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Father’s Day

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Father’s Day

June 16, 2019

Give Dad a Container Gardening Kit or Seeds

Sydney’s Green Garden seeds and container gardening kits are now available online and at the Bookstore at Fitger’s.

The Bookstore at Fitger’s is located at 600 E Superior St, Duluth, MN – phone:  218.727.9077

Online:  https://www.sydneysgreengarden.com/

When you shop at our online store, your purchases are conveniently delivered to your door!

SGG Containers

SGG containers are made of plastic that is designed to hold up for many years, so it is a gift that is useful and long-lasting.  Dad will love a Father’s Day gift of planting containers.

 SGG 2019 seeds

Beans

We offer Blue Lake, Carminat, Kentucky Blue, Kentucky Wonder in pole beans.  If you prefer bush bean plants, try our Purple Queen Bush – they’re fun to grow and easy to see on the plants – and yes, they turn green when you cook them.  Carminat (pole) is new this year and features slightly sweet purple beans!

Beets

This year we have Bull’s Blood and Chioggia Beets.  The growth habit of these root vegetables make them ideal for container gardening.

Carrots

Containers are a great place to grow carrots as well.  We have: Bolero, Danver, Nantes Scarlet, Rainbow Blend and Tendersweet.

Since carrots can vary in taste, try a few varieties – you’re sure to find one or two family favorites!

Carrot
Healthy carrot

Swiss Chard

Sydney’s Swiss Chard Blend is easy to grow and adds some nice color to your container garden.  These colorful leaves will spruce up your salad and other dishes.

Swiss Chard

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are so delicious when they’re fresh from the garden – try our Speedway and Turbo slicing cukes.  Bush Pickle cukes make great pickles.

Cucumber

Herbs

Sweet Basil, Cilantro and Dill are staple herbs every gardener should grow.  Grow enough basil to add to fresh salads throughout the summer and to make pesto – nothing beats fresh pesto!!  Cilantro is a great addition to salads and salsa – you can actually add it to many dishes.  At the end of its growing season you may get seed pods – now you have coriander – it’s the plant that keeps on giving and what a great time to give it – for Father’s Day!

Lettuce

Our lettuces are picked with care, and therefore grow very well in containers in the Northland.  Black-seeded Simpson is a great heirloom variety.  We also have Salad Bowl Green, Parris Island Romaine, Super Red Romaine, and Sydney’s Loose Leaf Gourmet Salad Blend.  Sydney’s Loose Leaf Gourmet Salad Blend has a delightful combination of flavors and colors and textures – mm, mm!

Peas

We have found that these peas do well in containers:  Mammoth Melting Snow, Oregon Giant Snow, Sugar Ann, Sugar Bon and Super Sugar Snap.  Mammoth Melting, Oregon Giant and Sugar Bon are great in stir-fry and delicious eaten fresh or cooked.  With Sugar Bon you will enjoy a delicious sweet crunch in your stir-fry.

Pea
Peas

Pumpkin

Caspers are fun pumpkins to grow with kids.   Grow Caspers for carving or a painting canvas for the kiddos to make scary creations!

Sydney's Green Garden Father's Day

Radish

New this year – we’re offering Cherry Belle radish.  The snow white middle makes this a favorite for summer salads.

Cherry Belle Radish

Spinach

Space is the newest addition to our spinach lineup – we think you’ll enjoy it.  Bolero and Olympia are some of our all-time favs in our climate.

Spinach

Squash

Two favorites, Sebring Yellow and Spineless Beauty Summer squashes are a great addition to your container gardening fun.  Did you know squash blossoms are edible?  They are – but if you eat a blossom that’s one less squash you’ll have at harvest (oh, it’s so worth it, though).

Yellow Squash

You can see we have lots to offer the special men in your life

Give Dad a gift from Sydney’s Green Garden – he’s sure to love it

Happy Father’s Day!

and

Happy Planting!

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Seed Time Soon

Father's Day

Happy 2019

It is Seed Time Soon!!

You’re probably tired of the cold and snow and it’s only January, that’s why we’re excited it’s seed time.

