June is garden delights month…

Tags

garden, home, life, spring flowers, Spring Garden Delights, Virginia

Below are a few images of my June garden delights here in central Virginia.
Following a hard winter, the garden now rewards with color, texture, and edible feasts.

Sunny rose in first flush, Red Hot Poker, Oakleaf Hydrangea, clematis, all in bloom this week. Nice!

up close and personal with the Red Hot Poker! Merely its second season in my Virginia gardens.

Sunny Knock Out Rose makes me look like a rose guru! This is her second year in my gardens.

O’Neil variety of highbush blueberry. Three plants deliver all the berries I can eat (and share) in one season.

tasty, plump morsels…once the wild birds are fed, my early, daily ritual includes a visit to the blueberry bushes. Can you just taste them? I cover the plants with row cover to keep the birds away…they can have sunflower seeds and currants!

This is the tiniest floribunda…she is recovering from a transplant last fall. I estimate she is forty years old and struggled for years under the flourishing dogwood. I finally mustered the nerve to move her last fall. Half died during the winter, yet today she shows a bud…and soon, she will flourish in the full sun bed. Yeah! Note she is merely six inches tall today, yet still produces a bud. Go Girl! If you squint, notice the teeny bud near the top. I am so excited! In a few days I will add a photo of the first bloom…

a bit closer to bloom time on this teensy floribunda transplant…I’m like a bird on her nest…too bad a young bunny tasted all these buds just after this photo was taken. Now surrounded with wire screen, I wait for Tiny’s next effort.

the stonecrop sedum is showing her stuff in the herb bed planter. I think she resembles a candelabra, don’t you? Lots of bang for the buck, this plant.

a few Siberian Iris were gifted to me two years ago and now flourish anywhere they are planted…a garden thug? Time will tell.

can you smell the sweet perfume of this Little Gem?

looking for a vine to replace the Concord Grape on this split rail, voila! Arctic Kiwi manifested. I cannot wait for this fruit next year!

male planted on one side of post, female on the other.

everyone knows Lambs Ear. A classic in any garden; sometimes a thug, yet when that happens, I dig clumps and sell them at the farmer’s market to eager gardeners… the bumble bees also adore the blooms.

this variety of clematis lived on the property when I bought the place in 2001. It survived years in deep shade under a tree, and now thrives on a slick tuteur in the deep shrub border with her feet heavily mulched and her height in full sun.

I cannot forget to mention the sweet, edible, most popular plant, the viola or Johnny Jump Up. I am convinced this plant parties at night, as thirteen years ago, seed was planted in the front garden and every year since, I find it growing all over the entire half-acre…

quite an edible feast: beautiful salad greens and edible flowers from the garden this week. The arugula was especially nice.

Spring weather of 2014 was spastic. 40F degrees one night and 60F the next.
Daytime highs have swung from 40F to 90F numerous times, and rapidly humidity of summer builds.

Yesterday I rose early to add more mulch, river rock in wash areas, and to tidy the beds for the summer ahead. Finding garden solutions is a never-ending challenge.
Rewards arrive in the hues of spring color, tastes of flavorful edibles, and in the humbling glow of accomplishment.
Striding alongside nature while sharing the garden’s beauty/bounty is a legacy of unnamed bliss.

Gardening in Virginia has its challenges; with humidity comes powdery mildew, which I plan to attack with fresh abandon.
The peonies suffered terribly in the past two years with this fungal disease, thankfully following bloom time.
Since peonies are an important cash crop every May, I want to coddle my twenty-nine plants and avoid the ugliness of mildew.
Stay tuned…

over 400 peony stems went to market last month.

selling my garden bounty at the local farmer’s market in May…

I hope you enjoyed my June Garden Delights Tour today.

Comments are always appreciated.

Now back to the kitchen to finish that order of Key Lime Pies.

At least views from the workbench allow glimpses of my garden sanctuary and the adored wild birds.

May your June be bountiful and beautiful.

Copyright © 2014 by Diane LaSauce  All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

the powerhouse herb…chives!

Tags

chive artichoke pesto, chives, easy recipes, edible flowers, herb garden, nourishing herbs, pesto, quick meals

There are many presumptions regarding herbs—chives in particular.
Many see them as a garnish, and push them aside.
Yay whoa, let me share the reasons why this little herb belongs in your belly.

First off chives are:
Low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium
High in dietary fiber, vitamin A, C, K, B6, Riboflavin, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper, Manganese, Thiamine, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, Phosphorus, and Zinc!
So there!
Ready for a tasty, nutritious, signature recipe for chive artichoke pesto? OK!

When I bought my first patch of land back in 2001,
one of the first plants chosen for the herb garden was chives!

humble chives harvested and rinsed and ready for a spin.

edible flowers first thing in the spring!

cut rinsed and spun chives into 2″ lengths–easier for the processor to handle

drain and rinse canned water-packed artichokes

Rinse and spin equal amounts of curly parsley and pack the bowl of your processor with equal portions of chives and parsley. Top with one cup of raw walnuts, cup of drained artichokes, 1 rounded teaspoon kosher salt, juice from 1/2 a fresh lemon, and 6 glugs of virgin olive oil. Process until smooth, scraping bowl a couple of times during processing. FYI, a glug is a free pour out of a spouted olive oil bottle, counting up to six as you pour. My food processor bowl is 7 cup size, so make allowances if yours is larger…

finished pesto divvied up into 8 OZ deli containers, ready for chill down, then freezer for up to six months. By the way one 8 OZ container dresses one pound of pasta beautifully–just add a touch of hot pasta water, 2 T sweet butter and pepper of choice.

