Spring is in the air and it’s that time of year when you can begin planting your herbs, fruits and veggies. I have always enjoyed trying to grow veggies but I can’t claim much success. Back home in Ireland two apple trees, a gooseberry bush, some random strawberries and untamed mint were as far as the gardening went in our household when I was growing up. Now living in San Diego with sunshine all year round I feel I have no excuse and hopefully will have some excess. So motivated by the thoughts of being able to pick fresh fruit and veggies this summer instead of just the handful of herbs I have growing now I began my planting. Apart from the great climate I do have two other secret weapons on my side; one is the “solarium room” in my house which we have not used for anything else other than storing BBQs and my roommates late night random games of beer pong. It is the perfect place for growing seedlings before we transplant them outside into garden.
The second weapon (I shouldn’t really call her that) is my friend Chimena, our resident little earth mother in our neighborhood. For months she has been researching, selecting and buying our organic seeds and has even purchased worms from a local farm in Fallbrook so we can have our own organic compost to nurture our little plants. The composting is going well although about week ago we thought they were all dead but now there doing just fine.
So back to the planting of the seeds, we have been planting over the last weekend and I am just starting to see signs of life. So far we have planted sweet and Genovese varieties of basil, thyme, tarragon, oak leaf lettuce, zucchini and cucumber. So far the tarragon and basil are sprouting the fastest but hopefully the rest will catch up. Chimena is away at the moment and said that I have to talk to them and show them love everyday…….I am trying I promise but do feel a little silly. If you do manage to get your herbs growing, one of my favorite summertime dressings is Lemon Tarragon Dressing , it’s zesty with that great aniseed flavor and is great with grilled fish, chicken or tossed with some arugula.