The herbs could not be happier. The sage especially, it is a small forest out there. And the nasturtiums, I have had to keep cutting them back mercilessly yet they still want to take over! Wild thangs.
Made delicious stuffed squash blossoms last weekend, as the crookneck squash too are in overdrive. Found a fantastic, happened to be gluten-free recipe from the LA Times– the batter is lovely light rice flour with sparkling water, natch. Check it out here. My tip: get fresh ricotta (counterintuitive to me, but you can buy it, though it is easy to make as well) and just plop in the processor– no need to force through a sieve, eegads. Can make a day ahead. Pick your blossoms in the morning before they fold up; can be stored on a tray in the frig.
And then, there are the other garden heroes, the tomatoes that survived the pretty terrible blight of 2014. Not as bad and widespread as 2009, but bad enough, according to reports. Here, I managed to save some of my
Pink Beauty
and Super 100’s
Got a few Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Valencia, and a single Pineapple– must have weighed close to a pound, that beauty– and dozens of Sungold cherries and yellow pears, before they succumbed. Appreciated each and every one. Not a single Green Zebra made it though– that seems to be where it started.
And the flowers– giant and Italian sunflowers, cosmos and cornflowers, shades of vibrant sun coreopsis, zinnias, sweet alyssum and marigolds, gorgeous all and keeping a bevy of bees and hummingbirds in attendance. Whenever I sit for a moment to rest, slothful! my head is usually buzzed by one or the other to make sure I don’t actually doze off…