It was another hot MN Herb Society gathering last night during our summer meeting & dinner. While a few brave souls dined alfresco, most of us enjoyed some cool AC. Thanks to Veronica & Marlys for graciously hosting. The food was delicious, as always - our members can cook.
I just took this pic the other day. As always, in spring, I am seduced by the seed catalogs. I like to try different things & frequently spend $2.95 for various seeds that amount to nothing. But I did have a beautiful success this year with my Bok Choy (Prize Choy from Seed Savers). A few of the plants bolted early, but most are looking lovely tucked in between my perennials. The ones that aren't bolting are tucked in a partly sunny spot, so I think I will plant them all there next year, even though the soil is not the best where they are. They look lovely & the deer have passed them by - so far. I haven't though & we've been enjoying some fresh stir fry meals with it.
Ahhh, the last warm days of summer always bring out the best that MN has to offer. Well the best garlic that is. A few members of the MN Herb Society were seen strolling thru the County Fair Grounds in Hutchinson this past Saturday, celebrating GARLIC. Oh that tasty treat that permeates the kitchens of cooks. I picked up some new garlic to try, even though my harvest this summer was poor - only 10 head out of about 50 came up. When talking to the vendors, they said that there was some concern that the Aster Yellow disease would be found in the garlic DNA, but luckily, it was not. Some vendors also had poor harvests & once again, the vendors were not as plentiful as previous years. Speaking with a vendor from Red Wing, MN, she said the consensus was the spring weather or lack thereof. But as a true gardener, we never lose hope for a better crop next year. So I bought - both to plant & to eat. Let us know how your harvest went & if you had particular varieties that performed better. For me, Chesnok Red was the only fairly consistent producer this past season.
