Steaks in the Summer Garden

Heirloom Tomato Seedlings

We're planning to grow steaks in the Bird Back 40 summer garden this year. How about you? Can you spot the tiny steak starter plants in the photo to your right? They are right in front of your nose. They don't look all that special -- but come this summer -- hopefully the wife that is Venus will be digging into her favorite cut of prime rib.

How does one grow steaks in a garden you ask? Plant a moo-moo cow in the raised garden beds perchance? Set aside a portion of the Bird Back 40 for some moo-moo cows? They'd get along great with Lenny the Giant Maine Coon cat, wouldn't they? Probably not -- so perish the thought.

Steak House Hybrid Tomato Seed

No -- the steaks we're growing this year -- a first for us by the way -- are of the vegetable or fruit variety. It's called the Steak House Hybrid. It's the latest introduction from Burpee Seed, and I must warn you, it's ridiculously expensive. How expensive? Stupid expensive. As someone has to be as stupid as yours truly to lay down $7 for a packet of magic beans.

Yes -- I will admit -- I paid $7 for Burpee's latest creation. They promised a seed packet with 25 seeds. Yet -- someone has a serious math problem in that seed operation because when the package finally did arrive, it contained a total of six or seven seeds. That's right, a buck a seed. This better be worth it.

Tomato Seed Selections from Tomato Growers Supply

Burpee claims that it is. "Meet the biggest tomato ever bred," the advertising claims. "And it’s not just bigger but better. Tipping the scales at up to three lbs. plus, broad-shouldered tomato titan is bigger than Big Daddy, and loaded with true heirloom tomato flavor and head-spinning fragrance. Indeterminate plants produce gorgeous, humongous fruits."

With advertising like that, who can resist? The Steak House Hybrid is one of 40-50 varieties that we're growing from seed this year. Planted two weeks ago, most of everything has sprung to life. This includes numerous peppers, which should have been planted a month earlier, but, uh, I'm late. OK, so sue me.

Solar Flare Tomato Seed: Wild Boar Farms

Some of these varieties are new. Some are old favorites. Every tomato garden must now include a Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, the brainchild of Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms. If that's not a gardening law, it should be.

Other old-time gardening varieties include the always amazing, but sometimes tempermental, Azochka (tastes like bacon!). Look closely and you will find a Druzba, Green Zebra, Caspian Pink and Brandywine.

Ah -- but the Steak House Hybrid isn't the only "meat" feature in this year's summer garden. And no summer garden is complete without other tasty summer vegetables. Nope -- you've got to have a patch of basil here and there. Peppers are a must. And who can forget about tasty eggplant?

Seed Starting Station

So -- it's not just steaks -- but meatballs as well. This is yet another Burpee selection -- an eggplant they like to call "Meatball." So -- what's so special about "Meatball?" I have absolutely no clue. This is the first time I've grown it.

But if you were to believe the fine folks at Burpee: "Meet the mightiest, meatiest eggplant ever. Imagine fresh, home-grown, vine-ripened MEAT! That's Meatball."

Do you believe them? Meh -- me too. We'll see what happens.

Our "seed rack" contains about 140 starter plants this year. That represents the most we've ever started from seed. Can we fit 140 starter plants into the Bird Back 40? Only if I knock down the neighbor's fence and take over his backyard -- something he probably wouldn't like.

But, starting too many plants is a tradition here. Besides, they always do find a home. If not in our garden, somewhere else. I mean, look, who can pass on a tomato named after a STEAK and even the hardiest eggplant hater would pause at something called a MEATBALL.

It's 2016 in the Bird Back 40. The carnivores are taking over.

