Sunset magazine asked VintageGardenGal to share this exciting invitation and contest with all of you because you love sun-ripened strawberries from your own strawberry patch, abundant artichokes from your kitchen garden, fresh eggs from your fine-feathered hens, and more.
Don't delay, enter now. Growing and raising your own food, and sharing with your family, friends, and neighbors has never been funnier.
It is blissful when all of your hens get along easily. My three hens, Charley, Dolly, and Dahlia have been together since they were day old chicks. They get along famously, and move around in my garden as a unit. They are never far from one another. It was special to find them all together in the warm sandy soil under one of my Pink Breath of Heaven shrubs.
Out in the garden, my hens are usually so active, poking for bugs, greens, and treats. The sunny warm soil must have been so inviting, they had to take five, and relax together. Sand flung up on their backs is soothing and cleansing to them. This is the ultimate dirt bath that chickens love.
Hens that are the same age, and have grown up together have better chances of getting along and avoiding the sometimes cruel pecking order.
VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme....
The 6th Annual Encinitas Garden Festival and Tour is Saturday, April 30, 2011, from 10am to 4pm. The featured neighborhood this year is the historic tree-lined Crest Drive in Cardiff, with diverse gardens and panoramic views of our community west to the ocean, and east to the backcountry. Don't miss it!
You can purchase tickets online at Encinitas Garden Festival, and at these local nurseries: Anderson's La Costa Nursery, Barrels and Branches, Cedros Gardens, The Madd Potter, and Weidner's Gardens.
Maybe I should have titled this post, cooking with one of my favorite authors. When Sunset magazine, May 2010 issue, featured a wonderful "taste journey" about Georgeanne Brennan's new "Provence in California Culinary Weekends," I was ecstatic.
I have an affinity for Provence, and so does Georgeanne Brennan. I satiate my Provence fix with "two week stays" in Provence, while Georgeanne Brennan has lived off and on in Provence for over thirty years. Now mainly residing in Northern California on a beautiful 10 acre farm, she shares her Provencal cooking expertise in day, and weekend classes.
I thought I had read most of Georgeanne Brennan
Meeting Georgeanne Brennan is such a delight. Immediately you are ease with the peaceful energy she exudes, and the easy going comfortable way she manages her cooking classes. Her cooking classes usually are small and intimate with about 6 students, because they are hands-on cooking classes, pairing up with a new friend to make each recipe.
Georgeanne Brennan's culinary classes generally start at the classy Davis Farmer's Market, where students are given "market dollars" and their own list of ingredients to buy and bring back to her kitchen. Before actually cooking preparation starts, it is out into her massive potager to gather more fresh ingredients for our soon-to-be-made recipes. You can almost close your eyes, and believe you are in Provence. Fresh, seasonal ingredients. Colorful Provencal recipes. Beautiful country ambiance.
Two hours of cooking and baking merits a break for appetizers and Provence rose wine outside under her gigantic walnut tree. Back inside to finish our class, assembling and serving up a gastronomic experience, relaxing at a sit down lunch together sharing tips on making the recipes, stories from Georgeanne, and fun!
Georgeanne Brennan is busy. A new cheese cookbook out this spring with Williams-Sonoma. Her "Provence in California Culinary Weekends" are popular and sell out fast. She frequently posts seasonal recipes on her website, Georgeanne Brennan. She is frequently asked to write articles for many national magazines, and is on the guest chef circuit at the world renown spa, Rancho La Puerta.
When I think of Georgeanne Brennan, I think of inspiration. Inspiration for fresh, vibrant food. Inspiration for seasonal growing and eating. Inspiration of the Provence culture. Inspiration for the passion of food. Inspiration for sharing a great meal with family and friends. Thank you Georgeanne.
My husband, John, and I like to have our backyard syrah vineyard here in Southern California pruned by early February or Super Bowl time frame. It is a necessary and important annual task for the vineyard. At this point in the year, the vines are dormant and barren with no leaves to be seen. The vineyard has its own structural beauty showing the trunks and cordons of each vine.
The pruning task at hand is trimming last years shoots, that have matured into canes back down to the fruiting zone of the vines cordons or arms. If you look carefully you can see and count the buds along last year's canes, close to the cordons. There is usually one bud underneath, and more buds follow on the top side. Count one, two buds on top side of mature cane, close to your cordon. Trim at a 45 degree angle an inch away from the second bud. Mature canes trimmed to the two top-sided buds become your new fruit spurs on your cordons. It is ideal to have fruit spurs straight and perpendicular to your cordon arm, and towards the front or the cordon for better sun exposure.
Pruning is a technique that kicks off the entire grape growing season once again, for the year ahead. It is also time to review each vine. It takes some time, because each vine needs to be assessed. Do you have your 4-5 fruit spurs on each cordon. Are your fruit spurs about a "closed fist" length apart. Are there any dead wood parts of the cordon which should be trimmed off. Do you need to pull a mature cane over and create a new cordon, replacing a cordon that is not doing well. Are your fruit spurs out of the central "v" area of your vine. I call it "purposeful pruning".
