This works great with other herbs too.Native to Japan, Korea, and China, Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum) include a rich variety of deciduous shrubs or small trees with graceful habits, elegantly cut leaves, and extraordinarily colorful foliage, particularly in the fall when the leaves turn shades of golden-yellow, red-purple and bronze, before shedding to the ground. I toss this in the freezer and then just slice off a bit of parsley whenever I need it. I push all the parsley as far down to the bottom of the bag as possible, roll the bag into a cylindrical shape, and secure it with a couple of rubber bands. We usually eat all the cherry tomatoes and peppers that we grow, but with the parsley, I snip it off and stuff it into a plastic freezer bag. The fifth bed will hold cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, parsley, and marigolds again for some pest protection. At the other end of the bed I’m planting green beans, cabbage and some nasturtiums for added pest control (and a dose of pretty)! Raised Bed #5: Tomatoes, Peppers, Parsley, Marigolds In the fourth bed, I’m putting carrots, green onion, and broccoli on one end. Raised Bed #4: Carrots, Green Onion, Broccoli, Green Beans, Cabbage, Nasturtiums Once frozen, the patties will lift easily off the parchment paper and can be stored in freezer bags for use all year long. I then scoop the blended pesto onto a parchment covered baking sheet in hamburger patty shaped portions and slip the whole thing in the freezer. My favorite way to keep pesto on hand is to make big batches in the summer, both traditional basil pesto, kale pesto, and spinach pesto. I will probably go heavy on the basil here, as my freezer is almost out of pesto. We’re putting just a few strawberry plants back in one of our raised beds, along with some herbs like cilantro, dill, tarragon, and basil. Usually they produce well for a couple of years, and then the yield begins to dwindle. We have grown strawberries in a few different areas on our property over the past decade, but last year we pulled out our remaining strawberry plants, as they were not producing very well. My advice is to plant what you like to eat! Raised bed #3: Strawberries, Cilantro, Basil Pickled beets are one of my favorite salad additions, and beets at the top of my favorite roasted veggies, so they are a must for my garden. I especially like kale in smoothies with honeydew melon. We don’t typically eat all the kale we grow, but I blanch and freeze it and add it to soups and smoothies all winter. Basically this one is the foundation for my salad bar. My second bed contains kale, spinach, and a few lettuce varieties, as well as radish, beets, and onion. Raised Bed #2: Greens, Radish, Beets, Onion They provide cheerful pops of color, with the added benefit of attracting valuable insects and repelling pests. Most years I plant marigolds in a flower bed, but have not put them in my raised beds with vegetables. I am also planning to put marigolds in this bed. Cucumbers and peas are great companion plants growing them together will result in decreased pests and disease. Since we already have stakes and string set up in this bed for the peas, I am going to add a small vertical trellis for cucumbers at the end of this bed. Sugar snap peas and snow peas are a kid favorite around here.
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