Redlands, 27 April, 12:15, warm & sunny.

Before we get to our herbs of the week, there are a couple of things we would like to share.

Please mark your calendars to join me on a meditative walk this coming Wednesday, May 4th from  5:20 to 6:30  p.m – University of Redlands, Larson Hall [room 201]. This is the second year in which we will embark on a ” Walking Aroma Therapy Meditation”.

“Walking meditation is a form of meditation in action. In walking meditation, we use the experience of walking as our focus. We become mindful of our experience while walking, and try to keep our awareness involved.” As we walk, our focus will be to tune in to the sights, sounds, feel and fragrance of nature all around us. We will allow our senses to be transported, soothed and restored  by the inherent peace and tranquility nature provides our spirit and our souls.  

It is my hope that this walk will inspire you to find time to be in nature daily, taking  time to see [and smell] the beauty that we may be walking past each and every day.

On another note,[ and a completely random one], did you know that 2% Greek yogurt contains nearly 24 grams of protein in a 1 cup serving? [We first learned of this last weeked at the farmers market  - isn't community amazing!] Let’s all start adding it into our diet where and when we can! We added it to our holiday scalloped potatoes and it was amazing! Smoothies with fresh strawberries, bananas and honey? As a dip for fresh veggies? With herbs on baked potato?

Now, on to the herb of the week – Summer Savory.

Summer Savory is an annual herb with a taste that reminds me of thyme, with a hint of mint, pepper and an undertone of basil. There is an delicious anise like taste and smell to savory which I just love! [both Winter & Summer, the Winter variety being perennial and more woody].

Summer savory is a Mediterranean herb and so it  grows very well in our climate! Treat it like you would sage or thyme , giving it a home in your garden where it will get plenty of sunshine and in soil that drains well. What I love most about Summer Savory is that it is always the first warm season annual herb to fill my garden [and the nursery!]. Before basil is even sprouting [never mind growing], Summer Savory is growing fast, strong and adding just a hint of the basil like taste we are all anxiously awaiting.

When I ask people if they have grown or use summer savory, I have to say the majority of people say “no”. I too, spent many years unfamiliar with how to season with this annual culinary delight. Last year, our  friend Gabriele and her son Joel, shared some time with me in the nursery before a lovely afternoon lunch. A native of Germany, Gabriele immediately recognized summer savory as the cut herb that quite often accompanies fresh green beans at local farmers markets back home. She said that in Germany, savory is referred to as Bohnenkraut, the bean herb, or Pfefferkraut, the pepper herb.  When we steamed it green beans,  WOW, it is AMAZING! [green beans are fresh this week at local farmers markets!]

 Savory has been known to be combined with vinegar as a sauce for fish and as an  essential ingredient for stuffing.  In France, summer savory is used to marinate goat cheese rounds in olive oil and savory.  [Hey, did you know we have a new addition to the Redlands Saturday morning farmers market? Olive oil?]

Heirloom tomatoes pair beautifully with summer savory. Before basil is readily available, substitute summer  savory in with fresh tomatoes ,  mozzarella, red wine vinegar and olive oil. When canning your summer bounty of tomatoes, do add savory as one of the herbs in your recipe. On that note,  Summer savory combines well with other herbs, bringing out each flavor without overwhelming, so do play.

 I like to mince savory and add it to bread crumbs to top sauteed veggies or to bread fresh fish. Adding 1-2 shopped teaspoons of chopped savory to fresh veggie juice is refreshing & satisfying.

More recipe ideas:

Added to Quinoa

To marinade grilled chicken

With garlic & cream cheese as a spread for crackers?

In Asparagus soup

Ciambotta with Baked Eggs, Savory, and Ragusano Cheese

Enjoy the day!

Redlands, 05:00hr, sun about to rise, light drizzle. Cool.

What a festive week this is. Holy Week has begun, Tuesday marks the beginning of Passover & this Sunday is Easter. No matter ones religious beliefs or customs, sitting down with friends and loved ones over a meal prepared from fresh foods, crafted with a spirit of love,  unites us all.

So, as your thoughts turn to the dishes you will be preparing this week [and beyond], we wanted to turn your focus to an herb that is a must for the spring garden but seems to have missed many peoples radar. Chervil.

Heirloom Chervil

For many, their first encounter with Chervil is as one of the ingredients in the French herb blend “fines herbes” – alongside tarragon, chives and parsley. And although quite delicious in this blend, the delicate lacy appearance, taste and texture of Chervil warrants a solo spotlight!

Redlands, 13 April, 09:40, overcast & on the cool side

Are you ready? Just as many of us are giving thought to starting this seasons herb & veggie gardens [and wondering where to actually start], this Saturday [about noon] we will be on hand at Olive Avenue Market in Redlands to show you how to  plant a raised edible garden.

For those of you familiar with Olive Ave Market [one of our most favorite places in the whole world...nope, not impartial here] you have seen many of the plants we grow in the landscape alongside the market. What began in 2008 as an educational outreach involving ourselves, RAF and the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District to demonstrate the use of both native and water-wise plantings in a home-like garden setting has evolved to a landscape complete with edibles, container plantings – even a raised box in the back patio area just so we can all learn [and enjoy the fruits of] a raised kitchen garden!

