Bye Bye Rosemary

This fall when I renovated my bed, I finally took out the rosemary.  I knew it was big and taking up way more space than it should. However, I had NO idea how big it was until we put it in the wheelbarrow! (Thanks Jack for helping me get it out and giving it a good home.)

This plant had never really been babied, protected, or anything. It just got water and had never had a hair cut. Not even when it looked like it was going to die after the Polar Vortex hit it in February.

It is amazing how much "empty" space is in my bed now! Between removing it and the lavender, I got a 4 foot by 2 foot swath back - which is 1/4 of my bed. Ooopss.....

The moral to this story is - be ruthless! Remove any plant when it gets too big for the tiny space it is in, no matter how fond of it you are.

Vicki - Bed 41

Comfrey - a great plant for pollinators

Last week was National Pollinator Week but it is never too late to write about pollinators. It is really cool when you really "SEE" what is happening under your very nose when it comes to pollinators in your front yard.

Why are pollinators a good thing? Some plants use the wind to spread their pollen but most plants need assistance from an animal or insect to get their flowers pollinated.

If a flower doesn't get pollinated, it won't set seed i.e. make the fruits, vegetables and nuts that we (as well as the rest of the animal kingdom) eat. If we didn't have something to pollinate our fruits and vegetables, we'd be very hungry and not have such a diverse diet.

I've grown comfrey for years but never realized until this year what a great pollinator plant it is. It is hardy, lives in pots or the ground, reseeds readily, is easy to pull up when you don't want it where it has appeared and blooms from April until the end of October.

This afternoon I went outside and glanced over at my thicket of comfrey and found half a dozen bumble bees buzzing around. They make a circuit of the flowers, disappear from view then come back for another circuit around the flowers. Over and over and over again. Besides the bumble bees there are tiny native bees that are buzzing around and crawling in the flowers themselves.

Comfrey has been used for healing purposes since at least 400 B.C. I've used it as a salve to heal small "ouchies" and I have a friend that uses the dried leaves in bathwater to get rid of the itch of chiggers and ticks.  When I read up on comfrey, I found that it had been used for food, as a dye, in cosmetics and as an ornamental. (Internal use is NOT recommended any more.)

I've planted a baby plant by the birdbath at the garden and we'll see how well it does there.  Anything that blooms at least 7 months of the year and is used by multiple pollinators deserves a home in one of our pollinator borders.

Lavender Lemonade

Hey Everyone,

Just the hint of the 80 degree weather last week had me thinking about planting the lavender.  This is one of my favorite recipes for the long hot days of summer.  
Simply delightful!

Lavender Lemonade – Cooking Light Magazine

Does this not scream, plant me?

Ingredients:

4 cups water, divided

¼ cup chopped fresh lavender leaves

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 6 – 8 lemons)

Lavender stems and/or flowers

Preparation:

Using a small saucepan, bring 1-cup water to a boil.  Pour boiling water over the chopped lavender leaves, cover, and steep for 30 minutes.   Strain the lavender mixture through a fine sieve into a pitcher; discard the used leaves.

Combine 3 cups water and sugar in a medium saucepan.  Bring the mixture to a boil, and cook 1 minute or until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Mix the lavender water, sugar syrup, and lemon juice in a pitcher.  Cover and chill. 

Serve over ice.  For a special touch, garnish lemonade with lavender flower stems or freeze lavender flowers into ice cubes.   Another nice touch is to add just a couple drops of food coloring.  Blue & red make purple or simply green is beautiful.

Hope you enjoy,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29 

Sunflowers and Pollinators

Last year, I watched and marveled at how many pollinators came to visit the sunflower plants Tucker had growing in her bed. The other amazing thing was all the different species that came to visit.

To get to get a good yield in a vegetable garden or orchard you have to have pollinators to come pollinate the flowers on your plants. True, not all plants need insects since some plants are wind pollinated or self-pollinating but you still need pollinators to help.
When you think of a pollinator you tend to think of just the honeybee. While the honeybee is very important, the native bees, bumblebees, flies and wasps are equally as important for pollination and insect control.

The more I read and talked to experienced gardeners about vegetable gardening, the more I realized how important it was to have even more plants for the pollinators and especially for the beneficial insects (predators).

What is a beneficial insect? An insect (praying mantis, lady bugs, parasitic wasps, spiders, etc.) that eat or parasitize insect eggs and bad bugs (aphids, mites, white flies, hornworms, etc.) .  Predators in the bug world are our best friends.

To make our best friends happy and more comfortable, we need more pollinator beds. Especially beds that have plants specifically for the predators ie, beneficial insects. The more beneficials we have, the less insect and disease problems we will have.  Which means less spraying and higher yields. Definitely win win situations for us, the plants and our insect friends.

This week during the Saturday workday we will be tilling up the beds along the fence facing the orchard. Once they are tilled, if we have time on Saturday, we'll plant sunflower seeds as well as herb seeds and plants. If we don't get them planted, we'll just do it some night next week.

Sometimes when you buy herbs at the nurseries you end up with more than you can use. If you need to find a good home for them, feel free to put them in the new beds going in. If you need to divide any plants, we have a new home waiting for them. The following herbs are what we are interested in: Cilantro, Basil, Fennel, Garlic Chives, Parsley, Mints, Dill, Oregano, Thyme.

