Quote of the Day - 1/5/2012

One of the earliest known greenhouses was built around 30 AD for the Roman Emperor Tiberius, to satisfy his craving for cucumbers out of season.  Glass had not yet been invented, and the greenhouse, called a specularium, was painstakingly fabricated from small translucent sheets of mica. - Gardening Under Glass and Lights: The American Horticultural Society Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening

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How fortunate we are to live at a time that many fresh fruits and vegetables are available all year round!

• Greenhouses are one way that is achieved - a technique attempted with varying degrees of success for over 2000 years with the first documented case noted in the quote above; there were probably even earlier attempts that we just don’t know about.
• Improved transportation is another; the produce aisle of our grocery often contains items that were grown in another hemisphere.
• Our houses are more evenly heated than in earlier times making is possible to have indoor gardens in winter; I only go as far as sprouts but with a little effort to do more.
• We have improved ways to store produce as well - temperature controlled, atmospheric (gases), coatings, bactericides.

There are still seasonal fruits and vegetables. Pomegranates are what I think about first. They are the ultimate December fruit for me….so beautiful with their deep red coated seeds. They really are not available in my grocery except for November-January. Strawberries are available all year round but are less expensive when they are in late May/early June for my area; years ago there was a local ‘pick your own’ strawberries farm that my family enjoyed annually (unfortunately, plant problems followed by a housing development has now overcome that tradition); somehow strawberries always seem to taste better during that ‘in season’ time.

What is your favorite out-of-season veggie or fruit this week? With it below 20 degrees F for the past few days - I’m enjoying little cherry tomatoes.