The oyster mushroom gets its name from its cap which, some say, resembles an oyster. The stem of the oyster mushrooms is perhaps more distinct; it unfurls something like one of those old-time paper lady's fans. The oyster mushroom has...

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May 2008 Monthly Archive

Pineapple Served

The flesh of the pineapple is sweet and juicy and is best eaten raw in slices, wedges, or cubes.

• Cut a fresh pineapple in half lengthwise, leaving on the top leaves. Cut out the core and carefully cut the flesh away from the rind in one piece. Slice the flesh into wedges. Refill the shell. Sprinkle with sugar or kirsch. Serve plain or garnish with cherries, whole strawberries, or sprigs of mint.

Pineapple can be added to fruit salads and chicken and turkey salads.

• Crush 3 tablespoons of fresh pineapple and mix with a half cup of honey, a quarter cup of lemon juice and a quarter teaspoon of salt. Mix, chill, and shake thoroughly before dressing a fruit salad.

Pineapple also will bring a sweet-tart flavor to savory entrees. Grill pineapple slices and serve with roast pork or bake and serve with ham.

• Place fresh pineapple slices into a shallow baking pan not allowing the slices to overlap one another. Place over a very low heat or in the oven and simmer for about two hours until the pineapple is almost transparent. Garnish the center of each with a glacéed cherry and serve with ham.

Here are some basics for selecting, cooking, and serving pineapple:

Continue reading "Pineapple Served" »

Harvest to Table's New Encyclopedia:
The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide

A practical vegetable and herb garden encyclopedia

An enthusiastic and accessible companion, The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide: A practical vegetable and herb garden encyclopedia by Stephen Albert details the very essentials to gain small crop prowess and expertise. This in-depth reference book is for the kitchen gardener and cook, a simple, one-stop, easy-to-use guide to bring fresh, inexpensive and healthy food from your garden to your table. Use this book as an index and information bank-a cornucopia-to access your favorite small vine fruits, vegetables and herbs and answer your particular questions.

Pineapple Basics

Pineapples grow in the dry tropics on squat herbaceous plants that stand just 3 feet all and about 3 feet wide. The average pineapple is 4 to 8 inches long though some grow much larger.

The pineapple is covered with thick, hard floral bracts, or leaf-like petals called “eyes” that range in color from dark green to yellow to orange-yellow to reddish. Beneath each bract or eye is a berry-like individual fruit, the sweet pale yellow to white flesh we eat. A pineapple is actually a cylindrical composite fruit formed from 100 to 200 of these berry-like fruits which are fused together off of the pineapples core. The small individual fruit merge into one large composite fruit.

Each of these composite fruits grows from a thickened stalk of the plant. Only one composite fruit—which we call the pineapple--grows from a single stalk but the same plant may produce more than one fruiting stem. The average pineapple weighs from 4 to 9 pounds but some grow to as large as 16 to 20 pounds. From the crown of each fruit grows long, slender spiny leaves.

The pineapple is native to Brazil but was growing throughout tropical South and Central America and the West Indies when Columbus arrived in 1493. Spanish explorers named the fruit piña for its resemblance to a pinecone. That inspired the English name pineapple. The Brazilian Indian name for pineapple is nana which means “excellent fruit”.

The Spaniards brought the pineapple to Europe from South America in the sixteenth century and took the fruit to Hawaii in the late eighteenth century.

Today, pineapples are mainly grown in Hawaii, Honduras, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica.

Here are the pineapple varieties you are most likely to find in the market:

Smooth Cayenne. A large sweet, juicy, golden-yellow fleshed pineapple; the most widely grown and most popular with the classic cylindrical pine cone shape and long spear-like fronds. Usually weighs 5 to 6 pounds (2.5-3 kg). Grown mostly in Hawaii but also Australia, the Philippines and South Africa. Not spiny.

Hilo. A compact version of smooth Cayenne. Weighs 2-3 pounds (1-1.5 kg).

Esmeralda. A Cayenne type pineapple from Mexico.

Natal Queen. A small, yellow-fleshed pineapple that is firmer, slightly drier than and not as sweet as the Cayenne. Usually weighs 2 to 3 pounds (1-1.5 kg). Best fresh but keeps well. Spiny leaves.

Red Spanish. A medium size pineapple with purplish skin and squarish shape. Pale colored flesh and very fragrant. Usually weights 2 to 4 pounds (1-2 kg). Grown in Puerto Rico, Florida, and Cuba. Spiny leaves.

Pernambuco. A tender, sweet medium-size pineapple with whitish or yellow flesh. Excellent for eating fresh. Usually weighs 2 to 4 pounds (1-2 kg). Spiny leaves.

Kona Sugarloaf. Very sweet, white fleshed pineapple that is not woody at the center. Cylindrical and weighs from 5 to 6 pounds (2.5-3 kg).

The botanical name for the pineapple is Ananas comosus.

Donut Peach

A peach that is juicy and sweet—many say the best tasting of all peaches—and creamy with a pit that does not cling wrapped in a nearly fuzzless skin: I want that peach!

That is the almost ancient Chinese pan tao peach which also is called peento peach, Chinese flat peach, saucer peach, and Saturn peach—as in the rings of Saturn which this peach looks a bit like when its pit is popped from it flattened center.

Marketing has taken over the pan tao peach. You are most likely to find it displayed under the name Donut Peach, as in doughnut. Some have even thought to box these flattened peaches up like a box of deep-fried ring-shaped pastries. (After tasting a donut peach, you can decide which is more flavorful and better for you.)

The donut shaped pan tao peach will fit in the palm of your hand; it’s about 3 to 3½ inches (7.6-8.9 cm) across and half as tall. Size—and all of the attributes listed above—make this one of the best peaches for eating out of hand. But you can use the donut peach like any other peach: serve alone as a snack, add to fruits salads, make into pies, tarts, and cakes, bake into muffins, chop and add to salsa, or grill with other summer fruits.

The pan tao is one of the “silver” peaches. Ancient Chinese orchard keepers divided peaches into golden or yellow fleshed peaches and silver or white fleshed peaches. The pan tao was introduced to the United States from China to California in 1869 but has only recently gained wider acceptance.

The donut peach is much sweeter than yellow peaches and lower in acidity. Some recognize a hint of almond overtones in its mild flavor. It is velvety and creamy between the teeth.

Some recommend pushing the nearly visible pit right on through the flesh to attain the ring of Saturn look, but that could be a messy proposition: the donut peach is perhaps the most juicy peach. It might be better to bite around the pit and let the juice fall in your mouth or use a paring knife over a bowl to capture the extra juice.

