Strawberries bloomed in full the first week of May, but the fruit didn’t set. We only got 3 tiny berries this year from our plants. Don’t know if it was too much rain or the coolness, but other folks around us didn’t have a crop either. We were lucky that an Amish fellow’s field didn’t fail and we got to eat lots of strawberries anyway. The strawberry season was very short, about a week-long this year, so we felt lucky to get a flat.

Now, if you know that a flat is 8 quarts, that’s a lot of berries. Upon getting the strawberries in the house, we promptly ate the first quart right then and there! Since we had enough sugar and a box of pectin in the cupboard, we made a batch of freezer jam. Each batch makes about 5 cups of jam per quart. In total we made three batches of freezer jam. We like to share with friends, so when somebody comes to visit they might just take home a treat. The rest of the berries were eaten fresh in the next three days, so you could say we liked them a lot.

Be forewarned that most states have specific regulations regarding shipment of living plants across their borders. These are rules that need to be followed for the safety of crops and ecosystems. California and Hawaii are the most restrictive on what plants can be shipped there.

Some states recognize berry plants and any vine as nursery stock which would require permits and inspections to certify that no pests are present before shipping. Not something to be taken lightly. Other states aren’t as restrictive, but in most cases it is ok to ship seeds and carefully packaged flower and vegetable plants, including herb plants.

Check the laws in your state before you ship. The National Plant Board has a convenient listing of all 50 States with links to their state regulations on plant protection.

Shipping plants successfully requires that the plant’s roots retain moisture in such a way as to not get the packaging or foliage wet. See the best way to ship live plants.

The best method for packing green plants for mailing is to use damp newspaper to cover the roots and plastic bags to retain humidity around the foliage. Check these links for great explanations:

• Shipping Live Plants
• Mailing Plants

The best tip is to make sure not to get the foliage wet. If the greenery does get wet, tamp it with paper towels and let dry before packing in plastic bags. Any herb leaves that are wet during transport will rot.

Image by I Believe I Can Fry via Flickr

Chilly weather makes soup inviting. In the never-ending quest to find something good to eat, I picked up a package of Hurst’s Hambeens Brand 15 Bean Soup. Twenty ounces of the most colorful collection of dried beans you’ve ever seen.

The bean soup recipe from the package -

• one pound of ham or sausage
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 15 oz. can stewed or diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp chili powder
• juice of one lemon
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Soak the beans in 2 qt. water in a large pot overnight. Drain liquid and rinse beans twice. Put on high heat, stirring occasionally until boiling. The directions say to simmer, uncovered for 2 and a half hours, but that wasn’t long enough. It took several hours and some more cooking the next day to get the larger beans soft enough that they didn’t crunch a little. The package states -

Depending on water hardness, cooking time may need to be increased.

Well, I guess we have some really hard water! Anyway, the bean soup turned out great, even if it did take hours to make.

I added a small amount of chopped ham, about half a pound, a can of stewed tomatoes, a cup of diced red onion, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 T lemon concentrate, 2 cloves garlic, and 3 crushed, dried chili peppers seeds and all to the pot before the beans were thoroughly cooked. The added ingredients were cooked so long I thought the soup would have no flavor, but I was wrong. I didn’t add the “flavor packet” that comes with the beans. Only a sprinkle of salt was needed at the table, none was added in cooking apart from that added by the ham.

The next time I think I would cook the beans harder during the initial hour or two of “simmering” time, but realize that using beans of different sizes means that some will take longer to cook.

15 Bean Soup with a dollop of sour cream and cut chives

To dress it up a bit, I went to the garden and snipped a couple of chives leaves for each serving and cut them into small pieces. Added a dollop of sour cream and sprinkled the whole bowl of bean soup with fresh-cut chives. Enjoy!

Lettuce, peas and onion sets are already planted in the garden. Last night’s snow would be called an “Onion Snow” because it covered over the onions that were planted a week ago. The ground is still cold, but when it warms up the onions will start growing quickly.

Onion sets in the garden with a little snow on top. Photos taken 1APR2011.

Onions that were water-logged last year and whose tops died back have sprouted. I was surprised that any root remained for re-growth, but the greenery is already 4-6 inches tall.

Garlic and chives are re-growing and soon they’ll be on the dinner table. You could as easily call this a “Chives Snow” instead of an Onion Snow. The wild chives that we see growing in the woods are the only green thing growing under the trees right now, except for a rare fern here and there starting to green up.

Perennial chives under the April Fool's Snow.

I think I’ll snip off some chives for a potato and egg dish tonight. Here’s a quick recipe for Potato, Egg and Chives:

• Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and add half an onion, diced.
• Cook the onions until soft.
• Add a couple of cubed potatoes, cover and steam until cooked through.
• Beat a couple of eggs in a separate dish or add them directly into the skillet.
• Cover for one minute and then flip the whole mess for another minute or just stir everything together.
• When the eggs are set, sprinkle with pepper and cut chives.
• Serve with toast. Yum!

Twenty-two Canada Geese flying North.

The Canada Geese I heard overhead this morning were flying due North and that was a happy sight!

