I started an herb garden from a packet of random herb seeds. Borage was one of the main ones and it is taking over so it is near time to trim it and eat it. Well I had to look it up and it looks like it is an herb used in central europe mostly and it tastes like cucumber? It apparently can be cooked just like a green. Has anyone ever had it? I plan to try it tomorrow
Also, I'm proud of my little garden, my first little cherry tomato just popped up.
Ooohhh, i am a fellow gardener. I LOVE my garden. I have flowers, herbs, and veggies. It is the absolute best way to get kids to eat anything. If they grow it and baby it, they will eat it. But anyway. I have never heard of borage. I am interested to see how it tastes. It is fun to experiment with new foods you have grown.
My herbs are doing great. I too have just a few little tomatos on my plants now. i am getting little zuchinnis too. Isnt it nice though, just to know that you know exactly what chemicals, if any, have been on that plant. And just to watch it grow from seed to salad item. Its exciting to me.
This is actually my first garden so it is largely an experiment. The other thing I have that I don't know too much about is nasturtium. It looks like nasturtium is eaten raw.
So I walked out and plucked a borage leaf and ate it. I have to say it is really really good. It tastes quite fresh like cucumber. The texture is a bit odd but I read that the texture disappears in cooking. I think it'll be a staple in my future gardens. I also picked a nasturtium leaf and it was also really good.
Nelie: My mum always grows nasturtiums--she just tosses the flowers in her salads. They don't have much taste, but they are pretty and colorful.
I haven't even gotten my garden in yet. When I lived in NJ, I had a great veggie garden and I loved it. My first year here in WA, in an agricultural region, everything I planted died! It's an arid region and I didn't realize how much watering I would have to do! I'm sticking to herbs and strawberries this year and hoping I have better luck. I should hit the nursery this weekend, before it's too late.
baffled -- two words: drip irrigation! I live in the CA bay area and the drip irrigation system we put in has made all the difference in our vegetable garden. It is so much easier than hand watering and our plants are so much healthier. I definitely recommend it.
Congrats on your first tomato, Nelie! The best tomatoes are always the ones freshly picked from your own plant and warmed by the sun. I love being able to pick a tomato from my garden to eat with my lunch.
I've heard of borage but never tried it. Maybe next year or over the winter I'll give it a try. I love cucumbers so a green that taste like a cucumber is intriguing.
I grow cantaloupes. Last year it was too cold and we didn't get a good crop, so this year I'm hoping for a hot summer. Growing my own cantaloupe has spoiled me; the ones we buy at the store or even at the farmers market taste completely flavorless to me now (they are all picked before they are ripe and melon doesn't ripen off the vine).
We also have a guava tree and I get a huge crop of guavas every year. Last year I put up 60 half-pints of guava jelly! I'm still trying to get rid of it all.
baffled -- two words: drip irrigation! I live in the CA bay area and the drip irrigation system we put in has made all the difference in our vegetable garden. It is so much easier than hand watering and our plants are so much healthier. I definitely recommend it.
I wish. We're renters, and not even allowed to dig up the precious lawn to plant a real garden. I have to grow everything in pots.
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Originally Posted by BlueToBlue
Congrats on your first tomato, Nelie! The best tomatoes are always the ones freshly picked from your own plant and warmed by the sun. I love being able to pick a tomato from my garden to eat with my lunch.
When I lived in NJ and had a real garden, one of my absolute favorite meals was something called "Pasta alla Checca". You dice up tomatoes, slice fresh basil, mince some red onion and garlic and mix it all together with a smidge of oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. Then you let it sit at room temp for several hours and serve on pasta with romano or parmesan cheese. It's sooooooo good and it feels great to be eating tomatoes and basil that you picked that morning from your own garden. Like a little bite of summer
Baffled, I'm also doing a container garden. Next year, the garden will possibly be in ground depending in what we buy I water every day because I read that container gardens need more water.
Baffled, I'm also doing a container garden. Next year, the garden will possibly be in ground depending in what we buy I water every day because I read that container gardens need more water.
Terracotta pots, in particular, need more water. You are in a humid zone though, so once a day will probably be enough. I think I am supposed to water 2 or 3x per day here!
Definitely include room for a garden as a "must have" in your new house
Baffled - that's a bummer. I can hardly get anything to grow in pots and definitely none of my vegetables survive in pots. I even tried that earth box thingy--what a total scam.
We have successfully run drip irrigation to some of our flowers that are in pots, however. The flowers in those pots are thriving. They are annuals, but amazingly they even survived the frost we had last winter and a lot of our stuff in the ground didn't make it. I've also seen other people use drip irrigation with pots (including even hanging pots). So the drip might still be a possibility for you, you just wouldn't be able to bury the distribution lines.
Baffled - that's a bummer. I can hardly get anything to grow in pots and definitely none of my vegetables survive in pots. I even tried that earth box thingy--what a total scam.
Yeah, after the disappointment of last year, I'm pretty much only going to do herbs this season. Those can grow ok in pots, as long as I'm vigilant about watering! We actually have an in-ground automatic sprinkler system for the precious lawn, so I'm thinking that I might try to locate my pots in a place where they will get a good dousing from the sprinkler system each night.
(Last year I planted beans, tomatoes, sweet peas and hot peppers in the dirt margin along the backside of our house bordering the lawn--tons and tons of direct sunshine. Everything died in about a week and I was completely confused. Turns out that the college (we're in faculty housing) *sprays* all the dirt patches with some sort of weed killer that also kills vegetable plants. It was such a waste! And I was very disappointed not to be able to grow tomatoes.)
I've had borage in the garden for about 10 years. A friend gave me two plants he dug up from his field. Since they are wild self-sowers, I've never had to plant any more. They really will take over the garden in my climate.
I mostly eat the flowers. I like the way they taste more than the leaves. Plus when I'm weeding the leaves give me a terrible rash on my hands, so I've never been that excited about eating them. If you do want to eat the leaves fresh, the best ones are the little baby ones. I've never tried cooking them, but they'd probably be good in something like a summer soup. The flowers are good in salads and in iced tea, and they are really pretty as decorations on cakes and cupcakes.
I cooked the Borage and it kind of tastes like spinach with a cucumber flavor. I think I actually like it raw better though and will probably use it in salads more than cooked.
Today, I found aphids on some of my Borage but mostly on my japanese eggplant. DH and I are trying to coax them to go elsewhere with a few tips I read online. Unfortunately, my plants that are supposed to be flowery aren't blooming (too rich soil, not enough sunlight?) so their natural enemies aren't showing up. I'll need to watch the plants a bit to make sure they don't get too out of control.
Borage ?
When I lived in NJ, I had a great veggie garden and I loved it. My first year here in WA, in an agricultural region, everything I planted died! It's an arid region and I didn't realize how much watering I would have to do! I'm sticking to herbs and strawberries this year and hoping I have better luck. I should hit the nursery this weekend, before it's too late.
