Stephen's Summer Gardening Project: Week 4

So, I didn't blog last weekend about my gardening adventures (my bad), but there has been significant growth in my garden over the last two weeks! In all honesty, the weather in Indiana have been ideal for gardening - lots of rain coupled intermittently with warm, sunny days. Fantastic! I've been finding myself using every opportunity to use my herbs lately in my cooking, which is just fantastic! I can already tell the difference that fresh herbs make on my cooking! Whether it's making the garlic-dill aioli (seen below) or putting some fresh basil on a hamburger, fresh herbs really do make all the difference!

In order to get my plants optimum sun exposure, I've spread them out on the deck, necessitating my taking two pictures this time instead of the usual one:

Now, let's go through them all plant-by-plant, shall we?

My Thai basil has gotten a lot fuller over the last couple of weeks, huh? The last time you saw it, it was fairly puny... how, it's quite productive and I couldn't be happier! I like the peppery flavor of this herb. I'm currently thinking of ideas on how best to pair this with my Thai chiles!

My purple ruffles basil has also beefed up. I've not quite gotten to the point where I need to pinch off the flowers, but if it keeps going at this rate, I may have to! I had a hamburger this last week that included this basil, some avocado, and a purple Cherokee heirloom tomato (more on that later) which was divine! This basil has a licorice flavor that is just fantastic!

My fernleaf dill seems to double in size every week! It's almost hitting the rim of our deck, it's gotten so tall! I may have to stake this pretty soon if it keeps up at this rate! Look, it's already leaning! I had initially begun pinching flowers off of this one, but I think I'll put a hold on that, at least for the time being, until I can better control it's rate of growth! I used a bunch of this in my garlic-dill aioli (again, scroll down to Friday's first blog entry for the recipe) and it gave it such a nice flavor! A very versatile and bold herb!

My fresh rosemary has done alright for itself these last couple of weeks. So far, I've not used it as much as the other herbs I've planted, but will likely use it if I make a spice rub for some meat or poultry or if I make anything Italian! I love the flavor of this herb and can't wait to use more of it!

My parsley, on the other hand, has done quite well, bushing up and growing a couple of extra stalks! I use this in spice rubs as well, but also as garnish! It's a lot of fun to chop parsley and use it to finish dishes like pasta or fish! If I make paella this summer like I want to, you can bet that this will get used in there!

When I went to Lowe's to buy more pots a couple weeks back, I picked up some fresh marjoram, which has been a great addition to spice rubs and pasta dishes. It's very similar in flavor to oregano, but I find it has a bit of an earthier quality than oregano does. I've got a lot of it here, so there'll be plenty of it to use as the summer goes on!

And now, my veggie plants:

My purple Cherokee heirloom tomato plant has done a lot better since I moved it to a larger pot! I've even seen some buds forming toward the top of the plant:
According to my mom, the buds at the top mean that the plant will start producing fruit very soon! (She already has some Early Girl tomatoes coming in from her garden. Not very big yet, mind you, but growing in!) I'll be excited to start growing and eating my own tomatoes! I found some purple Cherokees in the heirloom tomatoes pile at Kroger last week and had to satisfy my curiosity and pick up a couple! Here's what they'll look like when they come in:
This wasn't an overly-large tomato, but it had a good deal of flavor. There was a mild flavor to te tomato and a spicy, almost smoky aftertaste that I found quite enjoyable! I thought it no wonder that these are considered some of the best tasting tomatoes available! I sliced the other one and put it on a burger (as mentioned above) and felt it really enhanced the flavor of said sandwich! YUM!

This is my green zebra tomato plant, which is now occupying the pot the purple Cherokee plant used to occupy. It's been doing alright so far - no buds at the top yet to speak of. These tomatoes are a complete mystery to me, so I look forward to trying some new things with them. I might even use them for fried green tomatoes, if I'm able!