Parsley is a biennial plant, one that grows for two years, flowering in the second year. It will overwinter here at Zone 6, but I’m not sure how far north you can go and still get the second year crop. Further north parsley is probably treated as an annual by planting it each year. To protect it over the winter, we pile up leaves all around the parsley plants and perennial herbs.

The first year is pure vegetative growth. The plant will get larger and bushier. When the stems are too long they won’t remain erect and droop out to the sides, making the parsley plant into a large round shape.

Parsley second year right after overwintering.

Second year growth is primarily involved with sending up a flower stalk. Biennials require some sort of winter period of dormancy before they can flower. During the second year you should harvest as early in the year as possible because the plant will put most of its energy into creating the flower stalk, flowers and seeds, not in producing more parsley leaves.

Bolting is the term given to the rapid growth of the flower stalk in the second year. Once the plant has bolted, you might as well find another parsley to transplant. After bolting and setting seed the parsley plant dies.

Harvest any of the parsley as it grows. You can use scissors or just your fingers. The stems are pliable enough to let you just pinch off a piece. Snip off a sprig here and there for garnishes.

Before the flower stalk gets too tall, we usually harvest most of the parsley and put it in freezer bags, as is. Once frozen, you can use scissors to snip off some parsley for your soup or potatoes when ever you need it, and re-freeze the remaining parsley.

After the morning chill is gone and the sun warms everything a bit, we’ll take the scissors or pruners to cut down some herbs. If the plant is an annual, it’ll be pulled out of the ground and the excess soil removed from the roots.

Large stems or whole plants will be draped over a wire mesh for drying. Bulky plants will be turned every so often or trimmed down so that air can circulate around the plant parts we want to collect.

Once the plant seems dry to the touch, it can be manicured or clipped into smaller pieces.

Catnip was harvested a couple days ago by pulling out the entire plant. The three feet tall stems were laid on a piece of (untreated) plywood in the garage. The stems were turned about once a day so that all parts could dry out. After three days time the plant was almost completely dry, except for a few tips of the stems.

At this point a large, black plastic bag was laid out flat. The purpose of the bag was to give a clean surface on which to collect the dried herb. Each stem was manicured by cutting off the flowering spikes and leaves, which were allowed to fall onto the plastic bag.

Leaves that had turned brown – the catnip plant was drying up from the bottom as it concentrated on flowering and producing seeds – were stripped off and placed in a separate pile from the dried green herb. The brown leaves will go to the cats and the green leaves will go into tea. When you strip leaves from the stems try not to crumble the leaves so the herb’s essence will remain intact.

The cut catnip was allowed to lay out on the plastic bag for another day before being collected into small brown bags for temporary storage. Each bag was labeled with “Catnip – September 2008″. Catnip for tea will be stored in a glass container inside a cupboard.

What are you going to harvest today?

This growing season was not a good one for tomatoes, but that just meant that it was time for other plants to shine. Basil, for one, did excellently this year.

If you’re thinking about protecting your plants from the cold, good on ya! Get out that tarp or row cover to shade your beauties from the cold. If the plants are small and few, try a large cardboard box. Just place the box over the plant in the evening and remove it in the morning.

If you’ve got a row of veggies to protect, you’ll want to try a row cover or a light fabric so that many plants can be protected at once. Got an old sheet? That’ll do!

Feel like a little shopping? Check out this All Purpose Garden Fabric:

Garden fabric comes in several sizes, so find one that suits your needs. It’s a great time to shop for fall planting too. Save 15% on orders of $25 or more. While you’re there, check out the garden outlet shop!
Gardener’s Supply Company: Save up to 50% in our Garden Outlet

If you’re feeling adventurous, try a dandelion salad this spring. The familiar dandelion is found just about everywhere and is easily recognized by its basal rosette of toothed, deeply cleft leaves and bright yellow flower head.

It’s a little early to harvest much dandelion now, but while you’re sprucing up your gardens take a look around and scout out some dandelions that look promising. Make sure to pick dandelions from areas that are not sprayed with pesticides or weed killers.

Pick the young leaves and the flower buds for the least bitter taste. After dandelions flower most think the taste is strongly bitter, so young early spring leaves are preferred. Toss the stems and unused greens into your compost heap.

Cut the washed leaves into half-inch wide strips and leave out the stems of the larger leaves. Instead of using bacon or ham drippings to prepare the dressing, try canola oil or olive oil as a healthy alternative. Unsaturated fats in canola and olive oils are much preferred over the saturated animal fats in the bacon and ham. An added bonus is that the lighter plant oils will let other flavors come through, so you get to taste more ingredients than the heavy bacon-ham dressing.

Our purpose is to scour the Web looking for the best deals in gardening tools, seeds and plants, and all things that let you enjoy the fruits of your time in the gardens.

Be they vegetable gardens or flower beds, you’ll find plenty of steals and deals to take advantage of here at usethathherb.com — we’ll have fun along the way, too!

Join us in getting ready for this year’s planting season coming up very soon.

Lots more later!

Your friend in the dirt,

Lizzie Lou