Garden Fuss

Who's been a busy bee in the kitchen? I have!!!! So the ground cherries have been making like crazy for over a month now and I had yet to decide what to do with them besides hide the best ones for myself and eat them in a dark corner away from the 8 year old. Then I came up with a thought; why not make a jelly out of them or a pie? Well we saved and saved for a week and a half to get 2 cups of cherries. This took a while because between me, the 8 year old, the chipmunks, and the squirrels we just needed time, and a full stomach before the harvesting could commence properly.  That being said, today my cooking partner Ebony and I began concocting a ground cherry plum jam that is so scrumptious I think we will have to beat the other family members off with our wooden spoons. Or we could make more in another week or so, but smacking the hands of those "non" jam makers sounds delightful right now while I'm resting my tootsies and my sore back.  I can't wait to show yo

The first fully ripe beefsteak/brandywine has arrived from my planter box. I was so bummed that I only had 7 on the vine, and no new prospects on this plant. The dillema in variety is the fact that this was a volunteer that showed up in our carrot patch. It had to have arrived c/o the compost bin. To our surprise we found this little guy growing amogst our sweet carrots, and we noticed after a while he became stunted. What looked like an indeterminate vine began to stop growing and flowering. Before it did we had seven plump fruits starting their journey to ripeness.  Not too long after my initial sadness over so little fruit I remembered I have a ba'jillion other tomatoes arriving soon of similar variety. A portion of my backyard looks like a tomato jungle. There are black krim climbing into the old german, and old german falling into the other beefsteak plants, and the beef steak is walled in by some volunteer tomatoes from last years compost that can either be chocolate cherry,

From almost start to finish this was a delicious dish. I was surprised how sweet the blue potatoes were in the dish, but not like a sweet potato. I made a curry cheese sauce as an experiment and it turned out fabulous. I think this would be great with chicken pieces added to it. Boiled, broiled, grilled, or fried, that would have been a great accompaniment or addition to this dish. Next year I will get an early start on my potato plantings as this year I waited a little too long to decide what variety to go with. I have several sweet potato plants sprawling around now that I'm excited to get a harvest from. I wish I could claim that these blue and gold sweeties were from my garden, but alas they are from the the farmers market. Which reminds me, the Mill City Farmers Market is getting close to their fall harvest party, I need to buy tickets. I hope you enjoy the pictures of this fab dish, and when I get a few moments more I will add the recipe which I will post or email if requeste

Next to the supersweet cherry tomatoes, the chocolate cherry tomatoes are beasting it in the garden this year. For what ever reason be it a mild winter (NOT!!!), cooler than normal temperatures in the compost bin, or just a simple act of God; we have had hundreds of viable and healthy tomato plants popping up all over the place. Too many to do anything with ourselves, so we gave away all but a handful of seedlings.  Every time we put compost around our other veggies we have new seedlings popping up. I feel so bad when this happens because there is no way these newcomers will make it to fruting before a frost which will happen sooner than later. Anyhow, I tried to show you the size of these little brown beasts that have ripened with a sweetness unmatched by holding up a quarter. Not only are they larger, more vibrant in color, and more productive this year. They are much sweeter and more greatly prized in this house at least more than last years. Right now I can hear my mother in-law c

The tea roses used to be far back against the foundation of the house and smothered by larger plants that squelched their enthusiasm to grow and bloom. Now they are right up front in the border where they belong. Next year I am adding more for sure. These little fellas are a cinch compared to their larger cousins. Although I have heard that climbing roses are not as finicky as the "normal" sized bush rose. My only issue is finding the right kind of support and a location that gets the recommended sun and water. Basically its a cosmetics concern. Just pondering where they would look right for a display in our urban landscape...... Decision Decisions

I am so excited the tomatoes are heating up and ripening. Salsa, sauce, and frittata is on.

