Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!

From my house to yours, have a good night! Be safe out there and have fun!

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If you have any questions about gardening, or ideas for a topic you'd like me to write a blog post about; please feel free to add a comment on any of my posts. You can also post something on my Facebook page.
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...And the Winner is...

Good morning everyone and happy Saturday!!

Well, random.org has spoken for the Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire book giveaway and the winner is...

Ani

Congratulations Ani!!

Ani, I would love to hear your thoughts on this book when you're done reading it! Please come back and post a comment and let us know what you thought of the book!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in my first giveaway, this was so much fun. I hope that you will all continue to read my blog and keep those comments coming.

I plan to have more giveaways in the future and I hope to be involved in more book tours like this one.


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If you have any questions about gardening, or ideas for a topic you'd like me to write a blog post about; please feel free to add a comment on any of my posts. You can also post something on my Facebook page.
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Got Leaves?

It is fall here in Minnesota, and that means there's a plethora of leaves everywhere....or does it?

Pile-o-leaves from my largest tree

I don't have a lot of trees in my yard so I hardly have any leaves to clean up in the fall. 

In fact, I just raked my yard (well, really just under the largest tree) for the first time in 9 years and got a few small piles of leaves. 

Granted I only raked because I wanted to collect the leaves for my compost, I could have just mulched the leaves into the lawn with the mower instead. 

This may sound like a great problem to have to some people, but for a gardener like me, it's a double-edged sword.
 

The great part about not having many trees is that I have full sun for my gardens. 

I constantly hear about the struggles that people with mature trees/full shade face with gardening. It makes me feel very grateful for my full sun yard.

The bad part about not having many trees is that I don't get the great benefits of having a ton of leaves to use in my gardens in the fall. 

Leaves make a great natural mulch to protect sensitive plants during the cold winter months. They are also great for the compost and easy to till directly into the garden in the fall.

So, what do I do? In years past, I've asked several of my neighbors to save their leaves for me (some of them have large, mature trees). The usual response I get is loud laughter, apparently this is a weird question to some people. But my neighbors know me by now so they are used to weird requests like this from me.

Do you have a lot of trees in your yard? If so, what are the downfalls you face with too many leaves (and can you have some shipped to me?)? 

If you're like me and don't have leaves of your own, where do you get your leaves?

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If you have any questions about gardening, or ideas for a topic you'd like me to write a blog post about; please feel free to add a comment on any of my posts. You can also post something on my Facebook page.
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Plant Profile - Tuberous Begonia

Begonias are very popular and commonly used in annual pots. They are also great to add summer-long color to your shade gardens.

But did you know that some begonias have tubers which can be easily overwintered? (Not all begonias have tubers)

Not only will you get to enjoy the same beautiful plant year after year, but it will save you the cost of buying new plants each year.

 I discovered this fact quite by accident several years ago.

I had brought several of my annual pots into the house in the fall so I could enjoy the blooms for a few more weeks after frost.

I had planted a spider plant as a filler in one of the pots that also contained a tuberous begonia.

After the begonia dropped all of it's foliage, I didn't have the heart to throw away the spider plant so I decided to keep it as a houseplant over the winter.

During the long winter, I had forgotten all about the begonia in the pot. To my surprise the next spring it started to sprout new growth! I was thrilled. It grew just as beautifully that summer as it had the summer before.

Since then, I have added a few more tuberous begonias to my collection. The rose like blooms on these first few beauties (pictures above) are wonderful to bring color to the shade garden under my tree. They bloom all summer long and are very easy to care for.

The orange weeping one in this picture is 3 years old and I have never taken it out of the pot it currently lives in. I get so many compliments on this one, it's definitely worth keeping.

Overwintering tuberous begonias is easy, basically all I do is keep the pots in an area where they won't freeze during the winter and forget about them until spring.



Here are some tips for overwintering your tuberous begonias...

• If your tuberous begonias are planted in your garden, you can dig up the tubers after frost has killed the foliage and store them like you would any other tender bulb or tuber.

• If your begonia is in a pot, you can bring it inside before frost. Once you bring the plant inside, keep the soil on the dry side and it will slowly start to go dormant by dropping it's flowers, leaves and stems. Once all of the stems and foliage have dropped off, stop watering.