The donut peach has a freestone (not clinging) pit about the size of a pistachio nut. Its skin is yellow with a red blush and little fuzz. That means you can eat this peach easily without peeling.

The pan tao peach is a heavy producer; one tree will produce nearly twice as many peaches as other peach trees. The pan tao is frost hardy, self fruitful, and blooms earlier and heavier in spring than most other peach varieties. Harvest will begin in late spring and extend to the end of summer. Pan tao peach varietal names include ‘Saturn’, ‘Saucer’, and ‘UFO’.

Choose: Select brightly colored peaches without any traces of green on their skins that are plump and free of blemishes. The pan tao will have a smooth almost fuzzless skin. A ripe peach will be sweetly fragrant. Peaches will ripen in a day or two at room temperature. To hasten ripening, place peaches in a paper bag.

Store: Nearly ripe peaches will keep at room temperature for 3 or 4 days. After peaches ripen they will keep one or two days longer in the refrigerator. Don’t refrigerate peaches until they are fully ripe; they will lose juice and flavor if refrigerated too long. Allow peaches to come to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition: The pan tao peach is high in vitamins A and C.

Apriums

Apriums are juicy, sweet eating out of hand. An aprium is a hybrid fruit—¾ apricot and ¼ plum.

‘Honey Rich’ is perhaps the most popular aprium variety; its name aptly suggests the fruit’s intensely sweet flavor. Other aprium favorites are ‘Flavor Delight’ and ‘Tasty Rich’.

The aprium’s flavor is often described as intense and complex. Apriums have strong apricot flavor tones—bowing to their predominantly apricot parentage—with a hint of plum. They are sweeter than apricots with higher fructose and complex sugars content and a bit of acidity.

The aprium is bright orange on the outside with just a hint of skin fuzz. Its bright orange flesh is dense and surrounds a stone similar to an apricot’s. The aprium is about the size of a large plum and can easily be mistaken for a very large apricot.

Besides eating apriums out of hand, you can slice and add them to a salad or cereal or yogurt or ice cream. You can use apriums in crisps, cobblers and pies. Add apriums to breads or make them into sauces to be eaten with waffles or pancakes or preserves.

Apriums are available from late spring through late summer, mid-May to September in the northern hemisphere.

Apriums are a relatively new fruit. ‘Honey Rich’ was the first aprium introduced in 1989. The aprium was developed by California fruit hybridizer Floyd Zaiger, who also developed the pluot, a plum apricot hybrid. Other aprium varieties include 'Autumn Sprite’, ‘Escort’, ‘Flavor Ann’, ‘Late Brittney’, and 'Poppy Cot', ‘Wescot’.

Apriums grow on a deciduous tree that grows to about 10 feet tall and require warms springs and summers for harvest. Apriums require other apriums or apricots for pollination.

Choose: Select apriums that are plump and firm with a consistent skin color. Avoid apriums that are green or that are overly soft or have broken or blemished skins. Apriums have delicate skins and will tend to discolor with handling.

Store: Apriums will keep in the crisper section of the refrigerator for up to two days. Keep away apriums away from bananas which emit ethylene gas that can hasten the ripening process of the aprium.

Prepare: Rinse apriums in cool water and dry them before using. Cut the fruit in half to remove the pit or use a fruit pitter. Apriums will ripen quickly placed in a paper bag at room temperature.

Nutrition: Apriums are a good source of vitamin A.

Rainer Sweet Cherry

Not all cherries are created cherry red. Ranier is a yellow and red skinned cherry that it is one of the sweetest cherries you will ever taste.

There are two cherry varieties with patially yellow or golden skins: Rainer and Royal Ann. Royal Ann--sometimes called Napoleon--is golden yellow blushed with red. Rainer is a bit more eye-popping, bi-colored bright yellow and cherry-red skinned.

Both Rainer and Royal Ann are sweet cherries, the type of cherries you can eat without cooking. Sweet cherries can be be added raw to fruits salads, ice cream sundaes, yogurts, sorbets, and custards, or cooked in compotes, tarts, pies, flans, soufflés, and clafoutis.

Rainer is unlikely to make it from the farm stand to the kitchen. This is a sweet cherry you will enjoy eating out of hand. You can use a paring knife to slit the Rainer from north to south then pull it apart, popping out the pit. The fastest way to enjoy the Raineer is to simply let your teeth and tongue do the work.

Rainer is a hybrid between the Bing and Van cherries, two of the sweetest sweet cherries out there. Rainer is sweeter than Bing, though considered a bit more fragile. Rainer has a creamy, yellow flesh that fades to a nearly white heart. Rainer is juicy and its sweetness is on the mild side.

Royal Ann has a sweet tart flavor.

Sweet cherries come to market from May to early July in the Northern Hemispher, in December in the Southern Hemisphere. when selecting cherries, choose cherries that are brightly colored, plump, and shiny. The best cherries for eating out of hand will be firm but not hard.

Prepare. Wash, do not soak cherries. For compotes and fruit salads remove fresh cherry stems then remove the pits with a cherry pitter or cut the cherry in half with a paring knife and remove the stone or make an incision at the top of the cherry tip and remove the stone.

Store. Sweet cherries will keep in the refrigerator in a perforated plastic bag for 2 to 3 days. Sour cherries will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Keep cherries away from strong smelling foods; they will absorb odor and lose flavor. Cherries stored at room temperature will spoil rapidly.

Cherries have a flavor affinity for almonds, chocolate, cinnamon, custard, duck, goose, kirsch, pork, poultry, red wine, sour cream, and yogurt.

Red Butter Lettuce

There's a reason they call it butter lettuce: it melts in your mouth. Butter lettuce is buttery and tender from the first bite.

Serve red butter lettuce alone or as a colorful addition to salad greens. Red butter lettuce is a good match to light vinaigrette or lemon and oil mix. It is a colorful addition to salad greens and as a base for sliced fruits or cottage cheese.

Yes, it melts in your mouth, but how will it taste? Try this: scratch a leaf stalk; if it smells sweet, it will taste sweet; if it smells bitter, it will have a bit of a bite.

Butter lettuce heads are loose and the leaves are wavy. A butter lettuce head looks something like an open rose; you can see to its center or heart. The heart of a butter lettuce rosette will be just as tasty as its surrounding leaves. A head of butter lettuce that is not loose will be less tasty.

Serve: Butter lettuce is usually eaten raw but can also be cooked. Add butter lettuce in the last minute to peas that have been pan steamed for a few minutes more.

Butter lettuce can be braised and added to soups as flavoring. Add shredded lettuce at the end of cooking; the heat of the broth will cook the lettuce.

