When the calendar turns to the New Year, garden plans move to the front of my mind. I guess I just really don't like being cold. Incidentally, all this knitting has led me back to the wonderful warmth of wool. But regardless, I still look forward to morning sunbeams and green growth. My sage advice is simply this: if you own one square foot of yard, you should plant some culinary sage. Even in our wintry weather, I went outside a bit ago to get some sage for a recipe I'm making. My sage plant is still green and growing, although not full like it will be in summer. It is nice that some of the herbs are perennials here in my zone (USDA 5). One of the reasons I like this plant so much is because it is so green so early in the spring, and is the last plant to die back. And it has beautiful purple flowers, too! 
Last spring, I cut my sage to the ground in March. I can't believe I don't have a better picture of this but regardless, you get the point. (I also threw on some coffee grounds a la Grounds for Your Garden.)
And here's how it looked by late September. (Of course it looked a little healthier in mid summer but I neglected to get a picture of that.)
Once you have this lovely plant growing in your garden, you can use it in all sorts of delicious dishes. There really is no equivalent to fresh ingredients. Once I had a bunch of herbs growing in my garden, I had to look up recipes to use them. One of our favorite sage recipes is Caramelized Vidalia Onion and Potato Gratin with Fresh Sage (wow, that's a title) from Bobby Flay. Mmmmmm. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. These are so awesome, we actually call them Awesome Potatoes at our house. Just ask my sister; when she lived with us last summer, she found it quite amusing that a battle broke out when someone ate the rest of the Awesome Potatoes without announcing intent to the house. Actually, I'm making them now, and this is the reason I went out to get some fresh sage this afternoon. I thought I should tell you about fresh sage. But, I don't want to oversell it. You should just try it yourself.
Sage has never been one of the herbs I've kept on the deck, probably because I've never had many recipes that called for fresh sage. I might have to add that one this year.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I tried the link to your recipe--it's not working for me.
Thank you Stephanie, I corrected that!!
ReplyDeleteMy Sage never gets that big, I think it doesn't get enough sun or maybe it wants some coffee grounds :) I have already used all of mine and I miss it dearly. I love making sage/walnut pesto, yum!
ReplyDeleteMy poor sage is gone for this year. That recipe looks fabulous -- thanks for sharing the link!
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