lettuce Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

Delicious garden kale — it’s what’s for dinner

While I was out in the garden this morning figuring out what to do about the impending freeze and miserable weather, I decided to bring in some things from the veggie garden for dinner tonight.

I covered a few things – the lettuce and the chard that I just planted.

I brought in some parsley and sage and lettuce and the whole head of red Russian kale. (Kind of liked thinking of the punitive theme for the Russian in my garden.)

Isn’t it just gorgeous? I admit, I plant this one year after year because of its colors. I looks beautiful in the garden. The red colors disappear when you cook it, though.

I sauteed a little bit of onion with a smidge of bacon drippings and then just steamed the still-wet leaves after cleaning. They cooked for about an hour on low heat with the lid closed. I seasoned them with truffle sea salt, pepper, a little poultry seasoning and a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar upon serving. Delish!

Oh – and notice my pretty new ceramic olive oil bottle and spoon rest – birthday gifts from my Mom and Dad. It was all color coordinated on the stove tonight!

What are you eating out of your veggie garden right now? Any kale on the menu?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:27-05:00March 2nd, 2014|Blog, kale, lettuce, parsley, Red Russian kale, sage, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden, vegetables, veggies, winter vegetables|0 Comments

Shopping for veggies for the spring garden…

A quick trip to The Natural Gardener today yielded a treasure trove of goodies for the spring garden.

I went in search of three little things: potatoes, sulfur and seed starter mix.

But I came home with so much more, including:

a few magazines,
a decorative hanging bell with a cord of glistening glass beads,
a fairy garden turtle on a leaf for my daughter, who recently asked if she could have a turtle,
seeds,
strawberries,
beets,
lettuce,
cauliflower,
spinach,
chard,
daikon radishes,
all blue and red pontiac potatoes,
sulfur,
and my friend Amy Stewart’s book, Wicked Plants.

I got it all into the car and then realized I had forgotten the seed starter mix. It’s funny how a trip to the nursery can turn your world upside down and make you forget things. I ran back in and grabbed a bag.

Now it’s time to get busy planting!

By Diana C. Kirby|2019-07-15T19:14:41-05:00February 9th, 2014|beets, Blog, books, chard, lettuce, magazines, nursery, Sharing Nature's Garden, spinach, spring vegetables, vegetable garden, vegetables|0 Comments

A bowl full of love…

We are so enjoying our variety of lettuce and greens from the garden. We had salad this weekend with Sweet Mixed Greens, Oak Leaf Lettuce, Watercress, Parsley and radishes from the garden.

Also growing in the veggie garden right now:

Sweet 1015 Onions
Strawberries (blooming, no less!)
Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Flat leaf & Curly Parsley
Cilantro
Green Cabbage
Daikon Radishes
Beets
Carrot and Leek seeds have been planted — (I hope they are growing. We’ve had warm enough days and some rain coming today — maybe we will see some growth next week – cross your fingers for me.)

This weekend I also planted seeds to start inside the greenhouse – tomatoes, lima beans, peppers, lemon grass – are all sitting on a heat mat keeping them toasty warm. I’ve really missed the ‘get-them-started-early’ boat, but they will still be fun to have grown from seed myself.

It’s gray and very foggy here with storms forecast for later in the day. No gardening today, but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and…are you sitting down? 78F. So I’ll work at school today and do some paperwork at home, paying my dues for what I hope to be a glorious day tomorrow.

Have a great Monday.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:42:34-05:00March 8th, 2010|Blog, carrots, leeks, lettuce, seeds, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Foliage follow-up footage!

I do have some fun foliage in the garden right now. Thanks to Pam, at Digging, who has invited us to share our foliage fotos on the day after bloom day. This season, it helps make up for the lack of blooms in the winter garden. Above is some thriving lettuce that I will soon be picking in the vegetable garden.
The brilliant red and bronze leaves of my strawberry plants is almost as pretty as the little white blooms that precede the delicious fruit.
When these leaves unfurl, I hopt o have a nice little cabbage to cook — stuffed cabbage leaves anyone?
This delicate little foliage is from the mass of passalong Larkspur shared with me last year by MSS of Zanthan Gardens that is coming back for performance number two.
These delicate little leaves belong to my Katy Road Rose, who is ready to shed her winter wear and put on her Spring finery.

A few little buds here and there, and lots of little leaves sprouting…spring will be here before we know it!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:34-06:00February 16th, 2010|Blog, cabbage, FF, Katy Road rose, larkspur, lettuce, Sharing Nature's Garden, strawberries|0 Comments

Sunny Sunday

It was a beautiful day yesterday, and amid watching 3 kids (they were on the playscape totally entertaining themselves for 3 hours!), I got a LOT done in the garden.

First, I amended the soil with compost and planted two rows of lettuce – some sweet Mesclun mix and another Green leaf, and a nice clump of Cilantro.

The strawberries are growing like crazy – that’s what’s covering the ground on that whole corner of the bed and flowing out into the path. See the 1 little orange Nasturtium bloom on the left?

So sad. My basil tree succumbed to winds this week and split and broke. I cut off some stems, but these are still alive, so I will leave them until I can have a mega-pesto making day. Pesto anyone? We’re not such big fans, so I’d be happy to share!

And here I planted 3 leeks and some parsley.