Serve butter lettuce with an oil and vinegar dressing, chopped walnuts, crumbled Feta cheese and seedless grapes.

Other butter lettuce flavor partners incude anchoives, cucumber, fresh herbs, lemon, mustard, raw onion, tart fruits, tomato and vinaigrette, goat cheese, and ricotta or cottage cheese.

Choose: Butter lettuce should have unbroken leaves with no wilting or spoilage of the leaves at the tip or the base. Avoid lettuce that is dull looking, yellowing or dried out or brown at the edges.

Store: Keep lettuce unwashed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Butter lettuce will keep for 3 to 4 days.

Prepare: Wash butter lettuce thoroughly just before you are ready to use it. Do not soak lettuce in water as the water will soften the leaves. After you wash lettuce, spin or drain it completely or blot the leaves with a paper towel to remove any excess moisture.

Nutrition: Lettuce is low in calories, rich in calcium, iron, vitamins A and C.

Green-leaved butter lettuce is also called Boston or Bibb lettuce. These two are distinct cultivars. Boston lettuce leaves are wider and lighter green than Bibb lettuce. Bibb lettuce was named for John Bibb, a lettuce grower who lived in Kentucky in the mid-nineteenth century.

Mango to the Table

You can enjoy mango out of hand by simply slicing it lengthwise with a sharp knife along each side of the mango's long flat seed. Cut as close to the seed as possible until halved then set the seeded half aside. With a spoon, carefully scoop out the mango flesh from the seedless half in bite-size curved slices. For mango cubes, score the mango half crosswise without cutting through the skin. Gently push the cubes into a bowl.

To harvest the mango flesh from the seeded half, peel the skin from the section and carefully slice the flesh lengthwise away from the seed. Mango flesh clings to its seed, so don't expect the seed to pop out. You'll need to pare the flesh away.

The best flavored mango is ripe. You'll know a mango is ripe if it yields slightly to the gentle pressure of your thumb against its skin. A mango not yet ripe will ripen shortly at room temperature. Once ripe a mango will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.

Here are some favorite ways to serve mango:

• Slice mango and avocado for a salad.

• Mix slices or cubes with a spinach salad, fruit salad or ambrosia.

• Serve slices on waffles or French toast or atop cereals or crêpes.

• Sautéed slices can be served with grilled or roasted meats and poultry.

• Serve with fish, and shellfish, poultry, duck, or squab.

• Use as a savory vegetable cubed and braised with onions and spices over rice.

• Use unripe in soups and sauces or as a vegetable to accompany meat or fish.

• Combine diced mango with red pepper and red onion, cilantro, mint, lime juice, to make mango salsa.

• Use in hams, mango pickles, and chutneys.

• Use to make breads.

• Drizzle slices with orange-flavored liqueur or top with sour cream and brown sugar.

• Use to flavor yogurt, ice cream, and sorbets.

• Make into jams, jellies, marmalades, coulis, compotes, and juice.

• Combine with papaya and pineapple in compotes.

Flavor partners: Mango has a flavor affinity for apricot, avocado, chicken, chiles, cilantro, cucumbers, fish, jicama, lime juice, orange, passion fruit, pineapple, rum, seafood, star fruit, sweet bell pepper, and tangerine.

Mango

Fannie Farmer’s cookbook has been around since 1896. It gets to the essence of mango preparation when it suggests: “Cut in half lengthwise and remove the stone. Eat with a spoon.”

That pretty much covers it!

The mango—many would say--is the world’s most delicious fruit. Its delicate flavor is a cross between a pear and an apricot. Or is that a cross between a melon and pineapple? Or is that a across between a peach and a papaya?

Well, one thing is clear, the mango is exotically tasty.

You can serve ripe mango slices in compotes, cakes, and tarts or alongside grilled or roasted meats and poultry. You can purée mango and use it as a base for sherbets, whips, ice cream, beverages, and dessert sauces. You can eat mango out of hand, peeled like a banana or on the half shell as Fannie Farmer suggests. Or you can gently roll and knead the mango until all of the pulp inside is mashed and liquefied then simply tap a hole at one end and suck the fruit dry.

Little wonder the mango is the most commonly eaten fruit in the tropics, as popular there as the apple is in temperate parts of the world. The mango is the most popular fruit in India, and in the Caribbean, and Mexico.

Mangoes are oblong, flattened fruits to 6 inches in length and perhaps about the same in diameter. Most weigh about 1 pound, although there are some mangoes that grow no larger than an egg and weigh as little as 6 ounces and others that grow to as much as 5 pounds/ 2.2 kg. There are 1,000 species of mangoes 500 of which are named varieties. Those numbers allow for many variations on the mango theme. For instance, some varieties of mango particularly popular in the Philippines are kidney shaped.

Most mangoes have green skins before they ripen to yellowish green to yellow to orange and rosy red blushed skins. The flesh of a ripe mango is yellowish-red, smooth, buttery, and aromatic. In addition to its tropical flavor, a ripe mango can be slightly tart and spicy. The flesh of a not fully ripe mango can be a bit stringy.

The mango has a large flat pit to which its flesh clings. The pit is best dislodged with a knife or the mangoes fleshy cheeks can simply be sliced away.

Mango fruit grows on a large evergreen tree that can reach 25 feet tall. Mango leaves are long, narrow and leathery. One mango tree can yield as many as 100 fruits in a year with fruit clusters usually ripening from spring to summer or fall to winter depending upon the variety. Fruits are ready for harvest 4 to 5 months after bloom. The fruits are usually picked when mature but still green.

The mango is native to southeastern India where it has been in cultivation for more than 6,000 years. The name mango comes from the Portuguese name for the fruit manga which is an adaptation of man-gay the name for the fruit in the Tamil language of southeastern India.

The mango was introduced into Brazil from India by Portuguese sailors in the eighteenth century. Today, the mango is widely grown in India, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Mexico. It also grows in subtropical regions of the United States such as Florida and Southern California.

Local season: The mango is harvested from mid summer through winter with the peak season from late summer through fall.

Choose: Select a mango heavy for size with firm, unblemished skin. Mangoes have shriveled skins before they ripen. A ripe mango will be plump and round with a skin that is slightly soft to the touch. Smell the stem end. If the mango is ripe it will have a sweet aroma.

Overripe mangoes will have black spots on the skin and have a fermented or sour smell. An unripe mango will be shriveled and stringy.

Amount: A 1-pound mango yields about ¾ cup of sliced fruit.

Store: Ripe mangoes will keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The mango must be fully ripe before eating.

