Tip of the Week: Gardening for the Grill
Posted in Gardening Tips on June 14th, 2010 by Sonia Uyterhoeven – Be the first to comment |
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics. |
Every year around Memorial Day weekend or shortly thereafter we observe the ritual of rooting through our kitchen drawers on a mission to find and inspect the condition of our barbeque paraphernalia. We locate the barbeque fork, the long-handled tongs, the broad spatula, and the tattered basting brush.
For gardeners the ritual starts well before Memorial Day, and by the end of May or early June preparations for the seasonal grilling fests are in full motion. Garlic was lovingly planted in the fall, perennial herbs were groomed in mid-April, and annual herbs and vegetables were started from seed indoors around February or March and popped into the ground as transplants starting in April and running into June.
If you’ll be spending weekends and evenings standing over the grill, you will want to grow plants that aid in this culinary endeavor. Sometimes the choices are easy. Sometimes the choices are easy. Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens has come out with a line of herbs that were destined for marinades and skewers. (Herb plants from Gilbertie’s are sold at Shop in the Garden).
On the front line is the rosemary with the cultivar name ‘Barbeque’. It is a handsome, deep-green, upright, and incredibly tasty specimen. Other good options are ‘Sal’s choice’ (named after the owner) and ‘Tuscan Blue’. Oregano is also an essential herb for the grill. I grew a cultivar named ‘Hot and Spicy’ last year whose kick was phenomenal. read more »