Plant Babies

People flocked to Wallingford this weekend, and for a good reason: The Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sale. Thousands upon thousands of enticing edible garden starts took over the park at the Good Shepard Center and were sold off to start their lives in gardens across Seattle. I volunteered at the event as a 'Line Wrangler' and watched people fill their strollers and wagons full of plant starts.  There was no way I could resist, and here are the little beauties I brought home with me.

An adorable 'Fish Pepper'. An heirloom variety hot pepper, given its name because of its use in seafood restaurants in Baltimore and Philadelphia in the early 1900's.

A Sungold and Jaune Flammee tomato basking in a 30-second sun break - the only one of the day. I am especially excited for the Jaune Flammee, it will produce medium sized golden orange tomatoes with a delicious flavor.

The Lemongrass plant is new to me, but I am looking forward to fresh Thai curries this summer.

I hope this curvaceous basil leaf will be the first of many to grow.

There are a few more baby plants I have sitting in my windowsills, but I will have to wait a bit longer to set them loose in the wilds of my backyard (it is so cold and windy out!). Below though is a glimpse of what is to come for me this week with the cold keeping up. Those are mushrooms taking a bath in some browned butter for a dinner I made for my wonderful buddy last week. I have oysters and morels I picked up at the market this weekend who are more than anxious to take a dip, I am sure.