2016 TOMATO VARIETIES (PARTIAL LIST):

Azoychka

Big Pink

Black

Black Krim

Campbell’s 1327

Carbon

Cascade Lava

Caspian Pink

Chapman

Genuine

Green Tie Dye

Green Zebra

Italian Sweet

Lemon Boy

Marisol Purple

Mint Julep

Oaxacan Jewel

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye

Pink Boar

Pork Chop

Rosalita

San Marzano

Siletz

Sky Reacher

Solar Flare

Sweet 100

2016 BASIL VARIETIES:

Dark Opal

Genovese

Large Leaf

Lemon

Siam Queen

What's in that Bucket?

The Homer All Purpose Bucket

Betcha can't guess what's in that bucket. You know -- THAT bucket. That Home Depot five gallon Homer bucket located to your immediate right. I have about ten of these things all over the house because, well, they're useful for holding, you know, "stuff."

In fact, the simple "Homer" bucket just might be the greatest invention ever. I know Home Depot didn't invent it, but they've put a nice patent on it with the Homer logo. They're cheap too, which is another plus. And, they hold stuff. Thing is -- this particular Homer bucket holds something quite special. Can you guess what it might be?

Venus and "The Bucket"

Home Depot stuff? No. My brother-in-law was using this particular bucket to store cat litter, but that's long since gone. Parts for PVC cages? Nope! Gardening tools? Guess again. And, keep in mind, this bucket is covered for a reason. The stuff in this bucket is highly volatile. Neighborhood cats are drawn to this bucket by an irresistible force.

Now that's the last hint that I'm going to provide for you before Venus pulls the top off this thing. Sara Stout knows what's in this bucket. She's the one that gave us this grand idea. She's the one who urged the wife that is Venus to drive all the way into South Sacramento (South Sac) and visit that "special place."

Finding Nemo

So, what's in that bucket? Well -- I'll tell you. What? You thought I was going to keep it a secret through this entire blog post? My friends, that would be cruel. Besides, I've got too big a mouth to keep anything a secret for very long. Do you remember the old joke about the three modern forms of communication? The three modern forms of communication are: telephone, telegraph and tell Bill.

There's some truth to that equation.

My friends, the stuff in this bucket is a bit of gardening gold. It's a treasure for tomato plants. It's plunder for peppers, a bonus for basil, opulence for eggplants and pure swag for squash. It is: fish guts. It is also fish heads. There are some fish tails down in that bucket. There's fish skins, fish entrails, just about every part of the fish that isn't sold at your local fish market.

Garden Gold

And it is this five gallon Homer bucket full of fish parts that is currently stinking up a storm in the Bird Back 40. We're going to let it "age" a day or two like a fine wine. When we finally take the top off this thing today, my neighbors are in for a rather putrid surprise.

I know what you're thinking. Why on God's Green Earth are we "roasting" a five gallon bucket full of fish parts? Finally gone off the deep end have we? Time for a little white jacket with straps, perhaps? A long rest and lots of medication?

Heirloom Tomato Starter Plants

Any heirloom tomato grower worth his or her salt knows exactly what this bucket is for. Those fish parts are going into the bottom of a hole that will soon hold an heirloom tomato starter plant. Every grower has his or her little secrets for soil supplements when it comes to growing great tomatoes, but the verdict on fish parts is darn near universal: this is the good stuff.

Cynthia Sandberg from Love Apple Farms in Santa Cruz raves about the use of fish heads in her tomato garden. In her words? "The fish head slowly decomposes, feeding both nitrogen and calcium to the tomato plant." Those who celebrate the day of April 20th also use this trick. Except, they're not growing tomatoes. Sara Stout claims the use of fish heads resulted in end-of-season tomato stems as thick as small trees -- and a bounty of a harvest to boot.

Bring on the Basil!

And so, my friends, I'm not too proud nor ashamed to try a little something new in the garden. If the gardening world says "add fish parts," I add fish parts. Some even suggest we add crushed eggshells. Others prefer worm castings. Adding nightcrawlers, like you find in you average bait and tackle shop, is also recommended.

Why not? It's tomato planting season, people. Bring on Nemo and his pals. It's time to get digging in the dirt.