Ripen mangoes at room temperature until they become fragrant and yield to gentle pressure. To speed ripening, place the mango in a paper bag pierced with a few holes.

Green mangoes usually yellow as they ripen and red mangoes will turn redder when they ripen. One variety, ‘Keitt’, may remain green when ripe.

Mangoes do not freeze well.

Prepare: Peel the mango before eating. Cut vertically all the way around the fruit with a sharp knife, peel back the skin then cut the flesh off the pit in long vertical slices.

Or, stand the mango up and slice off the top and bottom. Then cut off the mango flesh parallel to the pit curving slightly with the shape of the pit and remove the pit. Set the half mango peel side down and cut criss-cross slices through the flesh stopping at the skin. The cubes you have created can be removed with a fork.

Work with care because mango juice stains.

Cook: Firm-ripe mango can be sautéed.

Sautéing. Peel and slice then sauté until the slices are hot (about 3 minutes).

Nutrition: Mangoes are rich in vitamins A, B, and C and a good source of potassium. One medium-size mango has about 150 calories.

The botanical name for the mango is Mangifera indica.

Artichokes at the Mid-May Farm Market

Thin sliced baby artichoke hearts tossed with thin sliced mint leaves, a bit of chopped garlic, fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese makes a tasty side salad.

Baby artichokes are plentiful in spring. Artichokes are actually flower buds. You want to pick them while they are still tightly closed. A blooming artichoke is a purple thistle and not edible. The baby artichoke is least thistle-like and can be eaten without cooking.

Here are the directions to make a baby artichoke side salad for one: trim away the outer leaves and bases of 3 to 4 baby artichokes until you reach the green vegetable hearts. Place the tender hearts in water with a couple of tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and set aside.

Thinly slice a couple of mint leaves and mix them with 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Salt to taste and shave an ounce or two of Parmesan cheese into the mix to taste as well. Toss and serve.

To serve full-size artichoke hearts, cook the whole artichoke until tender, about 20 minutes depending upon the size, pull off the leaves and remove the chokes or thistles. Trim the artichoke's stem end to make it smooth and neat. Dip cooked artichokes hearts in warm butter for tasty eating!

You can enjoy artichokes at every stage of maturity through the season—that is until the buds begin to open and bloom.

Here is a list of the crops that you will find at the farm markets around the country this week:

First of season: Apricots, cherimoyas, cherries, cilantro, cucumbers, fava beans, garlic chives, green garlic, goat cheese, herb and vegetable starts, nectarines, marjoram, new potatoes, parsley, radishes, raspberries, peaches, snow peas, olives, strawberries, string beans, summer squash.

Peak of season: Artichokes, asparagus, avocadoes, beets, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, chard, dates, dried fruit, eggs, green garlic, honey, hydroponic tomatoes, leaf lettuce, leeks, local fresh and smoked seafood, mushrooms, English peas, spring onions, raisins, spring salad mix, spinach, strawberries, wine and apple cider vinegars, and fresh herbs including chives, dill, garlic chives, oregano, parsley, rosemary, Russian tarragon, and culinary bay leaves.

End of season: Apples, celery, fennel, grapefruit, lemons, limes, kale, green onions, blood oranges, Mandarin oranges, navel oranges, pears, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash.

Spring Onions, Green Onions and Scallions

Young onions offer a range of taste from mild and smooth to pungent and biting. You can eat raw young onions whole with a dipping sauce or chopped in a green salad or potato salad or pasta salad. Raw green onions chopped make a colorful topping for sauces or baked potatoes.

Onions cooked become mild and even sweet. Young onions require less cooking than mature onions since they are not very pungent to begin with. Just a couple of minutes of sautéing will mellow a young onion that has gained any bite. You’ll find cooked young onions mild enough to serve at breakfast.

So what do you call young onions? Spring onions, green onions, or scallions? Here we go!

Depending upon the maturity of the onion and where you live, you will pick up a bunch of young onions and say, “I’ll take these….”

Are they spring onions, green onions, or scallions?

Here are the differences:

Scallions. Scallions are the youngest or least mature of onions with very thin white bases no wider than their long, straight green stalks. Scallions offer no hint at the development of a bulb-like base. Pulled from the ground a scallion resembles a large chive. Scallions are very mild flavored. Both the white base and the green stalk of the scallion are easily eaten raw. You can slice or chop scallions and add them raw to green salads. You can also serve them on the raw vegetable tray or sprinkle them raw as a topping for sauces.

Scallions can be cooked whole or chopped, but they will require no more than a couple of minutes of cooking. (Sauté or pan steam them on low heat in butter or water.) Scallions can be used as a substitute for chives in many recipes. Scallions are sometimes called green onions or bunching onions, but for onion lovers and growers there is a difference. A green onion or bunching onion has gained the hint of a bulb with maturity; a scallion has not.

Green onions. Green onions have long, green, delicate stalks and small, very, very slender, white bulbs. The bulb of a green onion is slightly defined. Green onions come out of the ground early in their lives, usually in spring. They are mild tasting having not been alive long enough to gain much pungency. Green onions can be used sliced or chopped raw in green salads or creamy salads like potato salad, pasta salads, or atop baked potatoes.

Green onions are sometimes called bunching onions. When onion seeds are planted densely they grow so close or bunched together that the bulbs have little chance of fully maturing and rounding out. Green onions are green onions in the United States; in England and Australia the green onion is also called a spring onion. Green onions are sometimes also called scallions. (But, now, you know there is a difference even if ever so slight.)

Spring onions. Spring onions have slightly rounded bulbs that are more defined and just a bit larger than the more slender green onions. Spring onions are the most pungent tasting of young onions with a bit more bite than green onions. Remember, most onions gain their sharp taste as they mature. Spring onions can be used raw or cooked. Because raw spring onions are pungent, taste to make sure their flavor does not overpower more delicate flavors. You can slice raw spring onions thinly onto green salads.

Cooked spring onions—usually sautéed—will be more delicately flavored as a result of the cooking process and are a good combination with other spring and summer vegetables. The spring onion is distinctly different than a green onion to many growers and onion lovers in the United States. In England and Australia, a spring onion and a green onion are most often considered the same bird.

Pictured above: Spring onions, but the fourth from the right is a green onion.

English Peas, Spring Onions and Roasted Almonds

Just cooked English peas, sautéd spring onions and roasted, salted almonds are a delicious combination of tender sweet, sweet pungent, and crunchy just salty. You can set this side dish next to grilled fish or chicken or mashed potatoes and a roast. It's not too filling yet will holds its own.

English peas and spring onions are easy picking in spring. You'll find them plentiful at the farm market if you don't have them in your own garden. Both are sweetest and most tender early in the season.