The tea roses used to be far back against the foudation of the house and smothered by larger plants that squelched their enthusiasm to grow and bloom. Now they are right up front in the border where they belong. Next year I am adding more for sure. These little fellas are a cinch compared to their larger cousins. Although I have heard that climbing roses are not as finicky as the "normal" sized bush rose. My only issue is finding the right kind of support and a location that gets the recommended sun and water. Basically its a cosmetics concern. Just pondering where they would look right for a display in our urban landscape...... Decision Decisions

So during my mothers visit we had lots of different meals and in two weeks it seemed like we didn't have time to try everything that we wanted to try or make everything we wanted to make. However, I will toot my own horn because the lasagna I made while the parents visited was beautiful and delectable. I think I will make another one this week.

So yesterday was my nephews big day and we had to come up with a quick delicious dessert to celebrate. No synthetic dyes for us, we used all natural God made decorations for our display. We snipped and clipped edible flowers from herbs like borage and nasturtium, and used fresh berries from the patch like the rasberries you see in the photos. This was the most popular dessert there, and it was all due to the abundance in our garden.  Happy Planting!!!!

Today I have lunch on my mind. Not for me, but for the 3 other bipeds who get to escape my home 5 days a week. **smile** So todays dilemma is successfully getting a bun, hot dog and chili into a container without the fuss or mess. Well, I was surfing Jamie Oliver's website and came across this site for not just Easy Lunch Boxes, but - The Best LunchBoxes . Sometimes I am a skeptic due to my fascination with late night infomercials; but I watched the informational video about their mission to create a "greener" lunch box for families and was hooked. A little chuckle resulted from watching this determined mom pitch her product while demonstrating lunch preparation for for 3 or 4 kids. It's fast economical, and by golly it is greener. So I will be ordering their set of four with a bag today, no sense waiting til the fall to find a great lunch solution.

Ok, you are not seeing things...lol... there is a strawberry next to the ground cherry in this photo, but I wanted to show the size of these little delicacies also known by their scientific name  (Physalis Pruinosa) . The plant we are next to is stocked full of little cherries. In the next few days we should have our first real harvest (i.e. more than one lil straggler to hide from the boy I mean share with the boy) .  I am so excited about these that I have been checking the little bush twice a day. Even when I know the little man of the house will beat me to it every time. He had the first two that he described as a sweet toffee taste. I have to tell you he has developed a quick addiction to these little berries. I love fruit and I love toffee, and the thought of getting all that flavor from one small marble sized fruit is pretty enticing to me.   I have heard and read that they have a pineapple, cherry, or tomato taste but never toffee. I'm thinking that the cocoa mulch I used a

As a young girl I grew up in a home with the best apple tree in the world. Why was it so amazing? Well, because it was outside my bedroom window and it was perfect for climbing, hanging upside down like a monkey, and eating super fruit of course!!! Today while working on my family website and making plans for this years Cookie Exchange; I actually had time to read my email. There I ran into an article about growing apples and preserving their essence while growing by using nylon footies. You know the kind you find at famous footwear? This is one of the coolest ideas I have ever read about in my pursuits to become a better more efficient gardener. While our family currently is foregoing the planting of an apple tree, this tip may come in handy next year. It is so amazing what you can find on the web! Please check out this Regional Report from the :: National Gardening Association  called "Baggin' my Apples" to find out how you can grow and protect the most fruits of your

pressure from the gales first pushed the downspouts right off in a SPLASH! The poor cockerbeag shook like a leaf under my legs. The house began to shake.... Was it from the poor pooches nerves? Straight line winds, Minnesota monsoon? What ever that storm was we didn't want to be caught in it. This morning the damage is miniscule. Our old patio table made it even though it's laying on it's side missing support from the big beautiful umbrella. From where I a standing I can see something has gottentwisted in the pea section. Please let there be peas left Lord.....TO BE CONTINUED.....