Down the Stretch They Come...

Momotaro Tomatoes

Momotaro. That's the answer to the annual Bird Heirloom Tomato Contest of: Guess which variety of tomato seed germinates first? NeCole Brownwell Scott of Antelope, CA was on top of her game with her guess of Momotaro, which isn't all that surprising since she's a Tomato Maniac herself. For her brilliant perception and forecasting skills, NeCole wins her choice of two tomato plant starters from the Bird 2013 starter crop.

Yes indeed! It might be a bit chilly outside, but this is prime seed-starting season for backyard enthusiasts like the wife that is Venus and myself. Once again employing the seed-starting rack setup that we employed last year for the first time, Venus and I are growing many treasured favorites from the past plus quite a few new varieties this season.

Seed Starting Rack

One of those new varieties? Momotaro. While the variety certainly isn't new, it will be a new addition to the Bird Back 40 tomato crop later this spring. Momotaro, as you might have deduced, is a Japanese variety. It's one of the most popular varieties in Japan thanks to its legendary productive status. The fact that it's named after a legendary Japanese folk hero (it loosely translates into "Peach Boy" in English) also might help.

The story and legend of Momotaro was heavily promoted by the Imperial Japanese government during World War II. It should come as no surprise then that the "demons" that Momotaro was sent out to fight lived at a well-known United States naval base called Pearl Harbor.

Bingo Tomato: Impulse Purchase: Lockhart Seeds

I suppose this is one of the many reasons as to why I like growing as many varieties of heirloom tomatoes that I can get my greedy little hands on. Each one represents a little slice of international history. The story of Momotaro, the folk tale, and Momotaro the tomato, represents one of those interesting little discoveries.

How does the old saying go? Learn something new every day?

Venus and I set out on our planting adventure last Sunday, February 17th, just a day after this seed starting article appeared in the garden section of the Sacramento Bee. Some people start a week or two earlier than this. Still others start out a week or two later? Point is? The goal is to have starter plants ready to set out in the garden by May 1st, or Farmer Fred Hoffman's birthday if you will.

Germination after five days: Momotaro Tomato

Once again, we have outdone ourselves. 120 starter plants now sit under a collection six shop lights in a spare Bird bedroom. Believe it or not -- we have room for even more. We're not even using the bottom rack (yet), which would provide room for 40 more plants. And we haven't even considered using the top rack yet... Though I suppose that will come with time.

Point is? With a cheap metal rack and a few shop lights? You can do some serious garden damage. And that's just what we intend upon doing this year.

Of course -- not all of these are tomato plants. I WISH I had room for 120 tomato plants. I'd be in tomato heaven, as would every neighbor on the block. But our collection also includes a number of sweet and hot pepper varieties. These will come into use when it's time to can the legendary Roasted Garlic, Pepper and Heirloom Tomato Salsa. Venus also has about six different varieties of basil that have already germinated and are growing quite well.

Siam Queen Basil Seeds

Why have just one variety of basil when you can have all of them? Genovese Basil is a "must have" in any garden and one of the most popular starter plants you'll find at any garden store. But why limit yourself to Genovese -- when the hot variety of Siam Queen Thai purple basil beckons? Like a hint of lemon in your basil? There's always the popular Lemon Basil. Point is -- there's a basil for every dish.

Venus didn't just limit herself to vegetable garden selections with her seed starting efforts this year. Nope! With an excellent and hard-to-find selection of flower seeds purchased from Lockhart Seeds in Stockton, this year's indoor starting effort includes multiple flower offerings that you probably will not find at you local gardening store.

Love Lies Bleeding Seeds

Sure -- you can find your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, marigolds and petunias at your local Big Box Store. But if you've got your heart set on something called "Love Lies Bleeding," or "Oxford Blue Scabiosa," I hope you got it started early at home. The point is? We want our front and back flower beds to contain items that you just don't see in those everyday, mass planted gardens.

