fromgardentotable

September 3, 2009 · 8:52 am

It looks like Fall.

There are certain events and happenings which always generate that Fall feeling. It’s a personal experience, different for each person, based upon memories and events from one’s past. For me, it is of course that first feeling of cool weather. If it has been in the 100’s, this may only be 85 degrees. It is also the changing color of the foliage, arrival of pumpkins, football, the State Fair of Texas, and this guy.

Autumn clematis. It always seems to know when Fall is arriving and decides to burst into bloom. I trust it more than the arrival of deer stands at the Home Depot.

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September 1, 2009 · 4:10 pm

Is it Fall yet?

Oh my gosh. This summer heat is dragging on forever… Although, this morning it was 68. But, by the end of this week it is supposed to be back up in the 90’s, in the afternoons. I just really haven’t felt like getting out in the garden except for demolition. Yeah, everything looks that bad.

I have a bed along the fence that I am trying to build up (seems like I am always doing this). It is where my cucumbers were planted and where I want to plant some of my Fall garden. I am also taking out some plants there which were either 1.) crispy (so they are not in the right spot or 2) ugly (spiderwort is not looking good there)

For those of you who don’t believe the crispy part, here are some examples.

Isn’t that sad? There were others but they have been discarded long ago.

I also emptied out my large pots which contained my bell peppers and hot peppers. I want to use them for my lettuces. In the bed where the purple hull peas were, I am going to plant swiss chard again. Here is my list of plants for Fall and the dates recommended for planting in Region III in Texas. Dallas is located in Region III. I found this chart at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/fallgarden/falldirect.html .

Beets Oct. 15th ( I am growing a variety where the tops are used as well)
Carrots Nov. 10th ( I already have the seed and want to try them in a Fall garden as in the Spring I didn’t have very good any success.
Swiss Chard Oct. 1st
Garlic October (haven’t received my order yet)
Leaf lettuce Oct. 10th ( have multiple varieties)
Parsley Oct. 10th
Radish Nov. 25th (I am planting these for the first time. I have never been very fond of radishes, but thought I would try them again. Something else for my salads.
Spinach Nov. 15th ( I am going to try Spinach again , I didn’t have any luck with it last year but I am going to research it a little better this year and will let you know what I find out)
Watercress Oct. 10th (I am in love with this, hope I can grow it!)
Snap bush beans Sept. 1st ( I am thinking about this one but may just wait til Spring)
Onion seed Nov. 1st (This one will depend if I can get the particular seed I am looking for, otherwise I will plant slips in the Spring)
Last, but not least, I am going to try planting Kale seeds indoors to be transplanted 6 weeks before first frost ( our first frost is Oct. 20th so I better get with it!!!)

My sister Lori and my niece Britney brought me the cutest thing from Canton, TX (huge flea market and craft sale every 1st Monday weekend) So, if you need me …

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August 24, 2009 · 5:53 pm

She’s at it again…

Yep, Heather at Heather Bakes has another giveaway!!! A Chobani Greek Yogurt Giveaway! Mmm.

Check out her blog at www.heatherbakes.com or click here to enter the giveaway: http://tiny.cc/vr6xB

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August 18, 2009 · 5:11 pm

Do You Feel Lucky?

Well, if you do, Heather at HeatherBakes is having an amazing giveaway to celebrate her 100,000 hit on her blog. You should see the cool stuff she is giving away. So go to www.heatherbakes.com and enter to win!!

I would wish you good luck, but I’m hoping to win, too. hehe.

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August 16, 2009 · 11:15 am

“Spring Cleaning”?

Well, I couldn’t take it any longer. I yanked out all of the cucumber plants, all but one of the Porter tomatoes, all the green tomatoes, the Tam peppers, a flowering vine (which only blooms once a year and is taking up too much room) and probably this weekend, the purple hull pea vines. I am also frustrated with the ground cherries. I don’t think I will be able to scrape up enough ripe ones to make a jam, before they, too, succumb to the heat. Maybe all my summer purging will bring on Fall weather.

Besides, I need to plant my Fall garden. One of the plants I urgently need to get going is Parsley. Monarch butterflies LOVE parsley. Well, I should say the caterpillars do. In a month or so, the Monarchs will be winging through here and I need to be ready. In the meantime, I am enjoying the swallowtails.

He was very cooperative. Don’t you just love butterflies!!

