Inside The New York Botanical Garden
vegetables
Posted in Programs and Events on July 23 2013, by Matt Newman
The heatwave’s bid us adieu, and just in time for this week’s Greenmarket. That’s good news for everyone who was sweating it out for last week’s event (though judging by the vegetable hauls recorded on Instagram, you weren’t all that bothered by the sun last Wednesday). In any case, our vendors will be keeping up their presentation of the July harvest with even more fresh-picked and delicious goodies to offer.
Last week we saw the arrival of peaches from Migliorelli Farm, accompanied by blueberries, corn, eggs, and all sorts of tomato and apple sauces and juices. From Red Jacket Orchards, the gooseberries were the big surprise, following raspberries, black currants, apricots, sugar plums, and then some. And from Meredith’s Bread (a breakfast favorite around here—be there early or you may miss out on some stuff), cherry, mixed berry, and apple-raspberry crumb pies; cinnamon rolls, brownies, cookies, and sweet breads—chocolate cream cheese, carrot cake, and banana nut among them.
What’s new for this week? We don’t know yet! With the vagaries of weather and crops to deal with, harvest times aren’t often set in stone. But we’ll have more news on that come Wednesday.
Read More
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 23 2013, by Matt Newman
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Programs and Events on July 16 2013, by Matt Newman
Last week’s Greenmarket saw the addition of eggs, red raspberries, cauliflower, cucumbers, and red currants. Meanwhile, the rhubarb (so glad strawberry-rhubarb pie is making a comeback) was on its way out. You may still find some this week, however, as we continue the important harvest month of July with some of the freshest produce in New York!
We’re hoping to see more blueberries, peaches, and plums going forward, but as always, what shows up each Wednesday is something of a surprise. You can get a better idea of what to look forward to by visiting our friends’ harvest chart at GrowNYC. Or you can just plan on the pies, fresh breads, cookies, and quiches to be found here otherwise—they are absurdly delicious.
The NYBG Greenmarket runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Wednesday through November 27, with free short-term parking for Greenmarket shoppers and—as on every Wednesday—free Grounds Admission for visitors. The market accepts food stamps, EBT, WIC/FMNP, and Senior coupons, in addition to cash and credit or debit cards. Learn how to use EBT, WIC and FMNP at the Greenmarket. And head below for a recipe from our staff at the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden.
Read More
Posted in Programs and Events on July 9 2013, by Matt Newman
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s almost Wednesday. And Wednesday, of course, means Greenmarket goodies! Come 9 a.m. tomorrow we’ll be out along Garden Way with our visiting vendors, buying our fill of fresh-picked fruits, vegetables, and baked treats. That said, we would love some company from our visitors.
As of last week’s Greenmarket offerings, we saw heaps of fresh blueberries, grape tomatoes, cabbage, bok choy, potatoes, green beans, and beets from Gajeski Produce. From Migliorelli Farm, there was all manner of flavorful herbs, along with summer squash, zucchini, peas of different kinds, and all the kale, spinach, and collards that could possibly fit in your crisper drawer. From Red Jacket Orchards, apricots, strawberries, and cherries, along with buckets of fresh chilled fruit juices. And of course there was Meredith’s Bread, which supplied us with stacks of fresh-baked pies, breads, scones, and muffins. They even had quiche!
Chances are we’ll see similar offerings on the table tomorrow, but with so many harvests beginning and ending in July, there may be a few surprises. In the meantime, head below for a recipe from our Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden crew.
Read More
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 7 2013, by Matt Newman
The Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden does a few things, and of what it does, it does this very, very well.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 3 2013, by Matt Newman
It’s Wednesday. Parking is free for Greenmarket shoppers, as is Grounds Admission. And there are potential soup ingredients waiting. What other motivation do you need?
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Programs and Events on July 2 2013, by Matt Newman
Potatoes for mashing, strawberries for snacking, carrots for crunching, garlic for…well, anything you can feasibly put it in shy of ice cream. We’re into week three of the Greenmarket this Wednesday, and things are only ramping up (except the actual ramps—those oniony wonders are more of an April thing) as the summer matures. Last week saw a big focus on summer squash, and while we’re likely to see more of that this week, the start of July traditionally sounds the trumpet for a bunch of other harvests—whether they’re beginning or ending.
