seeds vs. seedlings

If you’re as impatient as I am, both seeds and seedlings have a place in your garden.  Seeds help stave off winter boredom and scatter to burst forth with bean vines, zucchini explosions, and pretty much every root vegetable.  Seedlings, however, help extend the growing season by producing cold-hardy greens to enjoy when mornings are still frosty.

kale is our favorite right now.  Try both curly and Tuscan for texture in salads or sautée them for a nice mild side dish with some garlic and oyster sauce.  Swiss chard is another prolific green, but you have to wait until April to be sure the ground is warm enough for it.  Make sure you take just enough to cook until the plants really take off.  When they do, you’ll be giving the giant leaves away!

“Hey, do you mind…”

Call me a country mouse, but the thing I like best about having a garden is being able to say, “hey, do you mind going out back to get some herbs/greens/veggies?”  It’s still early, so we haven’t got much to pick, but tonight it was kale, green garlic, and oregano to sautée with some mushrooms.  Yum!

herbs

This year, I’ll be experimenting with drying my own herbs.  Even a single seedling gives you much more than you need, and snipping them weekly ensures that they won’t flower and change flavor too much, even in the heat (this happens with many basil varieties).

I can’t wait to make a roast chicken with some of this!  I still have a few to get, but so far, we have: oregano, thyme, purple basil, and rosemary alongside this week’s garlic greens.  I plan on scattering seeds for parsley and cilantro around the tomatoes and peppers so that it comes up everywhere.  Basically, I want to go out back and be able to snip whatever I need and make little jars of dried herbs for fall and winter.