Planting Strawberries & Getting Arugula

This morning, while pulling weeds from the first garden bed we renovated when we moved into our new home , I found myself taking a very long pause. "This weed smell pretty good, even familiar", I thought to myself. What I thought were weeds were actually arugula greens.

This is pretty common around here in our gardens. Just last week while pulling "weeds" from the newly expanded strawberry patch, low and behold there were tiny heads of heirloom lettuce popping up. Let's not forget the volunteer tomato plants that sprung up throughout the garden last summer - I never know what kind of fruits I would get.

As many of you know, this is the case when you garden with heirloom varieties of your favorite veggies. When you plant heirlooms, the seeds they produce when replanted, will produce plants true to type. This is not the case for their hybrid counterparts. If you try to replant then, chances are that if they even sprout,what you get will not be what you had originally or they will produce poorly.

Heirloom seeds are good for the local environment. They are open-pollinated - a great thing for local bee communities. Being that they have not been genetically modified in any way, we know they will not ply a part in the collapsing of beneficial insects as many believe hybrid varieties may do.

Heirlooms are adaptive. When you save seed from varieties that you use in your garden year after year, you will be surprised on how well they do warding off pests and infestations. On a purely social level, heirloom seed oftentimes have deep historical roots, both in families and communities, as they have been saved and passed down sometimes for generations. When sharing the seeds, we share the stories of loved ones who came before , helping to keep generational ties strong.

Sure, many argue that heirloom plants do not produce as heavily as the hybrid varieties. This is true. Hybrid seed was engineered to assist the commercial grower who has a goal of quantity over quality. Take the tomato for example. Most are harvested while green, gassed in order to ripen and have been bred to withstand thousands of miles of travel.

The average home gardeners goal is not to load tractor trailers full of our crops and haul it anywhere. Our goal is to savor the ripe, juicy flavor of tomatoes we have watched grow from mere transplants. Our goal is to share with our neighbors the best tasting eggplants, peppers, melons, basil's, gooseberries, strawberries and peaches they have ever tasted.

I suspect we heirloom gardeners have yet other reasons behind our passion. We are thrifty. We know that we can save the seed from our most beloved garden varieties and replant them year after year. Wow, growing spring and summer gardens and it didn't cost us anything except time, kitchen compost and a little labor?

We love success. We don't want to waste our time, money or energy on plants that don't grow well in our areas - another reason we save seed and begin with heirloom veggie starters.

Perhaps we are also a little rebellious. Perhaps we are tired of seeing the most fundamental and basic of human needs , food [all the way down to the genetic blue print - the seed] being re-engineered and manipulated - usually for profit at the expense of another.

Perhaps we have had it with the fact so much of our life is more manufactured than authentic. Take taste for example. It's a pretty sad fact that if a child were to only eat strawberries, tomatoes, peaches or plums purchased at the grocery store, they would never have actually tasted them at all. They would have never enjoyed the authentic fragrance of these aromatic wonders. As an adult, when they smell the sweet smell of summer fruit will they magically be transported back to childhood as nothing like scent can do? I wonder.

We gardeners know that gardens are about more than food! They are a place we can go to and let our senses be transported - forgetting the worries of the moment. They are places where we spend time with our loved ones. They are places where we can build our emotional, physical and psychological health. They are places where traditions are made and then handed down to further generations. They are places where we adults can still find surprise ,magic and abundance . Above all else, they are a place where when we let go, we find that the weeds in our life may actually be gifts from nature for us to enjoy.

Happy day to all!

Carrie-Anne

Grower, Rolling Hills Herbs & Annuals

Catalog Surfing

I don't know about you but my mailbox is very full these days. You know, the old fashioned box at the end of your driveway that usually only has junk mail but now has the good stuff we wait all year for. Yep, it's the time of year when new seed or garden catalogs just waiting to be devoured cover to cover, start arriving.

Normally, I go page by page, circling the things I just have to have. That is round one. Round two means getting more real, looking at what will and won't grow here in the Inland Empire and asking myself if anyone in our family will even eat the "exotic" vegetables I just have to have. Round three, I add up the cost of this fantasy garden. This is when the day dreaming usually ends.

Like many gardeners, the focus of my gardening efforts has changed quite a bit over the years. For many of those years, I was a container gardener; growing roses, scented geraniums, gardenia plants along with various herbs and annuals. But about five years ago, while still renting, I decided on planting a vegetable garden - this time, in the ground.

This was big for me! Up until then, I had never waiverd on my strict policy of not planting anything in someone else's dirt - hence why I was the self proclaimed Queen of Containers! For those of you who have tended gardens that you have had to leave behind, you understand this strict policy! Leaving behind your beloved plants when you move, is like leaving behind members of your family - heartbreaking and hard to recover from.

