Category Archives: Health

Aug 9 2011

Strawberries

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Strawberry plants

Strawberries for me have been difficult.  We planted these a few years ago and it has really done a good job of covering the area that was designed for them.  The problem I have is I’ve planted the wrong variety.  We got the variety that is supposed to produce all season long.  That means we get one or two strawberries at a time.  That’s okay if you only want to put it in your cereal once in a while.  I like to make strawberry jam so I think that the variety I should have gotten was the one that produces all at once.  There is also another variety that is just a ground cover and doesn’t produce strawberries at all.  Another problem we have is birds.  We wait and watch for the the strawberries to ripen.  Then one day we wake up to find that all of our waiting was in vain because the birds ate the strawberry before we even had a chance.  This year my husband built a cage to go over the strawberries.  It has windows on the top so we can still pick and we have had some success with it.  I also think we might have a slug issue with the strawberries.  So here is my dilemma do I pull up all the strawberries and start over with the right variety or do I just leave it the way it is looking nice?

The cage that Corey built

Aug 7 2011

Parsley

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Italian Parsley

Parsley is a great herb to have around.  It’s pretty easy to grow too.  Like most herbs you will want to plant it in a pot because it has a tendency to spread and take over.  I have another spot on the side of the house that really nothing grew in because it is too shady.  We planted some parsley there and it loves it and is now starting to take over.  I planted parsley in this pot because I wanted something that was a perennial.  We have planted rosemary, mint, and basil in this same pot but because of our harsh winters they always die out.  This pot doesn’t have a bottom it really is just a cylinder and I think is actually part of the chimney  that I just recycled.  If it was a normal pot I might consider bringing it in during the winter to make the herbs last.  Parsley is great in soups and stews.  It’s really easy to dry and store so you can potentially have parsley all year round.  Parsley is also nice as a garnish.  I just used it this week to garnish my beef stroganoff.

 

Aug 5 2011

Onions

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Red onions

I know it’s been a while since I have posted anything.  That is one thing about gardening that is really tough.  After all of your spring harvests like peas, radishes, spinach, and lettuce it’s just a waiting game.  We planted some red onions this spring.  My onions have already fallen over (that’s how you know they are ready to pick).  They weren’t very big but then again mine never are.  I grew up in Ontario Oregon, the onion capital of the northwest, and they always have these huge onions.  I remember getting in the car, and if there was an onion truck in front of us and it drops a few onions, my mom would stop the car and make me get out and pick them up so we could take them home.  I don’t remember my parents ever growing onions.  I don’t think we had to because we could just go and pick them up off the road.

The best way to grow onions is to purchase the onion starts and not plant them from seed, unless you have some kind of green house which I don’t.  You know they are ready to be harvested when the green tops fall over.  Then you take them out and let them dry for a few days.  I’ve already used some of mine in a salad.  Onions are pretty resilient and don’t have a lot of pest problems.  This is the first year we’ve planted the red onion.  In years past we have planted a yellow onion.  If don’t like onions but don’t mind having green onions you can plant the starts closer together and harvest the green tops.

Jul 16 2011

Asian Lettuce Wraps

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I just made this a few nights ago.  I’ve seen these and have always wanted to try them.  Now I have to ask myself “Why haven’t I tried them before”.  This was so good.  Well at least I thought they were.  My kids didn’t like them as much but that leaves more for me right!?  I thought I would share the recipe with you so maybe you could give them a try.  I got this out of my “Taste of Homes” cook book.

Asian Lettuce Wrap

Asian Lettuce Wraps

1 lb ground turkey

1 16 oz package frozen oriental mixed vegetables, thawed

4 green onions

Sauce: 1/3 Cup teriyaki sauce

1/4 Cup hoisin sauce

3 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

2 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger root

3 cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

I used fresh veggies instead of frozen.  Just use what you would normally get in the package.  I used red pepper, onion, mushroom, green and yellow zucchini, and cabbage.  I chopped them into small pieces and put them aside.  Then I mixed the sauce and set it aside.  Earlier in the day I picked fresh lettuce from my garden washed it and put it in the fridge.  Heat a little bit of canola oil in a pan and then brown the turkey.  After the turkey is brown add the veggies and mix.  Pour the sauce over the top and mix until everything is covered well.  Cook for another 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally.  You know it’s done when the veggies are still  crisp tender and everything is heated through.  Sprinkle with the green onions.  Put a spoonful into a lettuce leaf  and enjoy.  Our leaves were a little small so we wrapped them like a taco instead of a burrito.

Tip:  When I buy ginger root I never use it all.  I peel the whole thing and put the rest in the freezer.  It last for quite a while in the freezer.  When I need some minced ginger root I just take it out and grate however much I need and then put it back.

