Herb-y goodness

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. Click on the image above for a bigger version.

My indoor herb garden has been gradually expanding. I've also ordered some herbs and seeds from Richters Herbs; hopefully these should arrive soon!

A survey for you gardeners out there:
Do you prefer growing plants that are nice to eat or nice to look at?

I lean heavily toward the former whereas Jeff is in the latter camp. This makes our garden revamp discussions interesting, but I think it'll work out without too much bloodshed. My favourite plants in our current garden are the purple lilac (I love the fragrance), mock orange (again, heavenly fragrance) and our quince (gorgeous flowers). Our new garden will incorporate a space for a herb garden, yay!




Above: Thyme (regular) and rosemary. I bought the thyme earlier this week and have already used some in a recipe last night: Grilled Lime Chicken with Onion Compote from Grilling For Dummies by Marie Rama and John Mariani.



My friend Luisa recommended this book, and it's packed with excellent advice about all aspects of grilling as well as recipes. I love cookbooks that include explanations of WHY certain cooking techniques work, and general principles instead of just specifics. Anyway, I grilled chicken for the first time last night, and it turned out very well. I was doubtful about the onion compote recipe but the long simmer with thyme (freshly picked from my window garden!) mellowed the onions into a wonderful complement to the lime-marinated chicken.

Yum.



Above: I love using fresh basil in my cooking, so have planted a window box full. Those little seedlings you see sprouting up between the basil plants are parsley; I'll transplant those out to their own containers when they're big enough.



And because one can never have too much basil, I've also planted a bunch of seedlings (see above for a close-up of a few). I love fresh-picked basil leaves roughly torn and scattered over a mozzarella and tomato salad. I love basil in soups and stews, throw in at the last minute. I love the scent of fresh basil so much that I'd put a bunch in a small vase as substitute flowers in the kitchen, just so I can smell it all day (and then eat it, of course).



And here's my indoor plant, which I bought last week. It's been wonderful to pick fresh tomatoes off the plant, but I've noticed that more and more of the leaves are starting to curl up and turn brown. :-( I've been following the instructions that came with the plant, watering it from the bottom instead of from the top. The surface is still dry, so I don't think I'm over-watering.

Any advice from gardeners out there would be appreciated!





Livejournal comments