Bridgehampton - While there is nothing new about growing an edible garden, the hard part is the planning, prepping and the TLC and attention your edible garden will require. It takes work, but the rewards are bountiful to having an edible garden, and as a result the additional inspirational art and awareness is inspiring.

Try starting your own edible garden. Photos by Linda Ardigo

The range of glorious types of foods you can grow here on the East End of Long Island is endless. Fruits, Roots, Shoots for starters. Herbs, and vegetables galore, like Heirloom tomatoes, pole beans, Kale, Collard Greens, etc.

Those who have never devoted the time and energy to create and care for a food-producing garden will never know that sweet crisp taste, and the cool sense of satisfaction in your health giving actions.

Fortunately for me growing up at the time I did in Bensonhurst-Brooklyn, it was commonplace for families to harvest at least some of their produce from their humble and much loved gardens. Plants such as tomatoes, eggplant, gogoozile (Goose Neck Squash), peppers, peas and, of course, grapes for wine making.

If that wasn't the case - there were actually still lots of land plots that were maintained as farms by individual local farmers. There they would sell their veggies to the local neighbors.

The Praying Mantis is an insect with a voracious appetite.

Being of Italian decent, my memories of the scent of sweet basil, peppermint, and being able to pluck fresh figs or blackberries from my grandmother's backyard trees are still as vivid as can be to me.

Organic Gardening Tips

 • The Praying Mantis is an insect with a voracious appetite. They eat aphids, crickets, and grasshoppers, and they are one of the only insects fast enough to catch mosquitoes.

 • Fennel is excellent for attracting ladybugs. This is a very beneficial herb.

 • To prevent damping off in your seedlings, sprinkle the top of your potting mix with cinnamon - it is a natural fungicide.

 • The timely introduction of insects into a garden is crucial. The watering, and weed prevention, the compost mixtures once prepared and implemented, fall into a weekly sequence. Then before you can say "Jack in the Beanstalk" beautiful specimens of veggies, legumes, and fruits begin to swell and grow into your edible garden.

Introduce insects carefully into your edible garden.

Herbs
 • To all cooks immediate access to fresh herbs is a must. I for one love having an abundance of sage, dill, thyme and of course basilico.

 • Marigolds really work keeping the insects away and some times a light mixture of white vinegar and water, one part vinegar to four parts water as an organic pesticide spray can do the trick.

 • Creating and combining flavors and tastes is also one of the fun things I like to do.

Somed Edible Recipes From Your Garden

 • A simple and different chip to make is Sage Chips. Simply wash off (if necessary) the sage. Dry on paper towels. Then in hot olive oil (almost smoking), you place the sage leaves one at a time to fry them gently. The second you remove the crisp browned chips place them on a large platter, and lightly salt them. That's it! As chips they are great, and are also a wonderful compliment to soft cheeses like goat cheese, Brie, and Camenbert as well.

 • Sage chips are also offer a wonderful scent and flavor to fold into a butter sauce, or an Aglia Olio (garlic and oil) sauce - just pour over freshly cooked cheese ravioli, and don't forget to sprinkle with fresh Parmigiano cheese.

I guess I am just not ready to become a Vegan as of yet. Enjoy your Edible Garden!