We’ve received most of our seed catalogs and will order for 2019 in upcoming weeks. Looking forward to testing some new varieties for next year.  This year we will offer for sale some of the varieties tested in 2018.  We will offer varieties of beans, beets, carrots, chard, cucumber, herbs, lettuce, peas, pumpkin, spinach, and squash.

Container gardening is beneficial for several reasons.  It takes less space than a conventional garden – if you have a small driveway or deck, you can grow vegetables in containers.  Since your plants are contained in a smaller area, weeds are not a problem because you can easily pluck them out.  You save on water because only the containers receive water, unlike a garden plot where the whole thing needs water.  In inclement weather (frost, heavy rain, high winds) the containers can easily be moved or covered if necessary.  Disease and insects oftentimes invade plants in garden plots and can be difficult to eradicate – containers are much easier to work with because you can treat and move those with problems away from the rest of the plants.

Last summer we experienced lots of warm days – many plants love it warm so they grew very well – we’re hoping for another warm summer so we can share .

Onions
Many containers, many good veggies

This year we want to offer something new for our Sydney’s Green Garden fans.  We’re looking for researchers for a couple different vegetable seed varieties.  We’ll give two or three people some seeds to plant and take care of – you can harvest and keep what you grow, or donate to local food shelves.  Check back soon as we give more details of this research opportunity!

Dream of planting 🙂

 

 

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Mother’s Day 2018

Father's Day

2018

Mother’s Day is this Sunday

Give Mom a Container Gardening Kit or Seeds

Help Mom celebrate Mother’s Day by giving her a Sydney’s Green Garden (SGG) container gardening kit, or some seeds.

SGG seeds and container gardening kits are now available online, and at the Bookstore at Fitger’s, and Engwalls in Hermantown.  When you shop at our online store, your purchases are conveniently delivered to your door!

Posted by Sydneys Green Garden on Monday, May 14, 2012

Artwork by Kevin CannonAvailable at www.kevincannon.org

Posted by Bookstore At Fitger's on Thursday, March 29, 2018

 

Posted by Engwall Florist, Greenhouse and Garden Centers on Thursday, May 3, 2018

 

SGG Containers

SGG containers are made of plastic that is designed to hold up for many years, so it is a gift that is useful and long-lasting.  Mom will love a Mother’s Day gift of planting containers.

 SGG 2018 seeds

Beans

We offer Blue Lake, Kentucky Blue, Kentucky Wonder Pole.  If you prefer bush bean plants, try our Purple Queen Bush – they’re fun to grow and easy to see on the plants – and yes, they turn green when you cook them.  You’ll love the pretty bluish color on the Kentucky Blues, too.

Beets

This year we have Cylindra Long Red and Chioggia Beets.  The growth habit of these root vegetables make them ideal for container gardening.

Carrots

Containers are a great place to grow carrots as well.  This year we offer Danver, Nantes Scarlet, Rainbow Blend and Tendersweet.  Since carrots can vary in taste, try a few varieties – you’re sure to find one or two family favorites!  Carrots make a tasty snack while you’re puttering in the garden – kids love ’em, too!

Carrot
Healthy carrot

Swiss Chard

Sydney’s Swiss Chard Blend is easy to grow and adds some nice color to your container garden.  These colorful leaves will spruce up your salad and other dishes.

Swiss Chard

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are so delicious when they’re fresh – try our Bush Pickle, Bristol, and Speedway.  The Bush Pickle makes great pickles, and Bristol are delicious when eaten fresh from the garden.

Cucumber

Herbs

Sweet Basil, Cilantro and Dill are staple herbs every gardener should grow.  Grow enough basil to add to fresh salads throughout the summer and to make pesto – nothing beats fresh pesto!!  Cilantro is a great addition to salads and salsa – you can actually add it to many dishes.  At the end of its growing season you may get seed pods – now you have coriander – it’s the plant that keeps on giving and what a great time to give it – for Mother’s Day!

Lettuce

Our lettuces are picked with care, and therefore grow very well in containers in the Northland.  Black-seeded Simpson is a great heirloom variety.  We also have Salad Bowl Red, Parris Island Romaine, Super Red Romaine, and Sydney’s Loose Leaf Gourmet Salad Blend.  Sydney’s Loose Leaf Gourmet Salad Blend is a delightful combinations of flavors and colors.

