Category Archives: edibles
Blue-Podded Blauwschokkers
The modest haul from my little community garden plot yesterday. I’ve got the smallest size plot available, 10X10, but so far it’s just big enough. I am so not a serious grower of edibles. I don’t can, pickle, or freeze. … Continue reading
the French Laundry’s Culinary Garden
“One score and seven minutes ago our partners brought forth on this town, a new restaurant, conceived in finesse, and dedicated to the proposition that all food is served soigné.” — Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry celebrating its 20th anniversary … Continue reading
Posted in edibles, MB Maher, photography
Tagged California, kitchen gardens, MB Maher, Napa Valley, Thomas Keller's The French Laundry, vegetable gardens
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community garden 2/26/14
After sowing some borlotti beans late afternoon in anticipation of rain, I tracked down all the sweet peas in bloom in neighboring plots. The results of my sweet pea safari: And I always stop to admire how Scarlet Flax has … Continue reading
mon petit chou
Members of the cabbage family were especially alluring at my community garden yesterday. No wonder “my little cabbage” is a French expression of affection. This dry, sunny winter seems to agree with them. Such a good-looking family. Exquisite chartreuse florets … Continue reading
Posted in edibles
Tagged brassicas, cabbage family, community gardens, organic gardens, Romanesco broccoli, winter vegetables
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a kale of two cities
“America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion and every change seems an improvement.” — Alexis de Tocqueville Unlike Dickens’ tale of London and Paris, the two cities under consideration here are yours and Paris. … Continue reading
anatomy of a late-summer road trip
Is there a tinge of desperation in the road trips of late summer? By the end of summer are we stuffing itineraries with an absurd number of places to see in the dwindling opportunities to experience daylight until 8 p.m.? … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, design, edibles, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, plant nurseries, succulents
Tagged "Natural Discourse", 2013 Heirloom Exposition, Agave 'Cornelius', Agave americana var. striata, Agave celsii var. albicans 'UCB', Andy Cao, Annie's Annuals & Perennials, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Cornerstone Annual Tomato Tasting, Cornerstone Sonoma, Cottage Gardens of Petaluma, Gladiolus papilio, Gunnera perpensa, James Van Sweden, John Greenlee, Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, Sheila Brady, The Ruth Bancroft Garden, University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, Xavier Perrot
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the first summer dahlias and a freakish summer rain
I moved the dahlias to the community garden this year and am so very glad I did. Just as in my own small home garden last year, the plant is a sprawling mess, but now I don’t have to look … Continue reading
fear of fava beans
I pulled the fava bean plants out yesterday and tossed them on the compost pile, after picking and filling another shopping bag full of beans that will ultimately be shelled, blanched, inner membrane peeled again, and thus be whittled down … Continue reading
winter veg
This is my first winter in a new community organic garden. The first summer, which was 2012, was so dreadful that I couldn’t bring myself to post about it. I’ve participated in community gardens in the past, got too busy, … Continue reading
Posted in edibles
Tagged community gardens, cover crops, nitrogen fixation, winter vegetables
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talk to me about the weather
When I was a callow youth, a period of uncertain beginning and dubious ending, if all you could talk about was the weather, you had my sympathy. (Possibly you also had my barely concealed disdain as well as sympathy. I … Continue reading
Posted in edibles, Occasional Daily Weather Report, Plant Portraits, science
Tagged Zea mays 'Tiger Cub'
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