Wild Edible Recipes - Chickweed & Garlic Mustard

by Tom DiGangi Jr.

As Laura enjoys that second cup of coffee, marveling at the price point for colonial homes in Merida, Mexico while watching House Hunters International, I am stuck figuring out how to cook all those damn weeds with health benefits she keeps leaving on the chopping block.

I doubt cooking is magic or art as some would suggest. Rather, it is craft, based on science and education. You learn how to manipulate stuff that already tastes good into new stuff that hopefully tastes better by applying heat or salt or combining it with other stuff that also tastes good. The chances of success in producing a meal increase dramatically if the cook actually knows a little bit about the stuff to be cooked. At least on Chopped, there are instructions on the packages of the unknown products so the contestant chefs don’t accidentally kill someone by preparing the unknown foods the wrong way – think rhubarb, which has toxic leaves, but edible stalks. Laura’s wild harvests are accompanied by no such guidance.

This leads to a question: What do I know about cooking broad leaf plantain, garlic mustard, lesser celandine or chickweed? The answer: Absolutely, nothing. But, I am willing to experiment. This is science, right? So, I taste, trusting Laura’s has no plans for my early demise.

Garlic mustard, it turns out, tastes not surprisingly like bitter, mustardy garlic, but in leaf form. Chickweed has no distinct flavor, but has a spinach-like texture to its leaf. Here is how I used them to make dinner for two, inspired by the egg and pancetta goodness of carbonara.

Chickweed & Garlic Mustard “Carbonara”

Ingredients

½ oz dried porcini mushrooms (reconstituted by soaking in ½ C hot water)

4 oz crimini or button mushrooms, cut into thick slices

1 small yellow onion (sliced)

1 ½ C garlic mustard leaves

1 ½ C chickweed tips (not the tougher lower stalks)

1 slice pancetta (about ¼ inch thick), cut into sticks

3 T white wine

3 T extra virgin olive oil

½ lb of fusillli pasta

2 egg yolks

½ C grated parmigiano cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.

Reconstitute the dried porcini in ½ cup of hot water by soaking for at least 15 minutes, drain and reserve the soaking water for later use in the recipe. Roughly chop the reconstituted porcini.

Using 2 tablespoons of the oil, render the pancetta in a large sauté pan, along with the onions. As they begin to brown, add the crimini mushrooms, and continue browning until the pancetta has begun to crisp.  Add the chopped porcini, the reserved soaking water, white wine, chickweed and garlic mustard, and cook together for a few more minutes.

Drop the fusilli into the pot of boiling, well-salted water and cook until al dente.  Remove the pasta from the water and add to the sauce in the sauté pan, with a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water. Stir and turn off the heat.

Finish by dressing the pasta with the parmigiano cheese, the remaining oil, the egg yolks, and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine. The residual heat of the pasta will cook the yolks while maintaining a creamy texture.  Serve immediately, with the same white wine used to make the sauce.

Chickweed & Garlic Mustard Pesto

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Garlic mustard leaves, washed and removed from stem

1 Cup Chickweed leaves, flowers and stems, washed and chopped

1/4 Cup Pistachio nuts

1/4 Cup Extra virgin olive oil

2 T. Grated parmigiano cheese

1 T. Lemon juice

1 t. salt

Procedure

Combine all dry ingredients plus lemon juice in a food processor, and grind. Drizzle in olive oil slowly, pausing to scrape down the sides, until the ingredients form a thick paste. Store in refrigerator. Mix with pasta, warm potatoes, or grain dishes for a healthy meal. Add to soup as a bright flavor booster. Top off cheese and crackers with a small amount. Try it out and have fun!

Eat Your Weeds In Early Spring

"Weed" - such a mean word, rife with anger and judgement, with a healthy dose of disgust. "I have to weed! Look at all these damn weeds! My lawn looks like crap because of all the WEEEEEEEEEDS!!!" But what makes a plant a weed, as opposed to a flower, vegetable, or natural remedy? Only you, my friend, only you. Wouldn't you enjoy gardening a bit more if you could look at the view out of your kitchen window and think "Ah, look at that lovely expanse of medicinal and edible wild plants that I didn't have to do any work to sow or produce! Good thing that I am under no obligation to do anything about removing them due to their many health benefits. I think I'll have another cup of coffee and watch 'Househunters International' for the 450th time." Well, you're in luck. I'm going to spend the next few months exploring the many uses of these volunteer plants so you can consider them a crop, and save yourself the time and trouble of eliminating them with chemicals. Let's get started learning about zone 6 spring time edibles. Our next post will have a few fun recipes created by the husband and designated garden chef, Tom DiGangi!

