I am kind of an instant gratification person. I think this tendency of mine plays a role in why I enjoy vegetable gardening so much. Four months ago this whole area was a weedy lawn and now it is full of food.

My warm season crops, especially the peppers, are still struggling a bit with the weather, but my squash is growing fast and furious. My spring greens and lettuces are still going strong, but I am making plans to replace them with heat tolerant lettuces and fall crops.

The sugar snap peas ended up overwhelming their pea stick trellis, but I’m not complaining. We’ve had a non-stop harvest of sugar snaps and snow peas for weeks now and the English peas are beginning to fill in their pods. I’ll post another update at the end of July. Hopefully the bean teepee will be filled in by then and I’ll have some ripe tomatoes!

This year I decided to add edibles into my ornamental containers on our back porch. I’m really loving how the variegated lemon thyme and the red million bells look together. Plus, it is super handy having the thyme five steps from the kitchen because I use it in vinaigrettes all the time!

This year one of my gardening goals is to keep my beds full and productive all season long. Throughout the spring I’ve been direct seeding greens, beets, and carrots at intervals, but now that summer has finally arrived (!), direct seeding is a bit more iffy. Sunny, warm days make direct sowing small seeds in the garden difficult, because if the seeds dry out before they sprout they won’t germinate. To get around this problem I’m experimenting with starting seedlings in cell packs on my deck. I figured it is pretty easy to keep a single tray of seedlings watered. Plus, I could then pop plants into the garden wherever there was a space. So far this plan has worked like a charm. Tonight I filled in bare spots with little zinnia seedlings and planted a border of basil around one of my new garden beds.

In the garden

In the past two weeks I’ve planted ‘Fairy Tale’ and ‘Swallow’ eggplant, ‘Sungold’, ‘Snow White’, ‘Jaune Flamme’, ‘Green Grape’ and ‘French Carmello’ tomatoes, ‘Bodacious’ sweet corn, ‘Roquette’ arugula, ‘Ararat’, ‘Lettuce Leaf’, ‘Opal’ and ‘Genovese’ basil, and ‘Vermont Cranberry’ pole beans.

In the kitchen

We are still chomping our way through loads of mustard greens. For lunch, I’ve been cooking them up and stuffing them into a quesadilla with roasted green chiles, black beans, and cheddar cheese. I’ve also been doing lots of in-the-garden snacking on ‘Golden India’ snow peas, ‘Sugar Snap’ peas, and strawberries.

Good reads and finds

This year my garden has been a lot of work. Ripping out 700 square feet of grass just isn’t easy. Lately I’ve found myself day dreaming about laying around in my garden with a cold beer in hand, which is why Remodelista’s excellent round up of outdoor chaise lounges caught my eye.

Lelo in Nopo comes through again with a fabulous seasonal recipe. Can you say roasted strawberries with balsamic vinegar? Yum!

The New York Times ran a great article on cooking co-ops on Wednesday. I love the idea of trading meals with neighbors once or twice a month. We cook most nights at home, but I have to admit sometimes on particularly uninspired evenings we’ve been known to eat cold cereal for dinner. Having a home cooked meal ready to go in the fridge or freezer sounds like such a better alternative.

I dragged Jon to see the Meryl Streep movie It’s Complicated because I wanted to see her character’s Santa Barbara kitchen garden. It was lovely, with gravel paths, geometric raised beds, and gorgeous vegetables. Later I learned that the tomatoes were wired to the vines and the cabbage were actually growing in individual pots sunken into the ground. I was so disappointed!

Little did I know that just a few months later I’d have the opportunity to visit an authentic California kitchen garden that is even more beautiful than the movies. The Collenette family’s home is nestled into the base of a grassy hillside in rural Marin County. Their garden, which they designed in collaboration with Sylvia and Eric Blasen of Blasen Landscape Architecture, has a classic layout, but a decidedly relaxed, lived-in feel.

The kitchen garden spreads out from the front courtyard and is defined by straight gravel pathways and square beds. Espaliered fruit trees and grapes divide the garden into sections and also serve as screens, adding privacy to the house’s wide, wrap-around porch.

Drought-tolerant herbs, including rosemary, thyme, and oregano, carpet the soil in many parts of the garden. I was especially partial to this quilt-like collection of herbs planted beneath a grape vine.

