced my yard in: deer are nuts about shiso. I’d look out my window and watch them grazing on it in the morning.
Excellent post Dave! Our property has alot of natural surrounding growth — herbs, wildflowers, orchards, etc. We have a small garden which will be larger this year. As an experimental thought to the garden, I would encourage considering adding a bee hive.
First time last year my wife setup two bee colonies that resulted in about five gallons of raw honey. She studied and attended a couple of daylong sessions to learn, then got — base kit for assembling boxes for hives, picked up the worker bees with separate queens, etc.
It takes upfront study and some work but once she got it going its not to bad to maintain. Plus we noticed that our wild berries were better. The honey is spectacular. This year we (she) are adding a couple more hives. Its cool. Harvest the honey as gifts for friends and family.