Garlic Mustard - alliaria petiolata 

spring garlic mustard before sending up flower stalks

We have lots of this growing in the moist shady areas around the edges of our yard. This biennial will be 2-3 feet tall if left to flower and produce seed. At this stage in spring, it's a low growing clump of triangular to heart-shaped leaves with toothed edges that smell like garlic when crushed. Like most wild greens and herbs, the leaves are mildest and most edible when young, before the plant bolts and produces flowers. We use this like a strong flavored cooked green, although it's also tender enough to be eaten raw and fresh in salads. Make sure you check out Tom's garlic mustard recipes in our next post!

Wild Garlic - allium viveale

a lovely wild garlic portrait by Tom DiGangi

Also called field garlic and wild onion, this bulbous perennial looks like small clumps of tall thin grass. When crushed, it gives off a strong garlic/onion odor. In May and June, it will flower and produce little
bulbs, which are also edible. We use the wild garlic grassy leaves just like you would use chives - to sprinkle on top of any finished meat, vegetable, or soup dish to add an extra burst of flavor and freshness.

Dandelion - taraxacum officinale
Do I even need to describe this one? Dandelion, the most hated of lawn invaders, produces yellow flowers, white puffy seed heads, and has a tap root that goes from here to China. All plant parts serve as food and are rich in vitamins A and C. Flowers can be battered and deep fried, leaves can be cooked or eaten raw, and the root can be roasted and used as a coffee substitute. Since I married one of those Italian types, we've been eating dandelion in various formats for quite awhile, so I won't repeat the recipes here. Instead, check out the following old blog posts for some inventive dandelion applications created by Tom:

• why you should eat dandelions
• soup recipe
• pasta recipe

Chickweed - stellaria media

chickweed running up a raised bed

Also called starwort, starweed and satin flower. Chickweed has a variety of external and internal medicinal uses that I will get into later, since we're only talking about wild edibles in this post. This prostrate annual pops up every early spring and furiously takes over my sleeping vegetable garden. After years of cursing up and down about this thing, I finally determined what it was and learned about it's positive properties. I believe this year I finally made peace with this little creep(er), although I still wind up pulling up and composting more than I save. Chickweed is chock full of vitamins, and has a fresh grassy taste good for eating fresh in salads. The leaves, stems and flowers are all edible. I created a pesto using it along with garlic mustard, since its milder flavor tempers the stronger tones of the garlic mustard. I'm also going to dry some, and steep fresh parts in alcohol to make a tincture. Multiple generations can grow per year, so if you want to limit the amount of chickweed you are harvesting, get it out of the ground before the flowers produce seed.

chickweed running amok in my strawberry bed

FOILED!

This SHOULD have been a post about springtime wild edibles in New Jersey. I had full intentions of traversing my weed filled lawn and surrounding wooded areas to harvest wild garlic, garlic mustard, chickweed, and dandelion. My finds would be thoroughly washed and prepped, and then dramatically handed to Tom so he could use his innate food nerd skills to whip them into something delicious. The result would be an informative blog post written by me, including Tom's experimental recipes. Instead, I spent a beautiful weather week cooped up in the house, bouncing between a demanding infant and a sick nine year old, hence the name of this post. If the above topics intrigue you, consider checking out some old blog posts of mine about why you should eat dandelions, and how you can eat them in soup and pasta. And you can find detailed info about these plants, as well as many others, from wild food expert Wildman Steve Brill.

Instead of providing you new and interesting information about eating your lawn, this post will mostly be a note to myself about all the work I need to do in the garden in the next few weeks. Down with runny noses and hacking coughs! Onward!