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August 11, 2009 · 6:06 pm

If You’re Gonna Plant a …

It really is too hot to do anything but sit here and type. I hope I can find something to write about as the garden is in limbo. Vegetables are growing, but at such a slow pace. I am tempted to go out and pull up everything to get ready for Fall. But then I’ll see a tomato or a pepper or better yet a cucumber and I decide to wait jussst a little longer.

I have learned a lot this growing season. Mostly what NOT to do next year. Here are a few decisions I have made.

I won’t be planting anymore Green tomatoes. I’m sorry but it’s too hard to tell when they are ready to eat. AND I believe I prefer the red ones. My space is too limited to plant something I don’t really LOVE.

If you are gonna plant a hot pepper plant, plant a variety that is HOT. I planted some TAM jalapeno plants which were very mild. I thought this was a great idea, (jalapeno flavor without all the heat) but they were pretty much like a sweet pepper.

And IF you plant a hot pepper plant, seriously consider how many you really need. For me, probably one plant. (Note to self: please remember this in Jan. when you go wild with the seed buying)

When planting cucumbers plant only one variety. This way when the vines start to grow into their neighbor’s area, yikes! it won’t be necessary to figure out which variety is which.

Never buy seed from the local feed store where it has been sitting for God knows how long. ( I was desperate for Purple Hull Peas and my normal supplier was OUT) I could definitely tell the difference in quality.

Do plant lettuces early and frequently to have a continuous supply.

Do plan ahead how you are going to utilize all that bounty. Man cannot live by salsa alone. Well, maybe.

I also realized I am going to need to build up my beds EVEN MORE with excellent composted soil. I think for me, raised beds are the way to go.

So, here is the last of the Porter tomatoes, a few cucumbers and my beloved purple hull peas.

While I may not be ready to say goodbye to summer, I am ready to say goodbye to 100+ temperatures.<a title=”Cucumber on Foodista”

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August 4, 2009 · 7:48 pm

Just Peachy

Well, I just remembered that today was the second week of Summer Fest at www.awaytogarden.com and the other participating blogs. What to contribute? What have I made lately bearing stone fruit?

Yes, a peach cobbler and it’s a good one. It’s southern and sweet. But Margaret made a clafoutis and while not the same, it is similar. So, no. Peach ice cream? no, did ice cream last week.

So, WHAT!!! Then, it hit me. Bloomer Droppers. My birthday was in June and (gulp) it was the big 50. My incredible friends Jacque and Karen took me out for not just one day to celebrate, but two. Some food, some drinks, some shopping. All the good stuff. But the BEST part was the drink that Karen made. Bloomer Droppers.

Even though Matt from www.mattbites.com is on the wagon this week. You won’t be if you try these. Be warned, they sneak up on you but they are AWESOME!

Bloomer Droppers

2 medium to large peaches (you can use nectarines, white peaches, the better the peach the better the drink) pitted and sliced – no need to peel, in fact I wouldn’t
6 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate
6 oz. vodka (again, the better the vodka…)
crushed ice
Give it a whirr

Oh my gosh! These are, to date, the best drink I have ever had. Hope you like them!

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July 28, 2009 · 4:36 pm

Dill-licious

I think I am finally beaten down by the heat. If I try to go outside in the “cool” of the evening I am attacked by mosquitos. Daytime is just too hot. Thank goodness for rain last night so I don’t have to get out and water. The tomatoes are done, I think. Peppers have slowed down.

The purple hull peas have multiple pods, but the leaves are looking a little mottled on some of the plants and I have a baaad feeling about them. The cucumbers have a bizzillion blooms but some of the cucumbers are normal and some are yellow and gourd-like.

I did some research on this with these possible results. 1. Poor pollination. It’s not this one because I have many bees working the blooms every time I go out to look for a new cucumber. 2. Nutritional deficiencies. This is probably the culprit. So, I fertilized the plants and am hoping with this rain they will improve.

I am also wondering if it could be the seed, as I planted two different varieties and only one type seems to be affected. Hmm. But, I did manage to scrounge up enough cucumbers to make refrigerator dill pickles.

Hehe. I didn’t get the picture before we dug into these, so the jar looks a little empty. But… it WAS full.

I got this recipe from Margaret Roach’s blog www.awaytogarden.com. She has an amazing website and gardens in zone 5. She was the garden editor for Martha Stewart several years ago and has written a book A Way to Garden and is currently working on a new one.

Anyway, she was given this recipe for refrigerator pickles and it is really easy and they are fantastic! http://awaytogarden.com/dan-koshanskys-refrigerator-pickles. They are deliciously dill with a spicy kick.

