After much deliberation (and a healthy dose of procrastination), I’ve finally selected and plotted my intentions for the 2010 garden.
It might seem awfully early to some, but seeds must be ordered, delivered and started before a springtime sowing in late May can be accomplished.
This year will be interesting for a number of reasons.
Primarily because I’m going to be trying to grow a couple crowns of asparagus for the first time, but I’m also attempting rare French strawberries from seed, as well as leeks, garlic and chard.
As you can see from my crude 10,000 foot drawing, there are lots of different veggies being installed, as well as a small bee garden that I hope will attract a healthy amount of polinators to our rooftop sanctuary. We had a bit of a problem with the lack of bees last year, though I’m not sure if it was due to colony collapse or the overall shitty weather, but it can’t hurt to encourage them with a pretty flower garden.
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Tags: asparagus, beans, beets, carrots, chard, Clover Roads Organic Farms, Gardening, garlic, herbs, Heritage Harvest Seed, leeks, lettuce, Lists, peas, peppers, Purveyors, Richter's, Salt Spring Seeds, shallots, tomatoes, Urban Harvest, Vesey's, West Coast Seeds
Posted in Gardening, Lists | 2 Comments »
Like most people, summer is my favourite time of year.
But the moment I look forward to most is the inevitable tomato boon that starts to overtake the garden during the first few weeks of August. This year my own garden has not yet produced more than a half dozen ripe cherry tomatoes, but the farmer’s market has been a great source for supplementing my growing tomato desire. Of course, once you have those perfect globular specimens, there’s always the question of what to make with them?
I used to think I had a clear winner when it came to the best use of a ripe summer tomato, but then I met the Everyman who introduced me to the joys of a toasted tomato sandwich. My original answer would have been a batch of my mother’s succulent and tangy bruschetta, but now there are Caprese salads to nosh (improved by the recent discovery via Malcolm Jolley of a local producer of bufala mozzarella), tomato consommés to savour (thanks to Lucien for that revelation), mini tomatoes to pop into your mouth whole and enjoy like candy, and my quick and easy, simplified version of a primavera/carbonera pasta.
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Tags: Cooking, Good Food Revelation, Lucien, Malcolm Jolley, pasta, peas, Recipes, Restaurants, tomatoes
Posted in Cooking, Recipes, Restaurants | No Comments »
