Edible Flowers

Many of the most striking ‘ornamental’ plants are also some of the tastiest. Edible flowers not only add vivid color, but also sweet, tangy, peppery and citrus flavors to salads, desserts and even drinks.

NASTURTIUM

Adds sweet & peppery flavor to salads and the buds can also be pickled

VIOLA

Sweet perfumed flavor great in salads or to decorate drinks & frosted cakes

MARIGOLD

Adds a spicy, citrus flavor to salads

BACHELOR'S BUTTON

Has a sweet, spicy, clovelike flavor perfect for use as a garnish

CALENDULA

Adds spicy, tangy and peppery flavors to soups and rice & pasta dishes

DIANTHUS

Has a clove/Nutmeg like flavor used to decorate cakes and steep in wine.

Fresh Cooking With Collard Greens

More tolerant of summer heat than it's trendy cousin kale, and more cold resistant than cabbage, Collard Greens are one of the oldest Brassica or cabbage family varieties, and easiest to grow year round in the home garden. While for many of us, the mention of collard greens conjures up the aroma of bacon, and images of pots simmering on a backburner all Sunday afternoon, there are fresher, faster, healthier ways to prepare this hearty leafy green. Here are three of our favorites...

Stuffed Collard Greens
By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

1 large bunch collard greens (about 1 1/2 pounds), stemmed

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large red or yellow onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, green shoots removed, minced

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 cup rice, either medium-grain or basmati, rinsed well in several changes of water

2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup lightly toasted pine nuts (to taste)

1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes, drained (retain juice)

2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup currants or dark raisins (to taste)

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground allspice berries

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

Juice of 1 lemon

1 lemon, sliced thin (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil while you carefully stem the collard greens, trying to keep the leaves intact. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the collard leaves in batches. Blanch two minutes and transfer to the ice water. Drain, gently squeeze out excess water and set aside.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat in a large lidded skillet, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Add the garlic, salt and sugar, and cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, about a minute. Add the rice and pine nuts, and stir together until the rice is coated with oil. Stir in the tomatoes, currants, cinnamon, allspice and salt and pepper to taste. Stir together, and add 1 cup water or enough to barely cover the rice. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer until all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Allow to sit for 10 minutes without disturbing. Stir in the mint and dill.

3. Oil a wide, deep, lidded sauté pan or saucepan with olive oil. To fill the leaves, place one on your work surface, vein side up and with the stem end facing you. The leaf may have a big space in the middle where you stemmed it; if so, pull the two sides of the leaf in towards each other and overlap them slightly. Place about 1 level tablespoon of filling on the bottom center of each leaf. Fold the sides over, then roll up tightly, tucking in the sides as you go. Place seam side down in the pan, fitting the stuffed leaves in snug layers. Drizzle on the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and pour on the lemon juice. Barely cover with water, and top with a layer of lemon slices.

4. Cover the stuffed leaves with a round of parchment paper, and place a plate over the paper to weight them during cooking. This will keep them from opening. Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes to an hour until the leaves are tender. Remove from the heat, and carefully remove the dolmades from the water with a slotted spoon or tongs. Allow to drain on a rack set over a sheet pan. Serve warm or cold.

Yield: About two dozen stuffed leaves.

Advance preparation: These keep well for three or four days in the refrigerator.

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com.

Braised Greens with Tomatoes
 

Provided By Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup(s) extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 clove(s) garlic, minced
• 1 large jalapeño, seeded and sliced
• 2 pound(s) sturdy greens, such as chard mustard greens kale or young collards, stems and inner ribs removed leaves coarsely chopped
•   Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pint(s) grape tomatoes, halved
• 3/4 cup(s) water
• 2 tablespoon(s) white wine vinegar

Directions

• 1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeño and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 6 minutes.
• 2. Add the greens, season with salt and pepper and toss to wilt. Stir in the tomatoes, water and vinegar, cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the greens are tender and the tomatoes are soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and serve.

Sauteed Collard Greens

By Del Zimmerman, Bellaire TX

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds collard greens
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Preparation

Remove and discard stems and center ribs of collard greens. Cut leaves into 1-inch pieces. In a kettle of boiling water cook collards 15 minutes and drain in a colander, pressing out excess liquid with back of a wooden spoon.

Mince garlic. In a 12-inch heavy skillet heat butter and oil over moderately high heat until foam subsides and stir in garlic, collards, and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté collard mixture, stirring, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Drizzle collards with lemon juice and toss well.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sauteed-Collard-Greens-15805#ixzz2iNhnWn9C

Garlic : The Incredibly Useful 'Stinking Rose'

It’s hard to imagine life without garlic.

Relied on for centuries for a variety of uses ranging from treating bubonic plague and cholera, to jazzing up salsa at the local taqueria, Allium sativum is one popular plant.

While most residents of planet earth have experienced the flavor of garlic in culinary dishes, the long list of medical applications for garlic may surprise you. Recent medical research supports claims that eating garlic can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as reduce the risk of color, rectal and stomach cancers. Garlic has significant natural antibiotic and antibacterial properties and, in the absence of as yet discovered penicillin, was used to prevent  field wounds from becoming septic during WWI.  

Garlic is used to expel intestinal worms and ticks, and the juice is a diuretic used as a remedy for constipation, and is also used to lower blood sugar in diabetic patients.  It’s used aas an expectorant in syrup form and is one of the few dietary sources of selenium :  a powerful antioxidant that can prevent free radical damage to cells which contribute to the aging process.