Seed starting is one of our favorite rituals. It's one of those "together" things that we both enjoy. The payoff is a fun afternoon and a summer's bounty of delicious tomatoes and flowers that bring a riot of color to the Bird Back 40. It's also a chance to share and trade with others who have been bitten with this gardening bug. One afternoon of seed planting brings out a season of beauty. Try and find a downfall to this. I've tried. I can't.

Afternoon of Fun

There is nothing quite like the joy and satisfaction that comes when the first seedling pops to the surface, or that first starter plant produces its first tomato, first pepper or first bite of fiery basil. I keep thinking of what the backyard flower gardens will look like when our Desert Bluebells or Penstamon Blue fire up into a riot of flower beauty.

Yes, I suppose this is a bug. Call it a twitch if you want. Disease works just as well. Just count me glad that I have it.

Bird 2013 Heirloom Tomato Garden

Agro 410

Arkansas Traveler

Beefsteak

Believe It Or Not

Berkeley Tie Dye

Big Zac

Bingo

Black Cherry

Chadwick Cherry

Cherokee Chocolate

Cherokee Purple

Costaluto Fiorentino

Dixie Golden Giant

Eva Purple Ball

Grushkova

Lemon Boy

Lush Queen

Magnus

Martha Washington (last year’s top garden performer)

Momotaro

Mr. Underwood’s Pink

Polish Giant

Pruden’s Purple

San Marzano

Schilling Giant

Siletz

Solar Fire

Sungold Cherry

Tangerine

Valencia

X-Large Spanish

And -- They're Off!!!

Heirloom Tomato Starter Plants Under Shop Lights

Into the first turn they go -- the 2012 Race to the Garden Finish is on! It may be bloody cold outside. It might be raining buckets. But inside? Seeds for the 2012 Bird Back 40 summer garden are jumping out of azalea starter cups and dreaming of those long, warm, summer days.

Well -- I might be dreaming. As for the tomato, pepper, eggplant, basil and lavender (yes, lavender! Talk to the boss that is the Wife that is Venus!) -- starters -- well -- as you can tell by the photo to your immediate right? We're off to a fairly nice start here in February 2012.

We are using an entirely new design for our seed starting efforts this year. A design that I'd love to tell you that I came up with. But that would be a big, fat, enormous lie, now wouldn't it? I don't come up with really good gardening ideas folks -- I watch what others do and steal good ideas. In this case? I stole one great idea from a gardener who, unfortunately, is not doing much gardening this year.

New Seed Starting Rack!

But she still gets credit for her sheer gardening brilliance.

We have eighty plants in 4.5 inch azalea stater cups this year. That's about 50 tomato plants -- 20 peppers and ten assorted cups of basil, eggplants and lavender (Yes! Lavender! Talk to Venus!). If I were still relying upon the old method of using a PVC contraption on a simple card table to hold up 4-foot long shop lights -- I'd have starter plants stacked on starter plants.

But this is a new year -- and a new idea! Check that -- it's a new year and a stolen idea.

A young East Sacramento lady by the name of Sara S. (last names have been changed to protect the innocent) first tipped me to this rather brilliant idea. Actually -- I had always longed to build my own seed starting rack. There are a million and one do-it-yourself construction plans online to build a seed shelving system. But those required time -- something I have precious little of these days.

Starter Rack by Target

It didn't even cross my mind to actually purchase already-made shelving units -- until I came across the setup put together by Sara. She contacted me out of the blue last year -- with an offer of extra starter plants for our yearly distribution efforts at the California State Capitol. It was an offer I gladly accepted.

It's always nice to meet other gardeners who share the same passion and drive that you do. Young or old -- they have new ideas and new techniques to share. You can learn a lot about gardening simply by watching and learning from others. And although Sara is probably young enough to be my daughter -- she trumped my seed starting designs and efforts by an East Sacramento mile.