• If you prefer, you can leave the pot outside and let frost kill the foliage. This will force the plant to go dormant quicker. Once the foliage is dead, cut off all the stems and bring pot inside.

• Store the pot in a cool dark room or a room that gets low light. Water sparingly (or not at all) until spring. Do not over water!

• The tuber may continue to send out new growth during the winter, but this growth will end up being spindly and weak. Cut off any winter growth before placing the plant back outside.

• In the spring, move the pot into a bright location outside and begin watering it. You can add fertilizer if desired (it's hit of miss for me). This is the time to repot the plant if it's root bound.

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If you have any questions about gardening, or ideas for a topic you'd like me to write a blog post about; please feel free to add a comment on any of my posts. You can also post something on my Facebook page.
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This Seasons Last Harvest - Carrots and Sweet Potatoes

Well it's that time of year already, the final harvest of the season. This week I have dug up my sweet potatoes and my carrots (well  some of the carrots, I will finish the task this weekend). I will probably have some brussel sprouts and broccoli left to harvest over the next few weeks, but for the most part, the vegetable garden is done.

Carrots:

Carrots

Like all vegetables, carrots fresh from the garden are awesome and taste better than any you can buy at the store!!

But they can be difficult to clean!

As you may notice from the picture, my carrots are deformed.The first time I ever did carrots I was concerned about this. So I researched it and found that this is caused by planting the carrots too close together. But I always have a ton of seedlings in the spring and not a lot of space in the garden, so I'll deal with the deformed carrots.

The carrots in my garden have been ready for several weeks and I usually pull them as I want to and enjoy them earlier in the season. But it's been a busy summer so I will harvest them all at once this year.

Carrots are so easy to harvest because you don't have to make sure to harvest them as soon as they are ready. They are patient and can stay in the ground until you're ready to harvest them. That's why they're usually one of the last vegetables harvested in my garden. To preserve carrots, I wash, peel and cut them up then put them in the freezer. I usually have enough to last me well into the spring. Carrots also keep for a long time in a refrigerator drawer.

Sweet Potato:

Sweet Potatoes

This is my first year trying to grow sweet potatoes and I am happy with my success.

I have tried growing other types of potatoes in past years and didn't have very good success, so I wasn't optimistic about the sweet potatoes.

I put in two plants and got a nice meal of sweet potatoes in return. I can't wait to try them, I bet they will be so yummy!!

On a random side note... when I dug up the sweet potatoes, I couldn't help but notice how similar the tubers are to the tubers of some of my tender bulbs (which are not edible).

Every time I see plants that look similar to each other and one is edible but the other is not (or even poisonous), it always makes me wonder how they determined the difference in the days before modern science. Did they have volunteers that would eat them and if they died or got sick... oh well, I guess that's not edible. Hummm...I wonder...


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If you have any questions about gardening, or ideas for a topic you'd like me to write a blog post about; please feel free to add a comment on any of my posts. You can also post something on my Facebook page.
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Getting Your Gardens Ready for Winter

A friend of mine just bought a new house and she recently asked me "Do you have any tips on what I should be doing to prepare my gardens for winter?" This is a great question and one I get asked often, so I was inspired to write a blog post.

Whether you are new to gardening or have been doing it for years, it's always good to have a general list of things to think about in the fall.

Before you read on or start scrolling down, let me just say that this list is long. I've included everything here that I always think about for fall gardening chores. This doesn't mean that all of this must be done by you before the snow flies...or any of it really. I just wanted to give everyone lots of ideas, so please don't get overwhelmed! Ok...here's my list of some basic things you could do in the fall for your gardens...

Ideas for Fall Garden Chores:

Perennials - I usually cut all of my spring blooming perennials (i.e. peonies, irises, columbine, dianthus...etc) to the ground in the fall as a minimum. If I have time, I will start to work on cutting down the summer perennials (i.e. lilies, blackeyed susan, hollyhock, phlox...etc).

I don't cut down everything in the fall because I like to leave some for winter interest and the birds (cone flowers, sedums, hydrenga...etc). One special note: if there is only one plant you cut down in the fall, make it your irises to avoid the dreaded iris borer. 

