Salad Burnet & French Sorrel

The above ladies are amazing, first of all they are both perennial, we left them both in the garden all winter long and they were always green, nothing happened to them!

The left one is the Salad Burnet, it has a cucumber-like taste and you can use as garnish to salads and soups like you would with parsley.
The right one is the French Sorrel, it has an amazing lemony flavor. Great addition to salads. Also makes an excellent soup.

Blossoms & Leeks

From the Cherry Blossom Festival we attended yesterday... so many beautiful shades of pink!


We planted the leek plants last night, only a 100 of them!
Also planted many kinds of peas near the tall fence... wish we could have planted end of March, which we generally do... You can see the close up of our soil and mulch on the ground, mostly shredded leaves... so practically no weeds, much less watering, and many many worms... just perfect!

radish time

As radishes like cool weather, spring and fall are the best times to grow them. They grow so fast that before you know it you have a nice crop. Radish leaves are also edible with a high Carotene content and good source of Vitamin A. I have been exploring with the leaves by adding to salads but Grandma has a better idea, she blended radish top and bottoms, some lettuce and some water in the blender for lunch. Sounds delicious to me. And don't forget to wash the plants thoroughly as they tend to be sandy! (and crunchy ;)

december garden

Look at that waddle fence! Michael wove the branches so beautifully for fencing in our community garden. We needed the fence as our garden keeps going up due to piles and piles of new compost. During winter we try to get the manure and leaves into the garden to age before spring. Here you can see the piles of leaves and the horse manure with straw. We use the lawn mower (thanks to Papa & Mom) to chop the leaves small so they compost better. Actually last Christmas Day we did just that, chopping leaves, a perfect family gathering I say...

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thyme for courage

In ancient times Thyme was believed to be a source for courage, so was burnt as an incense and was used in baths. Thyme for courage, I like that. I also like how grandma utilizes an old plastic spoon for labeling in the photo. In our garden, we had many different kinds of thyme last year, with their little pretty flowers: pink, white and yellow. The plants mostly survived all through the winter. It is very refreshing to see something green in the garden when it is freezing outside. And there is always fresh thyme whether you need to add to your salad or need some courage ;)

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Eski zamanlarda kekigin cesaret kaynagi olduguna inanilirmis, tutsu olarak ve de banyo yaparken kullanilirmis. Cesaret icin kekik onerisi hosuma gitti. Diger hosuma giden sey de fotografta gorulen, anneannenin eski bi plastik kasigi etiketleme icin kullanisi. Gecen yil bahcemizde bir cok cesit kekik yetistirdik, cok guzel cicekler actilar, pembe beyaz sari. Cogu bitki de kisi cok guzel atlatti. Bu soguklarda bahcede hala yesil biseyler gormek ic aciciydi dogrusu. Ve de ne zaman ihtiyac duyarsaniz salataniz icin taze kekige veya kendiniz icin cesaretlendirilmeye... care hazir ;)

easter carrot hunt

Grandma said she needed more space in the greenhouse so we gladly harvested the carrots... Could you believe these carrots grew during the winter in NY, and were harvested on Easter?. The carrot leaves looked so yummy (am I a rabbit?), apparently the leaves are edible, have a flavorful and a bitter taste. We will experiment with the leaves this week, some might go into the salads, some in tabbouli, some might be juiced, how about a a carrot leaf soup?

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Anneanne'nin yeni bitkilerine yer acmak icin sevinerek serasindaki havuclari topladik. Bu havuclarin New York kisinda yetistigine ve Paskalya'da toplandigina inanabiliyor musunuz? Havucun yesilligi de cok lezzetli gorundu (tavsan miyim nedir?), megersem o da yeniyormus, lezzetli ve acimsi bi tadi var. Bu hafta bu havuc yapraklarini kullanarak biseyler yapicaz, bi kismi salatalara katilabilir, kisira cok yakisir sanirim, bi kisminin suyu cikarilabilir, peki ya havuc yapragi corbasina ne dersiniz?

first leaves

Oh! the first leaves of spring...the seedlings. Grandma uses fluorescent lights to give the seedlings the long hours of light they need. Also, Grandma uses fine organic pot soil, the most important thing. Seedlings also need constant watering, almost daily, when you think that there are hundreds of them, hmmm. These small guys are all labeled and almost ready to be transplanted to bigger pots to go in the greenhouse.