We are very excited to have this space to demonstrate compact edible gardening – the Square Foot Garden method. Pioneered way as far back as  the 70′s by Mel Bartholome, this method of gardening  is  focused on  economically growing the most amount of food one can from a relatively small space. Gone is the concept of planting in single rows, instead focusing on planting one or several plants [depending on which plant we are growing] into single one foot squares. Please do visit their website for books, guides, accessories – everything you could want to get you started!

So, before you come down and get your hands dirty this weekend [yes, it is a hands-on event], there are a few things we would like to cover about planting a raised kitchen garden. We hope this post will also come in handy following the event should you not remember something [all I have to do is hear a doorbell ring and my thoughts are gone].  Please note we will not be offering handouts at the event.

Things to consider when planting your edible garden:

1. What do you currently eat? Putting in a good supply of the herbs & veggies you already eat is the best place to start when planting your own garden. Now add a couple of thing you KNOW you should be eating more of [leafy greens? Plant based protein?]

2. How many are you wanting to feed with your garden? A single 4×4 space works brilliantly for 1-3 people [depending on age and appetite ] while a 4 x6 or 4×8 or more than one 4×4 works very well for larger families.

3. Time you will spend in garden. Are you vacationing this summer? Who will water?

4. Water. Contrary to popular thought, we do not believe you must have automatic irrigation in your edible garden. Putting on the hose [or sprinkler] daily in the  summer is the way to grow the best garden ever! It only takes a few minutes to water [put the sprinkler in the middle of a 4x4 and you don't even have to move it!] and while you are out there, pull the few weeks that creep in and watch for pests before they have a chance to do more serous damage!

5. Lighting and placement of garden. Ideally, edibles need 6+ hours of daily sunlight [people do too, in our opinion] and morning sun is best, especially in the Inland regions. We love the idea of placing your garden in a spot that is visible to you everyday, several times a day, even. If having a garden is not your norm, this step is critical. You are most likely not in the habit of tending a garden and surely not on a daily basis! Many place their garden within sight of the kitchen window or door [hence the name]. As you know, we are not that formal. We have ours in the front yard. Wherever it goes, be sure it gets the sun and attention from you it needs!

6. The box itself. You can easily build a box yourself! For a relatively inexpensive box, pick up some cedar boards, chicken wire for the bottem and screws [looking for size of lumber? Husband is in charge of this, ask him on Saturday what he used, he will love that!] . Building your own boxes allows you to customize your garden box for your space. We built several boxes within one large one to fit inside the new split-rail fencing.   Cherry Valley Nursery carries kits that you merely assemble. Kits are available online as well! If you would like us to build a raised garden for you, we can do that as well!

7. Soil. The only soil we recommend is Cherry Valley Nurseries ready to use. They mix their own using an awesome mushroom compost! Lots of the stuff you want in your edible gardens soil and none of the junk you do not – nut grass seed, weeds, sledge. To the ready to use soil [you need about 1-1.5 feet in depth] we love to add in worm castings, Green-All or BioFlora as a fertilizer.

8. The fun part – maping out your planting! Here is perhaps the best link we have found to determine how many plants you can fit into your raised square-foot garden.  http://vegetableplanner.vegetable-gardening-online.com/ Have a blast with this – we LOVE it!

9. Planting your naturally grown herbs & heirloom veggie starters in your garden, watching them grow and savoring every delectable bite of pure, nutrient packed natural goodness!

The planting of the edible garden is set for noon. This is not exact time. We will be at the downtown farmers market in the am and will make our way to the market following. This demonstration is part of Olive Avenue Markets Week of the Young Child Celebration which runs from noon – 4pm on Saturday. Bring the family to enjoy storytelling for both young and young at heart. Plenty of activities for children will be taking place, including making one’s very own book. This event is a fundraiser to benefit the A.K. Smiley Library.

Join us as we remember the magic we found in the garden as children and even now as older ones! Come on, I couldn’t have been the only one who swore I could see pole beans grow before my very eyes and who still today talks to her plants. What a great day it will be!

Redlands, 11 April, 06:54, 55 degrees &  sunshine is here.

[Be sure to mark your calenders for this Saturday around noon @ Olive Ave. Market - our demo of how to plant a raised garden is now part of the markets  "Week of the Young Child" celebration. Children of all ages are welcome!]

Edible blue borage next to arugula as it flowers

The past several days have been an absolute wild ride on the weather front. Somewhere around 10 a.m. on Friday, rain drops turned into hail [while the sun was shinning] and a mad dash to cover the nursery with frost blankets ensued[ that would have been a very funny candid camera moment!]

Not only did we cover all of the nursery with not one but two layers of frost blankets, the plastic covers went back up on the hooped racks. And to think, earlier in the week it was over 90 degrees and get this – it will be in the mid to upper 80′s later this coming week!