Whether you intend to thwart vampires or make your own garlic ice cream, growing garlic at home is easy. Garlic is divided into two botanical groups – hard neck types which belong to the var. ophioscorodon( also called rocambole, serpent garlic, Ophio garlic, or Spanish garlic) and soft neck  types which belong to the var. sativum.

Although similar to Allium longicupsis, Garlic does not exist in the wild and relies on human propagation.

Soft Neck garlic is easy to grow, and is propagated by planting the plump, outer cloves from a single bulb.  As with other onion family varieties, the soil should be formed into raised beds, and have good drainage. Garlic grows best when planted in cool soil, and in the southeastern US, soft neck garlic is typically planted in mid Fall and harvested the following summer. Cloves should be planted vertically about 1” deep, with the pointed tip facing up. Allow for 6” between plants and about a foot between rows, and be sure to keep the beds free of weeds which will compete for nutrients, water, light etc.

The bulbs are ready to harvest when the tops have turned yellow, and they should be brushed free of soil, but not washed, and placed in a warm, dry, well ventilated place in order to properly cure. Washing the bulbs, or keeping in wet or poorly ventilated conditions can cause the garlic bulbs to mold or rot.

Hardneck Garlic varieties are propagated by planting the top set bulbils the same way onion sets are planted. Hardneck garlic varieties are perennial and typically left in the ground for two years before harvesting.

Ready to plant? Click here to see this season’s garlic selection Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.  We highly recommend the Inchelium Red soft neck variety  ; an heirloom cultivar discovered on the Coleville Indian reservation in Inchelium, Washington.

Hopkins Family's Organic Garden

The Hopkins family is always on the go. But even with a schedule busier than an Apple store, healthy eating is still top priority for this busy Myers Park family.

Heirloom varieties of kale, spinach, and  Swiss chard topped their wish list, but we also made room for calabrese broccoli, Detroit red beets, pac choi, mizuna, arugula, mustard greens, and an assortment of open pollinated leaf and romaine lettuces.

The Hopkins's opted for thee of our taller, Kitchen Garden raised beds  as the design’s 22” height will help keep some wildlife, like rabbits, out of the garden, and also make for a more comfortable gardening experience.

Not surprisingly, with a hectic schedule like theirs, the Hopkins family opted to use our weekly garden maintenance service, which includes organic insect control, watering, weeding, pruning, and regular addition of soil amendments.  Because our goal is a continuous, year round harvest, plants that are past their prime are regularly removed and replaced with new, seasonal heirloom cultivars.

Is healthy eating a priority for your busy family?

click here to learn how we can help!

Is Pressure Treated Lumber Safe?

Is pressure treated lumber safe to use in applications like garden beds, compost stations, and chicken coops.

It depends on who you ask.

Although it had been sold for decades for use in outdoor construction and garden projects,  lumber treated with Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) was banned for residential use  in  2003 because of concern that arsenic could leach into nearby soil and contaminate plants and people.

The two new compounds that have replaced CCA  - Alkaline Copper Quat (ACQ) and Copper Azole (CA-B) - are free of arsenic, and rely on an increased percentage of copper to protect wood from insects. Quat, the fungicide in ACQ lumber that prevents soil fungus from attacking the wood, is also used in disinfectants and swimming pool chemicals.

CA-B treated lumber uses tebuconazole to protect wood from soil fungus, which is also used as a fungicide on food crops.

Scientific studies have shown that while copper from ACQ and CA-B lumber does leach into soil, it's limited to only a few inches around the site of contact, and levels are so low that risk to humans from exposure to copper is tiny.

So with all of this evidence that treated lumber is safe, why is it still frowned upon by the organic gardening community?

Perhaps folks are uneasy about chemicals with names like tebuconazole coming in contact with their food, no matter how small the amount or how many scientists say it’s no big deal.

It says something that, on its own website,  Wolmanized Outdoor – one of the largest manufacturers of pressure treated lumber -  does not recommend using pressure treated wood where the chemicals may become a component of food, instead suggesting that a liner be placed between the wood and soil where edible plants are grown.

But the effectiveness of a liner to separate soil and treated wood is iffy at best, and certainly not reliable for a long period of time.

Garden forums and blogs are full of DIY’ers assuring each other of the safety of their treated wood beds and coops, and lamenting the cost of naturally rot resistant woods like cedar, redwood and cypress -  in one case describing cedar  as “8x the cost of pressure treated wood”

We’ve found that premium Western Red Cedar lumber from the local lumber store to be about 3x the cost of pressure treated wood, which might be a difference of couple hundred dollars for most garden projects.

We’ve also found cedar to be 1000 times better looking than pressure treated lumber in our garden projects and because it’s completely free of synthetic chemicals of any kind, our customers can focus on enjoying their garden instead of wondering if the wood is safe.

So back to the original question: Is treated wood safe?

In the grand scheme of things there are probably other chemicals that are more toxic and cause for concern than ACQ and BA-C, and if you built a raised bed or coop with treated lumber, you probably don’t need to rush out and update your will.

But for what it’s worth, pressure treated lumber is not allowed for use in certified organic food production... which is why we choose cedar instead of pressure treated lumber for our garden projects.