I love Citizen Science Projects so later in the year, we'll be doing  citizen science surveys of what pollinators are using our pollinator borders. You'll be invited to participate when the time comes.

In the meantime, I hope you come out and help us put the in the sunflower and herb border during the upcoming Saturday workday.

Harvest Soup With Garden Fresh Veggies!

Hey Everyone,

This is a wonderful dish for utilizing fresh produce pulled from the garden.  A dear friend of mine gave me this recipe a few years back and it is such a nice one to share.  The touch of lemon really adds elegance and lightness to the dish while enhancing the flavor of the other ingredients.  White Satin carrots can stand alone in this recipe; however, I enjoy throwing in some of my Mokum's for color and added sweetness. Simply delightful!

HARVEST SOUP

Yummy Yum! 

Ingredients:

1 (32-ounce) container fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided (Swanson)
1/2 heaping cup uncooked orzo
2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon Bertolli Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil
1 cup garden fresh carrots cut into thin rounds
3/4 cup chopped fresh garden onions (yellow granex work well or anything sweet)
1/2 cup diced celery
3/4 pound cooked chicken breast cut into bite size pieces (A fresh roasted chicken from the deli or the Purdue Grilled Chicken Breast available in a box work wonderfully)
1 1/4 cups water
3 garden fresh parsley sprigs
1 extra-large garden fresh lemon thyme sprig
4 - 5 cups washed and dried garden fresh baby spinach leaves
1 heavy tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 - 2 lemons)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

Bring 1 3/4 cups chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add the orzo and cook 9 - 10 minutes until barely done.  Remove from heat, set aside, and do not drain.

While the orzo is cooking, heat oil in a 3 qt. saucepan over medium heat.  Swirl to coat the bottom of the pan.  Add carrots, chopped onions, celery, and cooked chicken.  Sauté 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Stir in the remaining 2 1/4 cups chicken broth, 1 1/4 cups water, parsley, and thyme.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Be careful not to overcook.

Remove and discard the herb sprigs.

Add orzo, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Stir thoroughly to break up the orzo.  Add the spinach and simmer 1 minute or just until it barely wilts.

Serve with nice quality Italian bread from the deli.

Serves 3-4

I always take the above recipe and make a batch and a half since this soup holds so well for up to a week.  I go heavy on all the garden ingredients as they just melt in your mouth.  The batch and a half makes four good size entrees like the photo above with a couple sides left over for lunch!  This recipe lends itself quite well to entertaining.

Hope you enjoy,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29

   

The Great And Not So Great Garden Companions

Hey Everyone,

Collard Greens

I was speaking with someone in the garden last week having trouble growing radishes in close proximity to their collard greens.  They mentioned neither had performed very well even though they did everything right. Hence, the inspiration for this post as it is a common problem you may encounter in the garden!  

From the symptoms they described of how their plants and produce appeared (both small and unproductive) and the proper steps they had taken in their care, it sounded like a simple case of bad bed buddies.  I certainly won't try to say that one fast three times!

Amethyst Radishes
Territorial Seed 

Much like countless dogs and cats, some plants just do not get along.  While others have such an amazing connection, you are bewildered and intrigued by their behavior.   Many of my garden references state that Radishes and the Cole crops are actually bad companions in the garden as they somewhat repel each other.  Most often, this leads to stunted growth and poor development.  Not always, just more often than not!  

However, if you take those same radishes and plant them next to carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, peas, spinach, and a few others, they will all work in perfect harmony creating a symbiotic relationship.  I actually seem to find my radishes more on the sweeter side when I plant them beside my lettuce in the early days of spring.  They are also excellent to use as a trap crop (see definition below) for leafminers when grown alongside spinach and lettuce, or utilized as a repellent for cucumber beetles.  I use both these practices on a routine basis.

Trap Crop - A small group of plants often used in companion planting techniques to attract harmful or undesirable insects away from the main crop.

There is a substantial amount of information out there regarding the use of companion planting.  The science behind the concept is that some plants chemically enhance or inhibit each other's growth when planted in close proximity to one another.  In addition, it is believed that certain plants have the further benefit of either being able to attract or repel certain insects depending on your needs.  Much of it is proven scientific fact; however, you will always find some folklore mixed in.      

Raised bed gardening actually lends itself quite well to the practice of companion planting due to the close proximity in which each crop needs to be grown.  I have been experiencing a great amount of success with the method of utilizing certain crops to repel insects.  Garlic, parsley, mint, and radishes left to bloom are all workhorses in the garden for me.  With the rapid approach of spring, I thought I would offer some information on the topic to get everyone off to a great planting season with much success. The first link offers a base list to use in the garden for those that just want a quick reference of the great and not so great garden companions.  The second and third links provide some additional information on the topic.  

Garden Companion Planting Chart - link to a basic list of companion plants - vegetables

Companion Planting Techniques - link to some general information on companion planting

Companion Gardening Overview - link to some general information on companion planting

Rodale Organic Gardening
Reference
Sally Jean Cunnigham

"Great Garden Companions", by Sally Jean Cunningham out of Cornell University is one of the nice references that I use and is readily available on Amazon.  This book maintains its focus solely 
on the vegetable garden and provides detailed information for preventing pest problems utilizing common herbs and flowers.  I find quite a bit of success with many of her recommendations.

Happy Gardening!

Denise, Beds 25 & 29