A Tasteful Garden

from my window | the return of indian pipes

2010-07-28T16:38:00.000-04:00

the return of indian pipes... Our woods had been surprisingly absent of Indian Pipes this summer. Maybe they aren't used to the dry weather we've been having. Last year, they were hiding plentifully around every oak, pine and hemlock. I was quite happy to spot this patch yesterday growing behind a big boulder of granite.

Indian Pipes are simply cool to check out. They are so ghostly amid the backdrop of vivid greens and rich browns. Check out their lifecycle. Each stage transforms this plant from a head hanging pipe, to a proud and proper flower, to a stark seed pod. Finally for its closing act, the Indian Pipe turns from milky white to charcoal black. Quite a show.

garden | weekly harvest

2010-07-25T18:54:00.005-04:00

yum!... We'll be feasting in style this week after today's harvest. The Tipoff Romanesco broccoli is simply stunning. This is the first year I am growing this variety, so I'm excited to give it a taste. I'd probably grow it again next year for sheer looks alone.

I harvested my first crop of beans. The Black Valentine bush were a plenty. They provided enough for several dinners and some freezing to boot. The Masai Haricot Verts provided a handful, but they've got a little ways to go. The Indy Golds are just starting to change to a greenish yellow.

Pulled up my first Borrenttana Cipollini of the summer. I think I will always grow cipollinis. No other onion roasts up as sweet, and they provide early onion picking for us northern folks.

The Teide Red Summer Crisp isn't quite as red as it should be, but I blame the lurching bean poles that have provided a bit too much shade to the lettuce below. But neighbors of the same variety are shouting from the garden with its purply-red leaves.

I harvested the largest green bell pepper of my gardening career. It was blocky and beautiful. The Carmen peppers are already beckoning to be picked. It'll be hard to keep any left on the plant so they can ripen to a rich red.

The basil that I seeded early last month and took what seemed to be forever and a half to germinate, finally took off and I'm now tossing in Genovese, Sweet Dani, Thai, and Amethyst Improved basil into everything.

I even found some straggler radishes. They weren't at their finest, but they weren't horrible either. I sowed my fall radishes the other week, so I'm excited to see how the Black Round Spanish radishes will grow.

To celebrate the harvest, I tossed together the tomatoes, peppers, onions, herbs, and garlic into a tasty salsa. A definite treat for the tastebuds. The only thing missing were the cucumbers.

wishlist | hand printed burlap pillows

2010-07-24T10:08:00.003-04:00

beckoning burlap... I was traipsing around Etsy the other day when I came across these gorgeous hand printed burlap pillows at a shop called My Adobe Cottage. I've been lusting over some vintage floursack pillows for a while, but I can never justify the expense. These cool pillows on the other hand are all around $35/ea. Not too shabby for quality handcrafted work.

I keep having dreams of making something like this myself, but realistically, the odds of getting around to do it are slim to none. Though I am trying to learn the craft of printing by hand. So far it has just been immersed in books about it. Next step is trying to carve my own stamps. I really want to dabble in screenprinting too. I think the last time I screen printed was in my fourth grade art class. If I can get there in skill, I'll finally have an outlet for the textile patterns of my dreams. Until then, I'll gain inspiration from talented handcrafters like My Adobe Cottage.

garden | late blight hits Maine garden

2010-07-22T19:18:00.005-04:00

heartbreak once again... Take a good gander at the pretty red fruits above. They may be the only tomatoes I harvest this summer.

My heart sank this morning. Yesterday I heard word that a gardener up in Waldoboro spotted late blight in her garden. As soon as I heard that, my mind immediately went straight to my deck tomatoes. That morning I had spotted a second tomato with a brown, greasy looking patch on it. I thought, no... this couldn't possibly be. Not after last year's loss.

But when I came home this afternoon, my once vivacious, healthy, booming plants had taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Blight. Again. My heart sank. After all, I raised these plants from seed, back in the cold of winter. I cared for them, pruned them, feed them, and kept optimistic that this would be a banner summer for tomatoes... especially after the amazing stretch of weather we've been graced with.