Peas

We have found that these peas do well in containers:  Mammoth Melting Snow, Oregon Giant Snow, Sugar Ann, Super Sugar Snap, Sugar Sprint peas.  Mammoth Melting and Oregon Giant are great in stir-fry.  Our snap peas are delicious eaten fresh or cooked – when you choose Sugar Sprint you are enjoying a pea that has almost no strings.

Pea
Peas

Pumpkin

Baby Pam are fun pumpkins to grow with the kids – how delicious is your fresh pumpkin straight out of the garden?  Do you love pumpkin seeds?  So do we!  What a wonderful treat that is nutritious, too!!

Spinach

Olympia and Unipack 12 hybrid are the newest additions to our spinach lineup – we think you will enjoy them.  Bolero is one of our all-time favorites, and we’re happy to say all of these spinach varieties grow well.

Over the years you may have noticed that we no longer offer certain seed varieties – perhaps it was a favorite of yours.  Some years commercial growers experience crop failure of a certain variety and it is no longer available.

Spinach

Squash

Two favorites, Sebring Yellow and Spineless Beauty Summer squashes are a great addition to your container gardening fun.  Did you know squash blossoms are edible?  They are – but if you eat a blossom that’s one less squash you’ll have at harvest (oh, it’s so worth it, though).  Besides, don’t many people struggle to give away summer squash because the plants produce so many?

Yellow Squash

Mom is sure to love her Mother’s Day gifts of SGG container garden kits and seeds 🙂

Happy Planting!

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Vegetable Container Gardening Workshops

SGG Vegetable Container Gardening

Sydney’s Green Garden Workshops

Hi everyone, vegetable growing season is almost here!

Workshops Now Available

Because I am passionate about helping others and teaching them how to improve their lives, I have two vegetable container gardening workshops coming up:

1st Workshop

When & Where:

On Thursday, at 6 pm, Apr 26, at Ordean East Middle School, located at 2900 E 4th Street, Duluth, MN

2nd Workshop

When & Where:

On Tuesday, at 6 pm, May 8, at Whole Foods Coop, located at 610 E 4th Street, Duluth, MN

Why Attend?

In these hour-long presentations, we’ll go over the benefits of growing your own vegetables.  I’ll also provide you with instructions for planting in containers.  Many of you may have questions – I am always happy to answer questions!

What Do You Get?

You will receive:

1 Durable plastic planting container

1 Packet of seeds

1 Planting guide

 Grow a Vegetable for a Healthier You 

We are much healthier when we eat enough vegetables.  Eating fresh vegetables from your own garden is even healthier because you know what’s been growing in your pot, and what is not.  Growing plants in containers is far easier than maintaining large, or even small garden plots.  Why?  You really don’t get weeds in your containers the way you do in a regular garden.  Containers are also easier to water because it’s a much smaller space than a row in a garden plot.  There’s much less water waste, too!

Who Should Attend?

Just about anybody can grow vegetables.  What if I live in an apartment or don’t have a big yard, you ask?  My container gardening system is designed especially with small spaces in mind.  As long as you can place your planted containers in a sunny location every day, you can grow your own vegetables.

Good Steward

I’m a good steward of the earth and believe in giving back to my community.  I donate all the course fees to Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank.  It’s a great organization that works to collect food for hungry people in our own neighborhoods.

These sessions are fun and informational and I hope to see you there!

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Seeds and Kits Soon Available

Sydney's Green Garden
Sydney's Green Garden seeds
Seeds at SGG

Hi there, it is seeds time again!

Seeds are ordered and our suppliers have shipped most of them. We’ll start packaging them this week.

Sydney’s Green Garden container garden kits are perfect for small yards and decks – you’ll be amazed at how much produce you can grow in just a handful of containers.

Seeds and container gardening kits will be available by March 15.

Here at SGG we’re excited for the 2018 growing season!

Familiar and New Seeds

We’re offering many long-time favorites as well as some new** seed varieties this year.

