Peas Please

Great Garden Companions?

Any gardener will tell you that biodiversity and companion gardening are good things. The basic idea is that by combining certain types of plants you will introduce beneficial incects and nutrients to your garden ecosystem. With a few misplaced plants you can also make wackiness occur as well. For instance, placing a yellow squash next to a zucchini will produce a strange sort of hybrid mottled with yellow and green. Cool sounding but not altogether that appetizing. Similarly it is beneficial to plant other groupings together. Basil, when planted with tomatoes or peppers attracts beneficial insects which keep away other harmful pests.

But I must say that I was stumped when some friends sent me the pic of their recent venture into companion plants. Some say the one will go with anything. Others say that it comes with jail time. I say, gotcha back :)

Prepare to be Amazed

The other day while I was watching the movie, "Eat, Pray, Love" I was struck by the comment that Julia Robert's character makes.  She says,"I want to go somewhere, where I can marvel at something."  Well, don't we all?  But why must one go to the far corners of the earth to be able to marvel?  With every step into the garden I am surprised by what I find.  I am shocked that something the size of the period at the end of this sentence has the power to feed people for days and days (.)  Something that looks a lot like this . has the ability to bring people together over good food and even better conversation.  This . has the power to sustain and nourish us, to give us energy to be in this world.  This . has the power to bring people back from the pain of hunger and famine to life and life abundant.  Now if that isn't something to marvel at I don't know what is.  These are miracles of fish and loaves proportions that we encounter here.  Every seed is an opportunity to express faith and hope in a God that will continue to provide for our every need.

The Best Chicken Noodle Soup Ever

Warning: all measurements are approximate. Make sure to adjust for personal taste.

1 chicken breast grilled and cubed
1 quart chicken broth
1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh peas
Small bunch of chives (I use a kitchen shears to cut into small pieces)
1 cup bow tie pasta
1 tbsp dried parsley.
1 1/2 pieces crumbled bacon

Bring the broth to a low rolling boil. Add the pasta chicken, chives, and parsley. If using fresh peas add them two minutes before pasta is done. Add the bacon at the same time. Salt and pepper to taste.

Chive Blossom Vinegar

Place two cups of chive blossoms per 1 quart jar.
Fill the jar with white vinegar and cover with plastic.
Allow to ferment for two weeks before straining out the blossoms.
Keep the vinegar in a dark location so that the color does not fade.

Taking a Chance

We are well on our way to an actual spring I think, hope, pray. I may be sorely misguided but I'm taking a chance and getting at least some of the more volatile plants in the ground. A few tomatoes a few peppers of the red, green, and Anaheim variety. Ah yes, and one wee sugar stack watermelon.

A sure sign that winter surely has been banished is the first crop of rhubarb that has been cut. Add to that the first meal of the spring that has been garnished by chive and we are on a roll. In the next day or two the chive blossoms will be opening. I've never eaten the spicy little blossoms but I will look forward to making some chive blossom vinegar. A few weeks and I will post photos of the final product.

Why Mow it When You Can Eat it?

I hate it when bloggers apologize for not blogging for a while.  I personally have stayed away because I thought that blogging about gardening would hinder the arrival of spring.  However, it may have done just the opposite.  We have completely thawed now and all of the snow is gone.  But that wasn't  before we got a little shot of snow on May day.  Blah!!!!!!

I have been in the garden this past week.  I've been constructing raised beds and filling them with compost, peat moss, and vermiculite.  I finally found some vermiculite at Levi Reunions Garden Center outside of Sabin.  They will be ordering more next year because it has been so popular.  

Its really still too early to do much planting in the garden.  However, sugar peas and lettuce are cold weather plants so they have been entrusted to the raised beds.  I am trying a new trellis system this year.  It may look kinda funny but I'm hoping it does the trick.  I have also been constructing support structures for pole beans, Christmas beans, luffa and tomato.  Yeah, my neighbor thinks I'm crazy but it will be fun to experiment.

Bean Trellis

I'm including pics of some of the structures I've made this week.  You may notice that most of my backyard is now consumed by the garden.  My goal is to eliminate the need for much  mowing back there.  I figure the more time I spend mowing, the less time I have for gardening.  Plus I cant feed my neighbors with grass, but I can feed them with tomatoes, carrots, onions, peas....  They deserve a share of this gardens bounty after having to look at these structures for the summer.