Years ago, we planted two very small rosemary bushes on the south side of our house. They have loved it there, and they managed to grow into monsters. We attacked them over the past few days to keep them from taking over and blocking the glass block window that lets a lot of light into the house. This photo is one that I took a year ago. I didn't trim the bushes last year. Obviously...
These are two different varieties of rosemary. The bush directly under the window is greener and has a better scent and taste when we cook with it. The bush behind it in this photo is more scraggly and rough looking. I trimmed one bush, and we cut the other one off at ground level.
The one under the window doesn't look too bad now, but I think I'll cut it down another 8 or 10 inches in height. I feel sure that it will quickly grow back. We use rosemary in our cooking once in a while, and we should start using it more. I put some fresh "needles" off this rosemary bush in the mustard and tomato quiche we made last week, and it was pretty delicious.
I tried to cut down the unkempt-looking rosemary bush using a big pair of limb-loppers that we keep out in the garden shed for such jobs. I couldn't do it. The wood was just too thick and hard.
Yesterday Walt got out a little hand saw and in minutes he had the bush completely cut down. You can see how big this one branch was — and there were two others that were almost the same size.
One reason why the second rosemary bush looked so bad is what you see in this photo. When we had a new boiler put in a couple of years ago, the installer vented its hot steam exhaust through the lower part of the wall instead of up through a chimney. That steam burned the side of the rosemary bush closest to it. At this point, we didn't try to dig the bush up, and it will probably come back from the root. We'll try to keep it trimmed and much smaller in size in the coming years.
Ahhhh, the scent of rosemary... I love it!
ReplyDeleteI hope we haven't killed it by cutting it back so radically. If we have, we'll just start over again.
DeleteMy rosemary bush here in Northern Illinois dies back each year and comes up again in the spring. I will be interested to hear how yours do after the pruning. I’ve been afraid to cut mine back for fear they would just die completely.
ReplyDeleteMy husband the City Boy had no clue about gardening or cutting back. I smile now at his chopping away with gusto and me crying over the wreckage of things that I liked and did not want hacked down to the ground. Most years, I was delighted when those poor hacked down shrubs/plants, came back and thrived.
ReplyDeleteI used to bake fish en papillote with some olive oil and rosemary, and it was very good. You don't seem to eat fish ; you might try that and see if you like it.
ReplyDeleteWe eat a lot of shrimp. Fish is so expensive that we don't buy it much, and it's not very good when you buy the ones sold at reasonable prices. I grew up on fish, living on the coast, and I love it. But they say the world's supply of fish is being seriously reduced. I remember in Paris in the 1970s and early '80s that cod, for example, was inexpensive and considered to be quite ordinary. Now it's classified and priced as a luxury product. The world changes.
DeleteIIRC a few years ago you prepared brandade de morue that was delicious. I try to go to Japanese restaurants once a week, either here or in Paris, so I could get some fish in my diet. I don't cook fish at home any longer.
DeleteOne of the reasons we're going to the Vendée in two weeks is to eat seafood for a week. We don't have any Japanese restaurants in Saint-Aignan, but I see there's one in Blois and another in Bracieux. Plus quite a few in Tours. We hardly ever go to restaurants, and I'd hesitate to drive for 45 minutes just to go to a restaurant and then 45 minutes to get back home. Anyway, we do eat smoked salmon and we cook fresh or frozen fish fillets fairly regularly. Not to mention oysters, clams, and cockles. I thought the brandade I made in 2010 (time flies) was pretty good.
DeleteWhen we're in France, I'm always amazed when I see large rosemary hedges. Here in New England rosemary can't survive outdoors through the Winter. You either have to treat it as an annual, or bring it inside in the Winter. Years ago, we were in Provence, and cooked lamb several times, but I couldn't understand why we never could find rosemary at the outdoor markets. Then one day we were walking along the road and suddenly realized why we couldn't find rosemary at markets. No one would pay for it when it can be found everywhere. So we got a pair of scissors and did some roadside trimming.
ReplyDeleteHa! We spent the weekend doing exactly the same thing (same steps, even) for a sage plant that got 'way out of hand.
ReplyDeleteI love your picket fence!
ReplyDeleteEven the small rosemary I have in a pot on the deck is tough and woody, hard to cut. Yours was ginormous. But, oh, the smell and taste, so good.
ReplyDelete