Life begins in the garden

Tag: fava

  • What’s Growing Now – June 2023

    June has generally been cool and grey. We call it our June gloom that follows the May grey. This time of year it is common to have a marine layer creep over the mountains to keep mornings overcast usually clearing late morning. This June we’ve had quite a few days staying cool and grey into…

  • What’s Growing Now – May 2023

    May started off with a warming trend getting into the high 80’s (low 30’s for our metric friends), then dropped to high 60’s (around 20 Celsius) as our May grey settled in. It’s a typical pattern here where May and June get a strong marine layer bringing low clouds and overcast mornings, usually burning off…

  • Fava Bean & Garlic Scape Sauté

    Fava Beans and Garlic Scapes Garlic scapes are a rare delicacy. Hard to find unless you grow your own hardneck garlic. The scapes are the flower stalk produced by garlic in late spring. We cut or snap off the scapes to focus growth into the garlic bulb. Those trimmings are a tasty treat with a…

  • Vegetable Garden Plant Families

    Why talk about plant families? Understanding plant relationships and their shared characteristics enhances our appreciation of plants growing in the garden. Plants in the same family share common characteristics and ancestry. Knowing a plant’s family can give us insights on growing them and helps us see plants in a new perspective. For the gardener, understanding…

  • Asian Style Fava Greens

    Fresh Fava Greens Our fava bean plants are prolific. See our April 2023 posting for more information about growing fava beans. We’ve started harvesting the young green shoots for some tasty dishes. They have a mild flavor, a bit like spinach greens. Use like other greens by steaming, sautéing or add to other dishes. Here…

  • What’s Growing Now – April 2023

    April warmed up and after a wet March everything is growing! Wildflowers along with other plantings are blooming in abundance. The California poppies and lupines do a great job of spreading themselves around the whole garden. We also encourage the Shirley Poppies in shades of red and pink. Color all around. Walking into our April…

  • What’s Growing Now – March 2023

    March started and ended with rainy weather. Nice for the green growing plants. Our Miner’s lettuce is thrilled with the cool wet weather! All the deep moisture should give us an abundance of wild flowers in the next couple months. Sounds from the garden this month were on the wet side. We heard some happy…

  • What’s Growing Now – February 2023

    February came to a close by delivering a lot of rain for us. We had around 6 inches of rain in 2 days. Considering last season had just over 10 inches for the full year, this was significant! Major snow in our local Southern California Mountains left people snow-bound in 8 feet of snow! The…