Sorrel… an old herb being found again

Michele K Koskinen

Everyear my Herb Garden becomes an experiment in taste. An avid and experimental cook I scavage through cookbooks, look online, and watch a few cooking shows on TV to find new recipes to try with new ingredients. This has made my world of herbs expand from the usual Italian Basil, Parsley, Italian Oregano, and Thyme to experiment with out of the box unknown everyday herbs. Today my container deck garden contains 4 types of Basil, 2 types of Parsley, 3 types of Oregano, 2 kinds of Thyme, 3 different Mints, 2 Sages, 2 Rosemary, and a few more in my regular garden. This year I have found three new herbs to try: Sorrel and Summer and Winter Savory.They have been planted in my small garden as well as containers and are doing well in both. If you have the ground space I would recommend planting it into the garden as it gets fairly large. My garden is intwined with flowers as well as perennial herbs. The annuals have their own little bed or are in containers.

Sorrel is a perennial herb in zone 3 to 7 that is ornamental as well as edible. The red veined sorrel with striking green and maroon pointed leaves gives planters a texture and color that puts a little interest into the design.It is also a flowering herb with a spike of a flowere

Spring is the best season for tender and less pronounced taste for sorrel.There are several types of Sorrel each with different characteristics, the French Sorrel is milder, the broad leaf Sorrel and the ed veined Sorrel similar in taste. I am growing the red veined Sorrel which is quite tart and bitter. I have, however used some of the smaller older leaves this summer in a fish sauce and it gave just the right amount of lemon bitterness to the oiley fish. Sorrel is high in Vitamin C and C but can be toxic if cooked in the wrong material. Stainless steel is the material of choice for cooking Sorrel as it is high in oxalic acid. As always with trying new foods/herbs do your basic research to make sure of the proper cooking preparations. 

The spring leaves can be used with tender lettuce in a salad or a sauce for fish. Discovering the uses for sorrel are a continuing adventure. I have found recipes in older cookbooks, if anyone collects them, and online. If you are interested in this herb/ vegetable there are many resources online. I have listed a few below for your beginning search. The French Sorrel will be my herb of choice next year as I have found several recipes for this milder cultivar.   Enjoy






Epicurious.com/what-is-sorrel-recipes-article
Cooking.nytimes.com/sorrel-sauce-chicken-fish-lamb-or-veal
Culinate.com/books/cream_of_lentil-sorrel_soup
Culinate.com/sorrel and salmon soup
Honest-food.net/french-sorrel-soup/


Nextime--- Summer and Winter Savory another old herb gaining favor.

























Article in Edible Manhatten

News from the Edible Landscape Demonstration Garden

Cardoon in bud

Not only does the calendar tell us summer has arrived, but so do the plants in the demonstration garden. The bush cucumbers are beginning to flower and tiny fruits have just appeared on the vines. The tomatoes are growing rapidly and producing flowers; small husked fruits are also visible on the tomatillos. The cardoon is now almost four feet tall with thistle-like flower buds. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this attractive edible, cardoons (Cynara cardunculus) are a Mediterranean native closely related to the more familiar artichoke. Cardoons are hardy here in the Philadelphia area, liking organically rich, well-drained soil and full sun. While often grown as an ornamental, this attractive food plant has been part of the American vegetable gardeners' lexicon from the early 19th century. The edible stalks are blanched 2 to 3 weeks before the end of the growing season by tying the outer branches together and wrapping the base of the plant -- about 18 inches high -- with newspaper or burlap. At first frost, the stalks are harvested by cutting them just below the crown of the plant. The outer leaves are removed, leaving the white stalks reminiscent of over sized celery which are boiled or steamed. I am told they taste somewhat like artichoke.


Master Gardeners Eldredge Ragsdale and
Mary Ellen Post

Over the weekend we said a temporary good-bye to the collards and Chinese mustard greens. They have been replaced by a second cropping of cucumbers that will be trellised upon a simple A-frame structure made from garden stakes. Plans for the fall plantings are already well underway. Garlic has been ordered and seeds selected for the autumn harvest. These include various salad greens, snow peas and other cool weather crops.

We encourage you all to stop by the garden sometime soon.

