Favorite Garden Treats

[How Do I]

We were visiting some local food markets last week while we were in Louisville and stopped by The Root Cellar to see what they had available. We're always looking for something new to try, of course. They happened to have some pea shoots available and when I first saw them, I was like, meh.

Then the owner got to talking to DW about the pea shoots while I was nearby trying to decide which mushrooms to buy. He starts telling her about flash-cooking the pea shoots in butter and somehow we walked away with a bag of pea shoots along with my Lion's Mane mushrooms.

Later that day I decided to whip up a small bunch as he had described ("just 'til the leaves start to wilt"). O.M.G. those are good! I was in heaven. Now I need to clear cut some forest so I can plant about an acre of peas! Mine! All mine! bwahahaha.

OK, so you get the idear.

Now I'm thinking...what else am I missing out on? Care to share your favorite garden treat with the rest of us?

[Pelenaka]

Hmm rea shoots huh .... For me it's just baby fancy salad greens like buttercrunch or Boston lettuce or even red oak.

Love the name of the market shop.


~~ pelenaka ~~

[where I want to]

Alpine strawberries- they start to wilt immediately upon picking but what a kick of strawberry flavor. Great drought tolerant groundcover.

[NickieL]

BUTTERcrunch lettece!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and you can't foreget garlic scapes!!!

[Meconella]

Mature sugarsnap peas on the vine.

Yum.

[jwal10]

Any very young tender vegetable lightly steamed with a touch of butter or fresh, tender and crisp....James

[rockbottomranch]

peas and baby spinach yummm

[kimmom2five]

There is a place here called Endless Summer Harvest here that sells hydrponic lettuce and stuff at the Farmer's market here. One week they had watercress, which was so good! But since then they haven't had it at the market by me!Their other lettuces are pretty good, but I really want more watercress.

[EDDIE BUCK]

Them teensy weensy itsy bitsy new potatoes

[freegal]

Fresh parsley in a nice Greek salad!

[GrannyCarol]

Sugar Snap peas off the vine, yes!

Sliced tomatoes on mozzarella with basil and olive oil - awesome!

Fresh basil on pretty much everything.

Garden salads with unusual greens, herbs and edible flowers - very pretty, interesting flavors and good for you.

Corn on the cob, picked AFTER you get the water boiling and boiled for ten minutes with butter and salt and pepper.

Oh my, now I am ready to start gardening and I have to wait a bit yet! lol

[How Do I]

Everything here sounds so good! I hadn't heard of Greek Salad before. The photos got my mouth watering though. Watercress sounds unusual. I think I have some seeds hiding somewhere when I decided to try that before. I wonder if it will grow in our small pond.

What about things (unusual to me) like kohlrabi or Swiss chard? I finally bought some seeds for Swiss chard this year, even though I have no idea what to do with it when it is ready to be harvested.

[GrannyCarol]

Swiss chard is one of my garden regulars, it's very easy to grow and rather versatile. You can eat the young greens in salads, they are nice and crisp and mild flavored. You can steam the older greens and use them as a side dish with butter, or you can chop it up and put it in anything you might put spinach in. In fact, you can think of Swiss chard as an improved spinach. It is biennial, so it won't bolt to seed the first year. It is very hardy and will put out a spring crop very early the second year (but then it will go to seed pretty early) for some lovely spring greens. You can cut the leaves all summer long. I find some insect damage on the bigger older outside leaves, but not too bad. Even the big leaves hold up and stay pretty crispy all summer. I plant the Northern Lights variety every year for the pretty colors.

[JAS]

Ground cherries - you only have to plant once and will have them coming up for the rest of your life. Very yummy.

Kale - Plants are beautiful and could be planted in a flower bed even. Yummy. Same with swiss chard.

Garlic Scapes - Wonderful for stir frys, salads, and pickled.

Horticultural shell beans - I cannot wait for my first shell bean succotash of the year.

[AmberLBowers]

I second for tiny new potatoes !!!

[sweetbabyjane]

The first little cherry tomatoes. They never make it inside!

Yum,
SBJ