My orange Thai chili peppers have also been flourishing as of late. Again, no fruit quite yet, but the leaves have gotten a lot more prevalent, which I can only assume is a good thing! As I mentioned earlier, I'm thinking of things to do with these bad boys when they finally grow in. Right now, I'm thinking of making a spicy Thai barbeque sauce that's a modification of my classic barbeque sauce recipe using my Thai chiles and Thai basil. Not sure how I'm gonna put it all together yet, but it should be pretty tasty!

I also picked up some marigolds at Lowe's while I was over there a couple of weeks back, in order to keep the bugs off of my tomato plants! They were all pretty much dead when I bought them (in fact, they looked downright pathetic!), but they've sprung to life as a result of the rain and warm sunshine we've gotten the last couple of weeks. These are the only ones currently in bloom, but the other ones are beginning to bud and I anticipate them opening up within the next few days!

So, on the gardening front... so far, so good! More to come (especially if I end up with some baby tomatoes in the next week), so stay tuned!

How Does His Garden Grow?: Summer Gardening 2009 - Week 2

So, last week I blogged about the beginning of my garden and how my new foray into horticulture ensued. Last week was filled with optimal growing conditions - lots of sun by day, lots of rain by night - so my garden got off to a GREAT start! It seemed like the size of some of my plants doubled overnight!

Here's what my garden looks like now:

Notice I have an extra pot out and three new plants! First, let's check on the status of last week's plants!

This is my Thai basil! I picked some leaves of this one yesterday to add to a pasta dish I made (maybe I'll post the recipe in the next day or so) and loved the slightly spicy flavor that it lends to the food I cook with it! I look forward to using this herb even more in the days/weeks to come!

This is my purple ruffles basil, which I also used in the pasta dish I made yesterday. It's fragrance is just fantastic and it has a much different, but equally tasty flavor to the Thai basil. Of all the plants from last week, this one has shown the most progress so far! And, after seeing how tasty it is, I couldn't be happier!

My fernleaf dill - I've not used any of this yet, mainly because I read online that it has a 'shelf-life' once you start harvesting it. So, in order to get the most out of my dill, I'm gonna try to just grow it for as long as I can. We'll see how that works out!

This is my Cherokee purple heirloom tomato plant. It's gotten a lot bigger over the past week and I think it'll be ready to start growing fruit in the next couple of weeks. Right now, I have it in a pot by itself, but I think it might need some more room for growth. I need to talk to my roommate about possibly making some garden space for it somewhere the backyard. That'll free up some room in this pot for more herbs!

My orange Thai chiles. This little guy has also done a good deal of growing in the last week. He's gotten a bit taller and grown a lot more leaves. I'm thinking about how to do a "Thai BBQ Sauce" using these and my Thai basil. It'll be a spicy sauce like you might get on hot wings. I look forward to concocting that formula in my head and trying to create it!

And now for the new additions!

Ah, fresh rosemary! As fragrant as it is flavorful, nothing beats this herb when it comes to Italian cuisine, poultry rubs, or just a sprig of something that smells good! I used some of this herb in my Herb-Crusted Grilled Chicken with Goat Cheese (from my recipe on Wednesday), but now that I'm able to grow my own, I'll likely be using it A LOT more!

Fresh parsley is an incredibly versatile herb and, for that reason, I felt I would be remiss not to include some in my garden! I love this herb chopped on top of pasta or pizza... and, as pasta is so easy to prepare, not having access to parsley seemed like a foolish endeavor for me!

Before I left the Farmer's Market today, I had to visit my favorite salesgirls who sold the heirloom tomatoes and make another purchase from them! This week, they talked me into this Green Zebra heirloom tomato plant. Apparently, this one has a more tart flavor than most tomatoes and will likely start producing fairly early. Yes, that means I'll be enjoying tomatoes earlier than you! :) Right now, it's in a fairly small pot that I had lying around. This week (probably Monday), I'll likely head over to Lowe's and pick up another big terra cotta pot (like I have the rest of my garden in) to house this tomato plant. (I'll probably also pick up a couple more herbs, so stay tuned!)