In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

May 24

May 24 In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

At the most difficult moments of my life, when it seemed that every door was closed to me, the taste of those apricots comes back to comfort me with the notion that abundance is always within reach, if only one knows how to find it.
—Isabel Allende

In the midst of uncertainty this season, there is the certainty of an apricot crop this year. The vagaries of the weather—insufficient rain and chill—make for a meager crop some years. The prospects look good for this season.

Last week we harvested six pounds of apricots, most from the Gold Kist tree. We have three trees planted in a 4x4 foot raised bed and pruned as one tree. The Royal Rosa and Blenheim will come later. You can read more about this method at my post Fruitful Promises.

The kumquat tree is dripping with fruit. I grab a kumquat as I cross the patio for that unusual sweet-tart experience. Marmalade is ahead but I’ve waited for the lavender to bloom so I could make Lavender-Kumquat Shrub. I did that a few days ago.

This was my first experience making a shrub—kumquats, lavender, lemon juice, sugar and apple cider vinegar in this recipe. I will do a post on the shrub later this week. Mixed with sparkling water it’s very refreshing. The blog where I found the recipe says it best: “It all just tasted like flowers and Spring—a little sweet, a little zippy and very refreshing with ice and fizzy water.”

I was in a maker mood the last few days and after completing the shrub I made lavender lemonade, candied orange and lemon peels, oven dried orange slices, compound butter and orange granola.

Compound butter with orange zest and calendula petals. This was a last chance project since only about fifty navel oranges remain on the tree and the calendulas around the yard are going to seed.

Almost all of this recent dinner came from the garden: apricots frozen from last year’s crop, a small, late artichoke, lettuce and celery in a chicken caesar salad. A neighbor contributed her homemade sourdough bread which I used for croutons.

I’ll save the final harvests of beets, carrots, cabbage and kale for next week; last things as I finish the planting of the summer garden.

Who are you remembering on this Memorial Day?

You may enjoy seeing what other garden bloggers harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.

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