The Complete Kitchen Garden (preview)

The kitchen garden is enjoying a huge renaissance. Thousands of families have been inspired to dig up their backyards and plant vegetable gardens.

The Complete Kitchen Garden is a wide-ranging collection of garden designs and recipes for the home gardener and cook. Based on the seasonal cycles of the garden, each chapter provides a new way to look at the garden with themes and designs for “the salad lover’s garden,” “the heirloom maze garden,” “the children’s garden,” and “the organic rotation garden.” Recipes play an integral role and encompass a full range of soups, salads, maincourse savory dishes, and desserts, as well as condiments and garnish to dress up the plate.

When you cultivate a kitchen garden, you actively engage with your source of food, and integrate with your natural surroundings in a way that far surpasses the experience of purchasing food at the market. Growing your own food is truly the next logical step beyond “local.”

The Complete Kitchen Garden

ELLEN ECKER OGDEN is co-founder of The Cook’s Garden seed company, now owned by the Burpee seed catalog. She is the author of From the Cook’s Garden and the Vermont Cheese Book. Ellen has written articles for Country Living, Organic Gardening, EatingWell, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, and the Herb Companion. She lives in Manchester Village, Vermont.

THE COMPLETE KITCHEN GARDEN

By Ellen Ecker Ogden 50 full-color illustrations 240 pages, 7¼ x 9¼" Paperback ISBN 978-1-58479-856-9 U.S. $24.95 Can. $29.95 U.K. £16.99 Category: Gardening/Cooking Rights: World Pub month: March

To place an order: Please call your sales representative or Hachette Book Group at 800.759.0190 or fax 800.286.9471

115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.stcbooks.com

To inquire about publicity: Please call 212.519.1232 or fax 212.366.0809

PRINTED IN CHINA

AN INSPIRED COLLECTION OF GARDEN DESIGNS & 100 SEASONAL RECIPES

Ellen Ecker Ogden, co-founder of THE COOK’S GARDEN

CHAPTER TITLE + 1

Lesson One: Start with a clean canvas.

BUILD HEALTHY SOIL: Soil is one of the most

important components to a successful garden. Before you sow seeds or transplant seedlings, be sure that your soil is rich in nutrients, weed free, and raked smooth. It is your canvas for everything else in the garden. It is a living, breathing organism and provides the nourishment that allows roots, shoots, and fruits to mature. Most soils contain the basic elements that plants need to grow, but not always in the right proportions. A lot happens in the soil that we can’t even see. Understanding how all the elements work together in the soil will help you build a natural blend of nutrients that will reward your plants—and you—with good health.

Adding organic fertilizers, compost, peat, and other natural amendments requires the gardener to first take a close look at the texture and composition of the soil. Every region of the country has a different soil type, and learning about your own geography may help you understand what you are working with in your garden. The best garden soil is light and loamy, full of rich humus that gives it a certain structure—often not abundant in the soil that typically surrounds our gardens. Most soils already contain some humus, the result of accumulation from plants and animals that have lived and died there.

Soils are classified according to the size of their mineral particles, and will range from coarse gravel to fine gravel, coarse sand, fine sand, and silt. Squeeze a clump in your hand to get a sense of what your soil holds. If it crumbles easily or runs through your fingers, 2 + THE COMPLETE K I T C H E N G A R D E N

your soil may be sandy; if it holds together firmly, it may be clay. Each has its own attributes that will affect the growth of your plants. Sandy soil, for instance, warms up early in the spring, drains easily, and is aerated, so roots expand easily. Yet sandy soil has no capacity to hold moisture, which means that nutrients will leach out. If your soil is clay, it will hold water and nutrients but can easily become waterlogged; it is also cold, warming slowly in the spring. The ideal blend is sandy loam, which combines the lightness of sand with the nutrients of rich soil.

You can build your soil with many sources of organic matter: kitchen scraps, peat, leaf mold, aged manure, grass clippings, and even shredded paper will break down into compost. When aged compost is added to your kitchen garden, it will give your soil extra vigor and vitality, as well as encourage beneficial worms and microorganisms to flourish. Maintaining healthy soil is an ongoing process, so plan to add compost to your soil as often as you can, especially in the spring and the fall.

