HERBAL LORE AND GARDEN
TIPS
To prevent cats from digging in your
freshly planted garden, use 8-inch twigs or
sticks, pounded into the soil every six
inches or so. Eventually the plants will grow
up around them and they won't be seen, by
that time they won't be needed - but for now,
it will make the garden bed unsuitable for
bathroom duty.
Instead of
using a garlic press, which demands that the
garlic be peeled and is difficlut to clean,
try a stainless steel grater. No need to peel
the clove, the skin will come away as you
grate it. An even easier method if you have
the equipment is to hit the clove sharply
with a meat cleaver on a butcher
block.
The grater is also
useful for making piecrusts. Just chill the
butter and grate it onto the flour in the
mixing bowl. It will be much faster to cut
in.
My current favorite
among garden herbs is African perennial
basil. It's a very pretty plant with smaller
leaves than annual basil and long purple
flower spikes, which are easily stripped off
the stem and just as flavorful as the leaves
(but already in small pieces for
convenience). This stands up beautifully to
Southern California summers, and survives the
winter here, too.
If
you have
any ideas to add to this page,
why not
email
them to me?
Hungry? Go for the Grub!
Poetry and Philosophy in the Parlor
- plus
great
Celtic Links
This way to the Library and
Gallery
Needlework and
Crafts