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Last Friday I was lucky enough to be included in a day long kitchen garden symposium hosted by The Garden Conservancy in Marin County, California. The day began with lectures and ended with tours of two exquisite private kitchen gardens. I’ll be sharing photos of both gardens later in the week, but I wanted to start with a peek of the chicken coop I spotted in the Collenette family’s absolutely magical kitchen garden.

The coop, which was made by California Coops, is constructed of recycled barn wood and other reclaimed materials, including a slightly rusty corrugated metal roof. I loved the windows, which are actually old picture frames fitted with hardware cloth. The coop is lofted off the ground on stilts and has a trapdoor in the floor. This allows you to attach a custom covered run to the bottom, if you like.

The weathered wood was dotted with bits of lichen and had a wonderful rustic patina to it.

Shirley Collenette also has a chicken tractor that she moves around the garden, but her flock of young hens spend the evening safely locked up in the coop, which is located at the edge of the garden nestled amongst plants and sheltered by the wide boughs of a tree above. If the coop had been just a little bit bigger, I would have considered moving into it myself.

I just got back from a wonderful trip to the Bay Area where I learned two things:

1.) It is apparently summer in other parts of the country! Who knew?

2.) Bi-Rite Creamery + 1 scoop salted caramel ice cream + 1 scoop malted vanilla with peanut brittle & milk chocolate pieces + hot fudge = heaven

I spotted this fantastic cabbage at a community garden a few blocks from my house. Who says vegetables aren’t beautiful?

I love Seattle, but the weather here has gotten me down lately. I haven’t even planted my tomatoes or basil since nighttime temperatures continue to dip down into the 40s. This weekend, by all accounts, is supposed to be nice. I’ve got my fingers crossed. Either way, rain or shine I will be out in my garden on Sunday planting all the crops that need to get in the ground!

In the Garden

I didn’t sow or plant anything this week. I did set up a hoop house around my squash and they literally grew overnight. My goal this weekend is to put hoop houses around my corn and peppers, too. I will also be planting 7 types of tomatoes, 2 varieties of eggplant, 4 kinds of basil, and a multitude of annual flowers.

In the Kitchen

My Berggarten sage is growing like gangbusters. I harvest handfuls at a time and it doesn’t even make a dent in the plant. I mixed sage in with a pasta dish with parsley, garlic, and chickpeas, ate tons of basic wilted greens, and used gigantic ‘Australian Yellow Leaf’ lettuce leaves as spring roll wrappers. They were delicious!

Good Reads and Finds

Frustrated with flimsy tomato cages? Tom from Tall Clover Farm has great directions and an illustration for building a simple tomato trellis. I’m going to try this technique in my front yard tomato patch!

Do you know about Straight From the Farm? It is one of my very favorite blogs. The site features a treasure trove of seasonal recipes (rhubarb lemon sponge pie, anyone?) and gorgeous photos. It is an absolute treat!

Black Sheep Heap now offers their Beet the System design on organic onesies. So cute! If you have a gardener-to-be in your life, I think they need one of these.

I have never met a green I didn’t like. Mustards. Collards. Broccoli rabe. Bok Choy. Pak Choy. Arugula. Spinach. Radish Tops. Beet Greens. Swiss chard. Kale. Cabbage. I love them all.

Consequently we eat greens at virtually every meal around here, especially at this time of year. Most often I just saute the greens with a bit of garlic and call it good, but I also stir them into eggs, stuff them into empanadas, and add them to soup. Here are 10 simple ideas for eating more greens!

Basic Sauteed Greens

Gather greens from the garden (it is okay to mix and match the greens). Plan on harvesting at least 2 1/2 cups of raw greens per person, as they will really cook down. Remove any tough stems. Chop into slender 1/2 inch ribbons or small pieces. Place the greens in a colander and rinse them well under a stream of cool water. Shake off the excess water and set aside.

Heat one or two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Force two plump cloves of garlic through a press and add to the oil. Cook the garlic until slightly softened and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Raise the heat to medium high and add in the damp greens. Toss with tongs until just barely wilted and bright green. Remove from the heat, sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt and red pepper flakes. Serve!

Mix-ins:

Asian. Add a tablespoon of minced ginger in with the garlic. Instead of salt, toss the cooked greens with a bit of tamari.

Italian. Toss the cooked greens with golden raisins and toasted pine nuts (this version is especially good with broccoli rabe).

