This Gardeners Disneyland

Do you remember the first time you ever walked into a Costco? Well, that memory rushed back to me as I wondered around the new Green Acres in Folsom.  What a gardener's delight!!!! 

I had a specific need for a tree/bush to live in a pot in the back yard.  It needed to be evergreen, heat and drought resistant and fast growing.  Standing in the massive outdoor plants area (looking like a kid in a candy store) I was offered help by "Coach".  I explained to him my need and withing 8 minutes he had identified at least 10 plants that met my criteria and most I had never seen!  What a fun time selecting a Cherry Laurel which will look beautiful in the bright red glazed pot we found to play off the red tinged leaves.  It's a beautiful selection!

Welcome Green Acres to Folsom!  You are this gardener's delight!!!

Red Bell Peppers

Running out of time and have even more red bell peppers. What to do???? Make Red Bell Pepper Bisque.

I'll post this on my kitchen blog
http://www.cradlemtkitchen.blogspot.com/

Off to plant the winter garden!

Proud Gardener

Looking at these beautiful red peppers.... I feel like a proud mama!  These have been a huge success.  With the weather staying consistently warm, these red peppers are coming into their own.  If you have the room, make a note to yourself to plant red bell peppers next spring.  When you slice into a fresh from the garden pepper, it makes a "crack" sound unlike anything you'll ever get from a grocery store pepper.... and the smell..... yummy!

I'm grilling these and freezing for 'fire roasted red peppers' all year long.   (Grill or roast in a hot oven.  Then put into a paper bag and close tightly for 20 minutes.  remove the skins and seeds.  lay flat on cookie sheet to freeze, place in zip seal bag once frozen and don't forget to label the bag.  Another option:  instead of freezing, put into a jar with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and keep in the frig... eat or use within a few weeks....YUMMY)

What's Wrong With That Plant?

As my neighbor was recently looking at my tomatoes, this was a comment.  Neighbor said her plants were looking the same and what was wrong with them.  NOTHING...... this is how tomato and cucumber plants look at the end of the season.  They've had plently of water, sunshine and fertilizer, they are just done!  That little seed grew and gave an extraordinary amount of energy for 7 months and it's just done!..... Pull, put into the compost  bin and that plant will reward you next spring as rich compost to nurish another little seed!

The beauty of gardening!!

Off to the dirt!

Potato tower results

The potato tower was a failure.  I had beautiful yummy potatoes from those planted into the ground, but nothing in the tower when I dug it up.  As I went back and looked at the instructions, I see I have the wrong percentages of straw to compost.  But what potatoes we got were worth the effort.  I haven't had such delicious potatoes since those freshly dug Shafter Long Whites 'liberated' from a field this spring!

I planted 1 pound of seed potatoes that I bought from Cameron Park Nursery.  Yukon Golds.  I harvested 11 pounds, so that's a pretty average yield.   I"m going to try the tower again for the fall planting.  I've already ordered more seed potatoes and will get them into the ground in late October......nothing better than oven roasted potatoes that still smell of the dirt!

It was a good summer in the dirt

I find it difficult to find time to blog about the garden when the days are long and the garden beckons.

Successes were the Black  Beauty eggplant, pablano and red bell peppers, Thai chilies, zucchini, lemon balm, and lemon cucumbers.... in fact I am ready to pull the lemon cucumbers because I and the entire neighborhood are tired of them.  I'm letting them get too big now to care, a bad gardener sign of 'tired'. 

Disappointments have been the tomatoes (really disappointed, but more on that later) the parsley, cilantro and green beans. 

But excited to get the winter garden into the ground!!  Hope springs eternal in the gardeners heart!!

Tomato Envy

Cousin Marty's Iowa garden is starting to produce beautiful red tomatoes.  Can't wait to see what's happening in the Cradle Mountain Garden!!