I decided to be adventurous with the food dehydrator and grabbed some stuff from the refrigerator to make some nice nutritional snacks. I started with some strawberries, the process is very simple, take some strawberries slice about 1/4 inch thick and place on the tray. Next I moved on to apples which I soaked in a solution of lemon juice (about 1/4 cup) with 1 cup of water. To…
I decided to take the day off to catch up on some things at home and as I ended up outside of course I went right to the garden. We have seen a few warm days here in the Northwest and in my area we haven’t dipped under 40 degrees at night so seemed like a good time to plant a few of my tomatoes spending their time this…
I either forgot to harvest a couple bulbs of garlic, or the mild winter we had in the Northwest may have allowed the garlic I planted last fall to slowly develop some bulbs. Thinking the first option is more likely, but did present me with a problem of some very tightly grouped garlic. Fortunately the solution to this problem was very simple. I pulled up the garlic bunches and…
With the exception of some of my acid loving plants and flowers I normally do not have to worry much about the pH of my soil. This is because I have amended my gardens with nutrient rich soils in raised beds over my alkaline clay I get naturally in my area. This and the fact that due to natural and manmade causes the rainfall is slightly acidic and given…
Big moment this week, I was able to make salsa entirely from ingredients. I normally don’t use cherry/grape tomatoes for salsa but my Early Girls are not that early this year and have not quite turned red. CVG Garden Salsa Recipe 2-3 tomatoes (or 12-15 cherry/grape tomatoes) 2 cloves garlic 1 small onion green onion 5 sprigs of cilantro tablespoon vinegar 1 jalapeno pepper (seeded) sugar Directions: Coarsely chop…
I am starting to get some cherry tomatoes turning red but not enough to make salsa so yet again so I decided to make some Mango Salsa. It is great to eat on tortilla chips the same you would for regular salsa or black bean corn salsa. One of my favorite things to do with is as a topping to blackened salmon (salmon grilled with dusting of Cajun seasoning)…
Your mission, should you decide to accept it is to infiltrate a local farmers market to gain intelligence to help aid your personal garden. Sure, the farmers market is a great place to find some fresh food you can’t or didn’t have time/space to grow in your garden. It is also a great place to get seeds/starts for your garden. It is also a great resource to figure out…
My jalapeños peppers have been growing like crazy and I have had to start harvest to prevent the plants from stop producing. Given my tomatoes are still green I have been itching to do something with them, I decided to make some corn salsa. Given I couldn’t find a recipe that matched the ingredients I had on hand I decided to make my own. CVG Black Bean and Corn…
My daughter was required to do a presentation which included an experiment using plants for school and of course her mother directed her to me. Given there was not a lot of time until the presentation I suggested that she grows sprouts, given you can go from seeds to a jar full of sprouts in less than a week. Construction You really can grow sprouts in almost anything. We…
Well I wasn’t planning on growing potatoes this year but looks like I have a couple of volunteers from last year. This could turn out to be a fortunately accident since they are currently growing under my onions and garlic. If they happen to stay low enough might actually get two decent crops in the same square footage. Any predictions?
Here in the Seattle area we are, as you say, latitudelly challenged. We are fortunately to have the Pacific Ocean to give us mild winters and summers though our distance from the equator provides our plants with less intense light and a relatively short growing season for summer crops. One in particular difficult summer crop are peppers. This is important because one of the major exports of my garden…
It has been a blessing that the competition for free coffee grounds at the Starbucks at my work has increased now the weather warmed up and I have freed from the temptation to grab yet another free shiny silver bag of grounds. The reason is, I have put four bags in my compost, worked generous amounts into my vegetable garden and I still have six bags left. Now I…