If growing flowers is too overwhelming, you might think about growing some herbs. They're not hard to maintain and some even produce flowers. Best of all, what better way to spice up your summer cooking?
Parsley, for example, is a biennial herb in flower from June to August. It displays tiny star-shaped, green/yellow flowers. The leaves are the herby part. Fennel's scented yellow flowers appear from August to October, then turn into seed. (Thanks for that info to Mick Lavelle, author of Wild Flowers and Flora, lorenzbooks.com.)
Basil, dill, chive, oregano, sage and thyme are all pretty safe bets. A salesman at Armstrong Garden Centers armstronggardens.com said his top choices for herb gardens are cilantro, basil, thyme and mint, all of which require 4-5 hours per day of sunlight. If they're dry, give them a drink, but make sure the water drains and remember that while the soil on top may feel dry, the soil at the bottom may still have moisture.
Back to the cooking with herbs: The rule of thumb is that if a recipe calls for herbs, you need triple the amount of fresh herbs than you do with dried herbs, which seems weird, I know, but the dried stuff is concentrated and more powerful.
Btw, a great cooking/food site (besides epicurious.com) I recently learned about is recipezaar.com. Among its many features is creating a master shopping list for several dishes at once. So, if onions are called for in the next few dinners you're going to make or they're in both an appetizer and a main course, you'll head to the store with the total amount of onions that you'll need. Rock on, Rzaar!
What is the herb you use most often in cooking and is it from your own garden?
Flower Fact of the Day: The Garden Bloggers Spring Fling took place in Austin over the weekend. Read all about it at humanflowerproject.com.