Beans

Blue Lake

Kentucky Blue

Kentucky Wonder

Purple Queen

Beets

Chioggia

Cylindra

Carrots

Danver**

Forto**

Nantes Scarlet**

Rainbow Blend

Tendersweet

Chard, Swiss

Sydney’s Swiss Chard Blend

Cucumber

Bristol**

Bush

Speedway**

Herbs

Sweet Basil

Cilantro/Coriander

Bouquet Dill

Lettuce

Black-seeded Simpson

Parris Island

Super Red Romaine

Salad Bowl Red**

Sydney’s Gourmet Salad Blend

Peas

Mammoth Melting

Oregon Giant Snow

Sugar Ann

Sugar Snap

Super Sugar Snap

Pumpkin

Baby Pam

Spinach

Bolero Olympia**

Unipack 12

Squash

Sebring

Spineless Beauty

New for 2018**

Carrots

Danver carrots grow 6-8” long and are deep-orange, are heirloom, keep well and are heat tolerant. Grows well in different soils and has nice strong tops.  65-75 days

Forto carrots grow 8” long cylindrical roots and stores well. 62 days

Scarlet Nantes carrots grow 6” red-orange roots and are crisp and sweet – will grow in clay soil. 65 days

Cucumbers

Bristol cucumbers grow to 8.25” and are heat resistant. Great fruit quality and color, and matures early.  54 days

Speedway cucumbers grow to 8” and the uniform dark green color holds well – great for slicing. 56 days

Lettuce

Salad Bowl Red lettuce has attractive maroon-red serrate leaves that are deeply cut and finely divided. Harvest over a period of time. 50 days

Spinach

Olympia spinach grows 10” and the plain dark green, upright leaves are slow to bold. Great for cooking and use in salads.  45 days

Unipack 12 spinach has plain, even green-colored leaves that are slow to bolt. Grow in fertile well-drained, moist soil.  50 days

Happy Gardening!

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Cylindra Beets and Greens

Father's Day

Cylindra Beets

We planted Cylindra beets this summer.  Cylindra beets are a Sydney’s Green Garden specialty seed.

three beautiful Cylindra beets
Cylindra beets

They grew beautifully this year.  As you can see, they grew big and juicy!

Did you know you can cook the greens too?  Beet greens are delicious and taste like spinach when sautéed.

Here’s a basic recipe:

Ingredients

1 pound beet greens (2 large or 3 small bunches)

1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, to taste

2 garlic cloves, minced

Freshly ground pepper

Salt, dash

Preparation

Bring a large pot of water to a boil while you stem the greens and wash the leaves in 2 rinses of water. When the water comes to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the greens. Blanch for 2 minutes, until tender. Transfer immediately to a bowl of ice water, then drain and squeeze the water out. Chop coarsely.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy nonstick skillet. Add the garlic – stir until the garlic is translucent for 30 to 60 seconds. Stir in the greens. Stir until the greens are seasoned with garlic and oil for 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, remove from the heat, and serve.

Optional

Instead of blanching the beet greens, rinse well and add them to the olive oil, salt and garlic.  They will cook down.  It may be tasty enough you won’t need the garlic.

Add:

Lemon wedges for fresh lemon juice

Parmesan cheese

Onion

What a great added treat above and beyond the beets themselves!

2018

We hope you plan to grow some beets next summer – they’re easy to grow in containers from seed.

Sydney’s Green Garden seeds will be available around mid-March 2018.

Oftentimes we experiment with new seed varieties.  This way we can offer our customers the best seed options for growing conditions in the Duluth and Superior area.

Check our website early in 2018 to see which seeds we are offering!

Email us with questions:  grow@sydneysgreengarden.com

 

 

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Mother’s Day SGG Gifts

Father's Day

Mother’s Day – this Sunday

Give Mom a Container Gardening Kit or Seeds

Help Mom celebrate Mother’s Day by giving her a Sydney’s Green Garden (SGG) container gardening kit, or some seeds.

SGG seeds and container gardening kits are now available online, and at the Bookstore at Fitger’s, and Engwalls in Hermantown.  When you shop at our online store, your purchases are conveniently delivered to your door!