Previous blogs on Cardoons    

Cardoons

Cardoon Recipe 



Why Heirloom Tomatoes are Worthy

By Eileen Kull

This year, I decided to sell my surplus of heirloom tomato plants with a little business I started called fruits d' heritage. Why only grow heirlooms you ask?

First of all, you are probably wondering what makes a plant an heirloom. Age is definetly a factor, growers and breeders describe a plant bred more than fifty years ago as an heirloom or heritage variety. Being open pollinated is another key trait, which means the variety will grow true to type from seed  and can be handed down through generations. This means you can start growing one year and save your seeds for the next and so on, making them less expensive for you (even though they are also already less expensive when you get them from seed saving organizations because they are not engineered in a laboratory which is an expensive process).

Heirlooms are also easier to grow because they use less chemical additives and less water. They behave that way because they are better adapted to local conditions (much like a native plant) and they are better able to tolerate stresses such as pest pressure, drought and other abiotic factors making them a better choice for the environment. Who knew that by planting heirlooms you were increasing the biodiversity of our ecosystem!

 Heirlooms are also awesome because they provide a continual harvest, unlike hybrids, that are genetically engineered to grow at the same pace- meaning seeds planted at the same time will be ready for harvest at the same time. This is a more ideal situation for the home gardener that would enjoy a continual harvest and an extended growing season. Heirloom vegetables are also more nutritious and taste better. The development of hybrid seeds has increased crop sizes and created larger yields, but in doing so, they have sacrificed taste. We tend to dissassociate words like genetic engineering and delicious, with good cause.

 Recent research has revealed that in many cases, hybrid vegetables are significantly less nutritious than heirlooms. Finally, heirlooms are cool because they are a piece of history. Every vegetable has a story behind it, where it originated and how it got to America. When you grow heirlooms you are preserving a piece of that history. So I urge you to go to seed saving suppliers or heirloom plant suppliers near you and get started on your own history!

Summer bulbs

By Michele Koskinen  

White fragrant lilies and hardy gladiola

When you hear bulbs what is the first flower you see in your mind? Is it a tulip, daffodil, crocus, snowdrop or other fall planted bulb. Can you name your favorite summer bulb? Flowers planted in the spring from bulbs or corms or rhizomes are called "Summer Bulbs". These include begonia, caladium, canna, dahlias, gladiola, lilies of many varieties, oxalis, and many more. Some are tubers and others corms but for this discussion they are all grouped together as summer bulbs. 

crocosemia

Fragrant Oriental Lily

Growing conditions for summer bulbs are different from spring bulbs in that a summer bulb needs full sunshine, with some exceptions, and decent soil and excellent drainage  (if the soil is clay and drainage is poor, the bulbs will rot). If those 3 conditions are met, it will most certainly give the summer bulbs a good growing habitat. Spring flowering bulbs will thrive in poor and infertile soil and extreme conditions of heat and cold. Summer bulbs need their requirements met to thrive. 

To get off to a good start, the bulbs need consistently warm soil. The planting date should always be after the last frost and the temperature preferably between 50 and 60 degree. 

                                                

Dahlia

 Many summer flowering bulbs and tubers are well suited for patio containers and should be planted closer for a full look. The most popular are begonia, dwarf canna, caladium and dwarf dahlia. 

Caladium and begonia

dahlia

Summer bulbs also require winter storage in a cool dry place after being dug up for the winter. Most of the tender bulbs require 40 to 50 degree temps in dry vermiculite or peat moss. Some grown in containers can be moved indoors and left in the pots to 
overwinter. A too warm storage climate dries them out and they are not viable the next season. 


Many summer bulbs are considered  hardy in our zone 6B-7 and do not need to be lifted. Iris and lilies are two that can be left in the ground and will multiply through the years as a regular perennial. For more information on the hardiness of the bulb, read the growing directions for the specific bulb you are planting.

A few tips from professionals.

Summer bulbs require a great deal of water immediately after planting. 

The soil in your garden should be continually moist not wet.

Sprouting is healthy; plants are anxious to get into the ground again. 
Maintain a pH level of 6 to 7 to bring out the true color of flower bulbs. 
Additional fertilizer is not necessary for summer flowering bulbs and tubers.