Fresh compost looks great
Here’s an aerial view of our front-yard kitchen garden here in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House. Can you tell it’s still spring? In the view looking north, you can see the garlic we planted last fall next to the red mustard greens also from last fall that we are still eating. (And that little pile there is all that’s left of the huge compost delivery we got a few weeks ago).
The rhubarb is in a riot of bloom. At the top edge of the photo you can just barely see the metal rebar we’ve installed to stake our tomatoes this year. That area of the garden gets the most sun in mid-summer.
Lots of herbs right outside our front door
This is the herb garden my wife has been working on. As you can see, the chives are in full bloom. Time to make chive vinegar. And what do you do with all those rosemary prunings? Maybe a nice leg of lamb roasted over coals? The oregano, marjoram and sage also are coming on strong.
The early garden is thriving
And here is the view looking south. These two beds are the first we planted this year. We’ve finally learned the angles of sunlight our house creates in the garden. These beds get the most sun in spring, and the least sun in the height of summer. So we plant our cool-weather crops here, including lettuce, fava beans, turnips and radishes, collards and kale. There’s along row of sugar snap peas, and a trench where the leeks I planted from seed have all germinated and are doing very nicely.
The big chard plants are from last year. We need to eat those soon. Can you say chard gratin?
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House.
Ed: How do you make chive vinegar? Also, besides letting my daughter and her friends eat sorrel raw (which they call “portable lemonade”), what else do you recommend with sorrel? I’ve tried lots of recipes and hated them all.
Pattie, just load a bunch of chive blossoms in a mason jar with white wine vinegar and seal it up for a few weeks, then transfer liquid to a vinegar with maybe one of the blossoms for looks. I agree on the sorrel recipes: never as good as they sound. We put it in salad.
Looks lovely! Outside of Chicago, it is still a little chilly- I put some herbs into the ground over the weekend, but waiting a little longer to start anything more substantial!
We ordered a terrific new raised bed kit and the giant box just arrived this week, so soon we’ll get that built and start some veggies. But until then, its great to see gardens in warmer climes!