A Little to do with Lavender - Growing and using herbs in Manitoba

  April 27, 2024 Oh. My. Gosh.  Good news. Not only did I find a new place to live, but it has a yard. And lots of gardening space. And West exposure. I am so excited! Here's to new beginnings.  Am I worried that it is already the end of April, and I don't have any seedlings planted? Not at all. I have started later than this and had success. There is always direct planting too, which I have done at the end of June and still was able to harvest. Oh! and also-I have heard a rumour that you can buy already started seedlings at the store, lol. Will I have to be creative? Yes, but that is ok. Despite many gardening manuals telling you that you MUST follow specific instructions to have success with certain plants, it's not as hard and as fast a science as we are always told. There is room for experimentation. and hope goes a long way. I mean, half the fun is trying! I can also harvest snipping's and root cuttings from established perennials before I move, root them, and tran...

      April 25, 2024   Do you see what I see?  Right down in the middle of this photo amongst the brown leaves and green grass, (why, oh why does the grass always grow where you DON'T want it, and not where you DO want it??), you can see some slightly rounded tapered green leaves close to the ground. Ah, my favourite culinary herb is starting to come up.  The one that goes into almost every savoury dish at my house. The humble, and powerful perennial Oregano.  Check out my favourite way to feature Oregano for dinner in my recipe for Greek stuffed eggplant on my Culinary Recipes page!

  April 24 Calendula (Calendula officinalis)   Calendula. I love this flowering herb for its beautiful yellow-orange petals that can be used in the kitchen as comfortably as in beauty and skin preparations. To a kitchen dish, the lovely hue from the petals can add colour in much the same way as saffron to dishes such as breads, rice, tea, soft cheese, desserts etc. I find it does not have too much of a flavour to it, but it sure is pretty! And it also makes an excellent cut flower and can be used as a dye plant.  The petals retain their colour quite well.  This beauty is incredibly easy to grow from seed, and once you plant it, it generally self-seeds each year, which is helpful as it is an annual. It can kind of take over its area, which is why I give it its own space in a sunny area of the garden.  I make a macerated oil (see skincare recipe page) from the petals to be used in skincare to assist with dry skin and use it in different preparations. 

    April 22, 2024     Where to start? Hmmm....Since I am not growing seeds so far this year, how about we start with what is already coming up in the garden? First up this time of year is chives. I love growing chives. They are truly a beautiful plant, and I always find that surprising since they are a member of the onion (or Allium) family. One doesn't tend to think of onions' as beautiful, but these truly are, with their bright green leaves and beautiful pink or lavender pom-pom type flowers.    A. schoenoprasum A little-known fact about chives. Not only do their leaves impart a mild onion flavour, (unless you have garlic chives, which have a mild garlic taste) but their flowers are also edible. Simply separate their florets, and sprinkle in a salad for a pop of colour and flavour.  I won't provide any recipes just now for darling chive, as I just throw them on top of any fresh dish I am making for some colour and mild flavour. Stuffed potatoes wit...

     It's April 14, 2024. Normally at this time I would have a kitchen table overrun with small pots and seedlings. No room here for more than 3, (ok, maybe 2), people to eat at the same time. The windowsills would be lined with tiny greenhouses, trying to make the most of the two south and west facing windows to utilize the most sunlight so the plants grown healthy and strong. The inconvenience is short-lived. When it is warm enough, these "table" plants would be sent outside to harden off while they wait to be planted in the garden. A small price to pay for a summer filled with tending and using these beauties to their full potential.  Mountain Mint (Pycanthemum pilosum)      But not this year. Not yet anyways. And it is making my fingers itch. Because of a life event that is causing me to move, I did not start any seedlings this year. I simply do not know where I am going to be, don't know if I will have space in the ground, or even space in pots to...