It’s too late in the season to plant fava beans.  In fact, I’m starting to remove my old plants. But, if you have them in your garden, and are enjoying them now, check out these recipes from the Huffington Post. 

Not among the recipes in the link, but a recipe I discovered (and LOVE!) is a dish for Moroccan-style fava beans.  It’s a simple dish that requires half the prep time of other fava bean recipes because you don’t need to peel the skin off of the individual beans. 

Moroccan Fava Beans 

1 pound of fava beans, removed from pods, leave beans in casings (leave the individual bean unpeeled). 

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes (my addition)

4 big glugs of olive oil

1 cup water

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You will also need: 

1/4 cup mixed, chopped parsley and cilantro (Add to taste)

2 teaspoons lemon juice (or to taste)

chopped preserved lemon or lemon zest (to taste)

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Cooking: 

1. Add the beans, garlic, spices, oil and water together in a heavy bottom pot (I like an enameled pot) and simmer until the water boils out and left with spiced oil, beans and garlic (ohh it smells so good).

2. When when water is boiled out and the mixture is cooked, add lemon juice, preserved lemon, chopped herbs, salt and pepper to taste. 

3. Serve the beans warm or at room temperature with warm crusty bread, making sure to sop up the spiced oil. 

ENJOY!

This past week I managed a day trip to Santa Barbara to visit a few gardens I’ve been meaning to get to for some time. Among the list was the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. 

After our trip to UCR’s Citrus Variety Collection, Christina (A Thinking Stomach) and I went to see the parent tree for all the Washington Navel Orange trees in Southern California.  This tree came to Riverside from Brazil in the late 1800’s.

It’s hard to see, but the The cluster of roots at the bottom of the tree, in the top picture, are grafts of rootstock added to the tree over time to keep the tree alive.   

After the last post, It would be seriously remiss of me not to mention that there is a serious problem facing citrus in Southern California.  HLB is a fatal disease that attacks the tree’s vascular system causing the tree to die. HLB has devastated the citrus industry in Florida and now threatens California’s citrus industry. It is a fatal disease that has No Remedy.  Awareness of the disease and how to limit the spread of the disease is probably the best way to prevent the spread of the disease.  

Here is a short list of how you can help prevent the spread of HLB: 

1. When planting trees, plant stock that has been inspected for the Asian Citrus Psyllid.  The psyllid carries the HLB bacteria. 

2. DO NOT purchase Budwood of exotic citrus varieties to graft onto your tree(s). Selling citrus budwood is illegal in California. Most varieties of citrus are patented and the budwood is most likely from an unauthorized/unregulated source.  HLB runs rampant in other parts of the world, especially in Asia and Florida. Budwood sources most likely comes from those regions and/or have not been inspected for the disease. 

3. Limit sharing fruit! Like #2, the best way to limit the spread of HLB is to limit the range the fruit or tree trimmings will travel. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture all of LA County, Orange county and the Imperial Valley are under quarantine. Make sure that if you are in a quarantine area that you do not share fruit.  All fruit and plant debris must remain on the premise. Also, since HLB is a bacteria, it is important to disinfect all your pruning cheers, lopers and knives that have come in contact with citrus, especially if you are a gardener who travels from one property to the next.   

This past week I went on a field trip to UCR’s Citrus Variety Collection.  The Foothill Chapter, my local California Rare Fruit Gowers (CRFG), arranged the tour with the collections curator, Dr. Tracy Khan.  

Founded in 1910, the collection features 1,035 citrus varieties and counting.  The facility is largest collection of citrus in the world.  Like many of the citrus varieties across the world, not all the varieties featured at the facility are edible.  The group sampled some varieties, we marveled at the strangeness of others, we all had a good time.

Feel free to contact LA farm hands to inquire more about growing citrus at your home.  We can guide you to tasty varieties that you may not be familiar with, but would make a great addition to any home landscape. 

Thanks to Lincoln Ave. Nursery for the advertisement space. Bring on Spring!

Preliminary design concepts for a residential landscape in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Think, Modern Urban Farm.

Key features: green roofs, edible plants, +1,000 SF vegetable garden (also a green roof), reclaimed water irrigation, Asado (BBQ) area, cantilevered pool. 

Residence: POD Design New York, NY

Landscape: L.A. Farm Hands, Los angeles, CA

More to come as the project develops. 

Not an edible plant, but still beautiful. “Harry’s Rootbeer” is pacific coast iris hybrid, from Matilija Nursery in Moorpark, CA.

I’ve never seen anything like it from the pacific coast irises. I purchased it when it was not in bloom. The breeder at the nursery described to me what it looked like and said it was yet to be released. When hearing this, I had to have it.

A whole lot of vultures in Monrovia. Never seen so many in one place - just circling. I was fully expecting either an earthquake or a news report that someone died in their backyard.

The bananas have finally ripened and in Southern California of all places! Can you believe it? It took them about a year from planting to produce this cluster.

My goal is to have enough plants to produce a somewhat consistent, year-round, crop.

These are “Gold Finger” bananas.