SOIL TESTS: Soil tests are optional for the

home gardener, but they are a good idea, for several reasons. A soil test is easy to do, and it will help you figure out what quantities of fertilizer and other soil amendments to add to fortify your plants for the growing season.

New gardens will especially benefit from testing topsoil for any heavy metal residuals and to make sure that the proportions of soil amendments are adequate for your crops.

You can buy soil test kits, though they are not as reliable as tests that are offered through your state’s USDA extension service.

GET TING STARTED WITH THE BASICS + 3

Lesson One: Start with a clean canvas.

BUILD HEALTHY SOIL: Soil is one of the most

important components to a successful garden. Before you sow seeds or transplant seedlings, be sure that your soil is rich in nutrients, weed free, and raked smooth. It is your canvas for everything else in the garden. It is a living, breathing organism and provides the nourishment that allows roots, shoots, and fruits to mature. Most soils contain the basic elements that plants need to grow, but not always in the right proportions. A lot happens in the soil that we can’t even see. Understanding how all the elements work together in the soil will help you build a natural blend of nutrients that will reward your plants—and you—with good health.

Adding organic fertilizers, compost, peat, and other natural amendments requires the gardener to first take a close look at the texture and composition of the soil. Every region of the country has a different soil type, and learning about your own geography may help you understand what you are working with in your garden. The best garden soil is light and loamy, full of rich humus that gives it a certain structure—often not abundant in the soil that typically surrounds our gardens. Most soils already contain some humus, the result of accumulation from plants and animals that have lived and died there.

Soils are classified according to the size of their mineral particles, and will range from coarse gravel to fine gravel, coarse sand, fine sand, and silt. Squeeze a clump in your hand to get a sense of what your soil holds. If it crumbles easily or runs through your fingers, 2 + THE COMPLETE K I T C H E N G A R D E N

your soil may be sandy; if it holds together firmly, it may be clay. Each has its own attributes that will affect the growth of your plants. Sandy soil, for instance, warms up early in the spring, drains easily, and is aerated, so roots expand easily. Yet sandy soil has no capacity to hold moisture, which means that nutrients will leach out. If your soil is clay, it will hold water and nutrients but can easily become waterlogged; it is also cold, warming slowly in the spring. The ideal blend is sandy loam, which combines the lightness of sand with the nutrients of rich soil.

You can build your soil with many sources of organic matter: kitchen scraps, peat, leaf mold, aged manure, grass clippings, and even shredded paper will break down into compost. When aged compost is added to your kitchen garden, it will give your soil extra vigor and vitality, as well as encourage beneficial worms and microorganisms to flourish. Maintaining healthy soil is an ongoing process, so plan to add compost to your soil as often as you can, especially in the spring and the fall.

SOIL TESTS: Soil tests are optional for the

home gardener, but they are a good idea, for several reasons. A soil test is easy to do, and it will help you figure out what quantities of fertilizer and other soil amendments to add to fortify your plants for the growing season.

New gardens will especially benefit from testing topsoil for any heavy metal residuals and to make sure that the proportions of soil amendments are adequate for your crops.

You can buy soil test kits, though they are not as reliable as tests that are offered through your state’s USDA extension service.

GET TING STARTED WITH THE BASICS + 3

Ten Tips for Growing a Salad Lover,s Garden 8

10

8

1 Consider the benefits of raised beds to

7

11 1

keep the beds tidy and neat. They can be as low as 6 inches or as tall as 3 feet, depending on your preference.

6 1

2 If you have a nearby hose, install a conve-

11

nient drip irrigation to provide a constant, steady flow of water during the season, which salad greens prefer. Lettuce and salad greens are 80 percent water, so be sure to keep the plants moist, as needed.

9

3

3 Greens love cool weather, so take ad2

5

4 10

7

vantage of the spring and fall seasons to plant a crop of greens. Prepare your garden with soil that is rich in nitrogen, which feeds and supports leafy green plants. Add compost or aged bagged manure as a good source of vitamin-rich nitrogen, and till into your soil with a garden fork before sowing seeds.

