Sara's Garden: Journaling and My First Recipe!

techniques , Sara's Garden , vegetables

Have you ever heard the saying “In order to live off a garden, you practically have to live in it”? Well I’ve been living in my garden lately, and it’s really starting to pay off!

I keep track of all my garden chores in a journal so I can look back and remember what I did and how things turned out. Have any of you started a garden journal? Here’s a preview of my April journal entries:

April 2

• Planted bare-root asparagus ‘Purple Passion’ and ‘Jersey Giant’ along the SW side of my garage. Planted remaining strawberries in my raised patch. Planted one row each of carrot ‘Science Fiction’ and lettuce ‘Black Seeded Simpson’. Planted two rows of peas ‘Sugar Daddy’ and ‘Progress #9’ (all specific varieties listed were purchased and are available at Hoerr Nursery)
• Made bamboo teepees about 4 feet tall along the middle of one of my beds to support my climbing peas.

April 3

• It rained last night and FILLED my 44-gallon rainbarrel! I’ll use the recycled water in my garden when we’re low on rain.
• Installed motion activated flood lights as a deer deterrent. I’ve been covering my babies with a thick layer of straw, old milk crates and flower pots at night to protect them from deer but as the plants get bigger and more established, I will need a more permanent solution.

April 12

• Started seeds indoors of ‘Sweetie’ cherry and ‘Brandywine Mix’ tomatoes, green bell pepper and red Italian pepper.
• My spinach, lettuce, pea, radish and carrot seedlings are starting to get their new sets of leaves. And my onions are at least 8 inches tall!

April 15

• Started some sweet basil seeds in peat pots in the greenhouse. When the danger of frost is gone, I’ll plant them out with my tomatoes in my “salsa garden” at Hoerr Nursery.

April Garden Recipe

I ate my first homegrown salad the other day! There’s something magical about eating “living” food that was picked from your garden moments before. I had three types of lettuce mixed with chopped spring green onion, radish sprouts, chives and thyme for flavor and garnish. I sprinkled it with sesame seeds, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice….yum!

2010 Veggie Varieties

gardening , favorites , vegetables

Hoerr Nursery is proud to carry fresh vegetable plants from Burpee Home Gardens. These varieties are easy to grow and produce an abundant harvest. Here is a preview of some of the Burpee Home Gardens plants we’ll be carrying in 2010:

Tomatoes

       
           'Big Mama'                        'Brandy Boy'                     'Fourth of July'

‘Big Mama’ - Plum-shaped and enormous, Big Mama Hybrid tomatoes grow up to 5 inches long and 3 inches across. In the kitchen, this variety is easy to peel and core. One of the best paste tomatoes and excellent in sauces.

‘Brandy Boy’ - A hybrid of the classic Brandywine, Brandy Boy has the benefits of an heirloom with incredible taste, smooth and thin skin. Producing loads of large pink fruits, this tomato is best eaten fresh in salads.

‘Fourth of July’ - Producing small, luscious fruits, Fourth of July is one of the earliest producing varieties you can grow. And although this plant is early, you can continue to harvest your plant until late summer or early fall.

     
         'Fresh Salsa'                        'Napa Grape'                  'Steak Sandwich'

‘Fresh Salsa’ - Salsa lovers, your tomato is here! You can chop this tomato into tiny cubes that remain perfectly firm and solid in salsa recipes. Plum-shaped and “dripless,” Fresh Salsa is all meat - perfect for recipes like bruschetta and light sauces.

‘Napa Grape’ - Independent taste tests confirm that this variety maintains a higher sugar content than any other grape tomato and the sweetness doesn't fade in late summer. Shiny red, one inch elongated globes are produced in abundance on vigorous vines.

‘Steak Sandwich’ - Vigorous but compact, Steak Sandwich tomatoes load up with dozens of fruits at a time. Harvest the large fruits summer through fall and you’ll love them on sandwiches and burgers or in salads.

  
        'Super Tasty'                    'Sweet Seedless'

‘Super Tasty’ – Super Tasty has a rich, tangy flavor and solid texture with deep red color inside and out. Great in large patio pots and small-space gardens, this variety requires minimal staking for support.

‘Sweet Seedless’ - This first-ever seedless tomato is rich and flavorful because there are no seeds to store the sugars for later use, so all the sweetness is immediately available for you to enjoy in every rich slice.

Peppers

     
         'Flavorburst'                       'Great Stuff'                  'Jalapeño Gigante'

‘Flavorburst’ - These sweet peppers are easy to grow, producing a bountiful harvest of crisp, juicy golden peppers all summer long. Grow in a sunny spot with plenty of water. A Burpee taste test winner.

‘Great Stuff’ - This jumbo, 7-inch long, 5-inch wide pepper ripens from green to dark red. Excellent in any garden, Great Stuff is resistant to pests. Perfect for slicing, stuffing or baking.

‘Jalapeño Gigante’ - The largest jalapeño, these peppers measure as much as 5 inches long! Easy to grow in any sunny garden or large patio pot, these peppers can be harvested throughout the summer when they’re green or red. Perfect for salsa or stuffing as poppers.