English peas are the best eating when the pods turn bright green and just begin to bulge. To harvest the pes just split the pod open with your thumb and roll the peas out. Spring onions have just formed small bulbs. They're sweeter than mature onion but more pungent than a green onion. Spring onions don't require much cooking to be ready for the plate.

Here a is a recipe that you can have on the table in minutes. The almonds will roast in ten minutes. The English peas can be steamed until just tender in less than five minutes or you can sauté them in a vegetable broth in about three minutes. You can sauté the spring onions while the peas are steaming.

Ingredients

¼ cup slivered almonds

peanut oil

1 cup small white onions

1 tablespoon butter

4 cups shelled, fresh peas

½ teaspoon ground dillweed

1 tablespoon butter

salt to taste

Directions

1 Coat slivered almonds with peanut oil and sea salt and roast at 375ºF for 5-10 minutes shaking or stirring every few minutes to make sure the almonds don't stick or burn. Set them aside to cool.

2 Steam or sauté the peas until just tender.

3 Sauté the onions in butter until tender but not brown.

4 Combine the peas and sautéed onions. Add dillweed, butter, and salt. Heat over very low heat until hot. Just before serving sprinkle the combined peas and onions with roasted almonds.

English Peas: Harvest and Cooking

How do you cook peas? Peas are cooked in the least possible amount of water and in just the time for them to become just tender. The French cook peas in the water it takes to moisten lettuce leaves. Line a saucepan with damp greens and a few pea pods, pour in the shelled peas and cover them with moist lettuce. Steam the peas over a high heat for about 3 minutes or until they are al denté, just tender.

Be careful not to overcook peas. Boiling or long steaming will increase water absorption and cause the peas to become soggy and mushy. Both flavor and nutrients are sacrificed when peas are overcooked.

When the peas are ready, the simplest way to enjoy them is with butter, salt, and pepper.

Pea, garden pea, English pea are all the same. The pea is traditionally the first kitchen garden crop planted each year. It goes in the ground as soon as the soil can be worked. So--depending upon where you live--you are either sowing peas now or harvesting them.

If it is pea harvest time where you live, follow this advice: pick peas the instant that they are bright green and the pods begin to bulge. Split the pod open with your thumb and roll the small sweet peas into your mouth or into the bowl and immediately prepare and enjoy. Young, small, tender peas are the sweetest eating.

Peas are much like corn as soon as they mature a chemical reaction occurs that causes the peas’ sugar content to decrease rapidly. A fresh, sweet, juicy pea can rapidly become starchy and hard. The same is true if the pea is shelled and then left on the kitchen counter or in a warm place for more than a few hours.

Peas that you are going to hold onto before eating should not be shelled. Set them uncovered in the coldest part of the refrigerator until you are ready to shell them. Rinse peas before you shell them not after.

If you are leaving peas in the refrigerator overnight or a day or two, they will still be tasty, but not as sweet as if you used them within two hours of harvest. If you get peas at the market, check to see when they are harvested. Farm market peas are usually sold the day after harvest.

Two pounds of peas in the shell will give you about two cups of shelled peas. That is enough to serve three or four people.

How long will peas be available? Here in the Sonoma Valley we have already sown the second crop of peas. The first crop—called the early crop-- is coming out of the garden now. Early peas are harvested from late spring to early summer and the main crop from midsummer to early fall. Peas require 55 to 70 days from sowing to harvesting and they won’t thrive if the soil temperature climbs much above 75°F (24°C). So if your growing season is long enough and the weather doesn’t grow too hot, you might get a mid-season pea crop as well.

Baby Beets and Sugar Snap Peas with Orange Butter

Sweet and smooth baby beets--red, yellow, and orange--added to sugary sugar snap peas tossed with a tangy orange zest dressing and you have a seasonal salad that says Spring! You'll have to search to find someone who doesn't like this salad.

Baby beets and sugar snap peas are just hitting their peak in the garden. If you don't grow these, head to the farmers' market where they will be easy pickin' this time of year.

We had our first supper club meeting of the season this past Saturday evening, so Becky was at the Ferry Building farmers' market about mid-morning to pick up the beets and sugar snaps. These were fresh picked the day before.

Baby beets--about the size of a walnut--are tender, sweet, and juicy--better tasting than large ones. Choose a bunch--6 or 8 will do--all about the same size for even cooking. For this salad, the beets were individually wrapped in foil and roasted in the oven at 400ºF for about 45 minutes and then cooled in advance.

Sugar snap peas--you eat the entire pod, no shelling required--are perfect when the pods have just plumped. You'll want to serve these within a day of harvest to enjoy the pods' natural sweetness. About a half-pound or two cups of sugar peas will do.

Our friends Lonnie and Bruce supplied a navel orange from their backyard tree for our orange zesty dressing. You'll only need a few slivers of zest and a tablespoon of juice, so the sections are sweet snacking while preparing the salad.

Once in the kitchen, Anna was in charge of the beets and I handled the sweet peas. Becky was busy searing the ahi tuna on the grill which was a perfect match for this salad. We find that conversation and the division of duties make the supper club a fun place to improvise seasonal recipes.

So here’s what you’ll need to get this salad on the table:

Ingredients

6-8 baby beets, roasted and cut into julienne strips (about 1 cup)

½ pound sugar snap peas (about 2 cups), tips removed

1 orange

½ teaspoon finely shredded orange peel, or zest

1 tablespoon orange juice

2 teaspoons sugar

⅛ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon ground ginger

⅛ teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon margarine or butter

Directions

Wrap baby beets individually in foil and roast in 400ºF oven until just tender when pierced, about 45 minutes. Set aside to cool. When cooled peel and julienne the beets.

Zest the orange and set aside the juice from one or two sections. You can now snack on the rest of the orange while preparing the beets and sugar snaps.

In a small mixing bowl combine orange peel, orange juice, sugar, salt, ginger, and pepper. Just stir.

Add the sugar snap peas to a small amount of boiling, salted water and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until just crisp-tender. Drain well.

Combine the beets and sugar snap peas, add margarine or butter, and drizzle the dressing. Toss lightly to coat.

Warm Region Kitchen Garden Almanac for May

Spring flowers like sweet peas will spill over into the garden this month. The roses will have heady days in May and the time for warm-weather vegetables like beans and peppers and tomatoes is very close.

Warm-weather vegetable starts can be transplanted into the kitchen garden probably by mid month and direct sowing of seeds will not be far behind once the soil has warmed. Beans will do best after the soil has reached 55ºF (13ºC) and corn will take off after the soil has reached 65ºF (18ºC).