Who is super excited about our first root vegie harvest? We are!!! The beets look fabo and so do the carrots. As you can see from the pictures our lil man of the house rocked on out when he saw purple, white, and yellow carrots in the bunch. Since they are 75 days to full maturity I am going to quickly sow more to have as a treat later this fall. I just could not resist grabbing a bunch for lunch this afternoon after going salsa crazy yesterday.

The slug and now grass hopper invasion started me thinking about other "green" alternatives at my disposal to turn the tides on them. Last year we hatched preying mantis babies to find a cozy spot for the summer. This year my approach is the same only something a little higher up on the food chain. While clicking through about.com for some information on companion planting and beneficial insects I came across an article about toads and other garden guests that we sometimes overlook in our pursuit of all other things green. I am not a squeemish woman (usually), and I happen to love frogs and toads and salamanders. My obsession with amphibians started at an early age. I remember every detail of  myself as a 5 year old and my 3 year old brother liberating all the red and gold salamanders from the fish tank as a child. I told them that they could sleep in my room but they thought underneath the couch cushions was a comfier option. They probably thought

Tomato crazy lady sounds better than Crazy lady with too many tomato plants. At least that's is what I think about the situation. After several chilly frozen months filled with planning and dreams of green all around, and weeks of caring for precious seedlings; I some how ended up with 21 tomato plants in the garden. I am an urban gardener, Translation: I do not own 10 or even 2 acres. I love tomatoes like the next semi gardening fanatic. However, these beautiful specimens have to be scaled down to a reasonable number that can be managed by a party of two. 6 to 8 plants would be optimal, but my enthusiasm kind of got the better of me, plus I had a friend or two "gift" me some of their favorites and just couldn't say no. So today I was faced with the dilemma of choosing which plants to pinch or chuck into the compost bin. Luckily for me our neighborhood recyclable team showed up before I made a decision I would regret. I was able to gift 2 mystery tomato plants that

German Baby Pancakes or Dutch Baby Pancakes 1 cup all-purpose flour 6 eggs - beaten 1 cup milk 4 Tablespoons melted butter 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/8 cup of sugar Sauce Recipe.... 1 lemon or orange 1/2 cup powdered sugar Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Insert your pan for about 5 minutes until heated through. (I use an iron skillet and/or muffin pan) Sift flour and salt into bowl and make a well in the center. Grate 1/2 of your lemon or orange into the flour mixture. Beat together remaining ingredients in seperate bowl then pour into bowl of dry ingredient. Just stir until lumpy DON'T over stir.  Take pans out of oven or off of stove and add the butter. Make sure to use a pot holder and turn pan(s) sideways to distribute melted butter. Pour batter into the hot buttered pans and  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. If you can see into your oven while baking you will notice that the pancake(s) will begin to puff up while baking. When done, you can cut your big pancake into

So I have been diligently planting away in the garden. I planted several cabbages (10 to be exact) not including 2 red cabbages. I am now down to 1 red cabbage and 3 round dutch cabbages. I have searched and searched and there is not a trace of an insect presence. Then a couple days ago I see a furry little guy racing to get to the main fence line. Oh he made it this time, but the battle between me and Mr. Chipmunk is now on. I have waited years literally to have a decent asparagus harvest, and could not figure out why I was getting little to no shoots. Well, now I know... This little guy and his or her family will be fat fatties if they keep consuming produce at the speed of my plantings. If they just preferred one type of vegetable I would be fine, but the fact that they are sampling or totally devouring baby cabbages and even an jalapeño plant almost before my eyes.....Oh I'm almost speechless!  This lead me to click on  a link about getting rid of most common garden pests. Ther

Today is another day full of updates. I have just planted the "king of the north" peppers and the jalapeno peppers. Both love the sun and I am hoping to get a bumper crop as the ones I planted last year were a disappointment. However, I did have a nice yield from the banana peppers I picked up from the HomeDepot. I may try those again this year but need to find space. **hmmmm, where to dig?** :-)