Mmmm, that smell...

In late spring, if you walk outside the firefly, you'll often see Nick Alwerdt from Alwerdt's Gardens hard at work on the firefly garden.  The smell of the earth is absolutely tantalizing this time of year.  That deep, oaky aroma that speaks of the richness of the soil, providing just a hint of what is to come.  It's a lure for anyone who loves to garden, or for that matter, to eat the fruit of it. Nick has been busy all winter planning the garden and now it's beginning to take shape. The firefly plants a French Intensive Production Garden which maximizes space and gets great production from a small area.

And what crops there will be!  The earth is already bursting forth with early King Richard leek and old-fashioned bunching onions.  The spring crop of lettuces are rising from the earth; Green Forest romaine, small heads of Paris Island, and Green Butterhead.  Easter-egg radishes, in hues of reds and purples, are matching their growth and will soon be topping the salads.  This year we're experimenting with cabbage, planting a dangerously pointed mini, Caraflex, which is unique in both shape and taste.  Broccoli will round out the spring harvest as the cool weather turns to warm.

Then we'll move onto the mid-season crops, starting with the savory blossoms of zucchini that we use for our Fried Zucchini Blossom appetizers.  Don't be surprised to see some really round zucchini as we're planting 8-Ball green and Floridor yellow which both grow in a round shape.  Of course we'll also plant Soleil, a traditional elongated squash.

Cucumbers, Nasturtiums and Calendulas, yes, those flowers you can eat - and herbs are all going in as well.  We'll enjoy these early season delights all summer long.  You'll notice several types of eggplants gracing our dining room this season.  We'll have Fairytale, a variegated, flavorful mini eggplant, along with Oriental Express, a larger fruit which is great on the grill.  Gretel will also make an appearance - you'll notice her because of her white coloring, and Nadia, a traditional eggplant, will round out the selection.

Tomatoes will be in abundance starting with Goliath as our early bloomers.  They're a big producer, giving us large, beefy tomatoes on their 6-foot frames.  Park's Whopper is another favorite; Nick has grown it for over 25 years and finds both it and Goliath to be the most disease resistant and tolerant plants. We have several heirlooms going in, Brandywine is a favorite staple, and new this year is Japanese Trifel Black, a dark, plum-shaped beauty.   Green Zebra, a striped, green tomato, will provide much of the base for our tasty fried green tomatoes, and Lemon Boy, a low-acid yellow, and Kellogg's Beefsteak, an heirloom orange, will grace our salads.   Pink Girl and Amish Paste, both Roma tomatoes, will find their way into many of our sauces, and Juliet, a delicious, sweet grape tomato will adorn our plates.  Two new varieties we'll be trying this year are Purple Calabash and Arkansas Marble, a red and yellow striped bi-color.  Nick promises that eating an Arkansas Marble will be like eating a piece of watermelon.

The heat of the summer will bring out the peppers.  Mandarin, an orange bell, and Early Sensation, a yellow bell, are two of our favorite sweet peppers, while Fat & Sassy is a green bell that is a great producer.  Round of Hungary, a specialty Pimento type, will give us one of the best grilled sweet peppers, while Apple is another sweet, juicy and fruity Pimento roaster.  Carmen is an Italian Bull's Horn pepper whose sweet flavor is great for roasting or in salads.  Serrano del Sol and Conchos will be our hot and semi-hot jalapenos, used mainly for stuffing as poppers.  Garden Salsa is our preferred salsa pepper and Mixi-Bell is a hot bell pepper that we use in many of our dishes to add a little heat.

Rounding out the garden this year will be several varieties of melon and heirloom pumpkins.  We'll have Long Island Cheese, an heirloom that Nick swears to be the best pie pumpkin he's encountered; and Naples Long, and Italian Heirloom - lots of pumpkin for our firefly ice cream.

If space permits and Nick can figure out a way to work the North bank, the firefly will be sporting some honeydew on our menu.  Honey Yellow and Honey Orange are in the plans, two super sweet melons that will be perfect on the firefly menu!

We're thankful for all of Nick's work and the many, many hours he has spent planning our garden.  We can't wait to have you all see, smell and taste the results!

Keeping our fireflies close...