The good news is that I have only spotted signs of blight on my deck tomatoes. Which by the way, have been immediately bagged in plastic and are headed to the dump. My true tomato bounty lies on the opposite side of our house. It's there that I have over 60 tomato plants growing. You name it, I'm growing it. Super Sweet Cherry 100s, Sun Gold, Juliet, Roma, Heinz Paste, Green Zebra, Jet Star, Speckled Roman, and several heirloom mixes.

I'm going to keep cautiously optimistic that we nabbed and bagged the infected plants as soon as we could. I'm hoping that the garden tomatoes will be spared, but I will keep a hawk-eye out for the first signs of blight. I remember how last year's plants went from full and gorgeous to infected and withered in a matter of 3-4 days.

As you can see, right now, these tomatoes are looking quite lovely. If these plants do get hit, I may seriously question whether or not to try tomatoes again next year. Though they have always been a garden staple of mine for over a decade, I tend to have little will control over editing my amount of plants, so my tomato crop usually takes up one-third of my gardens. To continue to occupy this much space with something that I cannot harvest from isn't practical. But I know that my gardens would not be complete without tomatoes. Maybe I'll just do a little patch. Small. Tiny, really.

Please help prevent the spread of this horrid disease. If you spot the signs of blight in your gardens, please take the appropriate precautions to dispose of your infected plants. For more information on spotting blight and what to do if you have infected plants, please check out this information from the University of Maine.

garden | connecting gardens via seed shares

2010-07-18T10:26:00.011-04:00

sharing seeds... I would love for my gardens to tell more stories. Does that sound odd? Maybe I should rephrase. It just that when I look at my white phlox, I remember that day five summers ago when I came home from a friend's toting my new addition to my perennial beds. That day was a blast. A quintessential early summer's day. It's like when you hear that certain song come on the radio and you are instantly transported back to a memory. Well, I want that, but with my garden. A garden of meaning, so to speak.

Sometimes the meaning is simply a connection to a person. I think of my friend Sue each time I take a snip of tarragon. It is the seventh generation of cuttings from Sue's original plant that we harvest from today. I love connecting via our gardens.

I truly feel akin to so many of you kind folks who continue to drop on by and share your garden and food stories with me. I just think it would be pretty darn cool to be able to connect our gardens. A kind of a communal seed share. Connect with fellow gardeners and foodies via our plants.

So, with that, I just snipped off all the dried seed pods of my one of my favorite flowers, the Oriental Poppy. Without fail, each late Spring, these poppies have provided mind-bending color enjoyment. A prolific self-seeder, these tiny little seeds happily plant themselves throughout your flower beds. They are also quite cold-tolerant, proving to be a hardy plant for this Zone 5 gardener.

I harvested plenty of these tiny, little seeds and I would love to share them with you. If you'd like to connect my garden with yours, please leave a comment and then drop me an email at allison@atastefulgarden.com with a mailing address. A seed packet of Oriental Poppies will happily be on its way to you. Happy gardening!

raising chickens | week ten

2010-07-17T19:38:00.002-04:00

week ten... The chickens are happy as clams, so to speak. They've been thriving outside, munching on moss and pecking insects out of bark. Bobby Clark is growing into an incredibly handsome rooster. His cockle-doodle-doo has still a ways to go, but he's always on the alert, yet completely friendly with the family.

We started feeding them some compostable scraps like herbs and fruit. The go nuts over the wild raspberries and the boxwood basil. We only give them small amounts, but they are coming to expect a little treat whenever they see us approaching.

Dottie, top left, is the dominant hen. She takes on Bobby Clark all the time. She quite the aggressive one. Turtle, bottom left, Beatrice, top right, and Bobby Clark are the friendliest. They don't hesitate to come right up to you. I swear, Bobby Clark practically posed for the top photo of this post. Buzz Bee and Gertie are also doing well. They are the quiet, shy hens of the group. Gertie enjoys digging holes for dirt baths. Buzz Bee pretty much stays low key.

