Lovage - a herb we grown in our garden

Lovage is an ancient herb grown in English gardens and monasteries for hundreds of years, but originating in the Mediterranean. Europeans used it for treating minor stomachache, kidney problems and headaches.

I found lovage after a few failed attempts at growing celery. Lovage is far easier to grow, requires little to no care and comes back every year. It likes deep moist soil and sunshine or partial shade and grows as high as six feet tall. (Mine has gotten as high as 4 feet)

This herb looks and tastes like celery, although it has a much stronger taste it can be used in place of any recipe using celery – just use a little less.

Lovage is one of my favorite garden herbs; we use the leaves in salads and greens and the stock in soups, salads and stews or just raw. I have yet to use the root, but it is also edible – something we will have to remember to try this year.

One plant is definitely enough for a family.

Cream of Lovage Soup

Pea and Carrot Salad with Lovage

The resident deer

Writing my post last night it got me thinking of a time when one of the 5 or so neighbourhood deer was in our yard pruning one of the trees a little more than we liked. My husband tried to shoo it away and it just stood there looking at him. He picked up one of the dogs tennis balls and thru it toward the deer. The ball landed not far from where the deer was standing and it just walked over to the tennis ball and pushed it with it's nose.

The picture is not perfect but this is what I got.....needless to say we had quite a laugh over that one.

Cariboo Gardening

Well I thought it might be a good idea to create a blog on Cariboo Gardening, not only for information but to keep some kind of a record for myself.

It seems every year I start out great guns, making a map and writing the dates down when I've planted and when seeds have sprouted, and then.............I stop.

I've been planting a vegetable garden in the Cariboo for 20 years now, experimenting every year with something new. Last year we managed to grow 3 lovely honeydew melons that my grandson insisted on planting in my greenhouse. Other years it's been corn, cantaloupe, grapes, blackberries and more.

I guess the first thing to think about is deer proofing, we have tried all kinds of things and now have a 7' fence around the garden. I'm not sure what happened, maybe the weather, the climate but up until the last 5-6 years the deer and I had an understanding. They left the vegetable garden alone until I'd finished my harvesting and then they could have what was left, but that ended one year with all the broccoli being devoured before we got a chance to even taste it.
Since then the deer entered not only the garden, but also one year got in the greenhouse and ate everything but the stems of the green pepper plants.

We now have a 7' high fence around the garden and bright flagging tape hanging from the greenhouse doorway.