In zone 6, it's time to:

• Direct sow carrots, beets, turnips and cilantro
• Plant broccoli, kohlrabi, and cauliflower plants
• Freshen up mulch in landscaped beds

In my veg/herb/medicinals garden, I need to:

• Plant quinoa, calendula, carrots and cilantro seeds
• Plant onion bulbs among potatoes
• Layout new tomato/pepper beds and put out Wall-o-waters
• Harvest and dry chickweed
• Up pot seedlings
• Lay out paths with cardboard and hay
• Buy more lavender and perfume roses
• Start basil seeds

In my landscape, I need to:

• Transplant helleborus volunteers to the woods
• Weed beds that need wood mulch
• Build new front of house bed (?)
• Consider weeding/mulching medicinal bed

My Seed Planting "Schedule"

In most areas of my life, there's usually a large difference between what I Should do and what I Actually do. For example, I Should just pay the stupid money and get the DVR box. Instead, what I Actually do is memorize the time and channel of my favorite shows and plant myself in front of the TV, like I'm from the 60's or something. I even have to watch commercials! The horror! And then when life gets in the way and I miss my favorite show, I loudly and adamantly complain about it, as if no solution exists.

My refusal to have DVR power doesn't really stem from my inherent cheapness. OK, it mostly stems from my inherent cheapness. But as I see it, it's also a Buddhist lesson in non-attachment. So I miss a program or two (or an entire series, or a complete pop culture revolution). It's just a freaking TV show, right? It's not really the end of the world. And if I catch it the following week, I can pretty much figure out what I missed. It's somewhat more important that I Actually take care of my kids, spend time with my husband, and enjoy life in the moment it's happening.

The whole Should/Actually process works the same for me in the word of gardening. I Should plant seeds in the garden according to this schedule (and so should you, zone 6'ers):

• Mid-March: peas
• Early April: radish, spinach, lettuces, onion, potatoes, cilantro
• Mid-April: beets, kale, greens, carrots, parsnips, turnips, chamomile
• Early May: basil
• Mid-May: beans

I Actually am planting seeds in the garden according to this schedule:

• Mid-March: peas
• Sometime In April: everything else, on a day or series of days when the weather is nice/baby is sleeping/Sophia is being babysat/we don't have visitors/we aren't visiting anyone/important body parts are injury free.

So maybe I'm not the most detailed gardener around. And I'm sure I'd get better output if I would actually get a plan and stick to it with no exceptions (for those of you who love a plan, you can get your own customized seed starting/planting schedule here) . However, I feel I can take seed planting liberties for a few reasons. First, I generally do my spring gardening in well-draining raised beds with soil that's been amended. This soil heats up faster and is ready to work earlier than normal. Because the drainage is good, I don't worry about the seeds sitting around rotting if the soil is still a little too cold. I also don't worry about planting seeds too late. If I get a smaller harvest than I should, eh, no big deal. I can always let the crop bolt, produce flowers, go to seed, and then let the seeds naturally dry and fall where they want to. When the soil cools down again in September, the seeds wake up and produce the crop that I should have had in the spring. This happened to me last year with a delicious lettuce called mache. Not only did it produce plants in the fall, but somehow the seedlings overwintered and we are NOW eating fresh delicious salads from the lettuce bed (and pathways and other beds and everywhere else the seed went, as evidenced in this picture). My point is, don't get hung up on schedules. Just get out there and get dirty!

Specifically, my current outdoor seed planting accomplishments to date are:

• Peas, Super Sugar Snap & Burpeanna Early: 3/22
• Raised bed #1: Brassicas (Cabbage Family) 4/6
• Turnip, Golden Ball
• Kale, Dwarf Blue Curly & Lacinato
• Radish, Watermelon, Salad Rose, Easter Egg II, French Breakfast
• Raised bed #2: Chenopodiaceae (Beet family) 4/6
• Beets, Chiogga, Touchstone Gold, Cylindra
• Spinach, Avon Hybrid, Salad Select
• Swiss Chard, Burpee's Rhubarb
• Raised bed #4: Solanaceae (Potato and tomato family) 4/7
• Potatoes, Red Norland & Kennebec
• Underneath the grapevines: 4/6
• Cilantro
• Chamomile, German
• Fennel, Bea

(grapevine beds on the left, four 10'x4' beds on the right, pizza box pathway down the middle. still looking for hay to cover the cardboard!)

