March 31, 2015Debi @ My Kitchen Witch

Around My Edible Garden

March 2015

Buds. They are popping up everywhere. Too bad it isn’t May – somehow “darling buds of March” just doesn’t have the same poetic cadence. Besides, one DOES NOT mess with Shakespeare – or at least, not too much.

march_budsFrom top left: cherry, loganberry, blueberry, gooseberry

The first rosemary flowers are blooming. Soon the whole bush will be covered. Last year, I experimented infusing sugar with the lightly scented flowers, but the resulting rosemary sugar proved to be too subtle and the scent was lost when it was used in baking. So, this year, if I use these pretty purple flowers at all, it will be for decorative purposes only. They would look lovely on a glazed lemon cake.

rosemary_march2015_feature

In the herb garden, the Allium species are beginning to poke through the soil. The short spiky “crew cut” of the chives is a few centimetres high – alas, still to early to use.

march_new_chives

The carpet of wild garlic (Allium ursinum) under the bay tree seemed to pop up overnight. Now, these can be harvested – fresh and tender. The perfect thing to scent a spring avgolemono soup.

wild_garlic_march2015

The celery I had on the windowsill now has lots of roots and new leafy bits. As soon as the danger of frost is past, it will go out to its new home in the herb garden.

celery_leaf
celery_root

I’ve been monitoring the growth of my rhubarb, like a mother hen. Looks like it is almost time for rhubarb crumble.

march2015_rhubarb

Also, I’ve been seeing pictures on Facebook of various vineyards in Greece and Italy making their last radical prune of their vines before the new growth sets in. The images show the main stem clipped right back to the nub (actually back to a few bud notches) in order to concentrate the growth and produce healthy vines (and grapes). I would love to have a good crop of grapes like last year, even though they never really ripen. The verjus I made last year was a huge success and I’d like to reprodce that. Looking at my rather messy vines, I’ve deduced that it is time I do a little more clipping. The prune in late autumn wasn’t nearly enough.

messy_vines

Tasks to be done:

  1. Radical prune of the grape vines.
  2. Harvest the wild garlic and (very soon) the rhubarb
Around My Edible Garden is my monthly diary entry detailing what is happening in my garden this past month, part of the Garden Share Collective (GSC), maintained by Lizzie@strayedtable (click on the “links in collection” icon below to view all participants). A chronological listing of my garden blog posts is listed Diaries in the Menu bar.
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17 comments

    • I would, indeed, be clever to grow rhubarb in a jar! However, I cannot claim cleverness. The image of the jar shows celery which will get transplanted out to the herb garden later in the spring. The rhubarb is firmly established in the ground just outside my kitchen window.

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  2. what a lovely list of edible things! Interesting that rosemary flowers are so subtly scented when lavender flowers flavour sugar so beautifully. I’m in the middle of Autumn planting – finally getting my fruit trees in after redesigning the garden…

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    • Yes, it is interesting that lavender sugar is so well scented while the rosemary blossoms smell nice, but don’t really impart a lot of scent to the sugar. I ended up infusing rosemary sprigs. That worked a bit better.

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    • All planned. Our son will be living here while he finishes his Ph.D. He had promised faithfully to harvest the berries, etc and eat or freeze what he can. However, am just beginning to think of how I can streamline the garden a bit more – solutions in the next garden post…perhaps?

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  5. Spring has started here too. I’m just hoping my rosemary survived the winter. I’ve never had it bloom, but then rosemary isn’t really hardy in my garden.

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    • When I lived in Wisconsin, my rosemary grew in a pot that came indoors every winter. It was a very spindly sort of thing, very different from the one in my UK garden (where it is a bit of a monster). The flowers are pretty and certainly an indication of spring!

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  6. Some times I wish it got colder here so my rhubarb would take on that stunning red colour in the stems more, the best I can do is pale pink. When cooked they still go pink though. I love rosemary flowers. See you next month and look forward to seeing what spring brings.

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  7. One image stood out wildly for me- that rosemary flower popped onto a glazed lemon cake: just a tease you are! The celery in the jar looked like it worked well: must try this over winter too.

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