Tom is putting the finishing touches on the nesting boxes. Hopefully we'll get something installed tomorrow. I can't believe egg laying is not too far off in the foreseeable future. That will take the whole raising chicken experience to another level. Right now they are like our outdoor pets. Soon they be hardy providers for our family. Kinda cool.

daily photo | wild yellow lily

2010-07-13T18:56:00.001-04:00

july 13, 2010 | the flower fairy strikes for a third time... a wild yellow lily

weekly wine walk | july in the Maine woods

2010-07-13T10:59:00.001-04:00

weekly wine walk... Last night I went for a much overdue stroll through our woods. I still can't get enough of the scarlet red of the wild lilies. The setting sun light of the stroll created the perfect backdrop.

I forget about the coreopsis each year, and each July it surprises me by its masses of rich, yellow flowers. It really is a delightful addition to the gardens.

A symphony of mushrooms. Mushrooms are nothing new around our woods, but their continued variance captures my eye time and time again. There is something magical about these fungi. They pop up in the most secret of places adding a punch of personality to everything around them. Though, to be honest, I am extremely thankful to not see them as plentiful in my garden beds. Last year, I thought all I was growing were mushrooms.

I eradicated 99% of my black-eyed Susans from my main flower beds. Over three years time, they took over the beds and dominated their way over the rest of the flowers. I tried a relocation program for them, but I've run out of space. So, finally I bit the bullet and treated them like the weed they frankly had become. A few remained in the main beds and this golden beauty is one of them. I love the layers of petals. It adds an element of delicateness to an otherwise rather hardy self seeder.

Last night the woods basked in the salmon-hued glow of the setting sun. My lens could not begin to capture the serenity of the sun's hues. One glance and you are drawn in by the beckoning light gleaming off the white birch bark. It totally has a come hither draw that pulls you to follow its fading rays into the woods.

So to close, I thought it would be nice to include a quote from one of my favorite writers, Ralph Waldo Emerson... "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

garden | harvesting garlic

2010-07-12T20:30:00.000-04:00

bye-bye supermarket garlic... 60 heads! Yesterday afternoon, I harvested 60 heads of garlic. My biggest bounty ever. Just seeing it all makes me want to start a garlic festival in my town. The thought of all the meals that will be graced by this most delicious addition makes me feel downright giddy.

I'm thinking that 60 heads should be more than plenty for a family of four for a while, with some leftover to share with friends. Still, I'm tempted to double this fall's planting. Since I harvested a 2-1 ratio of softneck to hardneck, I'll definitely double at least my hardneck planting. I would love to have more scapes.

You can tell how many layers of "paper" a head is covered in by counting the leaves. Each leaf represents one layer of papery covering. When a good 1/3 to 1/2 of the leaves begin to yellow, it is time to harvest. Hold back on watering the garlic for one week prior to harvest. This will help cut down on the bulb rotting. Gently dig out each head. Place in a dry, cool, dark place. The garlic will keep up to nine months, maybe 11 for the softneck.

Curing the garlic helps increase its storage potential. Ours are curing on a handmade screen rack that is in our basement. In around two weeks, the heads should feel much more papery. This is signaling that it's now time to braid the softnecks. For my hardnecks, I simply bunch them together and hang by the root cellar.

Now to dine in delight for the next several months in everything garlic, fresh from my own garden. It really doesn't get any better than that.

garden | a burst of berry bliss

2010-07-10T14:05:00.002-04:00

berry bliss... This has been a great summer for our berries. We grow cultivated blueberries and some strawberries, but the majority of our berry picking comes from all of our wild strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. It is just so cool to think that our family delights on dining on something that we find basically via foraging in our yard.

The raspberries have been heartier than we've ever seen before. You can pick all the bushes clean, and yet like magic, new ripened berries appear the next day. We've had such an abundance that we've even shared some with our chickens. They go crazy for raspberries.

There is a quiet beauty in the stem that is left behind from a plucked berry. It isn't until you've removed the berry that you notice the delicate brown filagree.

I almost completely forgot about the blackberries until I went to pick some lemon balm and noticed the immense clusters of big, bright green berries nearby. I quickly checked around for the other bushes and each are simply ladened with these fruits.