Veggie garden to-do list:

• Manure on asparagus bed
• Plant onion bulbs asap
• Plant lettuce and carrot family seeds at some point
• Lay out garden paths with cardboard then cover with hay
• Set up soaker hoses

That's all for now, but that's plenty. Quick, you have five minutes before the kids get home - go plant something!

Laura

Computer Gardening - NOT Farmville!

In chatting with some friends on Facebook about seed planting times, especially in reference to the act of remembering to plant said seeds, I recalled something as well. I wrote a blog post awhile ago with a link to an excellent online seed starting chart. In that same post, I talked about other online gardening resources. Since that was a whopping two years ago and a million things have changed since then computer-wise, a good old blog post rewrite is in order.

Seed Starting/Planting Charts: I used Organic Gardening Magazine's seed starting chart for years until I found this online version that calculates the math for me. Check out the "lazy gardener's seed starting chart" at You Grow Girl. All you have to do is download it, and enter the recommended planting date for your time zone. It consists of a list of common garden veggies, how long they take to grow from seed, and how many weeks before or after your last frost date that they should be planted. It also specifies whether the plant should be seeded directly into the ground, or started indoors under lights.

Another option is at "The Vegetable Garden". This site also does the thinking for you by allowing you to enter your zip code to get your USDA planting zone. After that, you can use their zone specific planting guide to determine when to get established plants into the ground. This guide will NOT help you start your own seeds, and you need to intuitively know if they are referring to planting direct by seed, or planting established plants. This one also gives a broader range for planting dates, whereas the You Grow Girl chart is more precise. Either way, it's better than guessing!

Online Garden Planners: Two years ago, I was claiming to "still love my pencil/graph paper/college rule notebook." Bah! Never again. This will be my third garden season using the Mother Earth News  online vegetable garden planner.  It rocks, and I'm hooked. I made a map of my garden, drew in the established raised planting beds and fixed paths, and perennial vegetables. Every season, I keep that layout and move around my annual vegetables in a new saved plan. In this way, I can manage successive sowing and crop rotation. The planner has extra features as well, including planting charts and email reminders.

You can try the service out for yourself for 30 days to see if it would be useful for your garden, and the demo videos show you exactly how to input your garden bed layout. After that, it's a subscription service of $24 per year. For a small garden, this planner is overkill. Also, the planner only includes vegetables, herbs and fruit crops. If your garden is mostly flowers and landscape plantings, the database is inadequate.  

Gardening Apps: I hung around on Google Play and tried out a few smartphone based garden planners and didn't like them much. Other planners had terrible reviews and I didn't even try them. I think I am personally not inclined to involve my phone in gardening, which is wise on my part. I garden like the Muppet Show's Swedish chef cooks. Things get thrown, tools get damaged, and I wind up speaking in foreign gibberish. My phone had best stay out of the fray.

However, if you garden more like Martha Stewart, in your pressed khakis and perfectly clean SPF 50 lightweight gardening shirt, you might successfully garden and update your phone at the same time. To that end, I am filching some app reviews from a recent article from one of my favorite publications, The Herb Quarterly.

Map it - "Garden Tracker" (Apple) - $1.99. This might be a good (and cheap) option for small gardens. The app allows you to lay out a rectangular garden up to 2500 square feet and fill it with 65 veggies and herbs. It includes info about planting, garden pests, and lunar phases. If you use this and like it, let me know.

When do I plant? - "Gardenate" (Android) - $1.99. Enter your zone, and get info on what you can plant each month.

For city folk - "Urban Gardening" (Android) - free. Get news from various blogs about container gardening on balconies.

Herbs for beginners - "Herbs+" (Apple) - $2.99. Gardening and cooking tips for 40 common herbs.

Name that plant - "Botany Buddy" (Apple) - $9.99 and "Landscaper's Companion" (Apple and Android) - $4.99. Botany Buddy has in depth coverage of about 2000 plants, while Landscaper's Companion catalogs 25,000 plants in 17 categories.

Name that tree - "Leafsnap" (Apple, Android in development) - free. This one uses visual-recognition software to identify a tree by a picture of the leaf. How freaking cool is that?? I can't wait for the Android version. Currently it only covers trees native to the northeast, but they're working on covering the whole U.S.

