The Blog

It's official, grilling season has begun. Get prepared for your outdoor cooking and entertaining by adding Barbeque Rosemary to your landscape. This plant boasts long, upright stems which are perfect for skewering and roasting vegetables and meats, and it's foliage is especially good flavor for grilling. It will quickly form an upright hedge of aromatic needles with profuse, blue-purple flowers. Barbeque Rosemary can grow to be four to six feet tall. Best of all it is heat tolerant, drought tolerant and deer resistant.

Decadent and rich but with a fresh and fragrant nuances, this strawberry chocolate mint pie is a heavenly balance of sweet and soothing.

Crust:
200g flour
100g butter
1 egg yolk
Water

Crème pâtissière:
1/2L whole milk
5 egg yolks
125g sugar
50g flour
1 vanilla bean

1 pound of strawberries
Chef Jeff’s Chocolate Mint
Ceramic balls (or dry beans) for baking crust

Crust:

Everyone knows that April showers bring May flowers, but recently Hampton Roads has experienced more than its fair share of rain. And even though rain is good for plants, these unusually wet conditions can lead to the development and spread of many diseases that affect plants and vegetables. Prolonged periods of leaf wetness and humidity can create conditions that are ideal for disease development like powdery mildew.

Ever daydreamed of picking huge clusters of sun-warmed, juicy grapes from your own backyard vines? Here are ten solid reasons to add these highly-productive and also decorative vines to your edible landscape this season. Cheers!

Gardeners have been cultivating grapes for more than 6,000 years; if they can do it, so can you. Growing grapes is easier than you think, and the benefits range from the “It’s like I never tasted a grape before” flavor to the old-world elegance they add to the landscape. Here are our top ten reasons why you need to get growing grapes.

This Week’s Cuisine du Jardin/w Chef Manu Featuring Crème Brûlée

A delicate balance of aromatic and sweet, crème brûlée infused with lavender is an ethereal play of perfumes for the palate.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• ½ cup whole milk
• 5 lavender flowers (Monrovia Hazel Lavender)
• 1 vanilla bean
• 6 egg yolks
• ¾ cup sugar

6 terracotta medium-sized cassolettes

Directions: