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

the day after Easter

Yesterday I shared with you the fun we had at Amanda's house for Easter dinner.  

Today I'll show you the day after....lol

Owen asked to come home with us after Easter dinner and of course, we said YES!  He hasn't slept over in months, he's been in a "I have to sleep in my bed" funk lately and after having to take him home at 10 pm in my pajamas, we dropped the subject.  Well, on Easter he decided that he wanted to sleep over again.  And this time he waited till 9 to cry to go home, but by the time Amanda got to my house to get him, he had fallen asleep, so he did finally get to spend the night...again.  On Monday, Amanda and D met us at the local greenhouse as we plotted and planned our vegetable garden.

 Owen loved running from greenhouse to greenhouse looking at all the little plants.  He liked the colorful flowers best, but this trip was all about our future dinners.

When I wasn't looking, he got a hold of my camera, and took this picture.  Not bad, for a 4 year old.

We filled the back of the truck with 10 flats of the basic vegetables.  And we're still looking for more.  

Owen was pretty tired by the time we were back in the truck and on our way home.  He sill had a busy day ahead of him, meeting his other Gramma Debbie who came in from Washington State for a visit, and a birthday party in the park for his cousin.  What a social butterfly.  This is him with his Aunt Hannah.

The weather turned cold and wet, so our garden is in our enclosed back deck for now.  Chuck and Hannah manged to put in 3 rows of corn, but I want more.  So, who else is planting this summer?

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

how our gardens grow

Lately my friends and I over at the Handmade Artists Forum have been comparing our gardening stories.  So last night I took a few pics to share with you.

This is my herb garden.  I love fresh herbs when I cook.  I had to cut back a lot last week because the weather here has been just perfect lately and everything was going crazy!  Starting in the back left corner I have, parsley, lemon balm, rosemary, sage, oregano, basil, mint, marjoram, and chives.  I didn't read the fine print when I planted the mint...and it doesn't just spread above ground, it spreads underground, and mixing in with my other herbs.  Frustrating.

This is our vegetable garden, almost a full 1/4 acre.  That's a lot for a family of 5.  We have 5 rows of corn, 3 rows of peas, 1 row of butternut squash, 1 row of potatoes, 2 rows of peppers, 1 row of pickling cucumbers, 3 rows of regular cucumbers, and tons of tomatoes....I love tomatoes.  What did not come up was the spinach, very little carrots, and eggplant.  Last week I harvested 3 bushels of cucumbers....and last night I tried my hand at making pickles again.  They don't look right!  hahaha

Now my fun gardens.  I love butterflies, and my butterfly garden is blooming large and the Swallowtails are returning.  Yeah!  I have flowers ranging in colors from white to pink to purple.  When my butterflies get bigger and more numerous...I'll share some more pictures of them with you.

These small plants are also in my butterfly garden.  I love the red color of the zinnia on the left, and they are another butterfly favorite.  And on the right is clover.  I had an envelope of seeds and when I planted the bushes, I just threw in the seeds to see what would come up.  They don't get very big, and I'm still waiting for the flowers to open.

A few years ago I planted this hydrangea to hide my air conditioner unit.  It didn't bloom for the first 2 years, and it only got a few blooms last summer.  So this year I did not cut it back at all...(actually I forgot), and now it is amazing!  I love the color.

And along the side of our house I planted some day lilies...I originally wanted the bright orange ones you find growing wild on the sides of the road, but the nursery only had these colored ones.  I have 2 of this very nice red/rust and 2 of a light yellow/beige.  But some night, when no-one is looking, I may go find myself some of those wild bright orange ones.  :~D  I find gardening to be so stress free and relaxing, and I recommend it to everyone.  There is a perfect garden for every size home and every personality.

Be blessed,

Debbi

Farmer Owen

It's hard to believe that this will be our 12th summer down here in sunny ((HOT)) North Carolina.  It's been in the high 70's most of the month so far and it's only March.  And all this beautiful weather turns our minds towards....our gardens.  I have a rose garden, a butterfly garden, and an herb garden.  We started with a small vegetable garden, and I think there have only been a few years where we didn't plant one, but when we did, it got bigger every year.  Now that Chuck has his new tractor....well, let's just say this will be a busy summer here on the "farm". lol  He's turned over almost a quarter of an acre, and Owen is loving the dirt!

He's got on his cowboy boots, and my hat, and he's off to help Poppa.  I missed the shot, but he refuses to get on the tractor, he just follows it up and down the rows.  He likes to walk in the furrows.

Here Poppa is showing him the corn kernels.  Owen wanted the whole bag, and got mad when he only got a few at a time.  We are planting corn (we love), potatoes (our first try), carrots (I love), radishes (no one loves), eggplant (for Amanda), lettuce, squash (Chuck), peppers,

 pickling cucumbers (I'm gonna try that again), watermelon, and of course....tomatoes!

Here he is covering the corn.  I tried several times to show him how to use the hoe, but he would just grunt at me and turn it upside down.  He's a boy that knows his own mind.

He finally just reverted to his own hand trowel.  I often wonder why Amanda sends him to our house dressed in anything white. :~P  There's Tater Tot in the background.  He's not happy because this was part of his pasture.  So y'all stay tuned to see if we survive this summer of weeding, and harvesting, and canning.  I do have to say that fresh organic food tastes so much better!

Debbi