So, having not had the success I wanted from growing veggies in containers, I got the family involved and we turned over a square 12x12 section in the back. We planted squash, tomato and lettuce. The squash did very well, as squash tends to do. The success of the tomato was fair, the lettuce was poor. But it didn't really matter. The process of Mr. King, our less than cordial neighbor sticking his head over the fence to offer us a tomato cage he wasn't using, was in my opinion, the crowning success of that veggie patch!

Flash forward to now. Our family has lived in our own new home for almost a year and a half now, which means we have one full vegetable garden season behind us. I have to say, the second time around was a heck of a lot better than the first. Tomato plants yielded brilliantly, lasting all the way through November as did the six varieties of basil we planted. Hot peppers, eggplant, and did well. Salad greens are still going strong, as are plenty of herbs.

So what was the difference? I think it was a few things. First off, it is my own property. Second, our garden soil here is awesome! When you dig, there are earthworms bigger than any I have ever seen! Adding to that, we actually used the compost from our backyard bin - what a concept! Last, and what I think was perhaps the most important part, I used herb and heirloom vegetable starters versus seeds.

Back to the garden catalogs. Today, as I look through them, I still dream of what I would love to plant in my spring /summer veggie garden. But now, as a growerof herb and heirloom vegetable starters, I sit and wonder what my neighbors here in the IE are dreaming of planting in their home/community gardens. Catalog surfing helps me know if I was on target when making our seed purchases last fall for our upcoming gardening season. When something new to this years growing season really stands out, I can immediately go on a hunt for organic and heirloom seed source. How I do love the challenge!

But the truth is, I could really use your help. After you are done circling up your catalogs and refining your wish lists, could you do me a favor? Share with me what you are planning on planting in your veggie garden this year - whether it will be a ground or a container garden. Chances are, Rolling Hills will be growing it. If we aren't, we can suggest a variety that you may like even better since our focus is growing varieties that will do well here in the Inland Empire.

Here's to catalog surfing and your best veggie garden ever!

Carrie-Anne

Grower -Rolling Hills Herbs & Annuals

Mesclun vs. Taco Tuesday

For me as a parent, there are few things sweeter or more heart warming than to see my children connecting with nature - plants, specifically. I love to spend time in our garden with our children, planting vegetables, herbs, removing our lawn in favor of California friendly plants that use much less water and have loads more character! I especially love to walk out to the garden when it is dinner time and bring in a basket brimming with goodies that makes its way onto our dinner table that night. Take last night for example.

Like many other parents of high school kids, you just never know who your kids will bring home or when. If we are lucky, we get a heads up. Most of the time, we don't. When dinner time rolls around, here you are with a few extra guests. It also never fails that your cupboards are a little low, not to mention the state of your crisper drawer is sorely lacking.

So last night, after having planned my weekly menu through that nights dinner [and for our family of five], our oldest brought home two friends for a study group. About four o'clock, I started to get dinner started . Pasta with red sauce, that was on the menu. Plenty of pasta, check. I'll make a large salad, that will stretch things, I thought. Wishful thinking. Everything in the crisper drawer combined couldn't even feed a rabbit, let alone five teenagers and two adults.

So, with hope in my heart and a basket in hand, I headed out to our small winter garden in search of enough greens for a very large salad and the herbs that make my red sauce as fab as it is. How wonderful it was to harvest enough red oak leaf lettuce, mizuna and mesclun greens to make one of the most flavorful salads we have had in a very long time - with just enough left over for my lunch today!

It was also pretty cool to see why African blue basil got its name. On the new growth closest to the stems, the color has turned a brilliant smoky indigo/denim blue. Who knew?

I know, having a small vegetable garden may not seem like that big of a deal to many. For for countless others, the sense of pride we get when we serve our family [and their friends] fresh nutritious vegetables [fruits and berries] from our own yard is more rewarding that I can tell you. In a day and age when "taco Tuesday" is the norm, knowing that you have managed to get actual food into a teenagers body is, well an act worthy of mention if not parent of the year!

On this cloudy rainy morning, I am thinking ahead to our spring [and summer ] garden, not to mention all of the unannounced dinner guests that we will most surely be seeing. I am also thinking not only about our home garden, but yours as well. As natural growers of culinary and fragrant herbs along with heirloom vegetable starters for the Inland Empire, we are passionate about providing you everything you need to grow your best edible [and fragrant] gardens ever!

So, fellow parents and garden enthusiasts, start planning your gardens now by taking a look at our newly added web pages dedicated to spring and summer gardens. While you are there, take note of the things you commonly find on your dinner table and make your lists! While you are thinking of all the yummy foods you would love to grow, give very serious thought to planting some bare-root fruit trees, NOW! Nothing compares to home grown fruit and berries where taste, nutrition and value are concerned!

Take care,

Carrie-Anne

Mother, Gardner, Grower and Owner of Rolling Hills Herbs & Annuals

ww.RollingHillsHerbs.com