Your time invested now in meticulous pruning yields all kinds of benefits this coming year such as greater fruit yield, better quality fruit clusters, good canopy management, and allowance for sun exposure and air circulation. Please note there are various pruning techniques for grapevines, not all grapevines are pruned in the technique we use here at Domaine de Manion.
VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme...
The word is out. The 6th Annual Encinitas Garden Festival & Tour is Saturday, April 30, 2011. Save the date! Please go to Encinitas Garden Festival for more detailed information.
Yesterday, I cut and gathered this wonderful bouquet of sweet peas out of my garden. The first beautiful bouquet of sweet peas for this year. If you plant sweet peas each year, chances are you are going to have early sweet peas, even in February. It has been a few years since I had my hands on the original seed packet, but I think these are the Heirloom Sweet Pea, Painted Lady, from Renee's Garden. Renee loves sweet peas, and has researched and compiled quite an assortment of sweet peas to indulge in.
Painted Lady sweet peas dates back to 1737. Wow! It is an early bloomer, and tolerates heat well. I love the pink and cream bi-color, and its scent is mesmerizing. I had to bring them in to enjoy. Cutting sweet peas for bouquets encourages more blooms. The more the merrier!
Please share if you grow sweet peas each year. Please share some of your favorite varieties.
VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme.... Special Garden Speakers Coming to San Diego soon!
The Village Garden Club of La Jolla is pleased to present Paula Pryke, world renown floral designer from London, will speak and share her fabulous floral creations and latest books. Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 1:30pm. For reservations and more information visit Meet the Masters 2011, Paula Pryke.
Jeffrey Bale, Portland-based world renown landscape architect, speaking on "The Pleasure Garden" on Monday, April 11, 2011, 7pm. For tickets and more information visit, Special Speaker Event, Jeffrey Bale hosted by the San Diego Horticultural Society.
With all of the winter rains we've had here in Southern California, my artichokes have blossomed quickly into new plants. Artichokes in zone 9 are a perennial. It is recommended to plant them in the back of your potager or kitchen garden so as not to take away sunlight from other shorter plants growing. Artichokes are so structural at 4 feet high x 6-8 feet wide, they can easily be planted throughout your gardens and in key focal points, too.
Artichokes take full sun and regular water. They can be started in the winter to early spring as small plants, and also by seed if you are patient. Known for their silver green leaves with big flower buds that eventually mature into delicious home-grown "chokes." If the artichoke buds are not harvested, these buds transform themselves into purple-blue thistle 6" flowers. These flowers can be used as spectacular cut flowers or they can be dried for mute-toned fall arrangements.
Artichokes have many reasons to be planted in your garden.Their showy tall plant structure and foliage. Delicious mature artichokes which can be cooked in so many ways. Showy eye-catching flowers to bring inside. Seeing my artichokes do so well this year, it reminded me of the great wedding planner and stylist, Colin Cowie's sensational Artichoke Vinaigrette. Recipe follows.
"Artichoke Vinaigrette"
One fresh artichoke heart, or 2 canned artichoke hearts 1/4 cup Fresh Lemon Juice 1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard 1 Tbsp. Chopped Shallots 1/4 tsp Salt 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Puree artichokes and fresh lemon juice in a blender until creamy. Transfer to a small mixing bowl, blend together artichoke-lemon puree with mustard, shallots, salt, and pepper. Slowly whisk in oil. Makes 1 and 1/3 cups vinaigrette. Serve over fresh mixed greens, or use as a glaze for fish during and after grilling. Enjoy!
Please share your favorite artichoke recipe. Please share if you grow artichokes in your garden.
VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme...
Please welcome Orgin Day Spa as my latest sponsor. Owner, Kim Brown knows facials and massages, a must for every gardener! She is located in San Diego North County. Please stop in and tell her VintageGardenGal sent you.
January and February are optimum months for planting lettuce from seed, according to Charles B. Ledgerwood's Southern California Vegetable Planting Calendar. Here are other his other suggestions, optimum plantings for the month are capitalized.
ASPARAGUS, BEETS, BROCCOLI, BRUSSEL SPROUTS, CABBAGE, CAULIFLOWER, CARROTS, CHIVES, celery, COLLARDS, ENDIVE, FAVA BEANS, KALE, KOHLRABI, leek, LETTUCE, MUSTARD, ONIONS, PEAS, PARSLEY, PARSNIP, RADISH, POTATOES, RUTABAGA, SWISS CHARD, SPINACH, TURNIP, winter zucchini.
If planting your lettuce from seed, why not get a little creative. Whether you have raised beds, or plant your seeds directly in the ground, try planting your favorite different types of lettuce in alternate rows of a shape. Some of my favorite lettuces are the Lettuce "Lollo Rosso," Lettuce "Bibb," and Lettuce "Oak Leaf."
