Gardening Time!

Peppers are a great addition to any summer garden and if you plan well, will save you oodles at the grocery store each summer. In our family we like to plant the standard Bell pepper, with Habanero and Jalapeno peppers to give a little kick to our spaghetti sauce. How many people realize that the variety of colors that Bell peppers are sold in are really the same pepper, but at different points in its life cycle? When Bell peppers are young, they are green then yellow, orange and end up being red when fully ripe. In addition, unlike the peppers you buy in the store, homegrown Bell peppers actually have a delicious taste that grows sweeter as they mature. .....

Zucchini and Summer Squash is probably the most hated garden plant known to man. Who hasn’t had that neighbor who planted a yard full of the stuff and now is chasing, calling and even dropping off bucketfuls of the vegetable to anyone and everyone they know and many they don’t. Zucchini / Summer Squash is one of those easy to grow plants that has the nasty habit of starting off as a cute little flowering plant and ends up being a monster of a plant with baseball bat sized fruit if you are not diligent in your harvesting duties. Despite that everyone should have a bit of zucchini or summer squash in their garden, the trick we must learn is not to plant too much or you will suffer the consequences. ....

Sweet potatoes are a staple at most Thanksgiving dinners, but how many of us actually eat them at any other time of the year. I would think that many would not, unless someone else prepared them, but it may be time to reconsider. Sweet potatoes were once a staple throughout most of the southeast, but after the Great Depression, it was considered a hard times food and lost it popularity as standard of livings increased in the later half of the 20^th century. It is relatively good in dietary fiber, vitamin C and beta-carotene. The sweet potato is also called a yam, but really isn’t one; in fact if you buy canned yams, they will have the notation, “sweet potatoes” if they are not actual yams. The sweet potato has been cultivated by man for about 5,000 years and is believed to have originated in South America and spread throughout the world from there. ....

Does anyone want Eggplant for dinner? Most would answer no, but not just no, but @#$@ NO, as the eggplant we are most familiar with is the purple overgrown garbage that our mothers bought from the store. Until last year, I was one of those who had never had an eggplant that wasn’t store bought and generally hated even the thought of eating one. Whenever my wife wanted to add a few eggplants to our garden, I found some reason to leave them out. Well, leave it to wives to find a way around a husband’s stubborn nature and while we were growing eggplant, my mother was. One day late last summer, we visited my mother and she had a pair of eggplants growing next to her walkway, (the squirrels eat anything not at least 20 feet from the nearest tree), and unbeknownst to me, my wife brought a couple of the purple monsters home. A few days later, dinner was a simple stir-fry and lo and behold there was a purple thing in my food. Well being the person I am, I was able to finish the dish before my mind registered the fact that I had eaten some of the foul tasting monstrosity, yet as I sat there I realized that it didn’t actually taste bad. So after some experimenting, I came to the conclusion that store bought eggplant is not the same as homegrown eggplant.....

Enjoy!

Gardening Season Is Almost Here!

Are you looking for that one plant that will grow so much produce that you can’t give it away, yet it has a flavorful taste and is good in either a salad, deep fried or just simply eaten raw with a bit of blue cheese dressing? Well, your search is over! For the cucumber is an excellent plant that doesn’t take too much room to grow, and with just a few plants, a bit of regular watering and some fertilizer, can produce more than a family of four could possibly use in a summer. When searching for that perfect cucumber variety to plant, there are one or two things to be aware of before you begin. First, be sure to buy a variety that is considered an “outdoor” plant instead of a “greenhouse” or indoor versions that is much more fragile and won’t do well in most outdoor situations. You can typically find these at the big orange box store or on the Internet. We generally, like to buy ours on line as it gives us a larger selection to choose from with the characteristics that we want. ......

Radishes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow, but like any vegetable there are more varieties than you can shake a stick at. Unfortunately, food diversity in the United States is not what it could be, so when you plant your garden this year, try planting a few varieties that are not commonly sold in your local supermarket. In general, most radishes that we are familiar with are the types that known by the names of Cherry Belle and Scarlet Globe, that is they are red, round and have no taste, but are filled with water. Yet, there are summer and winter radishes, they are small and round, long and thin, large and fat! Radishes also range in colors and if you search you can find them in red, yellow, white, purple and black. They range in size from the 1” 1-2 ounce variety we know and love to the 4-½ pound 24 inch monster known as the Asian Daikon radish, (very turnip like in size). .....