SGG Containers

SGG containers are made of plastic that is designed to hold up for many years, so it is a gift that is useful and long-lasting.  Mom will love a Mother’s Day gift of planting containers.

 SGG 2018 seeds

Beans

We offer Blue Lake, Kentucky Blue, Kentucky Wonder Pole.  If you prefer bush bean plants, try our Purple Queen Bush – they’re fun to grow and easy to see on the plants – and yes, they turn green when you cook them.  You’ll love the pretty bluish color on the Kentucky Blues, too.

Beets

This year we have Cylindra Long Red and Chioggia Beets.  The growth habit of these root vegetables make them ideal for container gardening.

Carrots

Containers are a great place to grow carrots as well.  This year we offer Danver, Nantes Scarlet, Rainbow Blend and Tendersweet.  Since carrots can vary in taste, try a few varieties – you’re sure to find one or two family favorites!  Carrots make a tasty snack while you’re puttering in the garden – kids love ’em, too!

Carrot
Healthy carrot

Swiss Chard

Sydney’s Swiss Chard Blend is easy to grow and adds some nice color to your container garden.  These colorful leaves will spruce up your salad and other dishes.

Swiss Chard

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are so delicious when they’re fresh – try our Bush Pickle, Bristol, and Speedway.  The Bush Pickle makes great pickles, and Bristol are delicious when eaten fresh from the garden.

Cucumber

Herbs

Sweet Basil, Cilantro and Dill are staple herbs every gardener should grow.  Grow enough basil to add to fresh salads throughout the summer and to make pesto – nothing beats fresh pesto!!  Cilantro is a great addition to salads and salsa – you can actually add it to many dishes.  At the end of its growing season you may get seed pods – now you have coriander – it’s the plant that keeps on giving and what a great time to give it – for Mother’s Day!

Lettuce

Our lettuces are picked with care, and therefore grow very well in containers in the Northland.  Black-seeded Simpson is a great heirloom variety.  We also have Salad Bowl Red, Parris Island Romaine, Super Red Romaine, and Sydney’s Loose Leaf Gourmet Salad Blend.  Sydney’s Loose Leaf Gourmet Salad Blend is a delightful combinations of flavors and colors.

Peas

We have found that these peas do well in containers:  Mammoth Melting Snow, Oregon Giant Snow, Sugar Ann, Super Sugar Snap, Sugar Sprint peas.  Mammoth Melting and Oregon Giant are great in stir-fry.  Our snap peas are delicious eaten fresh or cooked – when you choose Sugar Sprint you are enjoying a pea that has almost no strings.

Pea
Peas

Pumpkin

Baby Pam are fun pumpkins to grow with the kids – how delicious is your fresh pumpkin straight out of the garden?  Do you love pumpkin seeds?  So do we!  What a wonderful treat that is nutritious, too!!

Spinach

Olympia and Unipack 12 hybrid are the newest additions to our spinach lineup – we think you will enjoy them.  Bolero is one of our all-time favorites, and we’re happy to say all of these spinach varieties grow well.

Over the years you may have noticed that we no longer offer certain seed varieties – perhaps it was a favorite of yours.  Some years commercial growers experience crop failure of a certain variety and it is no longer available.

Spinach

Squash

Two favorites, Sebring Yellow and Spineless Beauty Summer squashes are a great addition to your container gardening fun.  Did you know squash blossoms are edible?  They are – but if you eat a blossom that’s one less squash you’ll have at harvest (oh, it’s so worth it, though).  Besides, don’t many people struggle to give away summer squash because the plants produce so many?

Yellow Squash

Mom is sure to love her Mother’s Day gifts of SGG container garden kits and seeds 🙂

Happy Planting!

 

 

 

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Beautiful Squash

Hi,

We cleaned up the garden by Midi this week.  There were plenty of grape and yellow tomatoes and they were so tasty!  The squash featured on this post was glowing in the sun – it’s not there today – we hope Chef was able to use it in a dish!

Next or the following week we will harvest beets, carrots, and potatoes – all should be delicious.