I love nature's timing on how these wild berries grow. Just as the strawberries die back, the raspberries come into full harvest. As the raspberries begin to wane, the wild blackberries turn a deep, dark purple signaling that it is ripe and ready for picking.

All this talk of berries is now making me hungry, so I shall go now for a quick stroll off to the berry bushes. Happy gardening!

daily photo | echinacea in bloom

2010-07-09T18:49:00.002-04:00

july 9, 2010 | the bloom of echinacea takes reign over the flower beds

recipe | fresh peas with mint

2010-07-08T21:00:00.000-04:00

pea pleasers... When the peas start plumping out, you have to act fast to grab your fair share of the harvest before my boys pillage the plants. Right up there with devouring all the wild raspberries, is the art of pea picking for these two garden devils. It doesn't matter the pea—sugar, shell, snap—they are all at risk. For the perky green pods are viewed as "garden candy" in their eyes.

The sugar snaps are still swelling up and the snow peas have been kicking about in our salads and sautés for a week or two now. But it is the shell pea that has been commanding the most attention this weekend. When I first moved to Maine, my neighbor taught me the old adage of plant your peas at tax time and you'll have them ready to serve on Fourth of July. Well, normally at tax time my garden is still under snow, but we were fortunate to get them on time this year. Mrs. Archer was right. The peas arrived just in time to make a very tasty dish for the holiday weekend.

Fresh Peas with Mint

1 lb of fresh peas (I use whatever type is currently ready for picking. It works equally well with sugar snap, snow and shell peas.)

2 tbs unsalted butter

handful of fresh mint, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Blanch the peas in eight cups of salted, boiling water for one minute. As the peas are blanching, melt the butter over medium-high heat in a large sauté pan. Transfer the peas to the skillet and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Toss in the mint and season as desired.

Last summer I made this dish, and by mistake, I tossed the mint into the hot butter at the same time as the peas. The result was absolutely outstanding. The mint sautéed up crisp, yet tasty. It was the perfect complement to the fresh snap of the peas. I tried to recreate it last week, but it just wasn't the same. Don't get me wrong, it was still an excellent dish, but I missed that crisp of the mint. Thankfully the peas are a plenty right now so I'll have several more opportunities to try. If I figure the secret out, I'll definitely share it.

from my window | wild pink lily

2010-07-05T11:16:00.002-04:00

the flower fairy strikes again... I walked out onto my deck this morning and was greeted by yet another wonderful surprise, a pink lily growing by our granite boulders. Another wild lily! I find this simply amazing. We have never had the honor of hosting wild lilies in our woods before and now we've been graced twice in one week. The cool thing about wild lilies is that it's these plants that are responsible for the hybrids we have in our gardens today.

I just love the randomness of their appearances. This pretty pink girl is nestled amongst some hostas in a pretty shaded spot along our wood's edge. The wild red-orange lily from earlier this week is on the complete opposite side of our woods in a fairly sunny spot, but once again nestled into the wood's perimeter.

I don't want to get greedy, but I certainly hope there are more gifts like this to come from the flower fairies!

garden | gardening on the fourth of july

2010-07-03T10:35:00.000-04:00

from the garden... This really has been an ideal summer so far for gardening. It's a total 180º from last year. Everything in the garden is coming along beautifully. I'm starting to keep notes on what to definitely grow again next year, what I'll avoid, and basic lessons learned.

Lesson #1—inspect your wild raspberry for little white worms prior to popping it into your mouth. You'd be surprised at how many of those little buggers are hiding out in the center.

I think I'll always grow Easter Egg radishes. This is my third year planting them. I just love their array of color. I tossed in a few Cherry Belles too, which weren't too shabby. In a few weeks I'll be planting some Round Black Spanish to welcome in the fall crops with. My continued goal is to be successfully growing three seasons out of the year.

Let's welcome the rutabagas to the garden. Mind you, I can count on two fingers the amount of times I've feasted on rutabagas, but they are an excellent storage crop and I will be loving them by winter time (I hope). These Laurentians are quite the active grower and by fall, those bulbs will be huge.

The Ruby Perfection red cabbage are gorgeous. Their fuschia markings stand out with much majesty.

