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I have a weekend of gardening fun to look forward to: lots of digging, and hauling, and hardening off of tender plants that really need to get outside. First, though, I'm off to spend the morning at a new greenhouse in town being opened by friends. As part of their grand opening celebration, they asked me to bring along the seed library and sign up sheets for the Community Garden--it's going to be a veritable planting festival! It sounds like the weather is going to be pleasant, so I can think of nothing nicer than visiting with friendly people, handing over some free seeds, and possibly catching a little sun. In the afternoon, it's back to work in my home garden.
I've been thinking about adding some unusual edibles to my collection of growing goodies, and I realized: I forgot to start edible flowers! They certainly won't go far in filling an empty belly, but added to salads or as a garnish or simply eaten as a roving snack while working in the garden, they are such a nice addition to the other edibles in the yard. One of my favorites is the humble violet. I have plans to try candying them, and making a batch of
Hummingbird Cupcakes with a delicate violet perched upon their iced perfection. Of course, if I ever have masses of them, I could make violet jelly, or dry them to add to homemade teas.
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Of course, there is always my favorite edible flower, the nasturtium. Peppery and delicious, I love these bright blossoms in a summer salad. Plus, if I don't eat all the flowers, they set seeds that can be pickled like homegrown capers. Since I live in a climate where growing
real capers is impossible, it's nice to have a substitute...although, I've never been successful at resisting the siren call of the fresh flowers and leaving enough to set enough seeds to make pickling them worthwhile.
I'm hoping that my friends' greenhouse will have these edible delights for sale, and perhaps something else I need. I'm thinking brocolli and basil may make my list. I forgot to start those, too...
hi Cris, i just saw your comment over on CAF about trying to give garden stuff/eggs to someone. i just had to come over and hug you. i'm so sorry that happened. i guess we can just laugh about it now, right? i get the same thing, btw, but never that mean.
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Aww, thanks! :-) It is kind of funny now to look on it and remember her expression when it happened, but at the time...well, it was far less than funny. She's since passed away, and I'm hoping she's happier wherever she's at now.
DeleteI to hope to dry violets and nasturtiums. I have cinder blocks around my coop/run, in every opening there is a nasturtium, marigold, snapdragon, mint, parsley, basil , cilantro, dill, all fifty holes have been planted. The deal is if it grows into your run you can eat it, on the outside its mine, I hope to dry all of it and the violets that are taking over my strawberries, for the girls for the winter.. Thanks for all the info in your blog.
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