You can minimize transplant shock if you hold off putting melons and summer and winter squash seedlings in the garden until a week or so after the last frost. Peppers and eggplants can be transplanted into the garden two or three weeks after the last frost.

Herbs starts like dill, Green oregano, sweet marjoram, cilantro, rosemary, sage, summer and winter thyme, and garlic chives can be transplanted into the garden this month. You might want to wait just a bit longer before planting basil and lemon grass.

Here is a kitchen garden guide for warm regions—growing zones 7-11—for the month of May.

Unsettled weather. Continue to sow early summer crops in the coldframe or greenhouse or beneath cloches if the weather in your region has not yet settled. Few seeds will germinate if the soil temperature is below 45ºF (7ºC) and warm-weather crops are not going to thrive until the night temperatures stay consistently above 50ºF (10ºC). If temperatures could dip, use horticultural fleece or cloches in the garden for early warm-weather corps.

Greenhouse and coldframe. Sow tender vegetables such as outdoor tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and runner beans to plant out later. Plant greenhouse tomato plants in large pots, or plant them in grow bags. Water and feed tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, never letting the soil dry out. Remove side-shoots from tomatoes. Attach slings or nets to greenhouse melons as they swell. Introduce biological controls to keep down pests such as greenhouse whiteflies and spider mites.

In the garden. Start sowing vegetables without protection if the soil and night time temperatures have warmed. Thin beets, carrots, lettuce, radishes, spinach and other half-hardy and hardy seedlings planted late last month. As crops are harvested, plant successions of early or start introducing summer crops.

Early month sowing. Early in the month, prepare outdoor sites for cucumbers, squashes, and tomatoes. Erect supports for runner beans, and place stakes, poles, and trellises in place for tall and climbing crops. Remove cloches from broad beans, carrots, and peas.

Mid-month sowing. Sow seeds of beans, corn, okra, squash, cucumber, cantaloupe, and other tender vegetables and herbs after temperatures have reached the 70s. Or if you have started these indoors, set out transplants after mid-month: tomato, eggplant, pepper, and sweet potato. Sow Chinese cabbage. Pinch out the tips on broad beans to encourage good pod set and to deter attack from aphids.

Harvest early crops. Start picking broad beans when the pods are finger thick. Continue to cut asparagus. As the asparagus harvest ends, cut back female plants with berries. When peas stop producing, cut vines to ground (do not pull allowing their roots to fix nitrogen in the soil). Replace early cool-weather crops with summer crops.

Successive plantings. Make successional sowings of early crops: beetroot, carrots, lettuces, and turnips. Make successive sowing of lettuce, salad crops, and summer spinach, turnips, runner beans, green beans, endive, radishes, and kohlrabi.

Late month sowing and transplants. Sow sweet corn outdoors in mild areas when further frost is unlikely. Most vegetables can be sown now, so check the packets. Sow French and runner beans, and pole beans, long-rooted beets, sea kale, salsify, and sweet corn. Plant out late-summer cauliflowers and in the north Brussels sprouts. Plant out vegetable seedlings such as cabbages, cauliflowers, celery, sweet corn, tomatoes, and marrows. Plant outdoor tomatoes, and tie them gently, but firmly, to stakes to secure them.

Herbs. Plant or pot up basil seedlings. Take cuttings of pot marjoram, rosemary, sage, and thyme. Divide any straggly mint and thyme plants.

Pests. Watch for aphids on broad beans and root flies on cabbages, carrots and onions. Keep after weeds.

Feeding and watering. Give side dressing of compost tea to half-grown plants. Keep all plants watered and well mulched.

Fruit trees. Feed summer-fruiting plants with potassium sulfate to promote good flowering and fruit. Control weeds around bush and cane fruit.

Thin the fruit on apples, peaches, nectarines pears, and plums when they reach marble-size. Thin heavy-cropping nectarines and peaches when fruit is ½ in (1-1.5 cm) in diameter. Water new plantings deeply if weather is dry. Water plentifully when fruit is swelling.

Hang coddling moth traps on apple trees. Spray against apple scab, mildew, and aphids. Watch for pests and signs of disease. Trap larvae on trunks of trees and destroy. Prune wood damaged by fire blight.

Remove any shoots on wall-trained fruits that are growing directly toward or away from the wall. Remove the blossoms from newly planted fruit trees to direct the plants energy into the production of strong new wood.

Berries. Plant new strawberries and put cloches over strawberries if you want an early corp. Harvest strawberries as they ripen. Protect strawberry fruits with straw or black plastic sheeting.

Keep new canes of blackberries and loganberries separate from the current year’s fruiting canes. Tie new canes of blackberries and hybrid berries to a system of support wires, allowing a maximum of eight canes per plant.

Remove weak shoots from brambles. Thin our raspberry canes. Spray raspberries against raspberry beetles. Apply the first spray as soon as the first fruit turns pink.

Summer-prune gooseberries by cutting back side-shoots to five leaves.

Feed blackberry and hybrid berry plants with ammonium sulfate or other high-nitrogen fertilizer. Cover berries with netting to protect them from birds.

Citrus. Plant citrus and tropical fruit this month. Feed citrus fruit with sulfate of ammonia; feed established trees with iron sulfate. Water citrus deeply in dry weather.

Containers. Plant summer container plants when the danger of frost is past. Feed new transplants with liquid fertilizer and water as needed.

Cool Region Kitchen Garden Alamanac for May

The weather in cool northern regions can remain unsettled even in May. Remember that both the soil and air temperature are important when planting the kitchen garden. Few seeds will germinate if the soil temperature is below 45ºF (7ºC) and warm-weather crops are not going to thrive until the night temperatures consistently stay above 50ºF (10ºC).

By the end of the month--or two to three weeks after your last frost, your kitchen garden will be able to welcome cucumbers, bush and pole beans, and tomatoes. In the meantime you can get these crops going in a greenhouse or coldframe or in the kitchen window. If you get the seedlings growing now, you’ll enjoy an earlier harvest next summer.

Strawberries can be planted now. June-bearing-type strawberries are vigorous and spread runners rapidly and should be producing in June. Everbearing-type strawberries will fruit in June and again later in the fall. If you are looking for the easiest to grow, try Alpine strawberries.

Cool-weather crops such as peas (see their blooms above) should be ready for harvest later this month or in June before the weather warms. Keep you eye on cauliflower and Brussels sprouts to get them out of the garden at their peak and before they bolt in warm weather.

Here is a kitchen garden guide for cool regions—growing zones 3-6—for the month of May.

