Last week, my daughter brought tons of garlic scapes back from work and made two cups of pesto – one for the freezer and one that we have been using up all week. There were still quite a few scapes left (around 20), and I decided to turn them into garlic scape powder. I have never done this before, so it was an exciting new project.
First, I washed and dried the scapes. I then cut off the flower buds and chopped the stems into 1 cm long (about 1/2 inch) pieces. I placed them in a single layer on a baking sheet and dried them in the oven at 150F. I checked every 45 minutes to an hour and turned them. After quite some time (4 hours and 45 minutes, the last 45 minutes at 170F), they were completely dry and brittle. I then let them cool and blitzed them in a mini food processor. Those 20 scapes yielded around 3 tablespoons. Not a whole lot, but it smells divine, so I think it is very potent.
I have been taking pottery classes at JP Clay since February. Here are a few recent combos of hand-picked flowers and herbs (from the backyard or community plot) and my hand-made creations.
I harvested all four heads of my Black Seeded Simpson as they started to show early signs of bolting. I still have four other lettuce types growing: Salanova Green Butter, Merlot, Johnny’s Allstar GourmetLettuce Mix, and Sandy Hill Preservation Center lettuce mix. Salad for dinner tonight!
I harvested my garlic scapes today. 15 total, from just as many hardnecks as I had put in the ground in the fall (I have 20 softnecks as well, so 35 heads total). I made garlic scape pesto, but this time, I followed the recipe to the end and included cheese and lemon juice, which I normally omit and add later. It is really delicious. We shall see how well it freezes.
Mise-en-placeTo be topped with olive oil and ready for the freezer. I will transfer the frozen cubes into a Ziplock bag.
Walking path-side of the bed (the “naked spot” is freshly sown and will be mulched later)
Yesterday was the last cool-ish day before we are now entering a stretch of days with temperatures in the 90s and mid/upper 80s, so I decided to sort of finalize the preparations for the outside communal flower bed. I spent three hours weeding, sowing (annual & perennial wildflower mix and cosmos), transplanting, and mulching with salt marsh hay. I still have some seedlings that will go in this bed, mainly zinnias and okra.
Eastern Bluestar, a native perennial, which eventually will grow into a large bush
This year, the bed will look different. We sadly won’t have as many dahlias as last year, and we had to remove the blueberry bush as it had died (probably from overwatering, or from dog traffic …). The walking-path section of the bed is planted with Black-eyed Susans, lavender, many annuals (calendula, hibiscus, nasturtium, zinnias, cosmos, wildflower mix, sweet alyssum, celosia, okra) and a few dahlias. There also is Swiss chard, and a volunteer squash or cucumber, that I transplanted. Most of the plants are still tiny.
From front to back: hibiscus, calendula, zinnias
In the narrow center part of the bed, we planted tomatoes, hot peppers and several types of basil. The tomatoes are all cherry types, which will make it easier for the neighborhood to enjoy. There is also a healthy sage plant, anise hyssop, marigolds, and a tall yellow-flowering perennial (a donation of which I do not know the name). Towards the fence, we planted two types of climbers.
Lance-leaved coreopsis in the native perennial street-side corner
The perennials corner close to the street is looking really good. Everything came back vigorously, and the Corepsis and Bluestar are flowering. The perennials are interplanted with strawflowers and sweet alyssum, and the calendula self-sowed and will show up in patches throughout the bed.
Native perennials: New York asters, goldenrod, Coreopsis, Bluestar, creeping thyme
Just five days until the official beginning of summer, and things have been slow in the garden. The weather has been cycling from the mid-60s to the upper 80s back to the low 60s, which has been stressing the plants, so everything seems to grow slower. Nevertheless, the plants are getting bigger, the zucchini is starting to flower, and I have my first summer flowers – self-seeding Calendula (also known as pot marigold). Those happy little flowers will bloom until the first frost.
Lettuces and kale
The lettuces have been benefiting from the cold weather. The tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and basil not so much. In fact, I lost all but one of my slicing cucumber plants. Not sure what happened there. It is going to be warm again starting in two days, with temperatures predicted to be in the mid-90s early next week. I hope the plants can tolerate those changes.
This morning, I harvested the last of my porch lettuce. Temperatures will be in the upper 80s today (and low 90s tomorrow), so I did not want these to bolt. I sadly did not take a picture of the lettuce container before the harvest (it was very pretty), but I immediately planted it with Thai Pepper, Thai basil and nasturtium (those came up in the pot from last year and just moved them). Looks like we are switching from spring to summer …
This morning, I (almost) finished planting my plot. Everything is now in the ground, except the sweet potatoes and okra (I will wait a few more days), and I still have to sow flowers and cilantro. I planted 5 cucamelon plants, 5 pickling cucumbers, 4 slicing cucumbers, 1 zucchini, 4 delicata squash and 3 butternut squash. I also planted two jalapenos, which were a gift. The Sweet Thai basil was planted in between the lettuce seedlings, and the Siam Thai basil along the border of my bed, next to the tomatoes. I also moved some calendulas to different spots in the plot, staked the tomatoes and secured the plants to the stakes with garden velcro. I harvested a handful of strawberries, yay! Usually the slugs, birds or pill bugs get there before I do.
All planted for now!Pots, cells and trays for187 (now planted) seedlings – all washed and ready to go into storage until next spring. I have still 31 seedlings to plant.
This morning, I planted my tomatoes (11 plants total, 8 varieties). I interplanted them with Italian basil (6 plants) and marigolds (5 plants). I also sowed nasturtium (Alaska Red Shades). I still have to plant the Thai basil, leeks, curcubites and flowers (strawflowers, gomphrena) as well as sow cilantro and flowers (borage, cosmos, zinnias, more nasturtium). I also harvested my two overwintered leeks. The rhubarb is still going strong (three harvests so far), the garlic looks great and the shallots are coming up as well.