Cucumber

  
      'Bush Champion'                 'Sweet Burpless'

‘Bush Champion’ - Bush types take one-third the space, so they're great for containers and raised beds. Bush Champion produces huge, 11-inch cukes with amazing flavor and wide adaptability.

‘Sweet Burpless’ - An exceptional burpless slicing cuke with a sweet flavor, Sweet Burpless produces green, 10 to 12-inch, cylindrical, smooth fruits on vigorous plants.

  
      'Ambrosia' Melon          'Burpee Golden' Summer Squash

Melon ‘Ambrosia’ - Ambrosia melon is an exotic melon hybrid that might be confused with a cantaloupe, but it’s quite different. Its flesh is very sweet, tender and pale orange in color with a flavor described as “a combination of all melons plus flowers.”

Summer Squash ‘Burpee Golden’ - These bright, glossy golden fruits have a distinct zucchini flavor. Medium-long fruit, these zucchinis have a bright golden color and are ready for harvest in less than two months. Zucchini is versatile. You can steam it, boil it, stuff it or bake it.

Sara's Garden: 3 Reasons to Interplant Flowers with Your Veggies

techniques , pests , bees , Sara's Garden , vegetables

Hello Gardeners! How are your veggies doing? Spring is in full swing and my garden has been growing like crazy! I just harvested tons of lettuce and beets from my raised beds, and I’m making room for my next round of crops. This is a great time to look at my garden and figure out what I want to do next.

I just wanted to share a helpful tip for new gardeners – interplanting flowers with your veggies! Has anyone tried this in their garden? I planted up a little wagon at Hoerr Nursery that has lettuce, onions and flowers!

Are you convinced yet? Here are some great reasons to plant flowers among your veggies and herbs:

1 - Attract Pollinators - Veggies don’t always have the showiest flowers. Make sure the bees can find your vegetable plants by interplanting flowers that have lots of nectar or petals in shades of blue, yellow or white.

2 - Attract Beneficial Insects – Certain insects are good to have in your garden, like ladybugs, lacewings, parasitic wasps and ground beetles. They help control insect pests like aphids, caterpillars and leafhoppers.

3 – Confuse Garden Pests – When you interplant a variety of plants together, you mask the smell and shapes of plants that pests use to locate their favorite foods. The greater variety of herbs and flowers you have growing in your veggie garden, the fewer insect problems you'll have. Some plants even repel garden pests!

Here are some diagrams I made that can help you remember which plants are great for your veggie garden:

Sara's Garden: Planting My Salsa Garden!

techniques , gardening , Sara's Garden , vegetables

Well it feels like summer has arrived early this year! All this hot weather has gotten me inspired to plant my salsa garden! Yesterday I picked out all my veggies and herbs and planted them in my little garden patch at Hoerr Nursery.

I used a combination of a raised garden bed and two trough containers to fit everything. They already had great quality topsoil, but I mixed in some Better Earth compost to make sure I get the most production out of my plants!

In one trough I planted organic cilantro from Hoerr Nursery and basil that I grew from seed. I can’t wait to chop these up and throw them in my salsa for some fresh flavor!

My other trough is filled with the best little cherry tomato plants! This variety is called ‘Red Robin’ and it’s made to stay small and bushy – perfect for container planting!

In the raised bed I planted these varieties:

Tomatoes ‘Black Cherry’ ‘Brandywine’ Heirloom ‘Fresh Salsa Hybrid’ ‘Green Zebra’ Heirloom ‘Lemon Boy’ ‘Red Robin’ ‘Yellow Pear’

Peppers ‘Chocolate’ ‘Golden Bell’ ‘Lady Bell’ ‘Red Beauty’ Sweet Bell ‘Salsarific’ Habanero ‘Salsarific’ Jalapeno ‘Salsarific’ Poblano ‘Valencia Orange’

I also planted gazanias and marigolds to add some color and attract beneficial insects!

I’m so excited to finally have this bed planted up! Be sure to check out the progress next time you’re at Hoerr Nursery!

So…anyone have a favorite salsa recipe to share? I’ve got lots of ingredients growing!

Sara's Garden: Watering in the Heat of Summer

techniques , Sara's Garden , vegetables

As August arrives, we begin to wind into the hottest and driest days of the summer. Now is the time to consider different ways to supplement rainwater and keep your veggies growing!

You can water by hand if you have a few containers or a small plot, or you can hook your hose up to a good old-fashioned sprinkler for larger areas. Use the water saved in your rain barrel to supplement if you have one.

For my garden, I have installed drip hoses in the beds so that I don’t have to water everything by hand. This is a great time saving method, because I can just attach my garden hose to the drip hose in the beds, turn on the water and leave it for a while until the soil has had a good soaking. In the meantime, I can pull weeds, scout for pests, or snack on the tomatoes ripening on the vine!

Keep an eye open for my next post on scouting for and managing garden pests!