• Annuals - Once frost has killed everything, I pull all of the annuals out by the root and toss them in the compost (after collecting the seeds). Some years I'm too busy to pull them all in the fall, so I'll clean up the rest in the spring.

• Seed Collection - If you're into collecting seeds, there is a plethora of them waiting out in the gardens in the fall! Check out my blog post from last fall about collecting seeds... Seeds, seeds everywhere

• Spring Blooming Bulbs - It's not too early to think spring! Now is a great time to plant your spring blooming bulbs for fabulous color in the spring!

• Tender Bulbs - After the frost has killed off the foliage of your tender bulbs, it's time to dig them up and get them ready for winter storage. Check out my post to see how I do this... Time to dig up those tender bulbs.

• Weeding - Once you have the foliage cleaned up in your gardens, it's easier to see the weeds that have been hiding all summer. Fall is the perfect time to weed the gardens! For easier pulling, water the gardens well a few hours before you plan to weed. This will soften up the soil and make pulling the weeds much easier.

• Preen - Putting down Preen in the gardens now will help prevent weed seeds from sprouting next spring.

• Rake the leaves - Leaves are great to use as natural mulch around your perennials, or as an addition to the compost bin. Allowing leaves to sit on the lawn all winter could leave dead patches in the spring.

• Mulching - If you have any tender perennials that will need extra protection to make it through the winter, you'll want to start thinking about when to mulch them. Don't mulch too early though, warm weather can harm plants that have their winter mulch too soon.

• Splitting Perennials - The two best times of the year to plant, divide and move perennials are the fall and the spring. (Although it's probably too late to think about doing this here in MN right now). The reason fall is a good time is that the plant will focus it's energy on root development in the fall. The temperatures are cooler in the spring and fall and that make transplanting easier on the plant.

• Mowing - Sometimes gardening can get so busy that we forget about the lawn. In the fall as the lawn starts to go dormant, lower your mower blade to give your grass and nice short cut for the winter. Think about bagging the clippings to throw into the compost bin or till into the veggie garden. This is also a great time to aerate and dethatch your lawn.

• Hardscaping projects -  Have you been thinking about putting in a retaining wall, garden edging or other hardscape project? Fall is a great time to do these types of projects, not only is the weather nice and cool, but you won't have to work around full grown garden plants.

• Create new garden beds - Fall is also a great time to add a new bed to your gardens. If you wait until the grass has gone dormant to dig a new bed, it will make your job much easier. Even better, you can start a new garden bed by laying down a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard, and then cover it completely with a thick layer of mulch or dirt. By spring, all of the grass underneath will be dead and you'll have a new garden bed.

Whew so much to do, so little time! Well, if you don't get everything done this fall don't worry... it will all be waiting for you in the spring!

What's Bloomin' in October

It's late October and my the gardens are still going strong. Normally by this time of year, everything has long been killed off by frost and I am busy doing cleanup work. But this year, we haven't had many frosty mornings and haven't had a killing frost yet, so the annuals and tropicals are still flowering like crazy. It's unbelievable!! I never remember fall going this long, it's great! 

Without further ado, here are some of my favorite blooms from October, way more than I thought I would have..

Rattlebox

Mum

Mum

Mum

Castor Bean

Gladiola

Gladiola

Cosmos

Calendra radio extra

Marigold 'Tiger Eyes'

 
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If you have any questions about gardening, or ideas for a topic you'd like me to write a blog post about; please feel free to add a comment on any of my posts. You can also post something on my Facebook page.
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Hot Peppers Can be Evil!

Have you ever been cutting up hot peppers and absentmindedly touched your nose or eyes? OUCH! That burns like crazy. The first time something like this happened to me, it was a nightmare.

Cayanne Hot Peppers

I remember it vividly... several hours after cutting up hot peppers I took out my contact lenses and all of the sudden my eyes were on fire! 

I could barely open them and I sat on the couch for hours in pain. 

I couldn't put my contacts in for days after because they continued to burn my eyes. This was before I had disposable lenses and I finally had to call the eye doctor to see what to do. It took another week of soaking and cleaning my contact lenses every day before I could put them in my eyes again.