4 Most lettuce and salad greens will grow 4

Salad Lover,s Garden Plant List 1 Arugula

overall size: 24' x 24' 7 Lettuce: Looseleaf Mix and Mixed Head

2 Basil: Sweet Genovese, Red Rubin, and Lemon

8 Mache: Vit or Piedmont

3 Beet Greens: Bull’s Blood

9 Mesclun Mixes: Misticanza, Provencal, and Nicoise

4 Chervil 5 Claytonia 6 Cress: Wrinkled Crinkled Cress

4 + THE COMPLETE K I T C H E N G A R D E N

10 Parsley: Italian Flat Leaf 11 Purslane: Goldgelber

easily from seed, so plan to direct sow your seeds. Sow the seed 1/2 inch in the ground, tamp the soil, and mark the spot with a stick or plant tag. Plant successively every two weeks throughout the growing season.

5 Many greens are “cut-and-come-again,”

leaves to break up the mostly green hue of the lettuce.

7 Some greens grow fast; others, such as

mache, are slower to germinate, so be patient. The unique rounded, cup-shaped leaves of this mild-tasting green offer a striking contrast to a bowl of greens and are well worth the wait.

8 Flea beetles are one of the few pests that

affect salad greens (other than rabbits) and they can leave your greens with small holes. To prevent flea beetle damage, cover your greens immediately with a floating row cover or Reemay fabric after planting.

9 At the end of the season, plant a cover

crop of buckwheat or annual rye grass to keep building the nitrogen in your soil, essential for healthy greens.

10 Harvest salad greens with scissors, just

above the root line. For clean greens, harvest before a rainstorm to prevent splatter from soil. Salad spinners makes washing and drying greens easy, and then wrap the washed greens in a paper towel prior to serving to absorb excess moisture.

giving you several harvests from one sowing. Clip the leaves just above the roots.

Water well, and new greens will sprout for another salad in a few weeks.

6 Combine various shapes and colors to

add visual delight to a tasty salad. Plan to include spikes of color, and variegated THE SALAD LOVER’S GARDEN + 5

Ten Tips for Growing a Salad Lover,s Garden 8

10

8

1 Consider the benefits of raised beds to

7

11 1

keep the beds tidy and neat. They can be as low as 6 inches or as tall as 3 feet, depending on your preference.

6 1

2 If you have a nearby hose, install a conve-

11

nient drip irrigation to provide a constant, steady flow of water during the season, which salad greens prefer. Lettuce and salad greens are 80 percent water, so be sure to keep the plants moist, as needed.

9

3

3 Greens love cool weather, so take ad2

5

4 10

7

vantage of the spring and fall seasons to plant a crop of greens. Prepare your garden with soil that is rich in nitrogen, which feeds and supports leafy green plants. Add compost or aged bagged manure as a good source of vitamin-rich nitrogen, and till into your soil with a garden fork before sowing seeds.

4 Most lettuce and salad greens will grow 4

Salad Lover,s Garden Plant List 1 Arugula

overall size: 24' x 24' 7 Lettuce: Looseleaf Mix and Mixed Head

2 Basil: Sweet Genovese, Red Rubin, and Lemon

8 Mache: Vit or Piedmont

3 Beet Greens: Bull’s Blood

9 Mesclun Mixes: Misticanza, Provencal, and Nicoise

4 Chervil 5 Claytonia 6 Cress: Wrinkled Crinkled Cress

4 + THE COMPLETE K I T C H E N G A R D E N

10 Parsley: Italian Flat Leaf 11 Purslane: Goldgelber

easily from seed, so plan to direct sow your seeds. Sow the seed 1/2 inch in the ground, tamp the soil, and mark the spot with a stick or plant tag. Plant successively every two weeks throughout the growing season.

5 Many greens are “cut-and-come-again,”

leaves to break up the mostly green hue of the lettuce.

7 Some greens grow fast; others, such as

mache, are slower to germinate, so be patient. The unique rounded, cup-shaped leaves of this mild-tasting green offer a striking contrast to a bowl of greens and are well worth the wait.