The rack that you see pictured above was recently purchased from Target at nominal cost. It's almost as if the designers had gardeners in mind. It is the perfect fit for holding two four-foot long shop lights on each row. The rack has five rows. Each row can hold up to 40 azalea cups and starter plants. If you do the math -- you'll come to discover that I could be growing far more starter plants than I am this year.

Pepper Starters Under Shop Light

Hey, man, I didn't want to push it! 80 is more than enough.

I am also using a somewhat different technique for starting seeds this year. I call it the "tough love" treatment. I am no longer providing my starters with as much love and warmth as possible. As a matter of fact, although the plants are inside, in a spare room, I am exposing them daily to a jolt of the rather cold conditions outside. I am also going without bottom heat this year.

Why the tough love treatment? In past years, I had always done my best to provide a warm and welcoming environment for plants. That meant a room closed off completely to the outside elements. It meant bottom heat for the starter cups. It meant a fan to simulate an outdoor breeze.

Cracked Window Allows for Cold Air Circulation

Do you know what this loving atmosphere resulted in? Lots of plants, yes. But they were plants with very weak stems. They would invariably require stakes to hold them aloft -- plus a good two to three weeks outside to harden off and gain stem strength.

There has to be a better way.

So -- this year? The bottom heat is gone. The nice warm room -- history. Cold, drafty, outdoor conditions have been introduced. Who knows? I might even wind up dumping the shop lights. The goal isn't to produce plants with long stems that can snap in two during a spring breeze. My goal, by introducing a little bit of that rough world outside, is a strong root system.

Seed Starting Rack Assembled by Gardening Moron

If I have a starter plant that is firmly rooted, with an extensive and healthy root system to boot, by the time April rolls around? Strong stem development will almost certainly follow as I begin to expose the plants to the outdoor elements.

So far -- the experiment is working. Germination was a bit slower this year. But -- two weeks after planting -- I'm pleased to report 100%, across-the-board germination with every tomato, pepper, eggplant, basil and lavender (Yes, LAVENDER! Talk to the Wife that is Venus!) in those 80 starter cups. The tomatoes have already developed their first set of true leaves.

What are the advantages to this system? The biggest advantage that I can think of, at this point, is we won't be doing any transplant work later this spring. The cups are large enough to hold tall, healthy starter plants. By the time these starters actually become root bound -- the hope is they will be ready to transplant into a permanent, raised bed home.

Bill Bird still dreams of a true greenhouse in the backyard. A greenhouse that offers the prospect of year-round tomato and cucumber production. But this do-it-yourself backyard landscaping experiment with all things fruit trees and raised beds for gardening production is taking a bit longer than I thought it would. I'm closer to the greenhouse prize than I was four years ago when a barren, backyard moonscape greeted us upon our move to the Bird Back 40.

As a wise gardening friend once preached: Patience. Our time will come.

A Haircut That HURT!

Leggy Heirloom Starter Plants Flopping Over

It was time. I just couldn't bear to look at them anymore. "Them" is pictured to your right. This is how my heirloom tomato starter plants look at the moment as I put them through the "hardening off" process by introducing them to the harsh sunlight of outdoor life.

I was hoping that the introduction to outside conditions would be the kind of "tough love" my heirloom tomato starter plants would need to develop tough stems at the base. And while the "tough love" approach of direct sunlight, cool spring temperatures and breezy days is having the desired effect -- it's not going to result in the kind of stem growth we need that will allow these plants to stand upright.

Leggy starters like these aren't a problem if you've finally arrived at the magic "plant out" date. You can take a variety of actions when faced with the problem of "leggy" starter plants. You can either dig a deep hole and plant the root system and most of the stem deep into soil. Or -- you can dig a long trench and bury most of the plant in soil except for the top four or five inches.