I unintentionally planted some Coral Shell peas from 2007, rather than this year's package. Turns out, not a problem. Peas have a seed viability of 2-3 years, so I figured that I'd probably have shotty germination at best. That also turned out inaccurate. I had a 75% germination. I would have had more plants to harvest from, but there is a chipmunk to blame for that. Nothing beats seeing my extremely finicky-eater of a four-year-old sitting on a tree stump popping peas into his mouth.

Another lesson learned was to throw in the towel on planting Waltham 29 broccoli. I've grown this variety for three years and without fail, it bolts uber-quickly. One day it is forming its head, the next day it is all yellow flowers. My Windsor on the other hand has formed perfect, tight heads. I will definitely plant this again. In fact, I'm going to try it out for a fall sowing. The Tipoff Romanesco is coming along, though the heads are still mighty tiny. Lastly is Arcadia. My experiment for this broccoli was to plant it in a completely different area of the garden. A slighty shady spot. So far, so good.

So on this beautiful Fourth of July weekend, from my garden to yours, a very happy holiday!

daily photo | cosmos in the morning

2010-07-02T21:38:00.001-04:00

july 2, 2010 | cosmos bathe in the early morning light

from my window | wild orange-red lily

2010-07-02T20:02:00.005-04:00

a stunning find... I grabbed my mug of coffee this morning and went off for a nice, quiet garden stroll. I had hardly walked five feet into the gardens when I spotted the most vibrant, stunning silky red lily. There it was shining bright, buried between the lemon balm and meadow rue that grow along the wood's edge. My thoughts immediately questioned where this unexpected beauty came from. Sure, I grow several different varieties of lilies, but this one is completely different. I figured maybe it was the gift of a passing-by squirrel or chipmunk. Regardless of where it came from, I was thrilled to see it.

A little research later and I come to learn that this is a Wild Orange-Red Lily. A habitant of dry woodland borders from New England to North Carolina and west to Minnesota. This has been the driest summer we have had in several years, so maybe that's why I'm spotting them for the first time. I hope they decide to stay around for a few more years.

living | maidstone state park

2010-06-28T20:16:00.000-04:00

a little Vermont getaway... We took the boys camping this past weekend at Maidstone State Park. Nestled in the serene beauty of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, Maidstone is now officially one of my top three car camping state parks. Even though the weather was a bit iffy, it did not damper our adventure one bit.

Green. A lot of green. Gorgeous, vibrant greens of yellow birch and spruce filled the woods, while moss and lilies carpeted the forest floor. The loons call carried during the night, echoing over the clear, glassy water.

Best of all, the trip over to the park is truly stunning as you cruise along the Presidential range of New Hampshire's White Mountains. You could see Mt. Washington's craggy peak crystal clear on our way over, but it was shrouded in clouds on our way home.

A personal triumph was our boys' joy of camping this time around. Last year we decided that it was time to get back out camping, the boys were old enough now. Well, no one really mentions last June's trip anymore. We merely mutter "remember Lamoine?" Let's just say, the whole ordeal lasted only 18 hours. This weekend it was completely different. They played in the woods and along the lake the whole time. Never once saying "can we go home now", rather they uttered disappointments when we told them it was time to pack up.

Check out the bear print in the above right shot. That was just a few feet from our site. It was the claw part that completely awed me. Talk about sharp!

Our state parks are awesome treasures that I'm quite thankful for. Each year I pick out a few new parks to check out and I am rarely disappointed. Think about it, for $46, my family got to spend the weekend on a gorgeous lake with our own private beach basking in the beauty of nature. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.

daily photo | chamomile close-up

2010-06-22T19:20:00.002-04:00

june 22, 2010 | the apple scent of the chamomile blossoms makes weeding a pleasure

garden | garlic scapes delight

2010-06-22T19:01:00.002-04:00

the delight of the scape... I was introduced to garlic scapes last summer. At first I was horrified at this twisting arrow-like thing that suddenly appeared on my garlic. Had my garlic bolted? But a little research later, I learned that in order to help focus the plants energy into forming a quality bulb, I had to lop off that funky shoot that I now knew was really called a scape. With that begin my quick fall into love with this culinary treat.