We still have some great herbs growing!  Our oregano, basil and chives are still looking healthy – we can use them fresh and dry some, too!  Next week we’ll harvest coriander seeds.

We hope you’re getting a plentiful harvest from your garden – we are.

In a few short weeks we’ll clean up the containers and the garden area in preparation for winter’s rest – it’s good to give ourselves and the garden a rest after a busy summer, right?

Enjoy these mild autumn days.

Your friends at SGG

 

 

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Midi has Fresh Produce

Tomatoes

Gardening Friends,

SGG garden at Midi is growing great with all the great gardening weather this summer (I’m including some pictures of the container gardens here at Midi Restaurant where the plants are big and healthy)!IMG_9067IMG_9062

Midi uses some of the fresh produce throughout the summer growing season.  Peas, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, squash, and spinaches all did very well.

Fresh off the vine tomatoes are so delicious.  The spinach and lettuce combined with tomato, squash and little cilantro make for a zesty and fun salad – our Sydney’s Gourmet Salad Blend has variety of color and flavor, as well as texture.

Of course the herbs need mentioning – cilantro, dill and oregano all look great!  We planted lots of basil – who doesn’t love basil? Just touch the basil and you can enjoy its aromatic splendor – then you have to pick some to eat!

Soon Midi will have a great harvest of potatoes and pumpkin in addition to all the other veggies that are still producing.

Isn’t it amazing how much you can grow in a small space!  SGG solves the problem of a small growing area.

If you don’t have a container garden this summer, consider it for next year – if you have some, enjoy your garden produce!

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Pick More to Grow More

Hello gardeners,

Now is a perfect time to reap the benefits of all your hard gardening work – pick that produce!  The more you pick, the more your plants will produce for you.  Beans, peas, cucumbers and squash are in season right now.

We have some recipes on this website you might like to try.  It’s always fun to try new recipes.  You can also find many great recipes online and in cookbooks.  Experiment – that way you won’t get tired of eating plain beans, etc.

We’ve included some photos of the beautiful garden outside Midi Restaurant.

 

2009-03-17 23.58.502009-03-17 23.58.422009-03-17 23.58.12

Eat your vegetables!

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Garden at Midi

Midi’s container gardens are looking good.  The plants are loving this warm, humid weather.

We hope you’re enjoying your summer.  Your garden is probably looking good, too!  Pick those veggies while they’re fresh – they’re so much tastier when they’re fresh, right?

Warm days with little rain require us to water the gardens a bit more often.  The plants love a gentle rain to keep their roots moist and thriving.

Stay tuned for pictures!

 

 

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Grandma’s Marathon & Father’s Day

Hello Gardening Friends,

Saturday is Grandma’s Marathon and it is pretty exciting here at Fitger’s.  Good luck if you’re running in Grandma’s.  When you’re out and about on the Lakewalk be sure to check out the Midi Garden.

Sunday is Father’s Day – make it special – perhaps a stroll along the Lake walk – enjoy!

Last week was a busy week at SGG.  We planted 66 containers in the Midi Garden!  The larger ones have seed potatoes.  Carrot, spinach, lettuce, pea, bean, beet, pumpkin, squash, cucumber, basil, dill, and cilantro seeds (many varieties) kept us planting for several hours.  We also set in some plants: tomato, oregano, peppers, and chives.

Luckily we had ample rain for a week so watering was taken care of for us and some of the seeds are germinating – exciting times at the Midi Garden, for sure!  Sydney’s Gourmet blend, Black-seeded Simpson, Super Red Romaine, Parris Island and Oak Leaf lettuces are up.  Unipack 151, Menorca, and Bolero Spinaches are also up.

Even though it may be a little late for the spinaches, we decided to give it a go since we’ve had cooler weather for June than is typical.  We’ll let you know the verdict on planting spinach later than is recommended.

Since Midi is a Mediterranean restaurant we added chives and oregano to our herb lineup this year – who doesn’t love fresh oregano and chives in their salad?  Tom also requested we plant lots of basil – so we did!  Salads and other dishes will taste extra special this growing season at Midi.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

SGG