Greenhouse and coldframe. Open the greenhouse and coldframe for warm rain and sun; close them if the temperature drops near freezing. Early in the month, sow under cover half-hardy annual seeds: tomato, eggplant, pepper, and runner beans. Plant greenhouse tomato plants and cucumbers in large pots or grow bags.

Harden off vegetable starts in the cold frame for 10 days before setting them out. By the middle of the month, you can harden off tomato plants and ready them for setting out late in month.

Harvest asparagus and other early crops from the coldframe.

Introduce biological controls to keep down pests such as greenhouse whiteflies and spider mites.

Vegetables early in the month. As soon as the ground can be worked, add soil amendments, humus, and manure to the planting beds if these were not added in the fall. Prepare beds for planting and sowing.

Warm up the soil in cool regions with cloches or black plastic.

When the danger of heavy frost is past, sow or plant out cool-weather crops; harden off young plants from winter sowings of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, onions, lettuce, peas, and broad beans before planting out.

Start sowing vegetables without protection if you live in mild regions. Many seeds can be sown from early spring onwards. Check seed packets as some varieties are more suitable than others for early sowing.

Direct seed broad beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnips, peas, radishes, and spinach. Plant asparagus, rhubarb, and celery. Dig well-rotted manure into celery trenches. Prepare runner-bean trenches by digging in compost or well-rotted manure. Plant early potatoes and onion sets. Use horticultural fleece or cloches for early crops. Thin out overcrowded vegetable seedlings sown earlier: thin beets, carrots, lettuce, radishes, and spinach.

Vegetable starts and transplants. Protect vegetable starts from drying winds and keep them well watered. Shade transplants from direct sun for a week or until re-established outdoors. Mulch when plants are several inches high. Weed and water as needed. Watch for insects and signs of disease.

Succession planting. Make a second sowing of early peas and other crops as the first harvest comes in. Feed lettuce and other early crops with compost tea.

Vegetables late in the month. Plant warm-weather crops and tender herbs when the danger of frost is past and the soil has warmed up and the weather settled. Sow seeds of beans, corn, okra, squash, cucumber, cantaloupe--all tender vegetables—when the weather has warmed into the 70s. Set out plants of tomato, eggplant, pepper, and sweet potato.

Fruits and berries. Plant fruit trees and brambles when soil workable. Paint white or wrap trunks of young trees to prevent sunscald. Water new plantings deeply if the weather is dry. Feed summer-fruiting plants with potassium sulfate to promote good flowering and fruit.

Plant new strawberries, and place cloches over strawberries if you want an early cop. Be sure to cover strawberries if a late frost is possible.

Plant currant bushes and raspberry canes, and water them in thoroughly. Cut the canes down to 12 inches above the ground.

Thin brambles (blackberries, raspberries, loganberries); prune away weak shoots. Prune back the stems of newly planted and two-year-old gooseberries by about one-half. Spray gooseberries and black currants for gooseberry mildew.

Fertilize or top-dress with compost established berries and grapes if not done last month. Feed blackberry and hybrid berry plants with ammonium sulfate. Control weeds around bush and cane fruit.

If fruit trees are still dormant apply dormant spray to apples, pears, and plums.

Thin the fruit on apples, pears, and plums when marble-size. Thin heavy-cropping nectarines and peaches when the fruit is ½ inch (1-1.5 cm) in diameter. Replace mulches removed last month. Prune suckers and water sprouts from trees.

Watch for pests and signs of disease. Trap larvae on trunks of trees and destroy them.

Containers. Check tender container plants moved indoors during winter. When frost danger is past, move containers outdoors again. Plant cool-weather and later warm-weather vegetables in containers when the danger of frost is past. Feed new plants with liquid fertilizer.

Mizuna

Mix mizuna with other salad greens and mesclun or add shredded mizuna leaves to soups and stir fries at the end of cooking.

Mizuna has a mild and tangy flavor. Use mizuna as a bed or garnish for meat and fish, grilled seafood, poultry or barbequed pork. You will find the flavor of mizuna peppery-fresh but not overpowering.

Mizuna is a spring to early summer green from the mustard family. Its leaves are finely dissected and glossy green on long, slender stems. The leaves look something like a dandelion green. Mizuna grows in a rosette to about 9 inches (23 cm) tall and 16 inches (45 cm) wide.

You can toss young mizuna leaves—which are mild tasting--in a mixed salad. Larger leaves—which can have a mustardy or bitter-green tang--are best cooked briefly. Mizuna is sometimes called pot herb mustard.

Mizuna is best spring through summer. It is tender and ready for harvest about 4 weeks after sowing.

Mizuna is native to China but has been grown in Japan for centuries. It is considered one of the Japanese greens along with mibuna and komasuna. Mizuna is sometimes called kyona which means “leaf green from Kyoto”—the Japanese city.

Select. Choose mizuna with fresh, bright, fully green leaves. The leaves can be found both loose or attached at the base in the market. Select leaves without yellowing or drying.

Store. Mizuna will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Rinse and dry the leaves before refrigerating. Wrap them in a paper towel and store them in a plastic bag.

Prepare. Trim a few inches from the base of the plant to separate the stalks; cut them into 1½ inch sections then wash or dunk them in several changes of water and dry.

Serve. Small-leafed mizuna can be served raw. User larger leaves for cooking. Leaves can be cut into short sections and steamed, boiled, stir fired, or included in soups or one-pot casseroles. Boil or steam mizuna in bite size pieces. Serve mizuna hot or tepid with olive oil and lemon, sesame oil and shoyu (soy sauce), or pickled ginger.

The botanical name for mizuna is Brassica rappa Japonica Group.

Pictured above: Mizuna.

Tokyo Turnip: Raw or Steamed

The Tokyo turnip is a diminutive, small radish-sized turnip with a crunchy, juicy bitter- sweet flavor eaten raw. Steamed it is buttery-sweet and delicate.

You will find the Tokyo turnip in early spring. You might mistake it for a white radish if you don't look closely enough. The Tokyo turnip is white through and through.

Tokyo turnips are most often harvested at 1 to 3 inches (2.5-7.6 cm) in diameter. They will be globe shaped and perhaps slightly flattened. About 8 to 12 of these pearly turnips make a pound. Look for them still attached to fresh greens.

The Japanese call these turnips kabura-type turnips, varieties include 'Tokyo White', 'Tokyo Market', and 'Tokyo Cross'. In markets outside of Japan, all are usually simply called Tokyo turnips or white turnips.

You can serve these turnips sliced with a crisp sea salt. (Try the French “fleur de sel” or “flower of salt”, a hand harvested sea salt).