Last year we took the scapes and quickly sauteed them with some crushed red pepper flakes and extra virgin olive oil. The memory of how incredibly good these little garlic bean-like shoots were was beyond words. I planted three times the amount of garlic this year primarily for scapes alone. As soon as you snip them from the plant, the aroma of garlic quickly fills the surrounding air wafting promises of tastebud delights to come. I could hardly wait to eat them this week, so I stayed the course and sauteed them up the same exact way as last year. They definitely did not disappoint. Sadly what did disappoint was how quickly they are now gone. Until next June...

raising chickens | week six

2010-06-15T20:56:00.005-04:00

week six and growing like weeds... Check out how huge our babies have gotten. That's Beatrice right above. She's our Buff Orpington. I'm convinced that if you stare at them long enough, you'll be able to see them grow right before your eyes. Seriously, every day they shoot up a little more. Just check out Gertie, below. Remember when she looked liked this?

That's Dottie, above left. Here she is at a mere one week old. And that's Buzzbee to the right. They have all changed so much, so quickly. Their personalities also grow more distinct day by day.

This week kicked off the chick's introduction to the outdoors. We made a temporary pen for them to hang out in while we work around the yard. Tom's currently converting his former ice house into a chicken coop. Judging from his past six weeks of chicken cage contraptions, I have no doubt that he'll come up with an amazing coop. His deadline is this weekend, so stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed!

daily photo | prayer flags

2010-06-15T19:00:00.000-04:00

june 15, 2010 | a beautiful gift from a friend's recent trip to Tibet

wishlist | lusting after thomas paul

2010-06-14T19:00:00.004-04:00

pursuing thomas paul... It's not a secret that I lust after all things Thomas Paul. His graphic prints, clean lines, and amazing color palette is a designer's dream. Though not often in my budget, I find that almost all of the items of his that I drool over are reasonably priced. The Scrimshaw Dessert Plate Set (above, $32), is the lastest addition to his melamine plate collection and the perfect costal accompaniment.

There is something so poetically graphic about these octopus tea towels (left, $20) and Alpaca throw (right, $350) that I'd actually consider incorporating octopodes into my daily decor.

Though the last thing I need is another throw pillow, I always seem to be on the hunt for cool pillow designs. The whale pillow (above, $70) immediately caught my eye. I kinda have a thing for all things burlap and jute, toss in a whale and you get close to perfection in my eyes. And how can you go wrong with bringing a couple of trees into the comfort of your couch? (Birch Arboretum linen pillow, above left, $100 and Chestnut Arboretum linen pillow, above right, $120)

Finally, tote your stuff around in style. Tuck your laptop away incognito in this Luddite Laptop Sleeve (above left, $50). Or, better yet, pair up that laptop sleeve with this perfect Robin Tote Bag (above right, $50). It's totes like this that make me think I need another, but in all honestly, I may be an amateur tote hoarder in the making, so I shall continue to do my Thomas Paul shopping via my wishlist.

You can find everything Thomas Paul at Velocity Art and Design. Check out some of my past faves from this very cool shop.

daily photo | pristine peony

2010-06-13T16:42:00.001-04:00

june 13, 2010 | the magnificence that is the peony

garden | wild strawberries

2010-06-11T15:35:00.000-04:00

wonderfully wild... We have oodles of wild strawberries randomly tossing their trailers all about our lawn and along our wood's edge. It got to the point where they were getting downright invasive, popping up like little weeds throughout my garden beds. For a few years I tried to fight back, but last year I decided to embrace them and their dazzling little treats.

I began to pluck up the stray strawberry plants and give them their own patch to frolic in. So far it is paying off in tiny, delicate pops of sweetness. I keep planning on harvesting them in one big batch and drying them, but it really is impossible. You just automatically munch on them as soon as you pluck them. But should I ever get the will power to resist long enough to actually incorporate them into a recipe, the top on my list would be wild strawberry jam.

daily photo | sweet williams sweatheart

2010-06-11T13:42:00.002-04:00

june 11, 2010 | sweet william's sweetheart