Yes, I have written many times about the wacky weather and the even wackier belief that there is no such thing as “global warming”. So, since the politically correct terminology is  now ”global climate disruption”, that is what we will call it – or GCD for short.  I will do my very best to spare those of you who have read our blog posts for awhile the agony of my long winded ranting on this topic and keep my statement short for new comers [don't want to scare you all away now, do I?] but hey people? Really? 90 degrees to freezing and back up in maybe a 14 day window? It sure makes planting according to Farmers Almanacs [which rely on historical highs and lows,  patterns, something we just are not experiencing much of these days]  a little more challenging.

Yellow Brandywine tomato starts along with May Queen lettuce

So, for this, our monthy guide of what to plant, let me say that it is merely that…a guide. While you may read [or hear] that you can plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, beans, zucchini & basil in April [and the truth is you can], we are going to caution you heavily against rushing the warm season plantings. If you decide to plant these crops, there are no garden police that will knock at your door and we will never scold you for doing so. We are merely going to caution you and ask that is you decide to plant these crops, please, please pick up supplies that you can use to protect them should we get to freezing again [and yes, I think we have at least one more on the way.]

So, without more delay, here are our picks for April. If you see something that catches your eye, please do email us with your wish list. We will gladly bring your plants to the Saturday morning farmers market in Redlands on the weekend of your choosing. It’s that easy!

Continue planting lettuce  & leafy greens. We recommend putting in 2-3 new plants of  lettuce/greens every other week all through spring and rotating the plants you harvest from.

• Mervielle de Quatre Seasons lettuce
• Freckles lettuce
• May Queen lettuce
• Rouge d’Hiver lettuce
• Red salad bowl lettuce blend
• European Mesclun Salad Blend
• Green Salad Bowl lettuce
• Royal Oakleaf lettuce
• Nero di Toscano Kale
• Mache
• Cress, Persian, Upland & Water
• Arugula
• Magenta Chard
• Collards
• Giant Red Mustard Greens
• Savoy
• Shungiku
• Sorrel
• Beets – we love the green leafy tops added to a salad blend
• Artichoke

For those of you who have been visiting us at farmers markets and  willing to try the leaves of these greens we have been handing you to taste, know that we ourselves grow these in our home garden as our everyday salad blend. We got very board of “salad” and decided to mix things up a bit. The result is a culinary experience that we are quite addicted to. At least once a week, we top the “salad greens’ with pre-roasted chicken from the supermarket, add some preserved lemons, fresh Maui onions [at farmers markets ] along slice a slice of fresh artisan bread [again, farmers market] topped with herb butter [loving chives and lemon thyme together]. Voila – dinner. Savory and satisfying!  Want to try it for yourself? Drop us an email and we can deliver some of these fabulous greens to Farquhar Farms stand for purchase.

More goodies to plant in April:

Perennial herbs of:

• Sage [look for purple near the end of the month]
• Thyme [lemon, French and caraway ]
• Parsley – Italian flat leaf
• Rosemary
• Lavender [French and English varieties ]
• Mint [Peppermint & Spearmint]
• Curry Plant
• Lemon Balm
• Oregano [look for hot and spicy near end of month]
• Tarragon [yep, French is here!]
• Garlic Chives

Add annual herbs of: Dill, Cilantro, Chervil [a must have herb!]

Edible flowers of Borage  Nasturium & Calendula.

Now,  back to the warm season friends – tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons. Again, with crop extension supplies, these may be planted in the garden but know you may need to take extra steps to protect them from cold. Ideally, they like constant warm weather – somewhere over 70 day and 55 + at night. Know that if you wait a few weeks still to get these plants in, your summer harvest will not suffer.

If you would like to get started, do consider planting the longer day varieties – things that take a heck of a long time [70+ days] to mature. Many ‘beefsteak’ variety tomatoes fall into this category. Because the fruits are so large, it does take more time for them to grow and set fruits. Melons take a while [harder to protect from frost though, due to sprawling growth habit] as do some beans and peppers.

For planting in April, consider planting [or ordering, some are a few weeks away from market ready ] these varieties of warm season, heirloom annuals:

• Beefsteak tomato
• Brandywine tomato
• Yellow Brandywine tomato
• Cherokee Purple tomato
• Thessaloniki tomato
• Henderson Pink Ponderosa tomato
• German Johnson tomato
• Old German tomato
• German Strawberry tomato
• Rattlesnake pole bean
• Kentucky Wonder pole bean
• Aoyu Edamame
• Ananas Melon
• Sakata Melon
• Tigger Melon
• Ogen Melon
• Crane Melon
• Crenshaw Melon
• Purple Bell Pepper
• Cal Wonder Pepper
• Corno di Torro Pepper [Italian, great for stuffing & grilling]
• Pasilla Bajilo Pepper [the mole pepper]
• Italian Pepperocini Pepper
• Ronde di Nice Squash
• Contessa Romanessca Zucchini
• Boothby Blonde Cucumber
• De Bourbonne Cucumber
• Lemon Cucumber
• Rosa Bianca Eggplant
• Listada de Gandia Eggplant

Pest control for April: Snails and Slugs! These slimy little rascals love to dine at night, leaving holes on tender green leaves. Sluggo is on hand at Cherry Valley Nursery and is approved for organic gardening. We love the advice by the University of Conneticut to use a barrier of copper wire .