There's just one problem. We're not at "plant out" date yet. In fact, as much as I hoped for an early plant out date -- it ain't gonna happen children. It's still too cold outside. Oh -- sure -- the afternoons (like this afternoon) are wonderful. But our nights are still cold. There's also a chance of another cold rainstorm or two in the long-range forecast. To plant out now? That's like rolling the dice at a craps table. And I don't want to come up snake eyes -- not after caring for these starter plants for as long as I have.

A Leggy Stupice Heirloom Starter

So -- what's the alternative? Continue to let them flop over like they have been? That's a three foot long Stupice starter plant that I'm holding in my fat paw in that photo to the left! Do you know what happens to starter plants that flop over like that? Eventually -- they break in two. Or worse yet -- they snap at the base of the plant. Know what that means? GAME OVER!

No thanks.

The second option? Transplant into larger pots. In my case? I would need much LARGER pots that would allow me to plant these leggy starters deeply. Stems that are planted into soil WILL develop a secondary set of roots. That's one of the nice things about tomato plants -- you can bury them deeply and not hurt them. But -- there's just one problem. I didn't have that many half-gallon pots. I certainly did not have the extra soil on hand. Finally, transplanting into that large of a new pot could possibly delay plant out which should come at the end of this month.

Time for a haircut? Mebbe!

Transplanting is only half the battle. Once transplanted, you've got to allow the starters to expand and grow a new set of roots -- otherwise you can shock them by removing the plants from starter cups during plant out. Even worse -- you can snap a tender starter in half. Know what that means? GAME OVER!

So -- what's a tomato nutcase like Bill Bird to do? I suddenly remembered that I had rooted several varieties of basil in a glass of water during the last growing season. Sacramento area gardener Carri Stokes assured me it would work. And -- it did work. Rooting those basil starters brought back an even more distant memory where Venus and I had taken the same steps with a cutting of lemon thyme that Venus received from a colleague at work. The cutting developed root systems while placed in a cup of water before we transplanted it into the herb bed. Today, it's one of the most prolific herbs in the backyard bed (it's also a good pollen source for the bees -- but more on that later).

And so the inevitable thought crossed my mind. If you can root herbs like basil and thyme by placing cuttings in a glass of water -- can you do the same with tomato plant cuttings? Will they take root in a glass of water? Can they successfully transplanted into starter cups after rooting in water?

Snip, Snip!

For questions like these and more -- I usually turn to the TomatoMania forum or Group on Yahoo. It's a community of like-minded heirloom tomato nutcases like myself -- where you can ask questions and get quick answers. Sure enough -- they all answered in the affirmative -- so the haircut activity took place in earnest earlier today.

Trust me when I tell you: this was anything but EASY. Venus and I have babied these starters from seed for months. We've made every effort to provide them with good soil, light, water, heat -- all the elements one needs for producing starter plants indoors. To suddenly WHACK them back by several feet seemed a little inhuman -- but it had to be done.

And if the action resulted in additional starter plants for family and friends???? Well -- there could be an upside to this endeavour. At least 300 people at work have asked me to "put them on the list" for starter plants. This is one impressive list -- and no I won't be able to fill every last order or desire -- even if every plant roots.

Will They Take Root?

So today -- the three-foot long Stupice got a nice "haircut." So did the two-foot Brandywine. Tigerella also offered up a nice top stem -- as did Bradley, Kelloggs Breakfast, Marianna's Peace and a few others.

The cuttings from each starter plant have been placed in clear plastic cups -- as pictured -- filled with cool water -- labeled and placed on a bright and sunny location on a windowsill. A number of things could happen in the next two weeks. They could root. A marauding cat could knock them into next week (always a possibility in the home for wayward and bratty cats). Or, they could simply shrivel up and die.

As with every gardening experiment? Time will tell!

For Reals???!!!

And Now!!! For the latest edition of "You Can Do That???"

Bill Bird Productions Presents: "I Didn't Know You Could Do That!!!"

For Real? Honestly and truly?

The things you learn while gardening and blogging! I didn't know you could do that. But I know now -- because I have the proof growing in a kitchen windowsill.