Moroccan. Cut a preserved lemon in half, remove the flesh and cut away the pith. Rinse the remaining lemon skin under water to remove extra salt; then mince. Saute the preserved lemon with the garlic and a spoonful of harissa for about a minute before adding the greens.

Sesame. Drizzle a bit of toasted sesame oil (a little goes a long way) over the greens. Toss and then garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Spicy. Finely mince a serrano pepper (I usually removed the seeds) and add it in with the garlic. Or stir a little sriracha sauce into some soy sauce and toss with cooked greens.

Simple Greens-Based Entrees

Easy Empanadas. I got the idea to make these vegetarian empanadas from my friend Katy. Thaw two sheets of puff pastry for 45 minutes. On a floured surface, roll the pastry out to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out 6 inch rounds. Smear a bit of olive tapenade in the center of each round, then place a mound of sauteed greens on top of the tapenade, plus a bit of grated cheese. Fold the pastry over on top of itself (to form a half moon shape). Seal. Brush with egg and bake in a 425 degree F oven until golden brown.

Quick Tart. On a piece of parchment paper, roll out a pie crust into an 8 inch circle (you can use a store bought crust, I won’t tell). Sprinkle a half cup of parmesan cheese over the crust. Mound greens into the center of the crust, leaving a 1-inch border. Fold the border over the outside edge of the greens. Sprinkle more cheese over the center of the tart. Transfer the tart onto a baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven until the crust is browned.

Lazy Soup. Place 3/4 cup of sauteed greens in the bottom of a deep soup bowl. Top with warmed chicken or vegetable broth. If you like, add in any of the following: thinly sliced snow or snap peas, shelled english peas, roasted asparagus, cooked rice or lentils, cooked tofu or chicken, a bit of grated cheese, croutons.

Green Eggs (Ham Optional). Whisk four eggs together with a bit of milk and grated parmesan cheese. Melt some butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Pour in the eggs and scramble them. When the eggs just begin to form curds, add in the greens and continue to cook until the eggs reach your desired consistency. Or, use the greens to stuff an omelette. Add in ham or prosciutto if you like.

Many annual vegetables and herbs bolt when they set seed. These plants literally lengthen, or bolt, towards the sky as they begin to flower. My cilantro is just now bolting—sending up long feathery stalks of leaves that will soon be topped with delicate white, umbrella shaped flowers. The feathery leaves (pictured on the left) have an intense soapy flavor that I find very unappetizing. Cilantro bolts when the days are long and the nights are short, though dry soil and hot weather can also signal the plant to go to seed. To keep a consistent supply of cilantro in the garden, I make small sowings every couple of weeks through out the summer (the leaves on the right in the photo above are an example of un-bolted cilantro).

I also let some bolted plants set seed. Cilantro seed is the spice coriander. The coriander seed sold in the grocery store and at spice markets is brown and looks a bit like a BB. It is delicious, but when you grow coriander you also have the opportunity to harvest the seed when it is green. This fresh coriander has an amazing citrusy flavor and tastes fantastic in vinaigrettes and marinades. It is an absolute treat and almost impossible to buy, even at farmers markets. So, if your cilantro is beginning to bolt, let it go!

Ripe mangoes at a fruit stand in Havana, Cuba. July 2009.

I am out in my garden all the time. Sowing radish seeds between my peppers. Pulling up mustard greens for dinner. Hunting for slugs in my strawberries. Gardening is part of the natural rhythm of my day, and I’ve decided that I want to try and loosely keep track of what I’m doing out there. So, on Fridays I will be posting a little round-up of what I’ve planted, what I’ve harvested and cooked, and also a couple of ideas I’ve spotted from around the universe.

In the Garden

Even though it is still freezing here I decided to get some summer crops in the ground, including ‘Black Pearl’ soy beans, ‘Fernleaf’ dill, ‘Summer Beauty Mix’ and ‘Mammoth’ sunflowers, ‘California Giant’, ‘Aztec Sunset’ and ‘Zahara Starlight Rose’ zinnias, ‘Sensation Mix’ and ‘Little Ladybirds’ cosmos, ‘Italian Arugula’, and ‘Dwarf Jewel’ nasturtiums. I also planted ‘Ponderosa’ and ‘Principe Borghese’ tomatoes and tomatillos.

