A slightly-less-new year and new ambitions

Now that it's finally gotten really cold, I've started thinking about next year's garden. I'm really excited for Chris and I to build a couple of raised beds and to fill those suckers full of yummy stuff. We are going to have one dedicated to strawberries and the other whatever vegetables I want. I am thinking snow peas, spinach, lettuce, garlic and cherry tomatoes. Depending on space, I will likely be planting some of it elsewhere. I will be trying another potato experiment this year in hopes that I get potatoes that are larger than last year. The squirrels seemed uninterested in both the potatoes and my Egyptian Walking Onions last year, so I'm guessing the garlic would be safe to plant on its own. Plus I can utilize the deck planters too, but I might have those filled with more herbs.

I've been drinking a lot of herbal tea so far this winter, and I'm liking it more and more. I'm thinking about starting an herbal tea garden (fancy name for herb garden filled with herbs that are great for tea). I would really like to grow chamomile, lemon verbena, bergamot, lavendar and anise hyssop. I would also love to have a rose bush for rose hips (Rosa rugosa). Has anyone out there made their own tea? Any tips? Does anyone have any of these plants and would you be willing to share?

I tend to really enjoy either really fruity teas or ones that are essentially one plant. That statement makes perfect sense to me, by the way :) I've been reading the labels of the teas I like the most and some of them have a ridiculous list of random stuff. I'm going to be much simpler.

The thought of making my own tea rose from doing a variety of cooking and experimenting with a variety of herbs. I was blown away by how bold the oregano was that I dried this past summer. It really packed some punch and makes me realize how stale a lot of our spices have gotten. It was really fun to cut parsley fresh from the windowsill to use in a wild rice casserole dish I made this past weekend. I also experimented with making my own cream of mushroom soup to go into the casserole. I never though I would actually buy fresh mushrooms because I really don't like them. I made sure I cut them into very tiny pieces to effectively hide them. I'm glad I went through the process of making my own soup because the casserole was quite good.

And all this cooking makes me all that more excited about gardening this spring/summer because of all the yummy stuff I can make with it!