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Posted by admin to Cabbage, Italy, John Scheepers Inc., Joy, Northern Ireland, Savoy, The, of on 2007-11-07, 21:00:00

For the life of me, I can't figure it out. The produce bins aren't piled high with Savoy cabbage, even though this is the perfect time of year to enjoy it. Granted, it has a more delicate leaf and therefore does not keep or ship as well as hard-head types. But then, neither does lettuce. My friend Pauline, a transplant from Northern Ireland, is peeved by the lack of Savoy cabbage in her adopted home. Her mother would come home and announce grandly, "I've bought us a nice Savoy," as if it were a bag of gold nuggets. "Why can't I buy one here?" Pauline wails.

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Posted by admin to Bounty, Last, Summer's, The, of on 2007-10-17, 20:00:00

This time of year I'm like the women in Jean-Fran¿ois Millet's painting "The Gleaners," bent over the mown fields in their kerchiefs and long skirts, gathering scraps of leftover grain. It's completely irrational. My garden is still bursting with fresh crops for fall: spinach, kale, leeks and a dozen or so others. Winter squash is just starting to cure in the shed, and I haven't even dug the root crops yet. But somehow the oncoming winter brings out the frugal peasant in me, and I'm gripped with the urge to salvage what is left of summer's bounty.

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Posted by admin to About, Days,, Harvests, Longer, October:, Shorter, The, Truth, cool on 2007-09-19, 20:00:00

When T.S. Eliot wrote "April is the cruelest month," he might have added, "October is seriously underrated."

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to All, It, Pot, The, Throw, Undecided?, in on 2007-09-12, 20:00:00

In summer, so many vegetables beckon from the garden it's hard to choose. So I make soupe au pistou. Every country has its multiple-vegetable soup. In Italy you'd make minestrone. What makes this Provencal one a treat is the last-minute addition of basil, garlic and olive oil, pounded into a paste in a mortar. The pounding implement, the pestle, is what gives pistou its name.

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Posted by admin to Cut, Quick, That, The, to, vegetables on 2007-08-22, 20:00:00

As a gardening cook, I always say that flavor is everything, but my evil twin, the lazy cook, knows otherwise. Sometimes I just want vegetables that are easy to slice.

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Posted by admin to A, Adds, Blues, Borage, Colorful, Cure, Indoors, Out,, The, for, or on 2007-05-30, 20:00:00

One of spring's little sensory thrills is working the herb garden and discovering plants that have self-sown the year before. As you clear away weeds, debris and dead leaves, the seedlings of cilantro, dill and chamomile announce themselves to the nose even before they catch the eye. Borage arrives with much less charm: Its greeting is a prickling sensation on your winter-softened hands. All parts of the plant are covered with fine white hairs, just sharp enough to irritate, that may even produce a slight rash on skin that is especially sensitive.

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Posted by admin to Is, Payoff, Spears, The, Years, for on 2007-05-16, 20:00:00

Nothing is forever, even a good bed of asparagus. But as garden investments go, this one pays off richly for decades to come. Establishing a productive bed takes some work, and some patience as well, because the first real harvest won't come for several years after planting. But after that, those little spears will poke up dependably every spring as long as the planting is well maintained. That's the tricky part. Long after spring asparagus with hollandaise has given way to summer tomatoes with vinaigrette, this crop still needs your attention.

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Posted by admin to Edible, Elderberry, Eminently, The on 2007-04-04, 20:00:00

Raise your hands. How many of you celebrate the summer solstice by making elder flower fritters? No? How about making elderberry wine from the dark purple fruits that follow? Never? Have you ever seen an elderberry bush? Okay, let's start there.

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Posted by admin to A, Side, Stalk, The, Wild, on on 2007-03-28, 20:00:00

Cherry bombs, the exploding kind, must have been named after cherry tomatoes, the edible kind, which burst in your mouth with a charge of candy-sweet juices. Pop one in and another must follow, whether you're raiding the shopping bag in your car or gorging your way down a garden row. The outdoor route is pure luxury, when the little orbs are warmed by the sun, their vitamin C at magnum force.

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Posted by admin to 'Little, A, Beets, Guilt, The, Winter, With on 2007-01-17, 21:00:00

My sister proudly served a dish on Christmas day that she called "Al Gore Quiche." That it contained leeks, broccoli, spinach and flat parsley was not remarkable, but the fact that all of these ingredients came fresh from her Vermont garden was a Christmas miracle. In a normal year her plot would be frozen ground, covered with snow. "I'm also harvesting carrots, kale, beets and Brussels sprouts," she crowed.