The Cook's Garden

Hi folks,

I know I have seen Cook's Garden items sold on Burpee, but last I knew, it was owned by Renea (forget last name). I just happened to see something in Watchdog in the Cook's Garden website and they referenced a Burpee e-mail address to rectify the situation which took me by surprise. Does anyone know when this all happened??? Maybe I'm the last one to know... :(

I'm always the last one to know...

I thought a year or two ago, they announced that the cooks garden was now a part of burpee. I think they bought it out. I think it was on the burpee website or in an email. The addresses seem the same too.

Lafko, You may be thinking of Renee Shepherd, who used be be with Shephards Seeds, but now has her own Renee's Garden. Ellen Ogden was one of the founders of The Cooks Garden, She was the cook and apparently still is associated with the company. She wrote the Cooks Garden Cookbook. http://www.ellenogden.com/ I dont know much about the history of The Cooks Garden or when George Ball acquired it.

Thanks for the responses folks.

Farmerdill, you are the best!!!! Yes, I was thinking of Renee Shepard and you just totally cleared up my confusion as to why I couldn't find multi packs of color coded seeds at the Cooks Garden. Because it was at Shepard's or Renee's. I have been haunting the wrong website and not finding what I wanted in the CG catalogs (cuz I wasn't looking in the right place). Thanks for clearing up my confusion!!! You continue to happily surprise me with your info, you are truly unbelievable, thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Renee Shepherd's site is reneesgarden.com.

I, too, like the way she puts together her combinations, even though her seeds are a bit pricey. Have you tried her cookbooks? They are wonderful!

No, I haven't tried her cookbooks, I didn't know she had them. I'll check them out definitely, thanks.

Recipes from a Kitchen Garden and More Recipes from a Kitchen Garden, $12.95 each (though you can surely get them on Amazon for half that). One or the other seems to be in use every night during the summer. I know you will love them!

The Cook's Garden was started by Ellen Ogden some time ago. Ellen sold the company to Park Seed. In 2003, Park sold The Cook's Garden to Burpee. Ellen's cookbook can be found at http://www.cooksgarden.com/prodinfo.asp?number=991&variation=&aitem=9&mitem=11

Cheers
Paul

Thanks Paul, that is great info on CG and how it is currently owned now. I don't know how or why I confused them with Renee Shepard. I ordered one of Renee's books on Ebay and will still order her seeds if she has the color codes. I haven't been buying for a few days, so haven''t checked it out yet, but intend to do so over the w/end when DH is home and can help with kiddies for a little bit while I poke around on line. Great info Paul, thank you very much for the update.

Be sure to separate out your seeds if you are not going to use them within a couple of year. I went to use the leftovers from packet I had (Marvel Stripe, Green Zebra, and Brandywine) and only the hot pinks (Brandywine) had retained their color. So now I have 6 seedlings that are either Marvel Stripe or Green Zebra. Not necessarily a bad thing - I love a good mystery, expecially one that is so easily solved!

Which book did you order?

Recipes from a Kitchen Garden, Volume 1 (1990). It was 9.00-something including shipping. Do you own it? How do you like it???

That is a good idea on separating the seeds... never woulda thought about it!!!

I have the one that was published in 1993, combining Volumes I and II. And, yes, I like it very much. (You can always tell how much I like a cookbook by the number of pages I have flagged for easy access. This one resembles a porcupine!!!) The Lemon Butter Cabbage is to die for! I like it tossed together with egg(less) noodles or Shirataki noodles

This one also has a section on Edible Flowers and one on Scented Basils that I've used alot. Oh, and there's a Recipe for Fresh Tomato Sauce Santa fe that has become favorite recipe among my circle of friends. (It's become the - "Oh, can you bring some of that gorgeous tomato sauce you make?" If that one's not in Volume I, let em know and I'll d-mail it to you. It's a definite keeper!

Oh thank you that would be great. As soon as you mentioned the sauce I started worrying I wouldn't have it in mine. I'll definitely let you know if it's not in there!!! TY again.

It's a great recipe because you don't cook it, so all of the ingredients keep their fresh taste and natural color. You just use it at room temp and toss the hot pasta into it.

OMG - 14 inches of snow and I'm salivating for fresh tomatoes. Here's a shot of my container gardens that I started setting up on Wednesday - when it was 70 degrees outside!

oooooouch!

oooooouch! it will get better!

I do believe this is the last of it! We've hav a pretty mild winter, in fact, this is the worst storm we've had this yer. It wouldn't have been so bad, but after the 12-14" of snow, we had an ice storm. Monday's expected to be back into the 50's though, so this should melt off fairly quickly...she says with much hope in her voice!!!

Sequee,

We got that same snow storm, but obviously not as bad you folks. I'm Western, MA close to the CT border so we got only around 9 inchers. BUT, 50 degrees this coming week according to DH who is addicted to the weather channel the way I'm addicted to gardening... and... isn't it officially "Spring" this Tuesday? I haven't checked the calendar. I LOVE seeing your work from last week and I think we can all appreciate not being able to wait any longer to get out in the gardens. Good for you on getting out there and starting those beds!!