Herbs – Page 13 – Nine by Eighteen

Squash

SabineOctober 29, 2019Leave a Reply

Yesterday, I harvested four more squash. They now cure in our back hallway. The night before – a very rainy and windy Sunday that my poor 17-year-old daughter spent outdoors at the last rowing regatta of the season on the Merrimack river – I had roasted three of the five previously harvested squash and turned half of the roasted pulp into a very tasty butternut squash soup with fried sage and cheese, adapted from this recipe. The soup was the perfect ending to a wet and raw day. I froze the other half of the pulp for future use.

All in all, I have harvested nine butternut squash so far. They weighed in at a total of 21 pounds and 15 ounces. I gave two of them to my neighbor and five are still on the vine – a total of 14.

*Brushed with olive oil and stuffed with thyme and sage*

Back Porch in the Fall

SabineSeptember 23, 2019Leave a Reply

Happy fall from my back porch.

Bountiful August

SabineAugust 20, 2019Leave a Reply

This is what I came home to after ten days vacation (my community garden neighbors watered the plot and harvested some of the veggies). Slicing cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, chard, eggplant, jalapenos. The bouquet is dahlia, asparagus, lemon balm, mint. It smells divine. I also picked some parsley for the eggplant dish I have planned for tonight.

Back Porch Update

SabineJuly 24, 2019Leave a Reply

A little porch update in pictures: There will be tons of little 4 inch-long eggplants it seems. This is my first time growing eggplant in containers and I am very happy with the result.

*Sunflower surprise – left in one of the pots by the blue jays who frequently come to visit.*

Garlic Scape Pesto

SabineJuly 17, 2019Leave a Reply

A few days ago, I finally got around to make garlic scape pesto with my harvested scapes. As usual, I froze it in ice cube trays and then transferred the pesto cubes to freezer bags for later use. Yum!

*… olive oil, almond meal and salt (I normally leave out the cheese). Blend with a stick blender and fill an ice cube tray, …*

Midsummer Porch

SabineJune 29, 2019Leave a Reply

*The herb/tomato/eggplant/potato/pepper/lettuce/chard corner of my back porch*

The plants on my Southwest-facing back porch are doing well for the most part. We had plenty of rain lately and last week we had a couple of really hot days so those tiny chard and kale seedlings are finally catching up. I am very impressed with the potatoes and the lettuce.

*Baby kale planted after head lettuce harvest*

*Astilbe (on our Northeast-facing front porch)*

Garden Dinner

SabineJune 29, 2019Leave a Reply

Earlier this week, I made (up) a Greek-inspired quick dinner. I fried up leeks, onion, garlic and a bell pepper and added ground beef to it. I added tomato paste to make it more like a sauce and seasoned it with paprika, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, oregano. Topped it with feta and fresh parsley and served over rice. Quick, easy and delicious.

The (overwintered) leeks and onions were from my garden plot, the parsley from my back porch.

Porch Update

SabineJune 16, 2019Leave a Reply

The plants on my back porch are doing well. I am growing tomatoes (Paul Robeson), eggplant (Fairy Tale), hot pepper (Jedi Jalapeño), cut lettuce, butter lettuce, potatoes, Swiss Chard and herbs (mint, sage, thyme, rosemary, basil and parsley). Also on the porch are our grapefruit “tree”, our palm – both are indoor plants during the colder months – and several potted perennials: lavender, Osteospermum and Dianthus.

First Home-Grown Dinner

SabineMay 17, 2019Leave a Reply

A couple of nights ago, we enjoyed the first (partially) home-grown dinner of the season: fettuccine with sauteed asparagus and mushrooms in a garlicky lemon-feta sauce. The (purple!) asparagus came from my garden plot, the parsley from my back porch. Delicious!

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

SabineMay 7, 2019Leave a Reply

Finally, spring is here. It has been so cold and wet these past weeks, everything in my garden is late. So far, I have only planted peas, spinach, radishes, carrots and lettuce in my plot. The rhubarb is coming up as are the first spears of asparagus.

I went to Allendale Farm this morning to get herbs for my back porch. I indeed got parsley, sage and thyme, but they were out of rosemary. I also got a six-pack each of basil, cauliflower and “Buttercrunch” head lettuce. I will plant a couple of the basil and lettuce cells in pots on my porch. The rest will go into my plot together with the cauliflower and some parsley.

I also got some flowers: lavender “Kew Red” and Osteospermum. Both are planted in containers on the back porch. And I purchased dahlia tubers (the one I overwintered in the basement did not survive – I forgot to keep them moist throughout the winter), garden twine, labels, environmentally-friendly insecticidal soap (to keep the aphids in check) and organic fish & seaweed fertilizer.