Cut & Come Back Zinnias

Over the past few years, my love for fresh cut flowers in a vase on the table has grown, but I still cannot bring myself to spend tons of money on flower arrangements. In fact, on special occasions when flowers are called for, my husband knows that if he spends more than $20 (and that’s high) on flowers, I will get annoyed (because, seriously, that money could be used on something more useful!). The arrangements from the super market are just as pretty, and sometimes last longer.

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you this, is because I wanted to have some flowers this year that I could cut and bring in to my table basically for free (cost of seeds is negligible, I think). When I looked up recommendations for the best flowers to do this with, zinnias seemed to provide the best results. In fact, the seeds I found are “Cut & Come Back” Zinnias, which means you are supposed to cut them and enjoy their beauty inside!

I should have started these babies inside before the frost, but I just didn’t get to it. I planted these from seed in the beginning of June in the garden (I don’t think they are deer resistant), and the first is already blooming! Can’t wait to have my first vase full of zinnias from my own garden!

 

 

July 17, 2012 · Sheryl · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: Community Garden, Flowers

Herb of the Week – Lemon Verbena

I wanted to continue the citrus trend from last week’s post. Lemon Verbena is a cool herb I read about that I came across during one of the flower searches earlier this year. I ended up getting it for free with a coupon (SWEET!). It is really not a super well known herb, but it smells yummy. There is definitely a distinct lemon scent, but it is different from the lemon basil, in that the lemon basil triggers savory receptors in my brain, while the lemon verbena triggers the sweeter side and makes me think dessert. Lemon verbena can actually be used anywhere that would call for the zest of a lemon only (i.e. not the juice).

Even though I love the smell, I really haven’t tried to make anything with my lemon verbena. Making lemon sorbet is one of the suggested uses on wiki.


It is technically a perennial, but only in warm climates. I’m fully expecting to lose it over the winter, but maybe it will survive if we have another winter like this past one!

July 13, 2012 · Sheryl · No Comments
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Tomatoes, and Sunflowers, and Beans, Oh My

My wonderful husband has been tending to the garden in my absence (just so we are clear, he does tend even if I am in the country), and he sent me some pics from the garden yesterday. It looks fabulous. Can’t wait to check it out when I get back!

Tomatoes turning red!

Sunflower seeds!

Green bean patch! (and snap peas in the corner)

July 11, 2012 · Sheryl · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Community Garden, Flowers, Produce

Mystery Flower

Ok, 3 years in, and our yard is still full of surprises.

This year, we noticed sword shaped leaves popping up in an arc pattern that neither me or my husband remember from previous years. We let it go, partly out of laziness, partly out of curiosity, and I’m sure glad we did.

Look what popped up! A gorgeous yellow flower that I have no clue of its identity!

We would have DEFINITELY noticed this flower before!

Can bulbs go dormant? Has the unusually warm year brought this gorgeous flower back to life? Is it really some mutant weed that looks amazing? Did a squirrel steal this from someone else’s garden and plant it in ours? What is this mystery flower? I must find out!

July 9, 2012 · Sheryl · One Comment
Tags:  Â· Posted in: Flowers

German Chamomile

By the time this posts, I should be in Germany enjoying some delicious bread and wurst for lunch. I’ll be there this week for work. I think it is now appropriate to share that my German Chamomile has flowers!

Sehr schön.

 

 

July 8, 2012 · Sheryl · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Flowers, Herbs

Herb of the Week – Lemon Basil

Just this year, I discovered this phenomenal smelling herb at my favorite local garden center – Condursos. I love regular basil, but then mix it with lemon and you have a little piece of heaven. Seriously, it smells that good. The lemon scent is actually caused by the same chemical that is in real lemons. It resembles regular sweet basil, but has a lighter green color, and slightly smaller leaves.

But does it taste good? Uh, YEAH!  The best thing I’ve had it in is actually just chopped up with a little bit of butter, a lightly sauteed shallot, pearl cous cous, and a little bit of parmesan cheese. DELICIOUS!

Unfortunately, the plant I bought at the beginning of the summer really isn’t doing well in the back porch sun (neither are many of my herbs for that matter — this heat wave is really hurtin’ the gardening folks that can’t water 3x/day). Plus, it keeps starting to flower, which I promptly remove as soon as I catch them, otherwise, it will lose its flavor and become bitter. Apparently, after a quick bit of research, just now, while I’m blogging, I am not USING it enough. It’s safe to cut basil back to the bottom 2 layers of leaves. I guess I will have to try it!

Even though my herbs in the back aren’t doing well, while shopping at my local Shop Rite, I found they actually have Lemon Basil, too! I couldn’t believe it. It was only $2.99, so I just bought another plant, so I wouldn’t be too upset if my plant bites the dust (literally! seriously, back off sunshine would ya?)

I love me some Lemon Basil!

July 6, 2012 · Sheryl · No Comments
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Happy 4th of July!

Can’t think of anything clever for today, so hope everyone has a great day! We are heading to a bbq, and bringing mojitos made with the mint I’ve been yapping about so much, here and here (and also Orange Mint, which I plan to feature soon). I hope they are delicious!

Happy American Independence day!

July 4, 2012 · Sheryl · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Great Outdoors, Herbs

Squish squash

I have tried to have a few posts NOT about squash, but I just keep coming back to them. THEY ARE TAKING OVER! Seriously, though, what’s up with this Largo squash and the bulb? I’m really interested to see what it looks like inside. The left and middle squashes are Largos, and the squash to the right is a Greyzini. They are pretty hard to tell them apart just by their coloring.

July 3, 2012 · Sheryl · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: Produce

Hydrangea

I LOVE my hydrangea! Luckily, the accidental pruning doesn’t seemed to have hurt it one bit!

Mine are such a pretty blue, right?!

July 3, 2012 · Sheryl · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: Flowers

Baby Pumpkin!

Last year (our first year on the plot we have now in the community garden), we got a surprise pumpkin that grew along the fence. We knew SOMETHING was growing, but we didn’t know what. It grew up the fence, and we got an elongated pumpkin out of it! We dried and vacuum packed some seeds from it, and also dried and vacuum packed some seeds from a small (normal, round) pumpkin we picked up from our local farmers market.

We decided to try growing both of them this year from the seeds, as you can see in the top right corner of the Garden Map. I planted and labeled each one in its own terracotta pot earlier this season, but failed to realize that the marker I used would fade in the sun. Now, both plants look exactly the same, and right now, we can’t tell them apart.

Today, we noticed one of them already has a baby pumpkin on it! Look how cute!

Of course, we don’t know which pumpkin it is! We are not sure if the elongated pumpkin was a different type of pumpkin or if it a ‘normal’ pumpkin and just grew that way because we let the vines climb the fence. I am hoping we will get to find out soon enough! (For the record, this year they should have enough room where they should not need to climb a fence)

 

July 2, 2012 · Sheryl · 2 Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Community Garden, Produce