8 Flea beetles are one of the few pests that

affect salad greens (other than rabbits) and they can leave your greens with small holes. To prevent flea beetle damage, cover your greens immediately with a floating row cover or Reemay fabric after planting.

9 At the end of the season, plant a cover

crop of buckwheat or annual rye grass to keep building the nitrogen in your soil, essential for healthy greens.

10 Harvest salad greens with scissors, just

above the root line. For clean greens, harvest before a rainstorm to prevent splatter from soil. Salad spinners makes washing and drying greens easy, and then wrap the washed greens in a paper towel prior to serving to absorb excess moisture.

giving you several harvests from one sowing. Clip the leaves just above the roots.

Water well, and new greens will sprout for another salad in a few weeks.

6 Combine various shapes and colors to

add visual delight to a tasty salad. Plan to include spikes of color, and variegated THE SALAD LOVER’S GARDEN + 5

FIRST COURSE

FIRST COURSE

Arugula and Mint Thai Soup

Rhubarb Streusel

Quick and light, this soup is simple to make and simply delicious. The recipe is for four servings, but you will easily see how the ingredients can be adjusted to turn this into a fast lunch for one.

The lemon and garlic add a zing that can be intensified with a splash of hot sauce or a grating of fresh ginger. Serves 4

Rhubarb, a reliable perennial, rewards the gardener with ample fruit from early spring until the end of strawberry season, and if you are especially lucky it can continue all summer. Especially good as a morning treat or with afternoon tea, this recipe balances the tart nature of rhubarb with a sweet crumb topping. To preserve rhubarb for winter use, simply remove the leaves, chop the stalks into 1-inch pieces, and freeze in self-sealing bags. Serves 10

1 cup Jasmine rice

6 spring radishes, julienned

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 scallions, finely chopped

4 ounces fresh crabmeat

8 spearmint leaves, cut into chiffonade

1 cup arugula (or watercress), torn into bite-size pieces

4 cups vegetable stock, heated to a simmer

1 medium carrot, finely shredded (about 1 cup)

Lemon gem marigolds, for garnish

1 Fill 4 soup bowls with boiled water to heat and set aside.

2 In a saucepan over medium heat, simmer 1 cup of Jasmine rice with 2 cups of water and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Toss the rice with the lemon zest and stir in the lemon juice. Set aside.

3 Meanwhile, simmer the crabmeat in water to cover until just tender, about 5 minutes.

Drain and break into bite-size chunks.

4 When ready to serve, pour the water from the soup bowls. Place a mound of the rice in each bowl and add equal quantities of crabmeat, arugula, carrots, radishes, and scallions. Ladle the stock into each bowl, and add the herb leaves. Garnish with a single lemon gem marigold and serve immediately.

1 ¼ cups milk *

1 large egg

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

¼ cup plain yogurt

2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3 cups rhubarb, leaves removed, sliced ½ inch thick

1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon sea salt 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1¼ cups packed light or dark brown sugar

½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar ½ cup old fashioned rolled oats 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch baking pan, tapping out the excess flour.

2 Combine the milk and vinegar and let stand until the milk curdles, about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt to combine.

3 In the medium bowl of an electric blender,

cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat

6 + THE COMPLETE K I T C H E N G A R D E N

TOPPING

in the eggs and the yogurt. Gradually add the milk and flour mixtures in alternation until both are incorporated. Fold in the rhubarb to blend. Spread the batter evenly in the pan.

4 In a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the batter.

5 Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Cool the pan

on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

THE RECIPES + 7

FIRST COURSE

FIRST COURSE

Arugula and Mint Thai Soup

Rhubarb Streusel

Quick and light, this soup is simple to make and simply delicious. The recipe is for four servings, but you will easily see how the ingredients can be adjusted to turn this into a fast lunch for one.

