Opposite Garden Flavors

Hi Folks,

Mulberries and Garlic in the Garden

Yesterday we had a simple BBQ with a dear friend, enjoying the backyard with burgers and our own asparagus bacon-wrapped bundles. (Sorry I keep forgetting to take a picture of these when they come off the grill.  If I have basil I add that to the bundle = 4-5 trimmed asparagus, basil leaf/leaves held to the bundle and 1 thick slice of bacon wrapped all around held in place at each end with toothpicks.)

AND our Mulberries with Pineapple Guava Flower Petals!!  The petals are so naturally sweet, they had both visual and taste appeal to the fruit.  Lovely!  The mulberries are perfectly and wonderfully sweet when picked ripe - when you can easily pluck them from the tree.  I harvest by holding a bowl under the area and just running my fingers gently through the berries.  The ripe ones fall into the bowl.

Here is a picture with the full Pineapple Guava Flower if you have not seen this beauty.

On the other end of the flavor spectrum is our garlic is now producing the scapes, signaling that harvest time will be in about 3-4 weeks.  I have two types growing:  regular (there are many varieties of regular garlic) and elephant garlic, which is actually a leek on steroids.

Regular garlic pictured - just to the right the drying mass you see is my sugar peas which are in the final drying stages and I can then harvest the seeds for re-sowing next fall.  One could also cook up the dried peas as you would any other dried pea, but I prefer growing a lot of sugar peas and I am already planning on expanding the area next September.

Our elephant garlic is doing well, mostly.  The bed is east to west - which is the best orientation when planting ANYTHING in areas with trees and you need to ensure enough sunlight for all the plants.  The challenge with where I located the elephant garlic bed this year was it was too shaded on the east by our grapefruit tree, so literally half of the bed is huge and the other half - well about half in size.  I'm sure we will enjoy all of them when I harvest later.

When the scapes (this is the unopened flower bud on a thick stalk coming straight up out of the center of the plant) start appearing you cut them back to the first leaf.  Many people treat the scape as a short seasonal treat frying up or adding to stews.  I am leaving for another visit with family, so I won't have the time.

But - cutting back the scape begins the process of the finishing the bulb formation in the head of cloves we are all familiar with.

While enjoy our patio yesterday, we snapped a couple of feathered neighbors. The dove picture was as the sun was setting and I think s/he was just choosing this spot for the night.  The  little Inca Doves are always so sweetly appealing.

We have lots of sparrows and finches and Deane was trying to catch a hummingbird flitting about our Acerola (Barbados) Cherry Tree, and decided to catch the sparrow which was not flitting about :-)

I hope you have a wonderful week in the garden and kitchen with your bounty.




-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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