Jul 13 2011

Peas

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Peas growing in my garden

I have the fondest memories of peas.  My mom always grew peas in her garden and I remember sitting on the porch with my mom on a cool summer night.  My mom would have a bag full of peas and a bowl.  We would just sit there talking and opening up peas and, of course, eating them.

I love to eat fresh garden peas.  In previous years we grew a Lincoln pole pea and didn’t have very much success.  We would only grow enough for a handful and the kids always ate them before I could do anything with them.  This year we tried a new variety called Little Marvel.  This is a bush pea.  So far we have a lot more peas than we ever had.  I have enough to feed the whole family peas, as a side, dish for dinner (although I think they like them better raw).  Corey said that he didn’t think he planted enough last year.  He really packed the seeds in together this year.  Along with a better watering schedule the peas have really taken off.   I think next year I’m going to grow at least twice as many so I can have some to freeze.

Pole verses the bush pea.  On the package of the Little Marvels it said that there was no need to stake the plants.  Pole peas grow tall vertically and will fall over if not staked.  When I bought the Little Marvels (a bush pea) I was under the impression that we didn’t have to stake them.  They did pretty well until the pods started to form and now they have fallen onto themselves and have become a tangled mess.  I think that maybe next time we will set up a trellis along side them so they have something to attach themselves to and maybe stay standing.  Picking the peas can be a back breaking job.  It is better if you have somewhere you can sit or kneel.  I, however, had to bend over for about 15 minutes to pick all the peas.  When I finally stood up my back was very stiff.  Over all I’m pretty satisfied with the results.

Freshly picked

Carrying on the tradition

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sophia and her peas

What we have so far

Jul 10 2011

Radishes

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Radishes fresh from the garden

This year we planted some radishes.  I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t had very much luck with these in the past.  I say “ashamed” because they are actually very easy to grow.  In previous years when I’ve planted them the bulb never developed and grew.  My theory is that we just weren’t giving them enough water.  This year we have a more consistent watering schedule due to putting in a sprinkler system last year.  My radishes this year have really taken off and are doing so well.  I love to put radishes in my salad.  I like the crispiness they add to a salad and I also like the slight spiciness they have.  This is another crop that we like to plant in small amounts and then after they have sprouted plant another small crop.  This way I have radishes the same time I have lettuce for salads.

Jul 7 2011

Lettuce and Spinach

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Lettuce and Spinach earliest planting in back to new planting in front

I love love love having lettuce and Spinach in the garden.  I’m a big salad person and it is great to be able make one anytime you want.  My husband and I have found that when planting lettuce and spinach it’s better to stagger the planting rather than plant a whole row.  We never eat a whole row of lettuce and spinach before it starts to flower.  Once they flower the leaves start to turn bitter.  By staggering the planting I can continually have lettuce and spinach throughout the season.

Spring mix variety

 

Lettuce is a pretty easy plant to grow.  It is tolerant to cold weather, which is great around here.  I usually get two different varieties.  One is a spring mix and the other a buttercrisp. The spring mix is a mix of different lettuce varieties put together.  I like those because you get a colorful and different tasting variety.  Some leaves are purple others have a different leave shape.  Some taste a little bitter or more salty, and some are sweeter.  I also plant a buttercrisp variety which is your usual green leaf lettuce.  I happen to like the taste of this variety so if I were you just pick a variety that is your favorite.  I don’t usually have any problems with the lettuce I guess the only issue I have is sometimes when I pick them there are earwigs on them.  I absolutely can’t stand earwigs.  So before bringing the heads in the house to wash I just give them a good shake.  The lettuce when I pick it sometimes feels a little wilted but that isn’t a problem.  All you need to do is bring it in and wash it really good and put it in a container and then put it in the fridge.  It crisps right up after it chills for a while.

Spinach

Spinach is nice to have but takes a little more work to grow.  I haven’t been very successful with growing spinach.  This year has been better than most.  Spinach loves sandy soil and we just don’t have that.  Our soil has a lot of clay and makes it really tough for spinach to thrive.  The best solution would be for us to amend our soil with some sand but we just have not done that yet.  Another problem I have discovered is that something is eating my spinach.  The leaves were turning a weird almost opaque color.  At first glance I thought it might have some kind of fungus.  Then I picked a leave and noticed some kind of grub eating between the outer layers of the leaf.  Yuck! I don’t want that in my salad.  I don’t usually like to use pesticides or harsh fertilizers on my garden.  This time I decided if I wanted spinach I had to do something.  So I removed all the infected leaves and spayed on Fungicide 3.  It’s a product from garden safe.  It is supposed to be a fungicide, insecticide, and miticide all in one.  I’m not sure what I’m trying to kill so I’m not sure if this will work.  You’re supposed to spray it on every 7 to 10 days until all leaves are uninfected.  I sprayed it on last week and again today.  Each time I remove the infected leaves.  Hopefully the spinach starts to look better soon.  Do you have any ideas?