Name that shroom - "Wild Mushrooms of North America and Europe by Roger Phillips" (Apple) - $1.99 and "Roger Phillips Mushrooms" (Android) - $3.99. Go mushroom hunting with this app, which covers 1500 varieties of edible, poisonous and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Have fun, and bring snacks!

Name that critter - Apps from the National Audubon Society (Apple and Android) - $4.99. Decide between birds, butterflies, insects, spiders and other garden friends.

Name that wild food - "Wild Edibles" (Apple), $7.99. Naturalist and funnyman Steve Brill made this app. We followed him around on a local tour presented by our county park system, and when it was through, considered ourselves fully informed about the food value of our local "weeds." If Steve isn't coming to your town, you can get the app instead.

At this point in an ideal world, I would insert an image of my growing seedlings or some screenshots of my online garden planner. But I have yet to document this year's gardening attempts, and my garden plan is too big to upload to the web. In the meantime, here's a nice picture Tom took last summer of The Buddha, a grasshopper and a bunch of zinnias. Happy spring!

Garden Status Update

No, my garden is not on Facebook. But here is what's up as of 3/24:

Indoor seeds: Almost all of the tomatoes are doing well and have their first set of true leaves except for my San Marzanos (10 year old seeds - I guess they are finally dead). Despite my best efforts at labeling, I have two sets of seeds marked "Great White", one of which is thriving profusely and the other which has no hints of seedlings whatsoever. This will be an adventure. The peppers and eggplant are coming up more slowly and the tomatillos are not up yet at all. The rest of the seeds are so-so. The Bea fennel, celeriac, parsley and shiso are not up yet. The others are producing, even the mystery seed. The next step will be to leave one strong seedling in each cell of the tomato and pepper packs. The others will stay as-is since they were sown in plastic grape tomato containers and will get planted earlier than the others.

Outdoor seeds: None of the herb seeds in my Earth Boxes came up. Either it's not warm enough in the greenhouse or they all rotted from being constantly wet and cold. We'll have to see about that one.

This weekend I started some cold weather seeds in the greenhouse to get a jump on the planting season. These are, for the most part, normally sown outside directly in the soil in April.

Box #1: Spinach - Baby's Leaf, Mustard Greens - Florida Broadleaf, Escarole - Eros, Kale - Lacinato, Purslane - Golden, Mibuna - Early

Box #2: Turnip - Golden Ball, Beet - Chioggia & Touchstone Gold & Cylindra, Parsnip - Hollow Crown, Swiss Chard - Bright Lights

Soaked seeds were planted along the fence among the grapes, about 24 feet each of the Burpeeana Early and Super Sugar Snap. Sweet peas were planted in pots and in the rose bed.

General maintenance:
Weeded the pea bed. Started to lay cardboard out for garden bed paths (to be later topped with straw).

To Do:
Finish weeding raised beds in lower part of garden. Continue to lay out cardboard and keep an eye out for straw for sale. Rebuild collapsed asparagus bed. Start artichoke and parsley seeds. Thin tomato seedlings and feed with fish emulsion. Fertilize asparagus, blueberries, hydrangea, rhodes.

Peas Interrupted

What is WITH this weather. Normally, I am getting my peas into the ground now. Today my ground is covered with sleet and ice and generally unpleasant forms of precipitation. And although I have read that you can just push aside that snow and plant your peas anyway, I'm not doing it. Why? Because the ground beneath is full of sleeping weeds that I didn't get to yet during the balmy weather at the beginning of the month. I am sure, based on past experience, that I will accidentally pull up peas if I weed after the fact. Also, it's damn cold out there, and I'm not that dedicated to the cause. I have another plan.

Instead, I am going to start my peas between wet paper towels placed in plastic bags, all 3rd grade earth science style. I've noticed that this somehow gives me multiple weeks jump in pea production. I believe this is because I am not good at keeping peas consistently watered, and therefore it takes them at least three weeks to come up when they go right into the ground. But if I sprout them first a little indoor, I can see their little heads peeking up through the soil within a week.

This year, I'm planting only two edible pea types - one snap pea (Super Sugar Snap) and one shelling (Burpeeana Early). I usually plant too many types, never label them properly, and never know when to pick them. I'm going to grow these in the grape beds so i can trellis them up bamboo poles while stabilizing the poles with the grapevine wire.

