My Abundant Herb Garden

In the spring of this year, I did an overhaul of my herb garden.  I pulled out EVERYTHING. 

** here's a tip...never, never, never plant mint in a garden....it grows overwhelmingly, lol.**

I tried to just pull the mint last summer, but it would just come up someplace else.  So I dug up my other herbs, and then Chuck tilled, and tilled, and tilled.  Then I laid down weedblock and replanted my lemon balm, sage, and rosemary, and purchased new plants of basil, flat leaf parsley, oregano, marjoram, dill, and chives.  It looked good....then everything got bigger.

**this is not the most recent picture, but I forgot to take a picture before the harvest, of course. **

Now what to do with all my herbs?  A quick google search and I decided on freezing.  It was messy, but I love the feel of having fresh herbs in winter.

First, pick and clean.  This is my basil, the herb I tend to use the most.  After picking off the leaves, into the salad spinner.  I love my spinner.  

Then I started chopping.  I got this great rocking herb cutter years ago.  I am a real sucker for kitchen gadgets.  Which is quite funny since I don't really like to cook.

All nice and chopped.  And guess what I discovered?  Chopped basil will turn your hands green! hahaha

I forgot to take a picture of the next step, but I put the chopped basil into a bowl and added olive oil.  After mixing it together, into a labeled freezer bag.  I laid it flat and stuck it in the freezer.

Viola!

Now last night I was making spaghetti for dinner, and went outside to get herbs for the sauce, when I realized that I harvested so well, I needed to use some of my newly frozen herbs. And they were tasty!

Do you harvest and preserve anything?  What is your favorite way to eat summer all winter long?

Be blessed,

Debbi

Time to get ready for summer

Yes, I know, we just finished our New Years celebrations, and it is still officially winter, but for me, summer can't come fast enough!
 Sun? yes, please. 
Heat? bring it on, that's what our pool is for. 
Yard work? no so much fun, but planning now will make it easier. 

So first, my Burpee catalog and what vegetables do we want to grow this summer?  Luckily we have not had a hard freeze here, so Chuck can start turning over the ground, and turn over the ground, and turn over the ground, for our vegetable garden.  Last year we put our garden in a new spot, and it wasn't turned over enough first, so it got overrun with weeds and grass.  Funny how the heat can mess with my vegetables and flowers, but the weeds just thrive. lol.  So, once Chuck sprays and turns over, it will be time to start our seedlings.  We will have tomatoes, of course.  I can never seem to grow enough of them.  And corn.  Our corn last year never formed :0(  but luckily we still had corn frozen from the year before.  I want peas again, they didn't come up last year, I think I need to come up with a better trellis idea for my peas, and tomatoes.  I hate tying them up to stakes.  I love potatoes, carrots, and onions, but Chuck said the underground vegetables are too hard to harvest.  But these are pretty much the only vegetables my family eats.  This year we will plant only about half as many cucumbers.  Chuck is the only one in the house that likes cucumbers, so 15+ cucumber plants were way too much.  Now to the catalog to see what new veggies we should try.

I absolutely LOVE the color, shape, and feel of eggplant.  But the taste? Not so much.  Amanda made us Eggplant Parmesan once, but I just didn't like it.  And Amanda is a wonderful cook.  Maybe I'll put in 1 or 2 for her, use them as models for some still-life paintings, then she can have them.  Now cantaloupes, honeydew, musk melons, and watermelons are a must....I just wish there was a way to preserve them for winter consumption.  The ones you buy in the stores this time of year just have no flavor.

 This year I have to learn how to grow garlic.  I use a lot of garlic in my cooking and canning, and I thought, how cool would a string of garlic look hanging in my kitchen. hahaha.  Then there is my love affair with lettuce.  Not iceburg lettuce, but big, leafy, buttercrunch lettuce.  The name even sounds tasty...buttercrunch...like ice cream!

 

And now for something completely different...blue potatoes!  How cool would these look in a summer potato salad?  And popcorn is a big hit in my house, so growing our own would be something that may get the kids interested in working the garden. (probably not).  My uncle used to grow popcorn on his farm, I told all my friends cuz I thought that was just so neat.

Well, that should be enough for our vegetable garden...next week on to the herb garden, and pot gardening.

So, what will you be planting this year?

Be blessed,

Debbi