Yup, its pretty nice. I still have beautiful green parsley and beautiful green arugula. Normally, both would probably be browned out by now, but with the freakishly warm weather, they're happy. I want to go outside in a little bit and see what I can harvest from the yard. Keepitlow, do you like tabbouleh. It's a great way to use quantities of parsley. The link has a good basic tabbouleh recipe. I'm not fond of a strong mint taste in this dish, so if I made this recipe, personally I'd cut the mint back to about 2 tablespoons, finely chopped. I personally would also up the parsley in this to about 2 cups, and mix in about 1/3 cup finely sliced or diced black olives. Here is a link that might be useful: Recipe

Everyones herbs look so nice. I like the natural unfussy look of herbs. I have a big ole rosemary growing next to the AC unit and dryer vent. Talk about an inhospitable place for a plant. I got it years ago from Home Depot. It looks like a bush. I use it alot in cooking. I have Mexican tarragon in my herb garden too. I love the little yellow flowers. Then there is rue. What beautiful little silver leaves. Both those are easy to grow. I have had them for years. I have no luck with chives. I have tried them in several places. So I use the tops of onions or bunching onions as I would chives. Still I would like to have some decent chives. If there is a secret to growing it I would like to know. Also no luck with nasturtiums. I think the seeds I used were old. Arugula seems very popular lately. I bought it once thinking I had spinach. What a surprise. Tasted like skunk. :( It is in a salad mix I planted and I pull it up when I see it. Lion's ear looks so neat. Anita gave me a clipping to root but it didn't make it. Is it easy to start from seed? Or where would be a place in Orlando that I could buy it?

I actually prefer the curly-leafed parsley, though I have the flat-leafed one as well. I find the flat-leafed one has a coarser flavour. Try some of these ideas in addition to all the others: Parsley Soup 125g fresh chopped parsley, stems included 30g flour 45g butter 1 onion 1 stalk of celery 1 litre stock pinch nutmeg 1/2 bay leaf Chop parsley, including stems. Melt butter, cook onion and celery for a few minutes. Sprinkle in flour and mix well. Pour on stock and bring slowly to the boil blending smoothly, add parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg and bay leaf. Simmer for 25 minutes. Serve as it is, or put through a blender. Parsley Sauce 150ml tahini 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed 150ml lemon juice 4 tablespoons water pinch salt 45g chopped parsley Beat the tahini until smooth. Add garlic, lemon juice, water and salt. The mixture should resemble a fairly thick cream add more water if necessary. Stir in parsley and serve with fried fish, grilled lamb or as a dip for raw vegetables. Parsley Jelly 100g parsley, chopped 1 cup apple, skins and cores included 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind 3 cups water sugar Place all ingredients except sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil, simmer for 30 minutes. Strain through a jelly bag overnight. Next day, measure the juice and return to the saucepan. Add 3/4 cup sugar for every cup of water. Then boil rapidly to setting point. Spoon into hot sterilised jars, cover until cool, then seal. Parsley Pesto 1 large bunch Italian parsley leaves 1-2 cloves garlic 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons olive oil Put all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Delicious served with chicken or fish. Crisp Parsley Tortillas 4 wholemeal tortillas, 20cm diameter 2 teaspoons dijon mustard 1 cup finely minced fresh parsley freshly grated Parmesan cheese Heat a well-seasoned cast-iron frypan over medium heat. (If the pan is not well-seasoned, paint on a little olive oil.) Meanwhile, spread the tortillas evenly with the mustard. Sprinkle on the parsley, then fold each tortilla in half. Reduce the heat under the frypan slightly and set 2 tortillas in the pan. Let them heat until lightly browned on the bottom (about 2 1/2 minutes), then flip and brown the other side. Repeat with the remaining tortillas. To serve, slice into wedges and sprinkle with Parmesan. I make an ordinary white sauce, add some chopped parsley, and serve it with a corned beef dinner or vegetables, especially new potatoes. When crumbing foods, such as chicken, dip into beaten egg, then lightly into some chopped parsley, then continue with more egg and the breadcrumbs. You can vary this by including some chopped chives or other herbs as well. Don't forget - the root of parsley is edible, too! It has a delicious taste reminiscent of parsnip/carrot/parsley. The best parsley for this is Hamburg Parsley, grown for its roots, though the leaves are edible too. I like it roasted whole.

Parsley with green seed pods? Maybe it's just a vocabulary issue but parsley really doesn't have pods per se. The seeds are formed where the umbrel (meaning umbrella-like) flower head was. If you know what dill seed heads look like, that is what the parsley seed heads should look similar to. I found a picture of parsley blooming for you: http://earlysnowdrop.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html The dry seeds are collected directly from the plant. Dill and the other flower/seed umbrel plants are some of the easiest ones to harvest seeds from. Save the seeds and plant them next spring. As far as the annuals, let them grow until they give up the ghost. Sometimes it is surprising how long they can hang on. If you are a new herb gardener, go to your local book store and look at the books they have on growing herbs. Find a book that resonates with you. It will help you immensely in planning, harvesting, and growing the plants in your garden. FataMorgana