Three weeks ago John and I planted a vegetable garden in the planter on our back deck. Each week since then, I have photographed the progress to post on our blog. To read about our previous weeks with the garden, and to pick up a couple recipes, refer to my articles; Vegetable Garden-Week 1 & Vegetable Garden-Week 2.

This week was a tough one. It has rained almost every day here on Cape Cod and yesterday the wind was extremely rough. As a result, my garden is a bit damaged. The orange ‘dreamsicle’ flowers are crushed against the side of the wooden planter and all of my herbs and veggies are covered in mud and debris (dead leaves, blossoms from our Wisteria in the trees overhead, sticks, etc). The soil has been wet for a week straight and my plants are looking very fragile and sickly. I think they need sun, lots of it.

On the bright side, my garlic is growing like a weed! Some of them are almost a foot tall now (compared to 4-6 inches last week). Also, the lettuce, radishes and carrots I planted from seed are growing quickly and filling in the bare spots in the soil. It is starting to look like a real garden.

A few of my herbs are getting bushy; parsley, thyme, lemon thyme and rosemary. Over the next couple weeks I’ll be posting recipes for each with my garden update. Today’s recipe is for rosemary. Do you think I’m about to give you a recipe for the standard Rosemary Chicken? Think again. I’m a pastry chef remember…

Rosemary Lemon Shortbread Cookies

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cups granulated sugar

2 TBSP fresh rosemary, chopped

2 3/4 cups All-purpose flour

1 TBSP lemon zest

1/4 tsp sea salt

1. In your KitchenAid mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I usually start it mixing and let it go for about 10 minutes while I get all my other ingredients measured out. The fluffier the butter, the nicer the cookie texture.

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, rosemary, lemon zest and salt.  Add to butter mixture and mix just until incorporated. Don’t over-mix it.

3. Cover dough and chill one hour (or overnight).

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

5. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters. Line on cookie sheets about an inch apart.

6. Bake for 8 minutes. Cookies will still be pale in the center, and slightly golden on the edges. Don’t over-bake.

This is a recipe that gets better with age. Try the cookies after two days (if you can stay away that long). For an added twist, try substituting fresh lavender for the rosemary. Lavender Lemon Shortbread Cookies are a real treat!

Check back next week for more updates. Happy Baking!

-Amy Stevens Adams of Cape Cod Branding

I love cooking with tomatoes and have always wanted to grow them in my own garden. I am by no means a gardener and am just now beginning to find my way around the yard, literally. My dad is the opposite. He knows everything about every plant, can grow anything, and loves the time he spends out in my parents’ massive (7 acre) property; tending to his fruit trees, vegetable garden, pond, rose bushes, asparagus patch, bamboo, and tons of various flowers. He has a very green thumb that I never inherited. Over the years I’ve called him for advice when I’ve noticed some poor houseplant of mine (usually ivy) is on it’s last legs.  This year my call was different. I needed advice on a ‘real’ garden. My first question was how to grow tomatoes. He told me that while tomatoes are relatively easy to grow, they do have their share of issues; pests and animals will want to snack on them, and I’d have to string them up to keep them out of the dirt. However, he told me, “you can hang them”.

Hanging tomatoes upside down from a planter solves many of their problems, and also looks cool. I rushed out to pick up the few simple supplies I’d need.

1. Hanging planter (Mine is about 16″ in diameter and lined in moss)

2. Potting soil (I’m using Coast of Maine. Great stuff)

3. Tomato plants (I bought 5 of them, 2 Cherry Tomatoes and 3 Vine Tomatoes)

4. Basil plants to plant on the top (This can be any herb or flower you want)

Once back home I filled the planter with soil and began by figuring out where I’d want my tomatoes to hang. Because my planter hangs against the house, I didn’t want to plant along the backside where there wouldn’t be sun exposure. So I marked off 5 spots on the front half of the planter (down on the sides where the moss shows through the metalwork, refer to photo above) and I used a pair of scissors to make holes the size of quarters. From there, I took each tomato plant out of it’s little plastic square box and shook off most of the dirt from it’s roots and literally shoved the roots through each hole and into the soil on the inside of the planter. I made sure the plants where securely in the holes by pushing them in about 3 inches (some tomato plants will need to have a couple low leaves removed to do this). Now I had tomatoes plants hanging upside down around the side of the hanging planter. Next I planted my basil on the top of the planter just like you normally would plant.

The tomatoes will continue to grow down and as the fruit grows it will weigh it down. This will allow the tomatoes to hang freely without having to sit in the dirt or risk be eaten by deer or rabbits. As they ripen, just pluck them off.  I’ll post updates and new pictures every couple of weeks. Feel free to post any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.

-Amy Stevens Adams of Cape Cod Branding

Two weeks ago, John and I planted a vegetable garden on our back deck, with the help of our container gardener, Fiona. Every week I’m snapping pics of the garden so I can document the progress. It has been a very rainy couple of weeks here on Cape Cod and everything in our yard has been growing like crazy, garden included. The planter is filling in nicely and I’m excited to think I’ll have some veggies in just a few more weeks. If you’d like to track our garden along with us, you can see the initial photos, a list of what was planted and info about our gardener, Fiona by reading John’s post, “The Container Gardener”.

This week, the biggest change was the garlic. It hadn’t even begun to sprout last week, and now it is 4-6 inches tall! Very cool.

In the middle of the garden are half-moon rows of basil, lettuces (bibb, mesclun mix and romaine) and carrots and radishes. They are all sprouting up and will soon fill in the garden.

Here is my rose bush on the bedroom side of the deck.

One of the most important things I planted was Chives. We eat them in almost anything I make with potatoes; baked potatoes, loaded mashed, potato salad, etc. This week I made my mom’s recipe for potato salad for the first time this season (I think of it as a summer dish, although it is certainly good year-round) and filled it up with fresh chives from the garden. The chives were one of the herbs I bought already grown so it has been ready since day one, but continues to grow and fill-in. I sniped off several straws of it to chop up for the salad.

Here is the recipe;

Potato Salad

2 lbs Red Bliss potatoes, boiled

3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley

2 TBSP chopped fresh chives or scallions

1TBSP unseasoned rice wine vinegar

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/4 tsp each salt & pepper

Slice the boiled potatoes into 1/4″ thick rounds.  Allow potatoes to cool in a large bowl. Combine all other ingredients into a dressing, and toss lightly with potatoes. Check seasoning and chill until ready to serve.

Since there are only two of us that I cook for, I have a couple hints for the recipe. I make the dressing ahead (with just the mayo, lemon juice, vinegar and salt & pepper) and store it in a container in the fridge. Then when I make the salad, I just boil two small potatoes, slice them, shock them in ice water to cool them then add the parsley and chives and mix in a couple spoonfuls of the pre-made dressing. This way I can make fresh potato salad for lunch without it taking too long.

To read last week’s tip on how to dry fresh herbs and store them for winter use, read my article, “Vegetable Garden-Week 1″.

Check back weekly for more updates, pictures and recipes!

-Amy Stevens Adams of Cape Cod Branding