See that basil? That's not just any basil in a glass. This is "special basil." It's basil that will soon find it's way inside a raised bed in the Bird Back 40 (as soon as I get around to building the next one).

One of the most enjoyable things that I've gained from spilling my guts about gardening into cyberspace is the people that I run into here and there. When I started writing about my successes and misfortunes (mostly misfortunes) a couple of years ago -- well -- it was intended to be a family affair.

After all -- I don't have a whole lot of time on the weekends to be on the phone. That's valuable gardening time you understand. There's nothing quite like the downer of getting ready to plant something in a raised bed -- only to have the phone start jangling inside the house. Call it bad gardening karma.

So -- that's one reason why I started to write -- so family could see what I was up too. Lo and behold -- other people started to look in at what I was doing from time to time -- and after that -- I got to meet some of these very interesting folks.

Fred Hoffman doesn't count -- because I already knew him. But there's Carri Stokes in Sacramento -- Greg Damitz in Roseville -- and I can't forget Nels Christenson in South Natomas. Connecting with all of them -- and others -- has brought a new understanding and -- more importantly -- NEW IDEAS about gardening.

One of those new ideas comes from the mind of Carri Stokes. And it's growing on the kitchen windowsill.

I didn't know you could take cuttings of basil -- or any other herb for that matter -- and literally "root it" in a glass of water. It didn't even begin to dawn on me that this was an easier way to grow basil -- rather than grow it from seed. Do you see the root systems in this glass? That's what develops after ten days of sitting in a glass of water.

These "rooted" cuttings will be placed into starter cups filled with soil this weekend and will probably sit in the windowsill for another four or five days until they take root -- and at that point -- Venus and I will begin to harden them off outside.

I should have known this practice was possible after Venus received a small cutting of lemon thyme right after we moved into the new household. That "cutting" actually sat in a glass of water for quite some time before I finally built the new herb bed for the backyard -- and this is how it looks two years later.

As you can see -- the "small cutting" has essentially taken over the herb bed in question.

A cutting of lemon thyme anyone? I appear to have more than both the wife and I need at the moment.

I've come to discover -- during my my short years of gardening experience -- that there is more than just "one" basil variety. In fact -- I don't know if there is such a thing as a "normal" basil. If there is one -- I suppose it would have to be the Sweet Italian variety that you find in most nurseries.

But there is so very much more...

In fact -- some people love basil so very much -- that there's even a website dedicated to this very herb. The following information is Reprinted/Excerpted with Permission from, www.basil.info:

Basil is a member of the mint family and is very similar in appearance. The most popular kind of basil used in cooking is sweet basil, but some of the other more widely-known types are clove basil, lemon basil, and cinnamon basil.

With so many varieties, it can be difficult to choose. Here are just a few types, with a brief description, to help in your quest for the perfect basil for your savory dish:

• Sweet basil-the best known, it has a scent of clove when fresh.


• Genovese basil-has a similar flavor as sweet basil and is almost as popular.


• Napolitano basil-favored by many for pizzas.


• Lemon basil-also called "hoary basil," has a lemony smell, like the name implies, but has a sweet taste.

• Thai basil-has a scent of licorice with a hint of mint. Purple stems and flowers add beauty and taste to many Thai dishes.


• Cinnamon basil-also called Mexican spice basil, has the same compound found in cinnamon which gives it its strong fragrance.


• Holy basil-also known as 'sacred basil' since it's used in worship in India.


• Purple basil-rich and spicy, it has more of an anise flavor than Genovese or sweet basil.

My thanks to Dr. Christianne Schelling at http://www.basil.info/ for providing the information above. The information provided here is only the tip of the iceberg. I urge you to visit her website to learn more.

Basil -- as you may have learned -- is a very important part of the Bird backyard garden. It's an essential ingredient in our Heirloom Tomato Martinis -- and probably has a lot of other uses that I'm not aware of yet because -- well -- did I tell you that Heirloom Tomato Martinis are really good???