Enjoy!

A Book Review As Well As Some Gardening Prep!

Archangel’s consort is the 3^rd book in the Guild Hunter’s Series by author Nalini Singh. If you haven’t read the books Angel’s Blood or Archangel’s Kiss, I would recommend that you do so before reading this book. This book is similar to the series by Nalini Singh, Psy Changeling, but a bit darker in nature. No matter, I do love all of the books by Nalini Singh, as she sets herself apart from other authors with her character depth and complexity. The characters are so compelling, that they seem to be almost 3D in nature and just jump off the pages.

This the latest book by Nalini Singh, picks up where Archangel’s Kiss left off with Elena the no nonsense Guild Hunter turned Angel and Raphael, the powerful and scary Archangel, who returns to Manhattan. As Elena prepares to return to her duties as a Guild Hunter, she deals with the shock of becoming an Angel as well as everyone’s reaction to the change. Despite having wings, her life is anything but easy as she is accustomed to being the deadliest hunter in the guild and the new rules of being an Angel adds complications she just doesn’t need right now. Unfortunately Raphael’s Seven, a personal security force of vampires and angels, still see Elena as a liability to Raphael. Thus the ancient hostility between Guild Hunters and Archangels continues as Raphael and Elena work to build a partnership of trust and mutual respect, combine this with the budding love Raphael has for Elena and things really start to become complicated.......

Spring is just around the corner and the urge to plant our gardens is upon us. One of the more popular vegetables that people enjoy growing is the tomato plant. A good plant can produce up to 10 pounds of fruit in a single season. Yes, the tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable, but who am I to argue with popular opinion. In general, tomato plants can be grown just about anywhere you want, but like any plant it will need the basics of 8-10 hours of direct sunlight, warm temperatures of 70-90 degrees Fahrenheit, a decent soil, plenty of fertilizer, (I like Miracle grow), and plenty of water. If you fail to water your plants regularly, you will either have fruits that are anemic and small or split depending on your particular watering habits. So if possible, put your plants on a timer and water on a regular schedule. If the temperatures rise above 90 degrees for too long, you will find that your plants will not be able to set their fruit, so if you live in a too warm of a climate, you may need to shade your plants.

There are a number of varieties of tomato plants, probably as many types as there are ways to describe them, but they are still good never the less. My particular favorite is the cherry or grape versions, but I have had a few of the blood purple and even a zebra striped tomato from time to time. In order to help you on your journey into spring and all that it brings, I have made a list of some of the varieties of tomatoes that you can order by seed online. Try it, as you may find these much more fun to grow and eat than those that are normally sold at the big orange box stores.

Back Again! Veggies, Herbs and Horseradish!

Sorry folks, I've been gone for a few days! We have three new articles for you to review.

An herb garden is an excellent addition to anyone’s landscape. It can provide those extra flavors that will make any dish you cook just that much better. For who doesn’t like a bit of fresh mint in their iced tea during that hot summer day or a smattering of sage mixed with your spaghetti sauce. No matter what your tastes having a few perennial herbs in your garden is a great way to a healthier lifestyle. So in order to help you with creating your own herb garden, I have a list of my three favorite herbs that anyone can have around the house......

How would you like to plant your vegetables once and harvest the results for years to come? We all would, but how do you get around the effects of the winter cold on your vegetables? Simple, instead of planting the standard vegetables like tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, etc, plant a few perennial vegetables that will allow you to have the benefits of fresh vegetables every year without the work and expense of replanting, worrying about crop rotation, etc. Believe it or not, such vegetables do exist and in the case of the asparagus plant, you can harvest from these plants for up to 20 years with just a little care and tending each year. As good as that sounds, don’t think for a moment that you will be able to plant these perennials and forget about them! With any crop you will have some of the standard issues to worry about, such as weeds, critters and general pests. Despite this, having perennial vegetables is a good step forward in living a better life through the control of your sources of food.......

Horseradish has a long history; the Egyptians first used it as early as 2,500 B.C. and it has been known through the ages by several names such as Redcole and Stingnose. Some of its reputed medicinal uses have been for rheumatism, a rub for lower back pain, and a cough medicine and even as a cure for tuberculosis. In truth, there is no evidence that horseradish is a healing herb or can cure any of the illnesses described above, but it is a great condiment for your table. Horseradish is believed to have reached the western parts of Europe, (read England), in the early 1600s and arrived in America in the 1840s with German settlers....

Enjoy!