We got a single strawberry too, which is a good thing.  These are June bearing strawberries and so we should only get them in June, but a few pop out later and they’re not being eaten by birds – hopefully because of our killer plastic owl.

I have included a bunch of photos from last night below.

So, I’ll focus on the spices since I’m basically plucking leaves off them and I don’t want to kill anything.  My oregano says that it’s perrenial (that means it’s going to come back alive all by itself next spring for free – pretty cool huh?).  I looked around to find out about how to harvest it and found this page about that.  Here are a few highlights about oregano:

• Oregano can reach a height of 30″, but usually grows between 8-12″, especially if you are harvesting regularly. Plants will spread about 18″ and will send out runners.
• As with most herbs, oregano leaves taste best before the plant flowers. You can begin harvesting when plants have reached 4-5 inches in height. Cutting stems all the way back to the ground will encourage more stems and a fuller plant.  The stems tend to get woody and the easiest way to strip the leaves is to hold the stem by the top, uncut end and run your finger down the stem.
• The flowers should be pinched to keep the plants bushy and prevent them bolting to seed.
• Divide plants when the centers begin to die out or the stems become too woody. You can also divide plants simply to make more plants.
• Oregano may need some winter protection in Zones 5 and lower. Covering the plants with an evergreen bough, after the ground has frozen, will protect them from wind damage.  [Uh, which zone is Utah County in?]
• Once the plant has reached 4-5″, sprigs can be taken. Harvesting before the plant blooms will yield the most flavorful leaves. Levels of essential oils diminish as the flowers begin to develop.
• It’s the leaves that are used for flavoring foods. They retain their flavor better in hot dishes if added toward the end of cooking. Heating too long results in bitterness. Dried oregano has a stronger taste than fresh.

Then there’s this page about Oregano.  Some highlights from that page follow:

• If you cook Italian food at home, you probably keep a good supply of oregano on hand. But once you’ve tasted oregano you’ve grown yourself, those tiny jars on the supermarket shelves will never look the same again.
• Pick individual oregano leaves to use fresh throughout the growing season.
• Harvest larger amounts by cutting back the entire oregano plant three times during the season: first when the plant is about 6 inches tall, again just before it starts to flower, and a third time in late summer.  [The ENTIRE plant?  Probably not to the ground, right?]
• Store fresh oregano in plastic bags in the refrigerator.
• Freeze oregano to retain the most flavor and aroma. Freeze entire branches on cookie sheets, then strip the leaves from the stems and put them back into the freezer in plastic containers. Or mix finely chopped oregano leaves with just enough olive oil or butter to bind them together, and freeze the mixture in ice cube trays.
• Dry oregano by cutting entire stalks from the plant and hanging them in a warm, dry, well-ventilated spot. Store dried oregano leaves in an airtight jar.
• Pick oregano in the morning after the dew has dried on the leaves but before the sun’s heat can dissipate the volatile oils that give the plant its distinctive flavor and aroma.
• Though frozen oregano tastes much better than the dried form, it is limp and unattractive. Use it in stews, casseroles and other dishes when taste matters more than appearance.

One more page about Oregano.  Highlights:

• You can begin harvesting oregano when the plant is about 8 inches high. The flavor is most intense just before the plant blooms. Frequent harvests will produce a bushier plant and keeps foliage succulent. In fact, it’s a good idea to cut plants back to about 6 inches at least twice during the growing season, leaving ample growth in fall to sustain the plant through winter.
• I’ve used both fresh and dried leaves in foods, and this is one herb that I usually prefer dried. Many chefs would agree. “Drying deepens the flavor and mellows it, so it’s not as bitter,” says Mark Carter, proprietor of the Carter House Inn and Restaurant 301 in Eureka, California. Cut oregano in the morning, after the dew has dried. Hang it in small bunches upside down, or lay it on screens in a warm, dry place. Once the oregano has dried (the leaves will be crisp), remove the leaves from the stems and store them, whole, in a glass container. To preserve the essential oils, wait until just before using them to chop or crush them.

Ok, now for Basil.  My mom says I just pop off the top inch or so of the main stem, leaves and all.  Here’s a good page.  Highlights:

• Prior to transplanting them you should try nipping off the end growth of each branch. The plant should have at least 3 sets of leaves at this point, and be at least 1 foot tall, to ensure that you are not going to kill the plant. The general recommendation though is that you wait until they have 4 to 6 sets of leaves so that the plant will flourish for a longer period of time. For the first pruning you should cut the plant right above the second set of leaves. This needs to be done every 3 weeks or so, to see a significant growth. If you do this correctly every time then you should be able to produce 15 – 24 cups of basil per plant per season.
• Some people choose to harvest more frequently, with less cutting. It is less dramatic than if you only harvest every 3 weeks because you are only cutting the top set of leaves. It will lessen the amount of basil you have to use at that time, but you will be harvesting every week so it tends to produce the same amount over the long run.
• Typically the best time to harvest the basil is in the morning. It should be right after the morning dew and before the heat of the afternoon. The essential oils are at their strongest, giving more of a robust flavor to the basil. The night before you harvest your basil, you should water down the plant thoroughly to ensure that all the dust and particles have been washed off.
• You will know when the end of the plant life is near with the flowering of the buds. You can keep harvesting by cutting off the buds before they bloom, but many think that this takes away from the beauty of the plant.
• Basil is one of the most delicious herbs, with robust flavor and a taste that fits into most dinner recipes. You want to have it on hand for when you are cooking, but have the store bought dry basil can be a letdown, especially if you are used to eating fresh basil. That is why when you grow your basil, make sure to grow enough in order to store it yourself. Storing basil is a very easy process if you learn how to do it correctly.
• Storing basil in the refrigerator isn’t a long-term solution but if you plan on using it soon, you should place it in a glass of water, cover it with a plastic bag, and it will keep for a week. Drying the basil is something that you can do if you need it for up to a year. You can place it in bundles to let dry or try the oven method, although even at 85 to 90 degrees the basil loses essential oils and flavoring. Once the basil is dried thoroughly, you can store it in airtight containers, placed away from the heat and light. After a year the basil will lose almost all its complexity and flavor, so make sure this is something you do yearly.
• Freezing is the preferred method of storing basil. You can place 1 teaspoon of basil in an ice cube, or just take the leaves and put them in a zip-lock bag for very easy storage. This will keep them fresh for at least a year. Most people prefer the frozen oil concentrates, which consists of adding basil to oil, just so that it covers the leaves and use your food processor to mix it up. This gives it a thicker consistency, but it is simple to freeze. When you are ready to use it, take some out of the bag you have it in and put it into your mix. This is the best way to preserve basil for dressings and pesto. Depending on your time frame for using the basil, all of these methods are wonderful for enjoying the fresh taste of basil year round.