The Garden Produces a Dinner

It's getting to be that time of year for many gardening addicts in Northern California. It's that time where you've tended the garden so much, that it now starts to tend to YOU.

Last night, our garden provided this dinner for us. It's the first full dinner of the summer season using summer produce, but obviously not the last.

Every item in this stir-fry dinner, with the exception of the chicken of course, came fresh-picked from the garden. What you see to your left is the result of hours of work, hours of planting, hours of tending and about ten minutes worth of harvesting.

Venus celebrated her birthday this past evening -- and rather than go out -- her birthday wish was for a green curry dish utilizing everything fresh from the backyard garden. We also could have used tomatoes, but green curry and tomatoes just don't mix.

Not many asian dishes use tomatoes as a featured item. I'm told, by one friend who grew up in Vietnam, that tomatoes do not grow well in southeast Asia, therefore they are not a staple of the local diet.

Cooking a green curry dish like this one is always an adventure. This one was no different. First off, Venus and I aren't quite good enough yet to make our own green curry mixture. So, we rely on the pre-mixed Mai Ploy brand (one of the best) and some coconut milk to get the job done.

Why is this such an adventure? Well -- one look at this VERY blurry photo to your right will tell half the story. And you run into this kind of roadblock quite often whenever you attempt to re-create a dish from your favorite Thai or Vietnamese restaurant.

I always want to know how much of a particular spice or mixed spices I should use in any creation, so I always rely on the "serving suggestion" advice that is posted on most jars. True enough, there are the words clearly printed in English: Serving Suggestion.

Unfortunately, the suggestions are all in Vietnamese.

I may be a good cook, but I haven't gotten around to learning Vietnamese quite yet. Sadly, the wife hasn't yet either. She does trump me on foriegn languages though, as she CAN read, write and speak Spanish.

But, even Spanish fluency doesn't mean you can translate instructions printed in Vietnamese. Sorry, but we were out luck.

No matter. This is what guessing is for. The dinner is all about the fresh ingredients, not the green curry.

The greens in this fabulous bowl include a couple of bell peppers chopped into bite sized chunks, some very large bush beans (including a variety that is quickly becoming one of my favorites: Dragon's Tongue), some Bok Choy, freshly harvested basil and a GINORMOUS Asian Eggplant.

I'm normally not a huge fan of eggplant. I can take it or leave it on the vegetable front. I'm just not wild about it. BUT -- put some eggplant in a Thai or Vietnamese dish? Suddenly, I can't get enough of the stuff. There's something about eggplant drowning in a dish of green or red curry that brings out a special kind of taste.

To put it short and sweet, everything in last night's dinner was a favorite from the garden. Although the peppers are still probably another month away from peak production, the same cannot be said about the bush beans. These things grow overnight.

This is our first year growing bush beans. I've been told that they are not as productive as pole beans. But, whomever told me that must be a liar, because we suddenly have far more bush beans than we know what to do with. I'm almost afraid to go home tonight, because I might be attacked by a bush bean.

These things are prolific.

Although Venus would have no problem with a meatless stir-fry -- I still haven't reached that stage of vegetarian nirvana. I may never get there. And before you criticize, remember this: My diet once consisted of Western Bacon Cheeseburgers, french fries and a large coke -- supersized at that. So, believe me, I'm doing a lot better in my mid 40's with boneless, skinless, chicken breasts.

Meal prep is the hardest part of this creation. Once everything is chopped up and mixed, you can cook everything up with a nice side of rice in 15 minutes or less. And, yes, because we experimented with the green curry, the meal did come out a TAD HOT.

Just a tad though. Do you know what the nice thing about eating hot meals is? It takes awhile to eat. And you get full -- which means you wind up eating a lot less.

Not to worry though. This fresh-from-the-garden creation made for a tasty lunch the very next day.