Happy Greens

All the rain may make the potatoes cranky, but boy, are the greens ever happy this year!

Our favorite easy recipe for spinach, kale, or chard:

1 or 2 bunches of greens

2 cloves of garlic

Olive oil

Sea salt

Slice garlic, sauté in olive oil, greens, stir till wilted and thoroughly warm. Remove, add salt to taste, and eat!

Donation from Bailey Nurseries

We have some wonderful additional varieties of veggies and herbs to add to the garden thanks to a donation from Bailey Nurseries through MN Green.

Perfect timing too as some of our squash seeds did not germinate and some tomato plants suffered in the 100 degree heat earlier this month.

Pepper:
3 Hot Summer Savory
3 Ancho San Martin
8 Lady Bell
3 Alma Paprika
1 Giant Marconi

Pumpkin:
2 Howden
1 Gerradina

Cabbage:
5 Red Express
6 Pennant

Squash:
2 Zucchini
4 Goldy Zucchini
2 Butternut

3 Egg Plant

8 Cauliflower

Tomato:
2 Beef Master
4 Sweet 100
2 Super Fantastic
4 Big Boy
2 Early Girl
1 Arkansas Traveler

Herbs:
1 Golden Oregano
1 Tricolor Sage
4 Golden Sage
3 Golden Lemon Thyme
1 Tarragon
1 Peppermint
2 Dill
2 Valerian
1 Summer Savory
3 Sweet Basil
2 Marjoram
2 Fennel
1 Spice Globe Basil
4 Garlic Chives

Thank you Bailey Nurseries!!

Radish Sandwich?

We weren't expecting to pick radishes yesterday. We were just thinning. We ended up with a colander full of greens and a bonus bunch of radishes.
Looking for simple recipes, we found Radish Sandwich. Brown bread, butter, and thinly sliced radishes. That's it! You try it first and let us know how it is.

West End Garden Tour

A little bit of rain (okay, a lot of rain) didn't prevent avid gardeners from touring the Fort Road Federation's West End gardens. We saw wonderful examples of flower and vegetable gardens using compost bins and rain barrels and imagination.The highlight for us was the Fort Road Community Gardens featuring creative use of space and re-use of materials. We saw apple tree limb trimmings used as stakes for vining plants, an old bedstead used as fencing, and burlap sacks for weed reduction. Not an inch of space or material wasted. Beautiful!

Smooth

The garden is really starting to produce now! Our latest delivery of spinach and strawberries had us thinking of spring salad - but then we found this smoothie recipe:

6 oz fresh spinach
8 oz fresh or frozen strawberries
1/4 cup honey or your preferred sweetener
1-2 ripe bananas
4 cups milk

Blend until smooth. Makes 4 servings. You can switch it up - we like it without the sweetener since the spring strawberries are so sweet. You can also add flax or oat bran if you like for a little extra oomph.

Rhubarb and Strawberry Recipe

Friend of the Garden Amanda S. sends this recipe:

Rhubarb Crisp

Yield: 4 generous servings

1 pound fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, about 4 cups
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted but not hot

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine rhubarb with white sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and cinnamon, and transfer to a 9x9 greased baking dish. In a bowl, combine remaining 1 cup flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, and butter, mixing well. Sprinkle over the rhubarb mixture and bake for 35 minutes until topping is golden brown and rhubarb is tender. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Strawberries and Sun

The beautiful weather and bright sunshine has brought delectable strawberries, delivered to Lewis House, and lots of baby plants coming up in the garden. Thinning and weeding have begun.

Rhubarb, Onions, Strawberries

Delivered more rhubarb, along with jiu cai, oregano, thyme and walking onion greens! Does anyone have good rhubarb or herb recipes to share?

Next up - strawberries. Our strawberry patch is thriving!

In Florida, we plant onions next to our strawberries. The onions keep the pests (bugs, rabbits, elephants) away from the strawberries, and the strawberries send a nice sweet flavor to the onions.
And if you chop up the onions or their greens with sliced strawberries, and mix them with your favorite lettuce, you have a lovely spring salad!