And Cilantro:

• Cilantro is a popular, short lived herb. If you wish to increase the life span of cilantro, harvesting it regularly will help greatly.
• When it comes to cilantro, harvesting is relatively easy. All that is required is cutting cilantro plants about 1/3 of the way down. The top 1/3 is what you will use to cook with and the bottom 2/3 will grow new leaves.
• You should be harvesting cilantro about once a week. If the plant is growing well, you can harvest more often than this. Either way, you will need to harvest the cilantro at least once a week to help stave off bolting. After harvesting the cilantro, if you are not able to cook with it immediately, you can freeze the cuttings until you are ready to cook with them.  [Note about "bolting" from the same website: Most plants bolt due to hot weather. When the ground temperature goes above a certain temperature, this flips a switch in the plant to produce flowers and seeds very rapidly and to abandon leaf growth almost completely. Bolting is a survival mechanism in a plant. If the weather get to be above where the plant will survive, it will try to produce the next generation (seeds) as quickly as possible.  Once a plant has fully bolted, the plant is normally inedible. The plant’s entire energy reserve is focused on producing the seeds, so the rest of the plant tends to become tough and woody as well as tasteless or even bitter.  Occasionally, if you catch a plant in the very early stages of bolting, you can temporarily reverse the process of bolting by snipping off the flowers and flower buds. In some plants, like basil, the plant will resume producing leaves and will stop bolting. In many plants though, such as broccoli and lettuce, this step only allows you some extra time to harvest the crop before it becomes inedible.]
• When cutting the cilantro stem, make sure that you are using sharp, clean shears or scissors. Leave a few leaves on the intact stem so that the plant will still be able to generate food for itself.

Ok, well it looks like I have a lot of work to do tomorrow morning since I haven’t been harvesting my spices up to this point.

I am seeing a few tiny things that might be peppers on some of the pepper plants – probably the red hot peppers, I can’t remember.  I saw a tiny tomato on one of the plants and put up the four tomato cages that I have.  I will have to go buy four more and then figure out how to tie them together to keep them all steady.  The tomatoes seem to be more healthy.  The peppers seem to be doing ok but the anaheims might need more sun – they seem a little weaker than the others.  The red hots seem to be strong and healthy but smaller than the others, which is probably how it’s supposed to be since the peppers are also smaller and more concentrated in their hotness.

The yellow onions are coming out but slowly and at a lower percentage than I thought they would.  The green onions are also slow but a little higher percentage than the yellows.  These are last year’s seeds so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it – they did come out late last year too but they came up at a higher percentage though.

I extracted yet another handful of mushrooms.  That would be fine if I had planted mushrooms but I haven’t.  I see some in the lawn as well so they may have come from spores from the lawn.  I’m going to put lawn fungicide on the lawn and I’ll look into if there’s such a thing for gardens or not.

The peas are out of control.  They’re laying down over the beans so I may need to get a pole and string up that they can lean on or something.

The carrots seem to be doing fine except a smaller percentage of them are coming up than the other carrots I planted last year.  I need to figure out when I am supposed to harvest them.  They’re supposed to be sweeter and smaller like the ones we buy at the store.

The garlic seems really strong and the basil smells very good.  The oregano and cilantro also seem to be doing well.  My mom said I can just bust off a bit of the top of the basil to harvest it and it will keep growing back through the season.  I’ll try that out.  I don’t know if basil is perrenial.  The oregano says it is but I don’t know how to harvest it so I’ll go research that.  I think I’m supposed to harvest the garlic when its leaves turn brown and I’m supposed to hang it up or something.  I guess I can just clip the cilantro off but I’m not sure about that and I’m not sure if it will grow back or if it’s perennial either.  Looks like I have some research to do.

I applied miracle grow yesterday for the first time in about a week or so, mainly to the salsa garden since that garden seemed a little less fertile than the new dirt was.  Next year I’ll have to use more compost (nutri-mulch) in the boxes to replace the soil nutrients.  Maybe I can ask the square foot gardening guy about that.  By the way, he has an official website here.  I haven’t checked out his site much so I’ll have to do that and see if some of my questions are answered there.  I also need to get some photos and put them up here soon.