Back Home on the Range
Now that we’re back home and settled in from our trip up to Dad’s, it’s time to take advantage of this Southern California weather. We’ve long recovered from our winter’s snows (snicker), and now we need to get our garden ready for it’s summer’s bounty. Inspired by the tastiness of our last winter’s carrots & beets, and the horticultural passions of Master Sommelier Michael Jordan (he grows 150 varieties of heirloom tomatoes) , we’ve decided to get extra serious about the propagation of our herbs and veggies. We’ve always grown tons of herbs every year, with gardening plots designated just for their abundance, but we usually are limited to those spaces.
Recycled whiskey barrels are our new seeding planters!
For this season, in order to facilitate this passion, we crafted a nursery in our side yard. With the help of some old and huge recycled whiskey barrels, we can now have more growing space filled with good soil and drainage for our seedlings. Now let the growing begin! Quite a few seedlings from the previous year’s herbs are popping up, so into the nursery they go before the snails attack. We added a few new varieties of basil, as well as two types of Japanese shiso (green & red varieties) that we haven’t had before. Of course there are many varieties of heirloom tomatoes growing. Tons of Viet herbs (for our own use and to share), Italian basil, cinnamon basil, cilantro, Italian parsley, 3 different mints, 4 different thymes, 3 different eggplants, swiss chard, bell peppers, lemon cucumber, radicchio, devil peppers, strawberries etc, etc, etc… There is a lot started and we are excited. Every morning we keep checking to see how our “babies” are doing.
For us, beyond just the beauty of the plants and the satisfaction of nurturing them, growing all of this edible vegetation is a way of exploring. Exploring different cultures and the tastes that distinguish them. What are some of the vegetables and herbs that make you think of your home cooking and gardening?
Garden Update: Remember our “baby” carrots? Well, they’ve all grown up to be handsome “teenager” carrots. Although some look a little strange, they’re still good looking and tasty!
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you have some amazing stuff there. it makes me wish we were in So Cal. we had snow this afternoon. last week, it killed our tomato plants. it’s not safe to plant tomatoes here until june. 🙁
Wow, it looks like the garden is really taking off! Mine is smaller than I’d like (not quite a home-owner at the moment, so I don’t want to go crazy in the yard…), so I imagine my veggies this year will all be around the size of your first round of carrots. 😉 I tend to just get a lot of herbs going and then hope for the best with a random assortment of fruits and vegetables–looks like cayenne peppers and blueberries will be racing to the finish line soon.
Wow! I’m so jealous of your garden guys. Looks great and they have such a happy start in the whiskey barrels. My little, tiny apartment and serious lack of a green thumb equals no garden. 🙁
Those carrots are the cutest 😀 Your herbs are looking amazing!! 3 types of eggplants?? I am coming now! I would love to grow every single kind of herb possible…I have some in pots, and we got snow yesterday 😮 so it’s freaking me out a bit!
I love those old whiskey barrels for gardening. Great idea.
I have access to a garden with homegrown herbs and vegetables in the summertime too. I agree nothing can’t beat that.
it’s official: i’m moving to southern california. (as if that alone would enable to have such a spectacular garden…) 🙂
I have a good size herb garden, and we’re just getting the first of the early perennials — chives, thyme, sorrel. I put in tons of flat-leaf parsley and basil every year (several varieties — my newest favorite is lime basil). When I’ve tried tomatoes, the rabbits and deer have gotten to them long before I did. This house is my first with open space, a sunny exposure, and a compost pile to nourish it!
I garden at a community garden and I will be working on my garden plot this weekend. I grow the usual suspects — tomatoes, zucchini (for the flowers!), peppers, and herbs. I’d love to grow Viet herbs because I never find them at stores or the farmers’ market here. Any suggestions about which ones to grow and how to use them?
I am a really bad gardner.
Everything dies in my place. Even the plants i get as present for indise home.
I have no green fingers.
Welcome home! What a great idea to plant in the whiskey tubs – they are environmentally friendly and look great in the garden. Your teenager carrots look great – just think of all the fab salads, soups and other dishes you can make with these.