While I have peas on the brain, I'm also soaking some very adorable sweet peas. Contrary to what their name implies, these guys are not edible, and may even be poisonous. The flowers are beautiful though and good for cutting. I'm trying three kinds: "Color Palette Cupid" - 8" tall and destined to be a spring centerpiece on my patio table. "Explorer Mix" - 2.5 feet tall and meant for my giant deck planter. "April in Paris" - 8 feet tall. I think these will hang out in the same bed with my perfume rose.

Regardless of my hesitation, snow or no snow, those peas have to get in the ground this weekend. My pea planting schedule will not be interrupted!

Seed Starting: Heirloom vs. Hybrid vs. Wacky

"I don't have time!" I said to myself. "I have too much other shit to do!" I declared. "I'll just have to buy actual plants this year." Decision made.

But then I found myself again at Home Depot for a bag of dirt. Sixty dollars later I am carrying out an infant, a bag of dirt, and a pile of seeds. (Note: infants not for sale at Home Depot)

First, a lesson in seed terminology. Second, my list of seeds started this week including an explanation of the bizarro ones.

Heirloom vs. Hybrid Seeds
The above terms used for plants and seeds describe how a plant has come into the world. Heirloom plants are older varieties whose seeds have been saved and passed down over time. The plants are "open pollinated" and seeds from an heirloom vegetable will produce plants that have the same properties as the parent. In the case of tomatoes, heirloom plants also might be "determinate" which means that they grow to only a certain height and their fruits ripen all at once. "Indeterminate" varieties grow more like vines, and the fruits ripen in succession and produce all season long. All the heirlooms I grow are indeterminate, which means we have a fabulous time ever year figuring out the best way to support them while they grow. But more on our trellising adventures later in the season.

On the other hand, hybrid plants are intentionally produced by cross pollinating two different varieties of plants in hopes of developing a version with specific qualities of both parent plants. Seeds from a hybrid plant will not produce the same exact plant as the original. Hybrid plants are often bred for convenience (small plant sizes, disease resistance, fruits that package well and don't bruise) rather than flavor, which is why I usually go heavy on the heirlooms. However, I do think that a hybrid home grown tomato is better than what you can get in the store, so my "Beaverlodge" tomato variety is an early hybrid that I can usually get to produce in early July.

My Heirlooms:

• Pepper - Corno di Toro
• Tomato - Polish Linguisa
• Tomato - Great White
• Tomato - Purple Calabash
• Tomato - Yellow Perfection
• Tomato - San Marzano
• Tomato - Sugar Snack

My Hybrids:

• Tomato - Beaverlodge
• Eggplant - Little Prince

My Wacky Stuff (Another note: "wacky" is not a seed type. I just don't know what these things are and am figuring that you don't either):

