Garden Report

The Bleeding Hearts are blooming.

We've had a rainy week that actually only served up an inch and a half all week.

The garden is coming along quite well this year. I have transitioned over to raised beds entirely. I have to say that they are a lot easier to keep up with.

I am launching a new line of ebooks about gardening called Sow it - Grow it - Serve it. They will be short books, almost a pamphlet, about 1 vegetable from seed to harvest to recipes with lots of pictures.

Part of my mission here is to introduce people to gardening and good food that they can grow for themselves. The other part is that I like the option to pick and choose. I have plenty of gardening books and cookbooks that I bought for a chapter or specific recipe. Being able to purchase just that chapter or recipe would have made me happy. Also I like pictures. Show don't tell, right?

Swiss chard will be the first one. I hope to have it published by May 1st. Check the blog for the upcoming books. I plan to keep publishing them throughout the year.

A new obsession - Arugula

I am growing arugula this year because I just can't get enough of it.

We discovered an incredible salad - pear, goat cheese, arugula and toasted walnuts. With a splash of fruity balsamic vinegar it's heaven. Add a couple dried cherries and it's even better. The combination of flavors is so complementary, they set each other off in surprising ways. And let's face it, toasted walnuts make everything that much yummier.

We've used strawberries in place of pear and Gorgonzola in place of goat cheese. That worked just as well. The bite of the Gorgonzola and the sweetness of the pear works really well. And strawberries and goat cheese is a wonderful pairing.

So my first experiment with arugula. It came up gangbusters in the sunroom. I transplanted it out into the garden the day before a heavy rain. So far it seems to be doing fine. But small. I want it to get big so I can start harvesting.

It is one occupant of my new raised beds. That bed gets a lot of shade so it is going to be mostly salad greens. So an experiment of plants in an experiment of a raised bed. Looking forward to how it turns out.