Cherries are commonly a July thing, but we’ve been seeing them for a couple of weeks now, so plan to pick up a few hefty handfuls while you’re here. This month also marks the beginning of the fresh potato harvest at large, and the tail end of outdoor-grown rhubarb in our area. Peppers and tomatoes will be coming into vogue from here on out, along with blueberries, peaches, plums, and raspberries, so err on the side of caution and think about bringing your big produce bag in the coming weeks. It’ll be one of your better decisions.
Oh, and keep in mind this is just a tentative schedule—with the weather as unpredictable as it’s been over the last year, the harvests rarely have a cut and dry beginning or end. We just do our best to predict. I’ve got another recipe from the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden for you, so head below for that, and we’ll see you at the Greenmarket tomorrow!
Read More
Posted in Around the Garden on June 25 2013, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.
This past weekend, we were out in the Louise Loeb Vegetable Garden in the Home Gardening Center covering vegetable gardening basics. Knowing how to plant and grow vegetables is one thing, but the love and the labor means nothing if you don’t know what to do with the harvest. Bearing that in mind, I made the visitors a simple tomato and bread salad that was loaded with fresh herbs. Traditionally it is an old Tuscan recipe made from left-over (read: stale) bread. It is a quick and easy recipe that adds life to everyday meals.
The ingredients for the recipe toss together the most basic herbs and vegetables from the home garden:
– 4 ripe tomatoes cut into ½-inch cubes
– 3 small Persian cucumbers cut into ½-inch cubes (or one small regular cucumber, deseeded)
– Handful of basil (approx. 2 tablespoons)
– Handful of parsley (approx. 2 tablespoons)
– Small handful of oregano (approx. 1 tablespoon)
– 4 scallions chopped into small pieces
– 1-2 garlic cloves minced (optional)
– 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (optional: tear a few basil leaves and soak them in vinegar for a few hours overnight to give the vinegar more flavor)
– ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
– 2 cups few-days-old Italian or French bread cut into small cubes (optional: toast the bread lightly in the oven)
– Salt and pepper to taste
Read More
Posted in Programs and Events on June 18 2013, by Matt Newman
You know, I’d say this is a time for health nuts to rejoice, but our Greenmarket is a great experience regardless of taste or diet. Fresh fruits, vegetables, baked goods and the heaps of other goodies involved have a tendency to bring people together sans qualifiers. But enough about that: the Greenmarket is back for another year—that’s the important takeaway here! Beginning this Wednesday, June 19, we’re kicking off another months-long run of fresh foods each and every week, and all of it set up right here by the Garden’s Tulip Tree Allée.
Farmers from around the region will sell locally-grown produce each Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., from now through November 27, meaning you’ll get the best of each and every harvest. Admission and parking are free for Greenmarket shoppers, and we accept EBT, WIC/ FMNP, and Senior coupons, in addition to cash and credit or debit cards.. We’re making it seriously simple to load up a canvas bag with fruits and vegetables to last you the week. In fact, the Greenmarket is almost always set up near our Mosholu Gate, right next to our own Botanical Garden stop on the Metro-North, so it’ll only take you twenty minutes to get here from midtown Manhattan.
If you’re wondering what’s on the menu from week to week, it can be hard to predict to a certainty—the vagaries of seasonal weather and all. But GrowNYC has a handy chart available to get an idea of what you might see stacked on the tables when you get here. We’re on the tail end of the asparagus harvest, while beets, cabbage, herbs and peas are a good possibility. Keep an eye out for spinach, chard, turnip greens and some squashes, too, along with the first of the season’s strawberries.
Read More
Posted in Photography on May 22 2013, by Ann Rafalko
It’s radish season again in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden! And as we all know, they really do taste best straight from the ground, after a little rinse of course.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
The heatwave’s bid us adieu, and just in time for this week’s Greenmarket. That’s good news for everyone who was sweating it out for last week’s event (though judging by the vegetable hauls recorded on Instagram, you weren’t all that bothered by the sun last Wednesday). In any case, our vendors will be keeping up their presentation of the July harvest with even more fresh-picked and delicious goodies to offer.