Since then, I have been burned by peppers dozens of times (although never nearly as severe). You think I would learn!? Well, I finally got smart and started wearing rubber gloves when I cut up hot peppers and that has resolved the issue. 

Recently my husband decided to cut up a whole bunch of hot peppers without wearing gloves and he said his hands burned for days after. He's learned his lesson and will wear rubber gloves from now on. 

I've also learned to take the same precautions when harvesting hot peppers, and when handling hot pepper seeds (even the commercial ones!). Moral of the story... if you touch any part of a hot pepper, be careful not to touch your eyes, nose, open cuts or any other body orifice. 

If you haven't suffered from this problem you may think I'm overexaggerating. But keep in mind that one of the popular ingredients in the types of sprays used for self defense and by police for riot control is made from hot peppers!! 

Please learn from my mistakes and wear rubber gloves any time you handle hot peppers or hot pepper seeds. 

Has this ever happened to you? Feel free to share your hot pepper horror story here. I'd love to hear your story so I know I'm not the only one! :-)
 
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If you have any questions about gardening, or ideas for a topic you'd like me to write a blog post about; please feel free to add a comment on any of my posts. You can also post something on my Facebook page.
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Latest Harvest - Garlic and Brussel Sprouts

Even though it's getting colder here, I am still harvesting. We haven't had our first hard frost yet so the tomatoes, squash and peppers are still producing.

In my latest harvest, I have been enjoying brussel sprouts and Garlic.

  

Brussel sprouts on the stalk

This is my first time ever doing brussel sprouts so I didn't even know what they looked like when they were ready to harvest. But once the little cabbage-like heads started to appear on the stalks, I knew what to look for. The brussel sprouts have been delicious steamed with butter!!



Watch out though, because sometimes you can get added protein if you aren't careful. The worms that have been feeding on the leaves all summer can hide in the leaves of the brussel sprout heads and are easy to miss.

Soak the heads in a bowl of water for 30 minutes or more and the worms will drown and fall to the bottom of the bowl. This sounds gross I know, but it's better to know you're not eating them! (I do this with broccoli and cauliflower too!)

Garlic (after washing)

 It's a bit late for harvesting my garlic, normally it should be harvested in mid-summer.

But I completely forgot that I planted garlic this year and it blended in with my onion. Hence the late harvest. Some of the bulbs had started to sprout so I will replant those for next year.



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Book Review - Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire

This summer, I was given a great opportunity to be involved in a TLC book tour. Over the past several years, I have been a member of many book clubs and love reading, so I jumped at this chance. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to write a book review and I'm very excited about it.


Title: Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
Author: Margot Berwin
Release date: June 1, 2010
Publisher: Vintage
Pages: 304
Genre: Adult fiction
Source: TLC Book Tours



Lila Nova is a recently divorced thirty two year old advertising copywriter who lives in New York City. In an attempt to erase the memories from her broken marriage and start life over with a clean slate, Lila moves into a plain white boxy apartment.

The book begins by telling the story of how Lila becomes interested in tropical plants. One day she decides to add some color to her barren apartment and goes to the market to buy a plant... that's where her love for plants, and her exciting adventure to find the nine plants of desire begins. An adventure that takes her from a unique laundromat turned greenhouse in the middle of New York City, to the dense jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula. In her quest for the nine plants of desire, she learns not only about plants, but about how to find herself. She had no idea what strange new world she was getting herself into.

When I first read the title and short description of the book, I thought it would be a steamy romance novel, which is not my favorite genre. After doing a bit more research, I was intrigued to find that mystery, magic, adventure, and plants all mix together to form the main themes of this book.

There are several characters in the book that have an obsession with plants, which I can totally relate to! As a plant lover, I found the idea of the nine plants of desire and their meanings fascinating. I like that you don't find the nine plants by looking for them (or stealing them), but they allow you to find them by drawing you to them. Once they allow you to have them all, you will get everything you want in life.

Another thing that I liked about the book was that at the beginning of each chapter there is a short introduction or description of a plant. I enjoyed these chapter intros, I thought they set the scene for the chapter. There was even foreshadowing included in some of these chapter headers, which at times made the book hard to put down.

Although for the most part I enjoyed this book, there were a few things that I didn't like about it.

I was a bit annoyed with the main character Lila at times, she was very selfish and didn't seem to learn very quickly (I mean how could you forget that a plant is lethal in certain doses, and then feed it to someone... only to be shocked and devastated when that person is sick and dying?!).

One of the purposes of the quest for the nine plants of desire was for Lila to find herself and change. I don't think Lila ever changed to become the person she wanted to be, I felt that the novel ended quickly and left this point open ended. Perhaps this was intentional, but I feel that if left in New York, Lila would go back to being the same person she always was.

Another theme throughout the book was that plants have personalities and magical powers. Even though I liked the idea of plants having personalities and were able to show Lila how to find them, this part of the book at times seemed forced and it was too unrealistic for me. I also thought the magical powers of the plants, and the fact that all of the plant enthusiasts in the book seemed to have telepathic abilities was overdone.

In the end, I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it, it was a quick light read. Plant lovers will especially be able to relate to the plant addiction that several characters in this book have. I'm not sure that people who aren't into plants would enjoy it as much as I did, but I think there's something in this novel for everyone.

I don't think I would have ever read this book on my own; but I am very glad that I had this opportunity because it was worth the read! Berwin has a great imagination and I like her writing style, I would definitely read more of her books in the future. This book is well written and at times I didn't want to put it down.

Plant lover or not, be sure to read Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire with an open mind and I think you'll enjoy it.

Book Giveaway!!

I'm excited to announce that I have the opportunity to give away a copy of Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire to one of my readers. To enter, leave a comment and let me know how you found my blog and what your favorite plant is. Feel free to tell me your favorite book or give me a recommendation too (I'm always looking for good reads!). I would love to hear your comments even if you don't want to enter for the book giveaway.

If you want to enter your name in the giveaway, please be sure to leave me an email address or a way to contact you if you're the winner. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents. The giveaway will end at midnight CST on Thursday, October 28th. With the help of random.org, I will pick a winner on Friday, October 29th. Please forward this on to anyone you think would be interested!

I'd like to thank TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

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Plant profile - Thanksgiving, Christmas or Holiday Cactus

Now that the weather is getting colder here in Minnesota, I will start to turn more of my attention to indoor gardening. Once the summer is over, most of my houseplants are done with their active growing period and will rest during the winter.

But there are a few that are just beginning to come into their active growing season now, mainly the holiday cactus. One of my favorite and easiest to care for houseplants are my holiday cacti.

Thanksgiving Cactus

These types of plants have an opposite growing season than most houseplants, they like to rest during the summer and they flower in the fall/winter.

There are two types of holiday cactus that will start to bloom during our fall and winter, Thanksgiving cactus and Christmas cactus.

I have read that one main difference between the Christmas cactus and the Thanksgiving cactus is the shape of the leaf segments... Christmas cactus segments are rounded and Thanksgiving cactus segments have sharper points. The only other difference between these plants is the time when they bloom.

Christmas Cactus

Usually I will move my holiday cacti to a south facing window and start watering it more often in late August or September. After a few weeks, I will fertilize it and leave it in the sunny location until after it's done blooming.

Once the plant is done blooming, I will slowly reduce the amount of water I give it and keep it on the dry side for the rest of the year. In the early spring, I move it away from the sunny window.

Here are more tips for success with the holiday cactus:

• Keep it out of the sun in the summer, hot sun could damage the plant.
  
• The best time to take a cutting is after the plant is done blooming.
  
• These plants like to be root bound and will produce more flowers when root bound. If a plant needs to be repotted, it's best to repot it in early spring.
• Keep the soil on the dry side when its not actively growing.
  
• During their active growth period, the soil should be kept evenly moist.
  
• Do not over water this plant.

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Preserving peppers for winter use

Fall is the time of year when the pepper harvest is at its peak. Over the last few weeks, I have been busy harvesting my peppers. I've had a good crop this year, but not nearly as many as my all time record pepper crop a few years ago. That's when I harvested 15 gallons of peppers in one week. This was the largest pepper harvest I've ever had.

Peppers of all kinds, love the colors!!

I knew there was no way I could use all of those peppers before they rotted, so I started researching what I could do with them. I tried 3 different ways to preserve my peppers, and all were a great success...

