Tag: summer (Page 7 of 9)

Mint Water: The Simplest + Most Refreshing Drink of Summer

July 30, 2011 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

I’m in love with mint water. It’s the very easiest thing to whip up, with the most cooling and refreshing taste I can think of.

All you need is fresh mint — out your back door, down at the far corner of the yard where you planted it once and now there’s enough to make mint water for everyone in your state. Pick a long sprig or two of it.

Whack ’em against your hand to dislodge any little crawlies. Rinse them off too, if you like.

Pour a glass of water, add ice, crush the mint sprigs in your fist, and submerge them into the water.

When the water gets low, top it up. If you have nice strong mint, it’ll last you through many glasses.

I love this stuff!

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Make Your Own “Green Smoothie Frozen Concentrate”

July 5, 2011 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

Green smoothie frozen concentrate, (c) The Herbangardener

Green smoothie frozen concentrate made with lettuce, spinach, and lambsquarters.

So I peeked into my remaining three bags of lettuce from the garden this year, and discovered that they were starting to go south and needed to be used right away. I separated out the slimy leaves, washed the rest, and had an idea! I’ll make green smoothie frozen concentrate cubes!

To make the concentrate:

1. Pour some kefir, water, juice, or watered-down yogurt into a blender. You won’t need too much — just enough to get everything to blend together smoothly.

2. Add lots of greens. Ideas are: lettuce, spinach, beet greens, chard, lambsquarters, purslane, mint, parsley, cilantro, edible flowers, etc. (Kale is the only one I don’t like in a shake, but if you do, go for it!)

3. Start the blender and let it run until you have a uniform slurry.

4. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze.

To use:

When you’re ready to make a green smoothie, thaw out some cubes; I usually use 2 cubes when I make a shake for myself. Add the green liquid to your blender containing the rest of your smoothie ingredients — I like to use fruit and kefir with some ground flax seed and vanilla extract. Blend & enjoy. Yum!!

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If you’re curious about green smoothies, you might check out the book Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko, or the related website. My friend Sasha recommended this book to me, and I loved it! While I don’t agree with absolutely everything in the book, I’m glad I read it.

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Transitioning the Garden from Spring to Summer

June 8, 2011 / Lindsey / 6 Comments

I had a wonderful day in my garden yesterday! I haven’t been feeling well enough to do much garden work lately — and a lot needed to be done — but yesterday the stars really aligned because I felt good, I’d gotten all my “money-making” work done and didn’t have any meetings to go to, and weather-wise it was a million dollar day! Usually I like to do my spring-to-summer garden transition in late May, but that didn’t happen this year, so I’m a little behind. But that’s OK! You just have to say “oh well” sometimes.

So basically I have two different gardens each year — “spring” and “summer” — all in the same beds. (You can read more about how I plan my dual gardens here.) The “spring carryover” veggies will stay in the ground through the summer, so I don’t need to worry about those. But the spring veggies (like lettuce and spinach) are at their peak right now and will be pulled out soon (but not quite, because they’re still producing like mad), so I like to plant summer veggies in their midst. (Click here for a list of spring, summer, and carryover veggies.)

In the photo below, you can see that I’ve pulled out enough lettuce to plant a tomato. This works well because the lettuce provides a bit of protection to the tomato seedling, and by the time the tomato starts getting big, we will have harvested all the lettuce.

I did the same thing below by harvesting enough spinach to open up a circular area where I planted winter squash seeds. The spinach will shelter the seedlings, and by the time the squash gets big, the spinach will be gone.

I don’t have a picture to show you, but in another bed I decided to just pull out all the spinach (it was ready anyway) and plant my cucumber seeds. Since I like lots of cucumbers and plant several rows, it just made the most sense to pull out the spinach completely rather than trying to plant multiple seeds in multiple rows in amongst the spinach plants.

But I do have a picture of the laundry basket full of spinach I harvested from that cucumber bed! Look at it all! Gorgeous stuff, and so delicious.

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What’s your garden up to right now??

Our City Dawn Chorus

May 24, 2011 / Lindsey / 4 Comments

I love when I happen to wake up early enough to hear the early-morning birds, before the noise of the city starts up. Last Sunday morning I awoke and decided to record our dawn chorus because it’s so beautiful!

I really love birdsong. I come from a long line of bird watchers and nature lovers…my dad would take me on nature walks as a little kid, pointing out whose nest was whose (my favorite was the oriole’s sweat-sock nest!), and whose song we were hearing around us (my favorite was the red-winged blackbird). Hearing birdsong is one of my true, deep pleasures in life!

Here’s the sound of our city dawn chorus, with the hollow — almost haunting — song of robins.

Does it sound like yours? Is it different? Who sings at dawn in your neighborhood?

Vegetable Crop Lists: When to Plant What

April 17, 2011 / Lindsey / 6 Comments

In this post about how to plan your vegetable garden, I talked about Spring Veggies, Spring “Carryover” veggies, and Summer veggies. A couple days ago, I got an email from Val, who asks: “…Would you mind posting a list or resource for what you define as spring, spring carry-over, and summer vegetables?? THANKS!!”

Sure, Val! Great idea. Since I don’t know of a resource for this info, I’ll post my own list.

I garden in Zone 5/6, in Colorado. Our growing season is about 110 days…our last average Spring frost is mid-May, and our first average Autumn frost is early October. So this list won’t apply to you lucky folks who garden year-round in mild climates. (Don’t know your zone? Enter your zip code at the Arbor Day Hardiness Zone Lookup.)

The following list is based upon my personal experience in my own garden, where I grow almost everything from seeds sown directly into the garden (except tomatoes & peppers, which I start indoors a month or two ahead of time). Often there is overlap between Spring and Summer gardens, but it works out OK because the mature Spring stuff will protect and shade the Summer seedlings for a while. By the time the Summer stuff is up and running, the Spring stuff has been pulled out.

Also, you’ll notice that some veggies are flexible and can be included in more than one category.

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Spring Veggies – Plant in early Spring (usually two months before the last frost…March 15 for me), and harvest before the intense heat of Summer (usually up to a month after the last frost…late June for me). Spring veggies are pretty much in-n-out before the main Summer season.

Arugula/Rocket

Beets/Beetroot

Broad Beans/Fava Beans

Broccoli

Broccoli Raab/Rapini

Collards (can also be a carryover veggie, where you leave it in all Summer)

Green Onions/Scallions (can also be a carryover veggie, where you leave it in all Summer)

Kale (can also be a carryover veggie, where you leave it in all Summer)

Lettuce

Peas

Radishes

Spinach

Swiss Chard/Silverbeet (can also be a carryover veggie, where you leave it in all Summer)

Turnips

Spring Carryover Veggies – Plant in early Spring (usually two months before the last frost…March 15 for me), and leave in the garden all Summer long.

Cabbage

Carrots

Cauliflower

Cilantro

Collards

Dill

Garlic

Green Onions/Scallions

Kale

Onions

Parsley

Potatoes (planted a month before last frost — mid-April in my garden)