The lemon and garlic add a zing that can be intensified with a splash of hot sauce or a grating of fresh ginger. Serves 4

Rhubarb, a reliable perennial, rewards the gardener with ample fruit from early spring until the end of strawberry season, and if you are especially lucky it can continue all summer. Especially good as a morning treat or with afternoon tea, this recipe balances the tart nature of rhubarb with a sweet crumb topping. To preserve rhubarb for winter use, simply remove the leaves, chop the stalks into 1-inch pieces, and freeze in self-sealing bags. Serves 10

1 cup Jasmine rice

6 spring radishes, julienned

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 scallions, finely chopped

4 ounces fresh crabmeat

8 spearmint leaves, cut into chiffonade

1 cup arugula (or watercress), torn into bite-size pieces

4 cups vegetable stock, heated to a simmer

1 medium carrot, finely shredded (about 1 cup)

Lemon gem marigolds, for garnish

1 Fill 4 soup bowls with boiled water to heat and set aside.

2 In a saucepan over medium heat, simmer 1 cup of Jasmine rice with 2 cups of water and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Toss the rice with the lemon zest and stir in the lemon juice. Set aside.

3 Meanwhile, simmer the crabmeat in water to cover until just tender, about 5 minutes.

Drain and break into bite-size chunks.

4 When ready to serve, pour the water from the soup bowls. Place a mound of the rice in each bowl and add equal quantities of crabmeat, arugula, carrots, radishes, and scallions. Ladle the stock into each bowl, and add the herb leaves. Garnish with a single lemon gem marigold and serve immediately.

1 ¼ cups milk *

1 large egg

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

¼ cup plain yogurt

2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3 cups rhubarb, leaves removed, sliced ½ inch thick

1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon sea salt 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1¼ cups packed light or dark brown sugar

½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar ½ cup old fashioned rolled oats 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch baking pan, tapping out the excess flour.

2 Combine the milk and vinegar and let stand until the milk curdles, about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt to combine.

3 In the medium bowl of an electric blender,

cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat

6 + THE COMPLETE K I T C H E N G A R D E N

TOPPING

in the eggs and the yogurt. Gradually add the milk and flour mixtures in alternation until both are incorporated. Fold in the rhubarb to blend. Spread the batter evenly in the pan.

4 In a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the batter.

5 Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Cool the pan

on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

THE RECIPES + 7

Rotation Garden

8 + THE COMPLETE K I T C H E N G A R D E N

The kitchen garden is enjoying a huge renaissance. Thousands of families have been inspired to dig up their backyards and plant vegetable gardens.

The Complete Kitchen Garden is a wide-ranging collection of garden designs and recipes for the home gardener and cook. Based on the seasonal cycles of the garden, each chapter provides a new way to look at the garden with themes and designs for “the salad lover’s garden,” “the heirloom maze garden,” “the children’s garden,” and “the organic rotation garden.” Recipes play an integral role and encompass a full range of soups, salads, maincourse savory dishes, and desserts, as well as condiments and garnish to dress up the plate.

When you cultivate a kitchen garden, you actively engage with your source of food, and integrate with your natural surroundings in a way that far surpasses the experience of purchasing food at the market. Growing your own food is truly the next logical step beyond “local.”

The Complete Kitchen Garden

ELLEN ECKER OGDEN is co-founder of The Cook’s Garden seed company, now owned by the Burpee seed catalog. She is the author of From the Cook’s Garden and the Vermont Cheese Book. Ellen has written articles for Country Living, Organic Gardening, EatingWell, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, and the Herb Companion. She lives in Manchester Village, Vermont.

THE COMPLETE KITCHEN GARDEN

By Ellen Ecker Ogden 50 full-color illustrations 240 pages, 7¼ x 9¼" Paperback ISBN 978-1-58479-856-9 U.S. $24.95 Can. $29.95 U.K. £16.99 Category: Gardening/Cooking Rights: World Pub month: March

To place an order: Please call your sales representative or Hachette Book Group at 800.759.0190 or fax 800.286.9471

115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.stcbooks.com

To inquire about publicity: Please call 212.519.1232 or fax 212.366.0809

PRINTED IN CHINA

AN INSPIRED COLLECTION OF GARDEN DESIGNS & 100 SEASONAL RECIPES

Ellen Ecker Ogden, co-founder of THE COOK’S GARDEN