Good Dinner Mrs. Mellen

My first year planting heirloom tomatoes is a wonderful success.  Not very pretty on the outside but delicious to taste.  I was unaware that they don't produce copious amounts of tomatoes like the hybrids varieties but quality beats quantity when comparing to a the hybrids. So flavorful that all I did was slice the tomatoes layer with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and drizzle with a rich balsamic vinegar or Our Favorite Salad dressing(one of my favorites)!  Ready to serve in no time! Enjoy!

Cooking and gardening just go together. I couldn't imagine doing one without the other. This year I am so excited I planted, just a few, heirloom tomatoes in my garden. I made a small kitchen garden close to my deck. I can easily pick tomatoes and herb right out of the garden to the kitchen. I love the design that I created. I placed a slate paver in the center of the garden and circled the paver with the tomato plants. Then I added a circle of basil plants. Around the edge of the garden I intermingled more herbs.  For the focal point of the garden I planted a large strawberry jar planter with annuals and herbs placing the planter in the garden on the slate paver.  More planted seasonal annuals add a cascade of beautiful colors to complete my kitchen garden combining function and beauty. I can't wait to harvest my delicious heirloom tomatoes. Last year I purchased these tasty beauties making the thoughts of picking my own home grown tomatoes so wonderful. Heirloom tomatoes...

I can't decide, torn between my cooking and my garden. During the dreary New England winters I am definitely Good Dinner Mrs Mellen, but once the spring is here, I am torn between two loves.  The sweet promise of beautiful blooms all summer long pull me into my garden. But wait the smells of wonderful dinners alfresco coupled with fresh produce and fruit. Did I say fruit, fresh strawberry short cake, mouth watering blueberry, peach and nectarine pies. Stop what is a gardener/cook to do. This year I think I am successfully blending my two loves into a wonderful long summer season. In my backyard right off my deck I have a herb and flower garden. Just a short walk from my kitchen down the deck stairs to an abundance of fresh fragrant herbs and flowers. I love using fresh herbs to add the extra pizza to any recipe. During one of the snowiest winters ever I started thinking how I could integrate my love of gardening and cooking even more.  I decided to tweak this garden to mak...

Oh it's that time of year when I love to get out in the garden seeing all the spring bulbs pushing up through the cool earth.  I have said it before that in addition to loving to cook, I love to garden. It's a toss up which is my favorite but I can garden for hours not realizing how long I've been in my garden. Time just stops when I am in my garden.  I am truly in the present moment when I garden. The weather hasn't been cooperating in New England this past winter and also this spring.  Spring so far has been cold except this past weekend. Picture perfect spring days sunny with temperatures in the sixties. Did I mention just a nice light breeze gently blowing.  Yes  perfect spring days to clean out all the flower beds. In New England because our winters are so snowy and harsh, I find it best to leave the leaves in my flower beds as an extra protection of winter mulch.  In the spring I clean out all the leaves and debris from the winter letting sun, air an...

This is the sad tale of my biggest failure in gardening! Today I finally gave up on the Lace Cap Hydrangeas that I purchased many years ago at Hammersmith Farm in Newport, Rhode Island, the estate where John and Jackie Kennedy were married. In all the years that I have tried to get these beautiful plants to bloom, nothing has worked. I have never had a single bloom, not one, even with extra special care and attention. One day I did see a snake sun bathing on the bushes enjoying the lush vegetation that I cultivated. These beautiful plants only bloom on old wood, with the harsh winters in Dedham the plants completely die back only producing new shoots each year. Today I decided that I had to accept the the truth and dig the Hydrangeas out. I must say it was not for lack of root structure that these plants failed, they were hard to dig up. After a very strenuous hour of digging, tugging, pulling and falling on my butt, I finally succeeded at my task. Now I am having a very hard time j...