• Root Parsley "Hamburg" and Celeriac/Root Celery - We're big fans of root vegetables here. Big. And there are way more interesting root vegetables than carrots. These two are delicious, and add a fun twist to mashed potatoes or a roasted veggie platter. They both taste like their edible foliage, but are milder. In these varieties, the roots are the stars.  
• Tomatillo - Fundamental to salsa verde, tomatillos are a Mexican food staple and a member of the same plant family as tomatoes. One plant produces like crazy, but I can never stop myself from planting two of them.
• Broccoli "Romanesco" - I suck at growing broccoli so I don't have high hopes for this. I might grow it in the greenhouse to try to avoid the inevitable cabbageworm attack. If it does actually grow, it will produce a whole head of lime green, pointy florets that look similar to Madonna's cone bra in her Blonde Ambition tour.
• Shiso, Green - I've never grown this and am not sure I've even seen it in real life. Shiso is a traditional Japanese cooking herb with aromatic cinnamon-flavored leaves. Also comes in purple. If it works, we might see some fancy new recipes coming from Tommy-San.
• Malabar Spinach "Red Stem" - Another newcomer to my garden. This is a tropical vine that grows in the heat of summer, and is described as spinach-like. I love the idea of a spinachish plant for summer, so we're trying this.
• Epazote - Herb native to South America and used in Mexican food, especially bean dishes. This has the potential to be a rotten weed in these parts, so grow in a pot and watch for volunteer baby plants in your garden beds. I haven't had a chance to cook with this, but it's supposed to help bean related digestive problems. Here's to hoping.
• Cavolo Broccolo Spigariello, called "leaf broccoli" - I got these seeds in the Christmas Tree Shop of all places. It attracted me because the whole rack of seed was all in Italian and I couldn't identify the plant in the picture. Google tells me that this has little broccoli heads but is really grown for the leaf and harvests like kale. It's a cut and come again plant that will grow all season. Let's see if it works.
• Fennel, Bulbing "Trieste" - Tom is totally obsessed with fennel bulbs for cooking and insists we grow as much of this as possible. We never use all that we grow. I used to think that was fine because the plant would flower and go to seed, but seeds never seemed to appear. It turned out that some fennel varieties are grown for seed and others for the bulb, but there are no varieties that do both. If you know of one, dear reader, please inform me! In the meantime, we will be growing the "Trieste" variety for seed, and also the ......
• Fennel, Seed "Bea" - ..... and this one for seed. I named it "Bea" after a sweet gal named Bea Kunz, owner of Sage Hill Farms, who graciously sent me this seed. I can't wait to grow it and harvest my own! If I get a good enough crop, maybe I will take a page from the book of Bea, and share my harvest.
• Mystery Seed - This is thanks to my excellent labeling skills. What is it? Who knows. It could be a kind of basil. Or maybe columbine. As of now, it is planted, and we will just see what develops.

Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next week!

Laura

It's the Year Of the Heirloom Grain!

What has two thumbs, crazy eyes, and an unrealistic sense of time restrictions ? This gal! It's nearly spring again, and I'm nearly out of my mind with excitement for garden prep. And just like every year, I begin with a burst of high enthusiasm and enormous destined-to-fail plans. This year's grand schemes are listed numerically below. Commentary by the lunatic that takes over my logic and reasoning abilities every spring follows.

1.) I will blog every week, even if it's just a paragraph to log what I've done. [This one is totally doable because I have so much spare time! I'm sure my disabled 9 year old and newborn infant will magically become completely self-sufficient every Sunday evening at the exact moment I sit down at my computer! No problem! And I'll even still find time to shower!!]

2.) I will fertilize all vegetables and perennials according to their individual specifications and requirement. [I don't know anything about fertilizing beyond randomly throwing compost on plants when I remember to. As long as you put a plant in dirt, it should grow - right?  But this year I'm going to be totally organized! I'm going to N-P-K the shit out of this place, and these plants won't know what hit them! They will be happy and healthy and wildly productive, and I will be the best gardener ever. EVER!!!]

3.) I will plant and grow my own heirloom wheat and make homemade bread out of it. [OK! Even my enthusiastic looney-toon self knows that this is just batshit crazy. But why not? Why shouldn't I try? I'm almost forty, and not getting any younger. The time to do weird shit is now, and I believe this goal qualifies.]

Go ahead, laugh. I certainly am. I, too, observe myself with a detached bemusement, having seen myself pull this stunt time and time again. But I fully embrace the silliness and hope of March while preemptively forgiving myself for not following through. I'm sure someone/everyone has said this better, but if we don't have hope, what do we have? And who knows - one of these years, I just might go ahead and kick some ass, just as I intended. Better stay tuned to see if 2013 is that year.

And so to fulfill goal #1 for the week -

Accomplished this week:

• Started herb seeds in the greenhouse in Earth Boxes. Box #1, all basils: Genovese, Sweet, Lemon, Greek, Lime & Dark Opal. Box #2: Cilantro, Chervil, Summer Savory, Watercress.
• Cut back grapes.
• Ordered specialty seeds: Lacinato Kale, Imperial Star Artichoke, Red Garnet Amaranth, Red Head Quinoa.

To-do:

• Start indoor seeds, especially tomatoes and peppers.
• Prune roses
• Finish garden and perennial bed clean up.
• Fertilize asparagus, blueberries & hydrangea.
• Rebuild collapsed raised beds (hear that, Tommy?)

Goals number two and three require more research so more on those later. I would include a picture of the current state of disrepair of the vegetable beds but the baby is crying. Yep, this is totally going to work just fine!

Laura