Steamed Tokyo turnips are nearly a delicacy. Choose turnips of equal size and wash them thoroughly under running water or soak them until any grit or sand falls away. You don’t need to remove the greens; you can actually use them as a bed for steaming.

Spread the turnips with greens attached on a steamer rack over boiling water, cover and cook until just barely tender, about 3 to 6 minutes depending upon the size of the turnips. (Choose turnips of equal size for even steaming of the bunch.)

When tender, drain the turnips and greens on a kitchen towel and serve with a side dish of salt or butter or pepper, or all three. Steaming turnips of any type will bring out the best flavor.

Tokyo turnips can also be pickled, roasted, sautéed, or boiled in soups. You can use them as a garnish or serve them alongside poached or grilled whole fish or roasted meat. Served raw Tokyo turnips are good with a vegetable dip or you can throw them into a salad sliced or whole.

If you are growing Tokyo turnips, they will be bite-sized or about an inch in diameter about 30 days after sowing. Turnips grow best in the cool times of the year, spring and autumn. You don’t have to harvest Tokyo turnips small. You can let them grow larger and treat them just like other turnips.

Turnip originated in northern Europe in about 2000 BC. They made their way to China and Japan about 1,300 years where the Tokyo turnip developed. The Tokyo turnip has grown in popularity in the west most recently.

The botanical name for turnips is Brassica rapa, Rapifera Group.The Tokyo turnip

May Garden in the Southern Hemisphere

May arrives between autumn and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Grays and browns replace the brilliant fall colors of April this month. Nature is beginning its rest time now as the harvest comes to a close.

There still may be a few days of hazy sunshine this month but the first chill and frost are not far away.

As the poet Rober Browning wrote: "Autumn wins you best by this, its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay."

Cool-weather crops can go into the garden this month, if hard frost seldom visits your region. In areas where frost threatens, watch the cool-weather crops planted in late summer and take them from the garden at the peak of their ripeness and before they are stung by a cold snap.

Enjoy the apple harvest as it comes to a close and celebrate the beginning of the cool-weather citrus harvest soon to be under way.

Here is a list by region of vegetables and herbs to be planted in the Southern Hemisphere during May:

Temperate regions: Vegetables: artichoke suckers, broad beans, cress, lettuce, mustard, onions, peas, radish, shallots, spinach, spring onions. Herbs: caraway, chives, hyssop.

Tropical and sub-tropical northern regions: Vegetables: asparagus, beans, beets, broad beans, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cress, endive, lettuce, mustard, onions, spring onions, parsnip, peas, potatoes, radish, shallots, silverbeet (Swiss chard), spinach, strawberry runners, tomato, turnip. Herbs: angelica, basil, borage, caraway, celeriac, chervil, chives, coriander, dill, lemon balm, marjoram, oregano, parsley, salad burnet, thyme.

Cooler southern regions: Vegetables: cress, lettuce, shallots, spinach.

May Harvest Schedule for the Southern Hemisphere:

Here is a roundup of vegetables and fruits ready for harvest during May in the Southern Hemisphere:

Vegetables: beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, celeriac, chilies, Chinese cabbage, corn, kale, lettuce, parsnip, peas, purslane, radish, rutabaga (Swede), spinach, turnips.

Fruits and nuts: late apples, avocadoes, banana, feijoa, guavas, early kiwifruit, kumquat, limes, early mandarins, olives, late Valencia oranges, early navel oranges, late passionfruit, pomegranate, late raspberries, tarmarilloes, tangeloes.

Pictured above: Pink Lady apples.

May Garden in the Northern Hemisphere

Is May the most beautiful month of the year in the northern hemisphere?

Well, it's certainly one of the most beautiful months. The snow and ice are gone and the heat of summer has not yet arrived.

Wild flowers are in bloom everywhere and the garden is either moving towards its spring peak or well underway.

May was the third month of the year until Julius Caeser made it the fifth month. May has always had 31 days.

In ancient Roman, May arrived at a time that was sacred to Flora, the goddess of floweres. The Romans celebrated the first of May with flower-strewn parades. May is believed by some to be named after Maia, the Roman goddess of spring and growth.

In old England the first day of May was celebrated with Maypoles. Children gathered "Mayflowers" or hawthorn blossoms to trim the Maypole, and little girls dressed in their best to win the title May queen.

Mother's Day is celebrated in May. You will find that most birds have built their nests by now, and mother birds are sitting on their eggs awaiting the new arrivals.

Here is a list of vegetables and fruits ready for harvest in the northern hemisphere during May: Vegetables: artichokes, asparagus, beets, broccoli, carrot, celery, cucumbers, lettuce, snow peas, purslane, Swiss chard, spinach, zucchini. Fruits: early apricots, early cherries, grapefruit, lemons, limes, loquats, oranges, ealry nectarines, early peaches, raspberries, strawberries.

Here is a planting list for May in the northern hemisphere:

Cool northern regions—Zones 3-6. Vegetables: beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cape gooseberry, capsicum, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard (silverbeet), cress, cucumber, eggplant, endive, leeks, lettuce, marrow, melons, okra, spring onion, parsnip, potato tubers, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb crowns, rutabaga (Swedes), salsify, Swiss chard (silverbeet), spinach, squash, sweet corn, tomato, zucchini. Herbs: basil, boarage, caraway, celeriac, chamomile, chervil, chives, coriander, hyssop, lemon balm, oregano, parsley, salad burnet, thyme.

Temperate Regions—Zones 7-9. Vegetables: beans, beets (beetroot), cabbage, cape gooseberry, capsicum, carrots, celery, chard (silverbeet), chicory, cress, cucumber, eggplant, endive, leeks, lettuce, marrow, melons, mustard, spring onions, parsnip, peas, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb crowns, salsify, squash, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomato, zucchini. Herbs: basil, borage, caraway, celeriac, chamomile, chervil, chicory, chilli, chives, coriander, dill, fennel, hyssop, lemon balm, oregano, parsley, salad burnet, thyme.

Subtropical and Tropical Regions—Zones 10-12. Vegetables: beans, cabbage, cape gooseberry, capsicum, carrots, celery, Chinese cabbage, cress, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, lettuce, marrow, melons, mustard, okra, parsnip, peas, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb crowns, Swiss chard (silverbeet), spring onion, squash, strawberry runners, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomato, zucchini. Herbs: borage, caraway, celeriac.

Pictured above: A bearded iris in the May garden.

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May 2008 Monthly Archive

Harvest to Table's New Encyclopedia: The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide

A practical vegetable and herb garden encyclopedia

Harvest to Table's New Encyclopedia:
The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide