Earthly Garden

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

Good Morning!
My jalepeno plants are just bursting with peppers! I’ve also got some gorgeous and huge tomatoes ripening on the vine and a nice pot of basil growing in my kitchen window. I’m thinking salsa! How are your gardens growing? Send me your pics and I’ll post them here. Just click the Contact button.
It’s getting to be the time to start thinking about cool weather crops. Broccoli, kale, cabbage, spinach, carrots and beets are all veggies that do well in the cooler temps of fall. Start gathering your seeds or seedlings and prepare your beds. If you plant now you’ll have a nice harvest come October!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardening, gardens, hot peppers, cool weather crops, fall gardening

Good morning!
Do you love to garden but have limited space to do it in? Try vertical gardening! This is a gardening technique where plants are trained to grow up poles and other supports rather than across the ground. This is especially good for vegetable gardens, as verticle growth protects fruit from damage and even certain insect pests. There is a terrifc site called Gardens Up that offers everything you’ll need to start your own vertical garden, from supplies to advice. Check them out and tell them Earthly Garden sent you!

Garden Pic of the Day:

gardens, gardening, vertical gardening, gardening in small spaces

Good Morning!
Yesterday afternoon there was a terrible explosion here in NYC. An old (circa 1882!) steam pipe exploded. 1 person was killed and 17 were injured. They’ve capped the pipe, leaving a huge crater in the middle of 41st St. and the possibility of asbestos contaminated air. It was pretty scary and chaotic around here for several hours. My husband works about a block away from the explosion and his building was evacuated. Luckily today was his day off so he was safe at home! Thankfully it’s been determined that it wasn’t terror related. Count your blessings everyone!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens, gardening, new york city, new york explosion, explosion in new york city

Good Morning!
The New York Times did an article recently about toxic plants in the garden. Since many of us have pets and/or kids that play among our gardens, it served as an important reminder. Many common garden plants, from Lilies to Vinca vine, are toxic if eaten. If you have children, educate them and teach them never to put any plant in their mouths, and supervise your pets. On a related note, this year has been a banner year for Poison Ivy, so make sure you know how to identify it so you and your family can avoid it. If you do have it, you can spray it with a herbicide and after it’s dead, remove it (wear gloves!) Never ever burn it as the chemicals that cause the rash will travel in the smoke and cause severe injury.

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardening, gardens, toxic plants, safety, poison ivy

Good Morning!
I recently read an article about a neighborhood “Best Kept Yard” contest that got ugly when the winner was accused of cheating by his own neighbors. It got me to thinking that we gardeners tend to take our gardens so seriously that we forget to enjoy them. Let’s face it, most of us will never have the kind of gardens you see in glossy magazines. You know the ones, where every flower is perfectly in bloom, never wilted, every leaf is shiny and green, every blade of grass velvety, and ever bush stylishly trimmed. Here in the real world there is a brown patch or two on the lawn, the petunias need to be deadheaded again, and that hydrangeas got some dead leaves. It happens. For every perfect, red and juicy tomato there’s one with blossom end rot, and for every fragrant, exquisite rose, there’s one the Japanese Beetles got to first.

Every year I lose a plant or two. Last year it was my cucumbers to late blight. This year it looks like they’ve got it again, but my beans and peppers are thriving. The marigolds need deadheading and my rose bush is still recovering from the damage the powerwashers did to it, but my little garden still brings me great pleasure-and isn’t that why we garden anyway?

The moral of the story is, don’t get so caught up in keeping up with the Joneses or getting that perfect tomato that you forget to enjoy and appreciate the joy that is a garden!

Gardening Pic of The Day:

gardening, gardens, vegetables, tomatoes, garden anecdotes

Good Morning!
You’ve all heard of roof top gardening and it’s benefits, but what about having an actual living roof on your home? The pioneers of the midwest did it(remember the Little House on the Prairie books?) and today it’s enjoying a renewed popularity. Read all about it here and let me know what you think!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardening,gardens,green roofs,sod houses,urban gardening

gardening, gardens, green roofs, sod houses, urban gardening

Good morning!
I read an article today that really made me think. It’s about all the plastics used in gardening materials-flats,pots,cell packs, over 300 million pounds a year! Much of it ends up in landfills instead of being recycled. This isn’t good for our environment at all. It’s a facinating article, please check it out, and let me know what you think!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardening,gardens,environment,recycling

gardening, gardens, environment, recycling

Good morning!
This is hard to believe, but a woman in Utah was arrested for not watering her lawn! Apparently when the police ticketed her for Failure to Maintain, she became irate and refused to give her name, which led to a scuffle and her being hauled off to jail. She was eventually released and the officer who arrested her was placed on administrative leave. Who knew the police took lawn care so seriously? Read more here.

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardening,gardens,lawn care,arrested for not watering lawn,utah

gardening, gardens, lawn care, arrested for not watering lawn, utah

Good morning!

Harvested my first bell pepper today. It was bright green, crunchy, and delicious! There really is nothing like the taste of veggies you grew yourself!
Speaking of peppers, the heat wave gripping much of the country is a good thing if you’re growing hot peppers like Cayennes or Jalepenos. The hotter the temps are when the fruit sets, the hotter the pepper will be. I guess it’s not too surprising that hot peppers like hot weather, now is it?

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens,gardening,peppers

gardens, gardening, peppers

Hello!
I have returned from my honeymoon to find a thriving garden. However the temps here have been in the high 90’s for a couple days and don’t look to be going down anytime soon, so I am hoping my poor plants can withstand it!
Have any of you seen the commercial for a new grass seed called “Patch Perfect”? It claims to be a revolutionary new grass seed that grows anywhere, and in “extreme cold and heat” and even on cement with no dirt! The grass in the commercial is a (to me anyway) a very un-natural shade of green. I hope, my dear readers, that you all realize that if something sounds too good to be true, it is! There are several different types of grasses, and it pays to do some research and find the type that grows best in your area-and remember, unless you live in an area with lots of rain fall and/or no water conservation restrictions, brown patches are probably going to happen. There is no such thing as a perfect lawn without a lot of work!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens,gardening,grasses,grass seed, lawns,perfect patch

gardens, gardening, grasses, grass seed, lawns, perfect patch

Good morning!

I am off on my honeymoon, so next week a staff writer will be filling in for me. I’ll be back on July 9th and things will be back to normal. Thanks for your patience!

Gardening Pic of the Day:

gardens,gardening,honeymoon

gardens, gardening, honeymoon