May Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

I haven't posted much lately because of a weed situation in the garden that I'll be going into more detail about soon. Weeds - the scourge of the garden! But my son and I went around the yard today taking some pictures to share what we have blooming today. Thank you to May Dreams Gardens for hosting this! Things are really starting to grow quickly in the vegetable garden so many of the pictures are edibles...I can't wait for summer salads!

First up is the lovely purple flower of an eggplant

Our first beefsteak tomato

Yellow Pear tomato blooms Pumpkin Blossoms

Cucumber blossoms...

and our first cucumber

Strawberry flower

The nasturtiums are blooming, which I was so happy to see. I expected them not to do much since they are in very fertile soil, having just been given a dose of manure and worm gold at the beginning of the year. Looking forward to adding these to salads!

The zucchini has the prettiest blossoms right now

Scarlet runner bean flowers

And finally - a bee we found on a growing strawberry - yay bees!

Making Chamomile Tea

I made chamomile tea today and it was so easy! Here's how I did it.

I started with our lovely chamomile plant that bloomed beautifully this year.

I cut it back to about 8 or 10 inches tall and then bundled the bouquet and hung it to dry.

After about a week, I clipped off the dried flowers from the stems.

I had to separate the stems out one by one, which leads me to think that it might be easier next time to bundle them more evenly so that I can cut straight across and have less stems to pick out.

Ta da! Tea in a container. A teaspoon per cup is enough for a medium-strength tea. I'm sincerely hoping for another harvest this year, but with my love of chamomile tea, I think I'll need to plant a few more plants next year. Once I try the straight tea, I'm going to try adding some of the other dried herbs to create a fun blend. More on that another day!

Yesterday's Garden Salad

I finally got my salad ready in time for a late dinner, but it was worth the wait! Just being in the garden in the cool of the evening cutting my own food for dinner was so pleasant. Represented here are oak leaf lettuce, romaine, arugula, sorrel, thyme, chives, sage, basil, dill, carnations, and a pansy. The flowers that look like daisies are Chamomile flowers, and they weren't part of the salad, but are now hanging in the kitchen to dry so that I can make some tea.

I washed everything and picked out the older, tougher lettuces and tossed them. After a really good wash, I spun them in the salad spinner to dry and set them aside. I washed and finely chopped all of the herbs and put them in a bowl. To the bowl I added some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, the juice of one lemon, and salt and pepper. After whisking, I tossed it with the lettuce and then added chopped pansies and carnations to the top along with an avocado given to me by a neighbor. Yum!!

Thyme for a recipe

My thyme needed to be cut back so I brought some into the house to put in vases and then I also decided to use it for dinner. What a delightful smell! I grabbed a big handful and washed it under the sink before tucking it in (flowers, stems, and all!) between some frozen chicken breasts that had been seasoned with salt and pepper. I put a little lemon zest on each one and then squeezed the juice from the lemon over the whole thing. About 2 tbs. of olive oil drizzled over the top finished it off and then I baked it uncovered for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Because I put them in the oven frozen, it was so easy! I served it with the harvest grains from Trader Joe's, which is a mix of baby garbanzo beans, red quinoa, and risotto and then we had a side of steamed asparagus topped with a citrus vinaigrette. Yum!

A 3x10 raised bed, or front-of-house planter

In response to a few requests for specific garden plans, I put together some ideas for a raised bed. Finally I had a few minutes to totally think out my plan and get some notes written. I'll list below my plant suggestions, locations, and purposes. I hope you like this! A couple of notes before we get started...

1. This plan assumes the planter receives full sun.
2. I live in Southern California, but ask your local garden center for specifics on when to plant if you are far away or in a much different climate.
3. This particular color scheme is in the white/blue/purple range (as opposed to red/yellow/orange).
4. Last, this is going to be what I call a "baby" garden. It won't have big immediate impact because you'll buy all little 4" pots or seeds, which are far less expensive. But by mid-summer and next Spring, your plants will be all grown up.

I love to plant herbs and edibles, and this year I am particularly focused on getting the herb garden really packed with edible flowers so that I can have a flower party in mid-summer. Here is a list of great plants, followed by a planting chart.

Spanish Lavender. Perhaps in the future we can discuss more specifics about the varieties, but to keep it easy, I would just head off to Home Depot or Armstrong and pick up a 4" pot of whatever looks nice and smells good to you.

Rosemary. Cut it and toss it in with your roasted meats, chop it up for use in breads, and sometime this summer I'll write out a recipe for delicious rosemary vanilla ice cream. Rosemary has lovely little flowers that can also be used for your culinary delight. Rosemary will grow into a very big bush, so be sure to harvest regularly to keep the shape the way you like!

Thyme is grows in a lovely mound and can be used in the kitchen for just about anything. This is one of my favorite little plants to add to herbal flower arrangements.

Common Sage has a light purple to blue flower and grows perennially for me.

Purple Sage has green foliage with a purple tinge, which adds a nice interest to the greens.

Carnations, Bachelor buttons, chives, nasturtiums, and pansies. These plants I would buy as seeds or in six-packs, keeping in mind the blue/purple/white color theme. All of their flowers are edible and would look lovely in a salad…just look at the cover of Sunset Magazine!

So the goal here is to use the perennial lavender and rosemary as the background, and Thyme and Sage in the foreground. The back row will have alternating lavender and rosemary with carnations in between. The front row will have alternating thyme, purple sage, and common sage with nasturtium seeds, pansies, chives, and bachelor buttons in between.

I am currently re-planting some things in the vegetable garden so that I can have a nice little herb border like this. Did I miss things you like planting in this color range? Let me know - I'd love suggestions!

Scarlet Runner Beans

Have you ever been to one of those wonderful children's gardens where houses and teepees are made out of beautiful climbing vines? Well, this year we are determined to make our own teepee out of some bamboo poles and scarlet runner beans. I had planned to plant scarlet runner beans anyway because of their bright red blooms that are completely edible, but then I started looking around online and found that they make a great climbing vine for teepees. If you want to join me in tepee making, plant now! All you need are 5 or 6 long (15 feet would be good) bamboo poles. Stick them into some soil and tie at the top with twine to form your teepee. Then plant the beans all around the base. Your seedlings should be naturally inclined to climb right up the structure, but check them periodically and guide them upwards if you need to. By the hot days of summer, you should have a nice little spot for some of your little ones to hide out with a glass of lemonade. Plus, since the flowers and beans are totally edible, you have nothing to worry about if they have a little snack, too!

P.S. For an adorable idea for little people lemonade, check out Allegra's blog...so cute!