Infected Spinach Leaf

Jul 3 2011

Garlic

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Garlic

I find garlic to be one of the easiest things to grow.  My husband and I started growing garlic a few years ago and we have kept doing it since.  We use garlic for so many things and it’s nice to always have fresh garlic around.

Growing garlic started with a trip to the grocery store.  While buying some garlic at the store we were curious about growing it in our own garden.  So we bought a couple of heads of garlic and separated the cloves and planted them in the garden just to see what would happen.  You plant garlic in the fall just like you would any type of bulb (ie tulips).  In the spring we were surprised to see garlic sprouting up.  It was great.  The garlic we bought from the store worked but the bulbs when harvested were smaller than what you bought at the store.  The next year we kept some of our bulbs that we had harvested and planted them again.  We also went to our local food co-op and bought some garlic that someone had grown on their farm locally.  It was amazing the difference in size each variety had.  The locally grown garlic was much larger than the grocery store.  This year we just planted some of our bulbs from last and it’s doing great.  I suggest buying the garlic from your local farmers market or co-op if you want to plant.  I tried buying from the local garden store and it was expensive ($4 dollars a bulb)  The co-op was only selling it for $1.00 a bulb.  Now we have an unlimited supply of garlic.  I planted about 6 bulbs of garlic which for us yields about 24 bulbs in the spring.  So that leaves us with 18 bulbs to use during the year.  The garlic when stored correctly last until your next harvest or until you consume it all.

Garlic is known to have many medicinal properties.  Garlic is great for your heart and helps regulate blood sugar levels.  There are a lot of reasons you should grow garlic.  Not only is it good for your health but it taste good too.  We use it in sauces, salsas, Asian foods, mix it with olive oil and use as a dip.  The possibilities are unlimited.  One down fall of garlic is that it can cause some really bad halitosis.  Also if you eat a lot of garlic your sweat could have a garlic odor.  I happen to like the smell of garlic but most people don’t.  Garlic is hard to smell on other people when you yourself have been eating garlic so if you’re worried about the smell just make sure everyone else is eating it too.

Garlic growing in our garden

Jul 1 2011

Gardening

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my garden

I love gardens.  I don’t claim to be an expert on gardening although I would like to be one someday.  I think gardening is a life long project.  You are always learning more.  Everyone has their own opinion on how gardening should be done.  I think it doesn’t matter if you are a patio gardener, square foot gardener, or a row gardener as long as you love what you’re doing and are somewhat successful at it than you’re on the right path to becoming an expert. Every year we try something different in our garden.  Some things work and somethings don’t it is always a learning experience. I love the feeling you get when you walk out into your garden and can see the results of your hard work.  I’m hoping to share with you information about my garden and what I’ve planted this year.  Not only what I’ve planted but how these things can be used when harvested.  Of course I expect you to do the same.  Tell me what works for you and what doesn’t.  Tell me what you’ve done with the produce you get. I think this will be a fun learning experience.  Here are the things we have planted in the garden  so far this year.  I’ll hopefully blog about each one.

 

Vegetables: garlic, peas, lettuce, spinach, radishes, green peppers, hot peppers, green beans, carrots, corn, pumpkins, cucumbers, onions

Fruits: tomatoes, watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, apples

Herbs: chives, Italian parsley

 

Apr 1 2011

Pan fried chicken salad

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Sometimes for dinner all I crave is a nice big salad.  I used the spinach, Romain lettuce,carrots, celery, tomatoes, and asparagus in this salad.  I pan fried a chicken breast with a little butter and olive oil.  I hard boiled some eggs and sliced them.  Put it all together and we had one yummy salad.  I would’ve liked to grill the chicken but it was just way to windy. This experiment is coming to an end.  I did enjoy sharing some of my experiences with you.  I’ll probably do something like this in the future with things we get out of our garden.  I think if you can participate in bountiful baskets it is worth it.  It does have it’s good points but just like everything else there are bad points too.  For example, this past Monday I went to order my basket for this week.  I got online at noon and had trouble making my order for an hour.  It was really inconvenient and frustrating.  I don’t usually have problems with ordering but I think with the increasing popularity of the baskets comes overwhelming of the servers.  I love always having fresh fruits and veggies on hand and it has really helped me be more creative with my meals.  Saving money isn’t bad either.  Over all I think that the good out weighs the bad and I’ll probably continue ordering baskets until the harvest season starts.  I’ll take a break until winter starts up again. I’ll still blog from time to time about yummy meals that turned out well for my family.  I really love hearing and getting ideas from each of you.  Thanks for all the feedback.