Earthly Garden

Good morning!

Do you know where you got your love of gardening? I got mine from my grandparents and great grandparents, who always had a garden. They grew tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, squash, carrots, and more. My grandmother also had a great fondness for geraniums, lilacs, and roses. My great grandfather used to take his prize vegetables to church on Sundays (in a horse and wagon!) and sell them to his neighbors after Mass. I think the gardening gene skips over generations because my parents have next to no interest in gardening themselves! I caught the bug early on when I used to help pick my grandparent’s green beans at the age of 5. I’d love to know how you got your love of all things green and growing! Post a comment and let me know!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardening, gardens, love of gardening, green thumb, vegetable gardening

Hello Gardeners!
I found this great list of the five most important gardening tools. I don’t agree with it 100%. My top 5 would be:

1. Pruners
2. Good quality hose
3. Plant ties
4. Rake
5. Sturdy container to hold potting soil

What tools are in your top five?

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens, gardening, garden tools

Good morning!
Pop star George Michael has been doing a lot of gardening lately. Sentenced to 100 hours of community service after being found slumped at the wheel of his car last October, he’s been working in the garden of a homeless shelter in London. According to him, he’s actually enjoying it! You can read more about it here.

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens, gardening, London, George Michael

Good Morning!
Here is my most recent harvest from my garden.

gardens, gardening, tomatoes, peppers, vegetable garden

Hi everyone,
Sorry for the silence. 451’s network provider is suffering a major outage and there has been a lot of downtime as a result. They are working feverishly to repair it and things should be back to normal soon!

Good Morning!
Have you waited anxiously for that first tomato to ripen only to find the bottom looks black and nasty? This is a condition known as Blossom End Rot. It’s caused by a lack of calcium in the soil. This can be an especially big problem for container gardeners. To prevent make sure your plants are properly fertilized. Heavy rains and/or frequent watering can wash nutrients right out of the soil! A natural way to give your plants the calcium they need is with eggshells. Wash them well, let dry and collect them in a clean container. (I use an empty margarine container). Once you have a cup or so worth, crush them well and work them into the soil around your plants and water. If you don’t eat many eggs, you can buy a bag of lime at the garden center or home store.

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens, gardening, blossom end rot, tomatoes, calcium, eggshells

Good Morning!

Ever notice yellowish brown patches on your ripening veggies? This is called sunscald, and what it is essentially is a sunburn. Although your vegetable gardening appreciates all the sun it can get, the actual fruits ripening on it prefer a little shade. This is usually provided by the leaves of the plant, but sometimes they aren’t enough. If you notice any of your ripening veggies aren’t getting shaded enough, you can provide some shade with a bit of newspaper or cloth. This will protect your harvest from sunscald. If you’re too late, don’t worry, the fruit is still perfectly edible. Just cut the damaged part away!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardening, gardens, sunscald on vegetables, vegetable gardening

Good Morning!
I found this really great article about a program in San Francisco called the Educational Gardens Program that helps Bay Area teachers use gardening to teach their kids. Almost one third of all schools in San Francisco have their own gardens, and the goal is for every school to have one. What a great school system! You can read more here and also watch a video!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

[/tags]gardens,gardening,san francisco,education[/tags]

Good Morning!
What could you buy for your garden if you had $300? More plants? Gardening supplies? Books? Enter the 451 Press Comment Contest and let us know! Simply post a comment to this blog telling us what you would buy if you had $300. 3 comments will be choosen at random to win $300, $200, and $100! Good luck!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens, gardening, comment contest, win money, 451 Press

Good Morning!
I came across this very funny article and just had to share. It’s total satire but gave me a giggle or two! There’s always room in the garden for humor!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardening, gardens, gardening humor, uk

So far in this blog I’ve talked about the outdoor garden but many of us also have indoor gardens. I myself have over 50 houseplants! If you’re a houseplant lover as well, I’d like to share some articles I’ve written about them(under my maiden name). Hope you enjoy!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens, gardening, houseplants, indoor gardening

Good afternoon!

I’m posting late today-we had some nasty storms roll through yesterday that knocked my DSL out. The garden loved all the rain though! I have another fat and juicy tomato ripening and lots of gorgeous jalepenos so I’ve decided to make some salsa! My favorite salsa is the one made by the mexican resturaunt chain Chevy’s. It’s fire roasted, spicy, and addictive. Here is the recipe I am going to use:
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CHEVY’S SALSA
Source: Gail Kremser
Adapted from Top Secret Recipes

5 or 6 ripe tomatoes
1 medium onion
4 jalapeno
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper

Take the stem out of the tomatoes, and off the peppers. Take a skillet or frying pan (cast iron works best) and heat on full flame until very hot using no oil so the surface is dry. Throw in tomatoes, peppers, and onion and stir occasionally until the tomatoes are charred on at least three sides. They will actually be burned. At this point you may refrigerate your veggies until you are ready to make the salsa and this is really better cold.

When you are ready to make the salsa, pour all items into food processor or blender and process until you have a chunky salsa. You may want to adjust the amount of peppers according to the season of the year. (summer peppers are hotter than winter peppers). You may also substitute a different pepper. The Cilantro is the key!!! I grow it in my own garden so I always have fresh. You may want to adjust the salt and pepper to taste, but don’t leave it out!
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Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens, gardening, peppers, tomatoes, recipies, salsa

Good Morning!
I am reading this really great book called “Flower Confidential“. It’s all about the cut flower industry and what goes on behind the scenes. Most of us don’t think twice when we pick up a bouquet at the supermarket or place an order with the florist, but a lot of work goes into getting those perfect bouquets. The cut flower industry is a mix of old fashioned gardening, cutting edge genetics, serious business dealings, and lots of hard work and dedication? Will they ever create a blue rose? How long does it take for the newest types of roses and gerbera daisies to get to the local grocery store or florist? (hint: a lot longer than you think!). The answers are all in this book and it’s really a facinating read for gardeners and cut flower lovers alike.
I highly recommend it!

Gardening Pic of the Week:

gardens, gardening, flowers, cut flower industry, florists

Here is a great article about a group of kids in Ohio who turned the veggies they grew into art! Just goes to show you that veggies are good for you in more ways than one!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens, gardening, ohio, vegetables, vegetable sculpture, kids

Good morning!

Yesterday it poured and poured here, so no gardening here. Over the weekend I restaked my tomatoes-they’d grown too large for their original supports! The tomatoes on them are huge, about the size of my hand. The cucumbers alas, sucumbed to some kind of blight. I’ll have to wait until next year for homemade pickles. The herbs, peppers and beans are florishing. We’ve had good gardening weather this summer, warm sunny days and nights with a good soaking rain a few times a month. I really believe rain is the best way to water plants. Tap water often has chemicals and salts in it that can harm plants, especially if you have a water softener. Do your houseplants have yellow leaf tips? That’s from the chlorine used to purify the water. White crusts on the pots or on top of the soil? Thats from the salts and minerals in the water used to water them. If you can, I recommend rainbarrels. They collect rainwater which can then be used to water your plants. If you do decide to try it, make sure you get a special mosquito cake for each barrel. It will keep them from using your barrels to breed in(they love standing water!). If you do this already or decide to try, let me know how it’s going!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

garden, gardening, rainwater, watering plants, rain barrels