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Ah! baharin ilk yapraklari...filizler. Anneanne florasan isik altinda filizlere gerekli uzun sureli isigi sagliyor. Ayrica, Anneanne filizler icin ozel bir organik saksi topragi aliyor ve onlari hergun suluyor, yuzlercesi oldugu dusunulurse, hmmm. Bu kucuklerin hepsi etiketlenmis ve yakinda buyuk kaplara ve seraya gecmeyi bekliyor.

pigeon poo...

My aunt A. got hold of a bag of pigeon manure to use in her vegetable garden, apparently is one of the best manures out there with high nitrogen content (better save the ones that drop on the car or on your head ;). Our former neighbor T. was in love with bat poo (guano) for fertilizing his vegetable garden, pretty expensive too. These are strong stuff so need to use it carefully otherwise might burn your plants, you might need to compost and age them before using, and maybe make compost tea to dilute. The best manure seems to be the one you find easily & hopefully freely! Other commonly used animal manures are: Cow, Chicken, Horse, Rabbit, Sheep and Turkey.

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Sebze bahcesinde kullanmak uzere A. Teyzem bir torpa guvercin gubresi ele gecirmis, megersem en degerli gubrelerden biriymis, azot orani yuksek (arabaniza ve basiniza dusenleri saklamali ;). Eski komsumuz T. ise yarasa gubresine hayrandi, sebze bahcesinde kullanirdi ama baya da pahaliydi. Bu tur azot orani yuksek gubreler cok guclu onun icin dikkatli kullanilmasi gerek yoksa bitkilerinizi yakabilir, onceden kompost yapmak ve yanmalarini saglamak yerinde olur, belki de kompost cayi yapip gubreyi su katarak segreltmek gerekebilir. En iyi gubre sanirim en kolay bulunani ve de bedava olani! Diger populer hayvan gubreleri: Inek, Tavuk, At, Tavsan, Koyun ve Hindi.

Turkish Orange Eggplant

They are called "Turkish Orange Eggplant", pretty ya?, tomato shaped, edible & tasty when it is green-orange stage, after that it gets bitter, therefor ornamental and for seed saving. Seeds of Change carries the seeds.

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Fotograftakilere "Turk Turuncu Patlicani" deniyor, boyutlari orta boy domates kadar, turuncu yesilimsi haliyle yenebiliyor ve cok lezzetli, tam turuncuya donunce acilasiyor, bahcede sus olarak ve tohum saklamak icin kullaniliyor. Tohumlari Seeds of Change 'den elde edilebilir.

just another lemon tree...

It was amazing to have a lemon tree at work, M. brought from Manhattan on his lap, everyone who passes by my office door was asking: "is this real? are they lemons? can you eat?" yes yes yes... now all the lemons are gone, my little Meyer lemon tree is ready to go out to our community garden again to receive lots of sunshine, pretty soon...
Ofisimde limon agaci olmasi muthisti, M. bana Manhattan'dan getirmisti kucaginda, gelip gecen herkes "gercek mi? limon mu? yenilir mi?" diye sorardi, evet evet evet... Simdi tum limonlar tukendi, kucuk Meyer Limon agacim yeniden bahcemize donmeye ve cokca gunes isigi almaya hazir, pek yakinda...

I say tomato ;)

Here are our tomato crop from last summer, we had 20 different kinds of tomatoes. So many different flavors, shapes, and colors... we had a blast. Grandma started the seeds in her greenhouse, and gave us the seedlings in late spring. Fun tomatoes to try: Persimmon, Black Krim, Green Zebra, Black Cherry, etc.

Iste gecen yazki domateslerimizden bir secme. Bahcemizde 20 cesit yetistirmistik. Bircok degisik tadlar, sekiller ve rekler... cok eglendik. Anneanne tohumlari serasinda yetistirip bize fideleri bahar sonunda verdi. En sevdigimiz cesitler: Hurma, Siyah Kirim, Yesil Zebra, Siyah Kiraz, vb.