I would love my kitchen garden to be a true French potager. A pleasing and productive assortment of herbs, vegetables and flowers artfully arranged. A place where the paint box is as much at home as trowels and shears. It’s more prosaic than that but plenty productive. From now until the killing frosts of fall, I can rely on the kitchen garden for a handful of this or that, enough for a meal or at least the main feature of one. I typically plant a few varieties of each vegetable or herb. Some are trials for our larger farm, and some are just a local experiment. I discovered yellow snow peas from India a few years ago and they’re now a staple. I added a prolific types of snap pea this year, and a darling dwarf shelling pea. I have ten varieties of basil that I bought as small plants. As they are ready to transplant into the garden when the nights become warm, I pinch them back and toss a handful into wholewheat (or buckwheat) linguine lightened by long threads of zucchini and garnished with blanched peas. All it needs is a spoonful of aromatic olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Spring in a bowl.

Categories: Herbs, Pasta, Peas