One of the things that most excites me about spring is the re-birth of my garden! I love winter with its starkness and cold that make it very easy to sit around and stay warm with lovely steaming bowls of Tuscan Bean Soup and ciabatta bread. Spring, rather than staying warm, the up-coming bathing suit and shorts season loom large and exercise seems to be a more prudent path. The time seems perfect to really get that grill going, moving all the herbs back outside to their rightful gardening spot and start planning where all this years veggies and flowers are going to go.
When I started the garden with the kids years ago, it was super tiny and a perfect size for little hands to pick veggies and herbs. Some of our favorites vegetables are plum tomatoes, eggplant, squash, peas and zucchini. As the kids have grown, so has the garden. Each year I try to focus on plant placement so that everything has the optimal growing space. Some years I am definitely more successful than others. Last year our pumpkin patch decided to take a field trip into our neighbor’s yard and she wasn’t particularly happy. I however was ecstatic to have actual pumpkins as opposed to never ending vines.
The herb garden has grown and grown as we have developed a really serious addiction to pesto. My family can’t get enough of it and last year, I even branched out and made fresh pea pesto which was amazing. Initially, I only planted one or two basil plants. I am now planting upwards of ten plants and spend several weeks packaging and freezing pesto for our winter pasta cravings. The recipes for the Pea Pesto and Basil Pesto are very simple and a great way to get the kids into the garden and used to picking part of their dinner. Pesto tastes great on chicken, pasta salad, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, fresh bread, etc. It is also delicious when spread on some top of fresh fish and quickly grilled or broiled.