For a great visual in your kitchen garden create simple patterns. Make a quick sketch of what seeds you want to plant in each row. Sow seeds in half circles, spirals, diagonals for something different.
Please comment on your favorite lettuce. Please share a lettuce-growing story you have.
I want to share with you some of the exceptional places that I come across from time to time. These places are gems and not to be missed if you are in the area, or they could even be a destination. Most have a “garden thread” to them. “Places To Know” can be retail, restaurants, nurseries, and other. Whatever the place, expect the unusual.
Can't find Chocolate Mint, Dark Opal Basil, or Cat Mint at your local nursery. You can find them all at Pearson's Gardens, along with about 800 other herbs. Pearson's Gardens is a specialty nursery who grow potted herbs, potted heirloom vegetables, scented geraniums, unusual edibles, and ethnobotanical herbs. (Ethnobotanical, is an adjective describing the scientific study of traditional knowledge and customs of a people relating to their use of plants for medical, religious, and other uses.)
Tucked away in the hills of Vista, this nursery is a treat to visit. All of Pearson's Gardens plants are naturally grown in rich organic soil, and plain ol' Southern California sun. No chemicals or pesticides are used here. If you are not in the vicinity their herbs may be purchased online, too.
Whether you are new to incorporating herbs into your life, or a veteran in gardening and cooking with them, Pearson's Gardens will still surprise you at their vast selection and "herb niche" they have created. Thank you, Cindy and Mark, always kind and gracious when visiting them on site, were happy to respond to my e-mail interview questions about their business below. Pearson's Gardens, 1150 Beverly Drive, Vista, CA 92084. (tel) (760) 726-0717, Monday through Friday, 9am - 4pm.
1) How did you and Mark get started in the herb nursery business? Was it a hobby that blossomed? Your intention all along to grow herbs? Why herbs in particular?
We began growing herbs out of personal interest and as a sideline to our indoor & exotic plant business. Personally, I didn't think it would ever amount to much because herbs had such low regard in the gardening community. However, with better cultivation techniques herbs broke into the mainstream of both culinary and garden circles. As public demand grew, our herb selection grew from about 50 common varieties to over 800!
Why herbs? Both Mark and I are lifelong health nuts. We have always sought out natural, healthy, homegrown foodstuffs. Herbs were a pursuit waiting to happen....
2) With the popularity today of growing your own edibles, has this trend affected your business in any way?
The recent explosion of interest in growing edibles has encouraged us to expand our offerings to include a significant selection of gourmet vegetables, heirloom tomatoes, and more truly unusual edibles from around the world.
3) Is there anything that you would like to say about herbs, (growing, cooking, in the garden), that people might not know about? You can be general or specific.
In the realm of herbs exists the story of history itself. Herbs have been carried in ships by early explorers, by wind and birds, and in pockets of immigrants seeking a new homeland. In their travels they bring part of the culture from the place the journey began.
4) I think I heard you speak of culinary chefs seeking you out for certain harder to find herbs. Please name some of them, and what they might be used for.
Yerba Santa/Hoja Santa Piper sanctum is used in Mexican and Central American cuisine as a flavor infusing wrap, as well as to flavor sauces and entrees.
Mentuccia/ Nepitella Calamintha nepeta, native to Tuscany, might be thought of as a minty oregano flavor that is paired inseparably with mushrooms.
5) Who are your customers, local and online? Do you have specialty clients for certain herbs?
Since we grow an extensive selection of international culinary and ethnobotanical herbs, people from very continent walk through out gate!
6) You sell over 70 lavender varieties. Which is your favorite and why?
It's hard to narrow it down to just one. We favor Sweet Lavender for its year-round color. For fragrance and culinary use, it's a tie between Provence and Grosso.
7) If someone was new to growing herbs, and wanted to start using culinary herbs, what are your top ten basic recommendations?
The short answer is - the ones you use!
1. Basil 2. Parsley 3. Sage, Berggarten or Sage of Bath 4. Chives 5. Mint, Kentucky Colonel 6. Oregano, Greek 7. Rosemary 8. Tarragon, French 9. Dill 10. Cilantro
You are now growing heirloom vegetables and tomatoes besides herbs. Is this one of your new directions? Are there other directions you are going?
We are definitely continuing to expand our offerings of vegetables, tomatoes, as well as international and exotic edibles.
9) Are there any trends with selling herbs that you have noticed?
We are seeing more men, as well as young adults with a new found interest in herbs and edible gardening
10) Is there anything you would like to add, or mention? There is an exciting trend of edible landscaping and co-mingling herbs and vegetables within ornamental gardens. In doing so, gardeners should always remember to use food-safe products and practices.
Please comment if you use herbs in your life now. Please share which herbs are your favorites.