CityDiggity
A green space for urban gardenersArchive for Herbs
Quick pasta dish with heirloom tomatoes and freshly cut basil
If you’re like me, you have countless stories of all-day prep-a-thons, followed by the all-day cook-a-thons that precede a big sit-down dinner for family and friends.
And when a holiday meal is in the works, the pressure increases with the number of place settings.
The rest of the time, though, most of us are just looking for tasty meals that don’t eat into busy Read the rest of this entry »
Progress report: Hey, there’s actual progress to report!
The 4th of July was the kind of day every garden needs — to my mind, at least once a week or so. It rained all day, not a hard, raucous rain, but a soft and gentle one. A rain that caressed the plants — from leaf to root — encouraging them to new heights.
And, of course, it gave the weary container gardener a day’s reprieve from having to hoist the watering vessel.
By Sunday morning the rain was a misty memory, and by the afternoon I was able to get out on the balcony and take advantage of the last day of the three-day hiatus from workers doing their best Spider-man impressions on the south face of our building.
I surveyed the planters and pots and took stock of what needed to be done to fill in the thin spots. I think I’ve mentioned before that I had extra plants in a flat that I held on to in case I needed to replace Read the rest of this entry »
Lots of places where gardens could take root in cities
Blue wildflowers suggest there's a garden longing to bloom on this undeveloped site.
There’s a conspicuously vacant lot on my block.
Its original low-rise buildings were razed some time ago in anticipation of the coming of a condominium tower. But that work ground to a halt a few months back — perhaps another casualty of these tough economic times.
Despite the building boom of the last 10 years, it’s not the only undeveloped plot of land I spied while driving through my downtown neighborhood. There was even one that seemed to be spontaneously becoming a garden, with pretty blue flowers popping up on its perimeter.
I immediately switched into “what if” mode: What if Read the rest of this entry »
Plants – and temperatures – go from one extreme to another
Downtown Chicago’s weather went from zero to 60 seemingly overnight. Or, more accurately, from 60 to 90 — degrees that is. A great time to get my plants back outside, right?
Not necessarily… While sun and heat would appear to be the perfect prescription for perking up plants that had been sentenced to home confinement for days on end, it proved too much of a good thing for some. Here’s a recap:
On the upside, despite their time indoors (after work to the facade of my building forced me to clear my balcony garden), my flowering plants boxes still looked pretty good. [The lobelia pictured is a prime example.]
But, my herb/edibles planters were a different story. The marigold foliage had gone from bright Read the rest of this entry »
Flower boxes look good for now; but, I definitely need a new plan
No, dear friends, my plants are not happily basking outside today as I had planned.
Not because the weather didn’t hold up. Not even because I didn’t want to repeat all that lifting just to do it again in reverse a day and a half later. No, after stepping out onto my balcony with the best of intentions, I looked up — and then backed out. Or rather, backed back in… into my condo, that is.
I decided that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to tempt fate and mess about outside while a huge metal scaffolding platform hung overhead — no Read the rest of this entry »
Configuring a planter box of herbs and assorted edibles
Nothing is foolproof when it comes to the garden. (And I’ve been fooled enough times to prove it!) But, planting what will soon grow into a lush container of herbs and edibles is about as simple as it gets.
Today I assembled purchased plants, sprouts grown from seeds and seeds to sow directly for my two planters, which will feature herbs, edible flowers (and some leaves) and chives. I use 36-inch planters that attach to the Read the rest of this entry »
This and that: plant finds, artful secateurs, project updates
There will come a point this summer when the phenomenon of “cooler by the lake” will provide a welcomed reprieve. But for now, when downtown Chicago can’t seem to string together two 70-plus days in a row, it’s not of great comfort.
Meanwhile my sprouts are outside fending for themselves over the cool nights and variably cloudy days. All the rain of late has washed away some of their identifying labels, so figuring out what’s what is going to be a challenge.
Oh well, I never promised you a rose garden. However, I do have a progress report on the projects started inside — plus some new plants and a very chic garden tool — to share with you: Read the rest of this entry »
So many different types of basil, so little time – and space
The basil seeds sown directly into the large terra cotta pots that will be their summer home have sprouted, despite the cold air that spring hasn’t yet managed to chase away.
So, I’m confident that I’ll have a robust crop for pesto, and all the other fresh dishes the herb enhances, in just a few weeks.
I planted Genovese basil and one that I haven’t tried before — lime basil. In the past, I also added a colorful purple basil plant to my container garden, which at the time seemed quite exotic to me.
However, as the Bard might have said (if he had a taste for the herb): there’s a lot more to basil than Read the rest of this entry »
No small potatoes: garden herbs boost flavor of picnic side dish
Potato salad with basil pesto and dill is a tasty cookout side dish (see recipe below in post).
Memorial Day weekend marks the official opening of Chicago beaches and the unofficial start of picnic season. Besides hitting the shores, we also hit the parks — armed with grills and coolers — for our first taste of summer in the city.
It’s not as warm as it could be this year (low 60s to 70 degrees), but the heat generated by all that outdoor cooking should raise the temperature. And then, the fireworks.
Along with the meats thrown on the barbie, no picnic is complete without the full complement of yummy side dishes, and potato salad is one of my Read the rest of this entry »
Mother of all cleanup days: time for dirty job that has to be done
You can only put off garden cleanup for so long before the day of reckoning arrives.
Those of you in warmer climes probably spent Mother’s Day Sunday winding down colorful garden paths and smelling the early roses, while here on Planet Chicago I tackled the dirty job of cleaning up the debris from last year’s garden.
I promise the wooden duck and bird will stand proud again.
I know, many people choose to pull out the old plants in late fall, but for me it’s a pretty sad process at that time, since there always are a few flowers struggling to live on — if but for scant days more. I just can’t bear to deprive them of their extended moment of defiance. Cleaning up now, when I know the best Read the rest of this entry »
CityDiggity 