![\"\"](\"http:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS_0317.jpg\" "\\"SS_0317\\"")
<\/a>Tina tells me, "That is a black swallowtail caterpillar. Their host plants are in the carrot family, apiaceae. They include plants like fennel, dill and Queen Anne\u2019s lace. It\u2019s a great find. They often get picked off by birds before they mature and its sad--that's why gardens should always have at least one, two or ten of these plants. I wish there was some sort of cage we could buy to protect it and watch it go through metamorphosis." <\/p><\/div>\n
We talked about how the garden was a way to\u00a0make our own building more green,\u00a0the volunteers that helped us (not only the gardeners, but our building crew who helped with watering, our parks crew who started us off by turning the beds, and American Plant Food, who generously donated seed and supplies), and how we plan to winter over the garden (soils amendments and some hardy crops like cabbage).<\/p>\n
But the real point of the garden party was to harvest and we had fun discovering sweet potatos under thier carpet of vines, eating peppery nasturtiums, and hunting for green beans.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Sweet potatoes revealed<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Almost everything in these beds is edible, including the flowers<\/p><\/div>\n
Gardeners generously hit their kitchens last night and we enjoyed Thai beef salad with lemongrass, a roasted beet and sweet potato salad, a fennel and orange salad, basil pesto with pasta, lemon verbena cake, and various butters, drinks, and syrups infused with herbs, all made with produce from our garden.<\/p>\n