Canning - I quickly learned that canning peppers was easy to do, and any type of pepper can be used for canning. It's similar to canning pickles and we ended up with about 10 quart jars of peppers, which lasted over a year. My pepper crop wasn't as abundant this year, but were were still able to can a few jars.

Canned peppers

Freezing - Freezing is another way to preserve all types of peppers. I had a bunch of hot peppers left over after canning so I decided to try freezing them. Freezing peppers was even easier than canning, I simply cut the peppers in half (larger ones I cut in fourths) and removed the stems and seeds. I put them on a cookie sheet and let them freeze for a little while. Once they were frozen, I put them into freezer bags. These are great to have to throw into recipes throughout the winter.

Washing the bell peppers

Drying - You know those crushed red pepper flakes that you always see in pizza joints and Italian restaurants. I love those and wanted to try making them myself. I had tons of cayenne peppers so I decided to try drying them and making crushed red pepper.

I hung some of them in a spare room to dry out for several weeks, but most of them got moldy on the inside and I ended up throwing them in the compost.

The rest of them, I dried in the oven. This worked best and was a much quicker method to dry them. Once they had cooled and hardened, I used a food processor to "crush" them. It's amazing how many cayenne peppers you need to get a small amount of crushed red pepper.

This week I will be busy canning, freezing and drying peppers. Fall sure is a busy time of year for a gardener!!

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Blooms from September

Sedum (mix)

King Tut Grass (not really a flower, but cool! Almost 6' tall!)

Sedum 'Purple Emperor'

Cardinal Climber

Marigold French mix

Variegated Obedient Plant

Dahlia

Canna Lily 'Rosemond Cole'

Canna Lily 'Picasso'

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This week's harvest - herbs

This week I harvested the rest of my herbs; Sweet Basil, purple leaf Basil, Rosemary, Perilla and Lemon Basil. This was the most fragrant harvest I've had all year, fantastic!!

Herbs in my garden

Storing herbs for winter use
In previous years, I have enjoyed having fresh herbs all summer, but never knew what to do with all those herbs in the fall. I have tried drying them a few times, but I've only had good results with drying Rosemary. Usually I just let my herb plants die off during the fall frost.

But not this year! This year I am determined to figure out ways that I can preserve my herbs so that I can use them throughout the winter. So, yesterday I harvested all of my herbs... now what? Here are some ideas I've found on the internet for storing each type of herb...

Sweet Basil

Basil (sweet, purple leaf and lemon):
Besides drying it, I found two other good options for preserving basil...

1. Make pesto or a puree of the basil leaves and then freeze it.

2. Freeze leaves separately on a cookie sheet then put them into a bag and store in the freezer. The leaves will turn black, but retain their flavor better than drying.

Purple Leaf Basil

I had a hard time deciding which of these two options I was going to try this year.

After much thought, I figured that I would find more uses for the basil puree/pesto than I would for the frozen leaves (which I would probably just have used to make pesto anyway).

This way, I will have the pesto in the freezer ready to use whenever I need it this winter.

Lemon Basil

I made two kinds of pesto, one using a mix of my sweet basil and the purple leaf basil and the other with all the lemon basil leaves.

I discovered that both are fabulous spread on toasted bread with a tomato slice and melted fresh mozzarella cheese on top. I can't wait to find recipes to use these pestos in this winter!

Perilla

Perilla:
I searched and searched for ideas on how to preserve this herb... but I didn't find any ideas.

I did find a ton of information about the health benefits of this herb so I really wanted to try to preserve it.

I decided to make a puree similar to what I did with the basil. We'll see what recipes I can come up with this winter to make use of it!

Rosemary

Rosemary:
Rosemary is the only herb that I've had success when I dried it. Like all herbs, it looses its flavor when its dried, but I still found many uses for it during those long winter months.

I wanted to try something new this year so I did some searching to find what other methods I could try for preserving Rosemary. I read that it keeps it's flavor better when you freeze it. So this year, I decided to try freezing it. I am excited to try it and see if I can tell the difference in the flavor compared to dried.


Do you preserve any of your herbs for the winter? If so, which herbs do you preserve? What method do you use?

Two kinds of pesto

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