You may be saying, “where’s the cheese?” Most of my pestos are sold, therefore
I do not add cheese now as it does not freeze well and many of my patrons are lactose intolerant.
Cheese may be added when preparing pasta or when using as a spread in a sandwich.
When using this pesto for the base of pizza crust, no cheese is necessary.

after processing all the herbs, if you have a bit of pesto, say 3/4 cup, left over in the processor, add a peeled, seeded ripe avocado, spin then use as a dip! Deelish!

Have I convinced you to grow/eat chives?
As I frequently say, “there is more to life than basil pesto!”

Check out the YouTube video from Moss Mountain Farm!

Copyright © 2013 by Diane LaSauce All Rights Reserved

the thing about renewal

Tags

DIY project, herb bed, Home Depot, home improvment, landscape design, renewal

tired herb bed June 2011 in central Virginia, zone 7a. This bed was installed in 2001.

Over a decade ago, this small patch was claimed out of the lawn and provides yummy ingredients for many of my annual pestos, while supplying host food (dill and parsley) for black swallowtail larvae.

Herb bed May 2011. Berms and swales were the first attempt in this herb bed, yet constant surface water from across the turf forced the assorted mulches onto the gravel, making this design a total failure. I originally had parsley, dill, French Tarragon, and chives placed here, just outside the kitchen door.

When I paused at this place early one summer morning, gazing with an objective eye, this workhorse herb bed appeared to scream time for renewal!

At first, I envisioned a bubbly fountain in the center of the bed where perennial chives and French tarragon are primary residents. These two herbal varieties survived a decade of surface water and blazing western sun, yet this year both herbs looked exhausted following their initial spring harvest.

Originally I used berms and swales as a stopgap — successfully for years — yet this year my plants needed intervention. Therefore I began dreaming, drafting, plotting, and Internet research.

I envisioned round shapes within the pie shaped bed to hold the hardy herbs. Over a period of sweltering summer weeks, prices and material availability shaped my decisions. First, I removed the sundial from the center of the bed. Second, a beautiful urn, lost in the lower garden, took center stage as the spilling sedum suggests movement. A real fountain was not in my budget nor did I want the maintenance.

herb bed renewal in progress one hot August

Third, round raised beds were not available, therefore I opted for shaped pavers easily obtained from a local home improvement center. These babies are not for the faint of heart, as each weighs 20# and I needed 48 or 840#!

The patient and helpful guys at the garden center loaded a cart as I hand-picked each paver; since each block would be highly visible, I wanted no chipped blocks. Along with this purchase, I collected bagged topsoil, pea gravel, and heavy-duty landscape cloth. This assortment was transported in three separate trips, so as not to do in moi or my eleven-year-old MPV.

French tarragon bed complete and I like it! Once the ground was level (+OR-), I rolled out the landscape cloth, then placed the pavers. When the pavers were in a happy place, the cloth was cut out of the center of the circle to expose soil. Then amendments began. I transplanted herbs as I went.

Once the pavers were placed and the cloth removed from the inner circle, sod busting came next on the agenda. For this, I used a sturdy pitchfork that dug twelve inches deep — the slender tines eased the heavy clay out of its fist-like grip.

slim tines of the sturdy pitchfork ease clay out of the ground so new topsoil could be added

In order to clean up the outer edges of the main bed, I raked back the wandering gravel and reused the tumbled bluestone pavers from the first bed then added found river rock to detail the opposite eleven foot side. The pre-existing outer curved rim of the bed is a mini French drain filled with river pebbles.

side view of herb bed in transition…so sad.

The soil was a hodge-podge of tough Virginia clay with years of amendments, yet digging strained every muscle/tendon in my upper body, so I took a few days off to admire my handiwork. Keep in mind this was a one-woman DIY project! Following rest and a few rain showers, I began the task of hauling and placing the pavers. Armed with both a rake, scissors, and one roll of landscape cloth — which helped create a blank canvas — I persevered.

this brand is super!

I liked the first circle, yet added additional pavers to the next two beds to enlarge. Over the course of one week, this bed was heaved and shifted into place, transplanting the herbs as I completed the next circle. Both the landscape cloth and pea gravel gave nice finishing touches, resembling icing on a cake.

project ongoing between rests! Adore that pea gravel! Such a nice finish.

Other than the heavy lifting, this project was highly enjoyable, budget-friendly, and the finished result pleasing to the eye…do you agree? Two years later, the herbs continue to thrive and the paver beds are as tidy as the day they were installed.

completed herb bed renewal August 2011. Pea gravel is nice touch!

The third and final circle (right) will grow annual herbs such as cilantro, dill, and curly parsley. They will look handsome planted in pie-shaped wedges within the circle. Perhaps rosemary will find this new environment habitable and continually remind me that  “Rosemary is for Remembrance”.

Oh how true

the herb bed in June 2015. A real success story.

Here is a personal invitation for you to check out my recipes for chive/artichoke and kale pestos. Simply type the word pesto into the search bar on my blog site.

In closing, I assure you that having a healthy herb bed will provide both you and your family nutritious and simple food choices that are easy and fun to grow, even when space is limited. And if you have help and a F350, this project could be completed over a weekend! Plus, the French tarragon and chives featured here are now fifteen years old — lots of bang for the buck…Bon Appetit!

Copyright © 2011 by Diane LaSauce All Rights Reserved