Wedding Seed Packets

Nothing tops a beet, unless it's the greens

In the garden, it's going from spring to summer in a flash. The peas are hurrying to blossom and make pods. The cool-weather-loving turnips have stopped looking lively and are asking to be picked. It's all good because I've got company coming for dinner this weekend, and I plan to feed them from the garden.

We put in some cabbage plants early on. They've been protected from bugs and heat by a tent of row cover. An army of tomato volunteers was keeping them company, but I weeded those out. The cabbages are looking gorgeous and starting to form heads. I plan to pick one soon and make a slaw.

From seed, I started some other cabbages, smaller types, one with a pointed little head, called Caraflex, a Savoy and a red cabbage. As soon as the torrid rains and florid temperatures allow (or maybe even tonight), we'll tuck them into the garden and tent them with row cover.

I've heard raving about roasted beets -- it caramelizes the flavor, which you lose when you boil them -- but the process drives me crazy, and I often just boil them. Roasting takes well over an hour, and the beets often burn on one side, even in a foil packet. But then I read a piece from Francis Lam in Salon about baking them with a little water to create steam. It works great. Add about 1/4 inch water to the pan, cover tightly with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour until they're tender, depending on size.

The beets are about golf-ball size, just right to ensure sweetness. I planted two early types: Early Wonder Tall Top and Merlin. Their greens are lush and full, so I'm making Beet Green Soup for my vegetarian friends, with peas and potatoes and no chicken broth at all. It's a really nice way to use a part of the plant that so often gets tossed.

Which got me to thinking about the parts of plants we waste. About the plenty we have. About the stuff we don't use.

David and I grow this large garden, and yet it's just the two of us. In the start of the season, we're hoarding every leaf of lettuce, but after a while, we stop focusing as intently. After the first or third cucumber or pea pod, it all becomes a little less precious.

I got to musing about this the other day after I got a big hug from a dear friend, Louise Marsula. She's the mom of Post-Gazette illustrator and fine artist Dan Marsula. She calls me the Recipe Lady and I think of her as the Woman Who Preserves Everything.

Dan's mother and her husband, Andrew, raised four kids in Jeannette, Westmoreland County. On a five-acre plot, Mr. Marsula built the family home himself. "He laid the brick," Dan said. "He put in the plumbing and electical wiring. And showed us how to do those things.

Seed Packet Wedding Favors

If you love flowers, consider giving your guests wildflower seed packet wedding favors at your wedding.

Many couples give each wedding guest a packet of wildflower seeds at the reception as a thank you for attending their wedding. Your friends and family can plant the seeds in their yards at home and when they come up, they will think of you on your wedding day.

Don't be like all of your friends and give away unhealthy candy-coated almonds. Dare to be different. Give a green favor to your guests and help them to beautify the environment with spring flowers.

My husband is an avid gardener. He grows vegetables year-round in our backyard. He also loves flowers and has planted many over the years to beautify our front and back yards. He loves them so much that his full time job is now writing his gardening website and selling seeds online.

My husband and I have put together a collection of five different beautiful wildflower seed packet wedding favors for you to choose from. We are selling them in groups of 25 packets at a discounted rate on my husband's Amazon store. You can purchase the same seeds for all of your guests or mix and match them, 25 packets at a time.

Purple Coneflower

Tickseed

Cornflower

Rocket Larkspur

Blanketflower

Indian Blanket

Drummond Phlox

Scarlet Sage

Candytuft

Yellow Cosmos

Sweet William

Cosmos

Wallflower

Lemon Mint

Tuber Vervain

Standing Cypress

Black-Eyed Susan

Shasta Daisy

Plains Coreopsis

Butterfly Weed

Sweet Alyssum

Toadflax

The Cut Flower Mix is a beautiful springtime assortment that will look gorgeous in any yard. They should be planted after the danger of frost has passed and they require full sun.

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