Margaret is also having a Food Fest, along with other host bloggers, for the next four weeks where you can submit your favorite recipes. Here are the rules http://awaytogarden.com/starting-tuesday-4-week-summer-food-event#more-5760. It should be fun. It’s where I got the pickle recipe last year. Who knows what delicious recipes we’ll find!

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July 24, 2009 · 4:00 pm

Tough Plants

People, the temperature has been in the three digits for a couple of weeks now, with the heat index pushing it to 108, on a couple of days. Whew! But finally we are getting a break. We have even had a little rain, which is very exciting. My tomato plants are crispy.

But even in this unbearable heat, there are plants that haven’t missed a beat. Vegetables and flowering plants. I ‘m not talking about Nogales cacti either. The first plant that comes to mind is Angelonia (angelonia angustifolia). (When I first read the scientific name I thought it said AUGUSTifolia and thought “no kidding”.

This is the most amazing plant. It is zone hardy for zones 9-11. Is is drought tolerant, heat tolerant and low maintenance, requiring no deadheading. It also tolerates humidity which is a bonus here. The low temperature hardiness for this plant is 40 degrees but I can tell you the upper range is at least 104-106 degrees. I am speaking from first hand knowledge as those are the temperatures we have been having and it hasn’t wilted. not once.

I love that this plant is called the “summer snapdragon”. I couldn’t give it a more perfect name.

Also, the colors of this plant are white, lavender, pink and a pink/lavender. Those are very cooling and soothing colors in the middle of the summer and not always easy to find in sun-loving plants.

The plants range from 12-18 inches in height to 15-18 inches wide. There is a compact variety called “Serena” Angelonia (My lavender and pink one are “Serena”). I have found this variety at several of my local nurseries. Another observation about this plant is it doesn’t seem to grow much larger than the size it is when you purchase it. For me, that is a bonus as they don’t get too large for pots (although all of mine are in the ground) nor do they “take over” their area.

Another plant loving the heat are my purple hull peas. I didn’t think these were going to produce as I had blooms but then nothing.

Well, on one of the hottest days we have had so far, I looked out and there were pods everywhere. It seemed as if it happened overnight.

These are my favorite kind of summer pea, so I am hoping to have a good harvest .

I asked my Dad one day how many pods would you need to pick for a “mess” (it’s a Southern thing) of peas. My Dad had a wonderful sense of humor. Without missing a beat, he said “A whole day’s picking”.

I sure do miss my Dad.

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July 14, 2009 · 1:58 pm

104 degrees = ice cream!!!

Last year, in fact almost a year ago to the day, David Lebovitz at www.davidlebovitz.com made a lemon verbena ice cream. Lemon verbena is MY fragrance. I love the smell and frequent L’Occitane where they have a whole line of verbena products. Well something possessed me and I really wanted to make this ice cream. But, I could NOT find a lemon verbena plant ANYWHERE in the city of Dallas or surrounding suburbs. The year before I had a couple of plants, but I have a very difficult time keeping them alive during the winter. So… I did what every desperate nut person would do. I bought some on ebay. One of the three plants survived.

Survived just for the day that I would defoliate it for this ice cream. Not a bad way to “go” in my opinion. I mean it’s only been 100 degrees plus for several days, so I do believe ice cream is in order.

Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

recipe by David Lebovitz

1 1/2 cups loosely packed fresh lemon verbena leaves, rinsed and dried

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

6 large egg yolks

pinch of salt

optional: a dried leaf of lemon verbena to crumble in the just churned ice cream, or a very finely chopped fresh leaf

In a medium saucepan, warm the lemon verbena leaves with the milk, 1/2 cup of the cream, and the sugar.
Once warm, remove from heat, cover, and let steep for one hour.
To make the ice cream custard, pour the remaining cream into a large bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water, and put a mesh strainer on top.
Use a strainer or slotted spoon to skim the lemon verbena from the milk and squeeze the leaves to extract as much liquid as possible back into the saucepan, then discard them. Rewarm the lemon verbena infusion, then whisk the eggs together and slowly pour in the warm infusion, whisking constantly.
Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan and cook, stirring continuously with a heatproof spatula, until the custard leaves a trail on the spatula when you drag your finger across it.
Immediately strain the custard into the bowl of cream. Stir until cool.
Chill thoroughly. Once chilled, stir in the dried or finely chopped leaf of verbena (I used the finely chopped fresh leaf) (I waited a year for this ice cream and I wasn’t waiting another day for a leaf to dry up. Then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.