In the Kitchen

We are eating greens for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I harvested ‘Australian Yellow Leaf lettuce’, ‘Sylvetta’ arugula, ‘Tyee’ spinach, cilantro, mustard greens, radish seedlings, strawberries, and bolted (but still tasty) bok choy. I made empanadas stuffed with greens and olives (loosely following a recipe from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone), spinach risotto, and greens on toast.

Good Reads and Finds

Andrea at Heavy Petal shared a superb guide to growing warm season crops. In the post, she also includes a handy list of vegetable crops and notes if they should be directly sown, transplanted, or both.

I’ve started listening to LeAnn Locher’s great podcast, Lelo Homemade. This week she and her guest Jacquelyn Martin talked about feeding yourself without going to the grocery store. Good stuff!

Our chickens are laying eggs like crazy, which makes we want to add this ridiculously cute wire egg cup from Terrain to my collection.

Happy Gardening!

My heirloom ‘Red Iceberg’ lettuce is looking decidedly tasty.

I never thought those words would come out of my mouth! But, as you can see, this is one nice looking lettuce. It just might move me into the iceberg lover camp. The inner leaves are beginning to curl over themselves, but I think it will still be a few weeks before the crisp head is ready for harvest. That fact hasn’t stopped me from planning a meal centered around this (hopefully!) delicious experiment. Can you say wedge salad with roquefort dressing, fried chicken and biscuits? Yum!

Aphids are out in force in my garden right now. I’ve spotted a few on my peas and eggplants, but they are all over Jon’s hops. Aphids feed by sticking their mouthpart into leaves and sucking out plant sap. They are often green, but can also be black, peach, and grey-ish in color. They like to hangout on the underside of leaves. Some have wings, some don’t. Telltale signs that you have an aphid problem include plants with puckered leaves (this is especially noticeable on peas and favas) and the presence of honeydew, a clear, sticky substance that the aphids exude.

These little pests are easy to deal with organically. The first—and often best—option is to just leave them alone. Birds love aphids, I’ve seen sparrows and chickadees swooping in and out of the hops all week snacking on the insect buffet.  Aphids also lure in ladybugs, who along with their larvae, can eat several hundred each day.

Option B is to spray aphids with a strong stream of water. The insects have such soft bodies that a blast from the hose kills them. This method works best on sturdy plants (like hops), but can bruise tender plants (like peas) and knock the petals off flowers (like roses).

Option C is to spray them with an insecticidal soap, such as Safer Soap. These soaps coat the insects and effectively smother them. In order for a soap spray to work, it must come into contact with the aphids. So it is very important to spray the entire affected plant, including the tops and bottoms of its leaves. Thoroughly inspect the plant after a couple of days and use the soap spray again if necessary. I’m usually all for for DIY solutions, but in the case of soap sprays I think it is best to buy one that is formulated for use on plants. Fragrances, dyes, and other ingredients in household soaps can be phytotoxic (i.e. kill plants), so I play it safe and use a commercial insecticidal soap.

Plants that often have issues with aphids include roses, hops, peppers, eggplants, peas, favas, honeysuckle, and nasturtiums.

The Garden Conservancy has kindly invited me to be a part of a wonderful edible gardening event in Marin County on Friday, June 18. The event, Count Your Chickens—In Your Edible Garden, promises to be so much fun. The day begins with a series of short lectures, followed by a luncheon, a tour of two spectacular Marin County kitchen gardens, and a wine reception in the afternoon.

The lectures will include a talk by the celebrated landscape designer, Nancy Goslee Power, on the history of classical kitchen gardens and a panel discussion on backyard chickens, honeybees, and fruit trees with the wonderful garden designers Kate Frey and Mary Te Selle and espalier expert Sean McNeil. I will be speaking about how to grow gourmet quality vegetables in a home garden.

I am just thrilled to be included in such a wonderful event and I hope those of you in the Bay Area will consider joining me in what I’m sure will prove to be a very fun (and educational!) day.

Here are the details!

Count Your Chickens—In Your Edible Garden

When: Friday, June 18 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Where: Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Ross, California

Admission: Garden Conservancy and Marin Art & Garden Center members: $110; General Admission: $125. The admission fee covers the talks, lunch, garden visits (carpool), and wine reception. Visit the Garden Conservancy to register online.