Category Archives: stems, shoots & bulbs

Shrubs, part one

Posted on 6 August 2015 by Debra

No, this is not a post about shrubs, bushes and trees. Shrubs, deriving from the Arabic word for beverage, are the original soft drinks.  A recent New York Times review calls them sipping vinegar and the rediscovered ingredient in chic cocktails. … Continue reading →

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“Garlic is as good as ten mothers”

Posted on 22 July 2015 by Debra

I harvested my garlic crop yesterday. Lots of beautiful heads now cure in my kitchen. I harvest the garlic when 4-5 of the leaves have browned but the paper that surrounds the head of cloves is still fully intact. This means … Continue reading →

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This year’s garlic

Posted on 6 July 2015 by Debra

This year, the garlic is slow to mature and be harvested. Usually I’m harvesting my garlic around the 4th of July but this year it’s not ripe yet for harvest and curing. Perhaps it’s the long, cool spring we’ve had. … Continue reading →

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More incredible scapes

Posted on 25 June 2015 by Debra

As I’ve written before, garlic scapes are such a delicacy. A fine and abundant crop this year. And the promise of good hardneck garlic to harvest and cure next month.

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Garlic scapes: good eating

Posted on 18 June 2015 by Debra

Hardneck garlic (as opposed to softneck) makes a curlique flower stalk that is delicious eating. These curlique stalks are called scapes. Right now the scapes are perfect for eating. You can tell because they curl in on themselves. As the … Continue reading →

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Rhubarb-ade

Posted on 17 June 2015 by Debra

I concocted a new summer drink with rhubarb. With three huge rhubarb plants, I have more stems than I know what to do with. I again pulled out enough stems to thin out the rhubarb, trimmed and washed the stems, … Continue reading →

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Rhubarb, part two

Posted on 13 May 2015 by Debra

So as promised in my earlier rhubarb post, I’m writing about a rhubarb meat stew, a traditional Middle Eastern use for rhubarb. I found a Persian version which was delicate, delicious and very special. The tart rhubarb lends a wonderful and … Continue reading →

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Rhubarb for early spring eating

Posted on 7 May 2015 by Debra

Rhubarb is always one of the first things up in any edible garden. It’s a hearty, cold weather perennial plant. Only the stalks, called petioles, are edible. The leaves are toxic because of a concentration of oxalic acid (which also … Continue reading →

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What’s up

Posted on 6 May 2015 by Debra

Edible gardens too have perennials, plants that have a life span of more than two years. They go dormant each fall and return in the spring. The perennials are always the first up. Here’s some of what’s appearing in my … Continue reading →

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Spring vegetables

Posted on 2 May 2015 by Debra

I chanced upon a great spring vegetable soup recipe. It’s easy to make, absolutely delicious and even better reheated. The soup is composed of a puree of parsnips and leeks with ginger. (Recipe shared below.) The parsnips and leeks came … Continue reading →

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