Make borscht! There’s a recipe under my “Recipes” button called Terry’s beet and cabbage borscht that is outstanding.
Beet Borscht
Freeze your peppers for winter use. It’s easy, just wash them off, dry them and place them in a freezer bag taking out as much air as possible.
Tarragon is tasty in fresh salads. So is fennel, just not together with the tarragon!
Sweet Basil
With Sweet Basil’s fleshier leaves they’re easier to freeze than to dry.
Snip the leaves on a sunny morning after the dew is gone, rinse if needed, pat dry and place in freezer bags. Take out as much air as possible and then toss in the freezer! Doesn’t get much easier than that…
OR chop your clean basil, pack them in ice-cube trays, fill the space with water and then freeze. This works well for soups.
How wonderful to have herbs all winter! yum…
Show Date: 23 Aug 10
I went to a MN Twins game (awesome new field!!!!) and everybody’s munching on sunflower seeds!
Sunflower seeds 'Titan'
When the backs of your sunflower heads turn from banana yellow to brown and are droopy, cut the seed head off leaving about 12 to 18 inches of stem.
Hang the heads in a warm, dry, ventilated area until the seeds loosen and dry. Then rub the heads together or use a wire mesh screen to remove the seeds from the head. Store in an airtight container until you’re ready to roast.
Sunflower 'Arikara' from Heirloom Seeds
For an easy roasting method check out the National Sunflower Association and get ALL kinds of great info!
Show Date: 20 Aug 10
Well, grab a cold beverage and journal about what you like and what you don’t like in the garden!
Garden Journal
It’s a great time to take notes of bare areas from spring bloomers and what you might like to add to cover them up.
You could dig and divide your overgrown irises, poppies and other spring bloomers. Site out a new garden bed and load it with compost, dug in about 8 inches. Let it sit for the winter or plant now. My suggestion would be to let it sit, take the winter to sketch a design and plant your plant wishlist!
Show Date: 19 Aug 10
We all would like to live “greener” but how do we do it without breaking the bank?
Take that old birdbath and put it on the ground! Why? Because it will attract beneficial critters that will eat the ones that annoy you and save the environment by not using chemical control!
Beneficials include but are not limited to:
A drop of soap in a spray bottle container of water will knock off aphids, baking soda is a pretty good fungicide and a mix of raw eggs and water will hold back bunnies.
Don’t expect these mixtures to last like chemicals, though. Rain will wipe out any effect.
Show Date: 18 Aug 10
The fun doesn’t end with ‘Annabelle’! Hydrangeas, that is…
Hydrangea macrophylla or Big Leaf hydrangeas offer 2 types. Mopheads and Lacecaps.
Hydrangea Macrophylla Mophead
The above picture is ‘Nikko Blue’. This baby needs amended soil to get those blue blooms here in Minnesota. Our soil is too alkaline for them. To do that you need to use aluminum sulphate. And you have to do it every year. Water the soil around your plant well. Mix one Tblsp. aluminum sulphate with one gal. of water. You can do this a couple of times a year. Elemental sulphur doesn’t work as well. Your goal is to have your soil at about 6 pH. Most MN soils are around 7 pH.
Hydrangea Macrophylla Lacecap
Lacecaps are really hardy to zone 5 but as long as you protect those buds from a late frost, you should have blooms. They are much more delicate than the gaudy mopheads.
Hydrangea macrophylla bloom on new and OLD wood. So if they suffer some winter kill, you’ll still get some blooms.
Show Date: 17 Aug 10
Okay, I admit it, I covet my neighbors Hydrangeas!
Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'
Hydrangea arborescens flowers on new wood and needs to be pruned to about a foot above the ground in early Spring.
Hydrangea Pee Gee (treelike)
Hydrangea Paniculata grandiflora also blooms on new wood and is zone 3 hardy.
Blossom end rot
This has been an unusual summer! Not really breaking news to you, but it has produced a real varied harvest.
Strawberries and Raspberries
I was recently on the Master Gardener chat board and the results are about 50/50 with good vs bad harvests. The early warmth and then cool down nipped some plants while the rain has been too much in other areas.
Let me know what’s going on in YOUR garden! Send me an email, I love hearing from you…
Show Date: 13 Aug 10
It’s always fun to share plants with other gardeners. Half the fun is wondering what the heck you’ve got!
This mystery plant took some time to figure out:
Persicaria virginiana aka Virginia Knotweed ‘Painter’s Palette’
'Painter's Palette'
This gem is tolerant of clay soil, damp areas and butterflies love it! It can be a little invasive but I think it’s worth it. It delivers small pink flowers in the Fall.
Show Date: 12 Aug 10
I normally freeze tomatoes whole. I’ve planted a roma tomato called ‘Fresh Salsa’ that is a determinate plant. It grows to a certain point and then stops. This guy delivers plenty of fruit and has a great flavor with a meatier tomato.
This year – I’m drying them. Spray your dehydrator with cooking spray and then slice your tomatoes 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Place them so they have some room for the air to flow. It can take anywhere from 12 to 48 hours for your tomatoes to dry depending on moisture level.
dried cherry tomatoes, pepper, heirloom tomato
When they’re the consistency of a raisin – they’re ready! Put them in airtight containers and then toss in the freezer and you’ll have tomatoes all year for cooking! I like to throw them in salads too.
I recently read an article about how much bacteria is on those bags and it was frightening. We use them for all kinds of things and then don't always think to wash them.
It's easy to just toss them in with a load of clothes or, if they're the more plastic type, hand wash them.
