Today in Our Garden #Fall #saveacat #gardenphotography #gardenchat #dahlias #heirloomtomatoes

Today in Our Garden

In our gardens we have lots of birds diving in for the purple, Callicarpa beautyberries and seeds from native plants. Bluejays, squirrels and chipmunks visit daily for their feed of peanuts. And, since we haven't had a killing frost yet, we still have Lady in Red, Coral Nymph and Black and Blue salvias, along with dahlias, cannas, asters, zinnias, cleome, agastache, cardinal climber vine and coleus blooming; they sure won't last much longer. 

Dahlia - Mingus Philip Sr

Dahlia - Southern Belle

Our new pink dahlias weren't as large as I had hoped, but were beautiful none-the-less.

Under the grow lights we have a few flats of assorted coleus cuttings. Nearby, on the same shelves, sit the last few containers of fermenting tomatoes for saving the heirloom seeds.

I feel for the domestic cats stuck outside. Feral and stray cats struggle outdoors with all this recent damp, chilly weather. More cold rain is headed our way tomorrow. A sign in our great room says, "We Always Have Room for One More Cat." The sad truth is, we don't. If you do, adopt/rescue a furry friend asap!! Rescuing a cat from a shelter or from your own backyard is so rewarding. You will be blessed with purrs and loves forever for saving your cat(s) from a challenging life of parasites, cold, sickness and starvation.

Once we get a killing frost we will dig up the dahlia and canna tubers as usual. 

I did plant a few new fragrant peonys a few days ago that we got from White Flower Farm: Eden's Perfume and Moonstone. What's happening in your garden?

Happy Fall and planning your 2019 gardens!
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Today in Our Fall Garden #GardenCuizine

Today in Our Garden

Today in our garden you'll find: Rosemary, Parsley, Fennel seeds, Tarahumara Popping Sorghum, red Okra, heirloom Tomatoes, Turkish eggplants, sweet and several types of hot Peppers, Arugula and plenty of potatoes! 

Potatoes are easy to grow and you can dig then up as you need them. Harry just dug up another batch. I took a video and will post it soon.

Our large white moon flowers just finished showing off their blooms. Red cannas and Show n Tell (red with yellow tips) dahlias bordering the veggie garden are still going strong and look beautiful. Dahlias make great cut flowers right up until frost, so yes, we've been taking in cuttings to enjoy them while we can.

Everywhere you look in our garden you'll see chia in bloom. Most of the plants self-seeded from last year. Bees love the tiny blue salvia flowers; they bloom just a bit too late for the hummingbirds to enjoy. Although, I did see a hummer yesterday! But, most have begun their migration South.

Bright yellow daisies on tall stems of Jerusalem artichokes are blooming now too, along with the slender white trumpets of Nicotiana sylvestris. The Nicotiana self-seeded from last year, which was a pleasant surprise.

In the kitchen, we're still using up and cooking with heirloom tomatoes. Tonight, we made Chili with some of our tomatoes and a side of homemade cornbread with chia. Harry added a few chopped and sauteed Turkish eggplants to the chili - you would never know - and no bitter taste either. Little by little we are finding uses for the strange, tiny eggplants. 

Happy Fall!
Photo collage and blogpost Copyright (C) Wind. All rights reserved.

Another collander full of Heirloom Goodness #GardenCuizine

Fresh picked heirloom tomatoes. 

Pick them green. 

Tomatoes don't care for even a light frost.

Today may be one of our last days picking Jersey tomatoes and peppers. Parsley, arugula, lettuce and kohlrabi can better tolerate frost. 

Related Link

Frost Tolerance of Vegetables

Hot Jalapeno Pepper Jelly in test kitchen︱ Colorful fall harvest today #GardenCuizine

Today in Our 

South Jersey Garden
October 12, 2013

Still picking organic heirloom tomatoes and jalapenos. Harry made a test kitchen batch of hot jalapeno pepper jelly today using a new recipe. We'll post the recipe soon if it gels.

Happy and Healthy Gardening!
Photo Copyright (C)2013 Wind. All rights reserved.

Today in Our Garden feels and looks more like Summer than Fall #GardenCuizine

Today in Our Garden

South Jersey
USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

October 6, 2013

Figs are finito. Lettuce, arugula, peppers and tomatoes will continue until frost. Dahlias seem to be slow to bloom for us this season. Pineapple sage is late to bloom too. Rosemary and Jersalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) are blooming now along with so many other blooms including re-blooms on our roses. Rain is headed our way with cooler air to end this dry spell and unseasonal burst of warm weather.

Shown above (clockwise from left to right):

• Japanese Anemone, Phlox, Goldenrod
• Chiltepin hot peppers
• rose (no ID)
• ornamental 'Black Pearl' peppers
• Lady in Red salvia
• Spanish Flag vine (Ipomoea lobata)
• Nicotiana Sylvestris 

Now is a good time to collect heirloom seeds to share and plant in your garden next season. What's blooming in your garden?
Photo collage Copyright (C)2013 Wind. All rights reserved.

Calm and beauty before the predicted storm... Today in Our Garden #GardenCuizine #gardenchat

Click on the photo for best view

Today In Our Garden

South Jersey
USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

October 26, 2012

As we near the end of October, our fall backyard garden continues to produce bright and cheery dahlias, red cannas, tiny blue chia, pink basil, red salvia and even more yellow tomato blooms. Too bad all the hummingbirds have migrated, they love many of these blooms. We're still harvesting potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, rosemary, oregano and nutritious greens like Swiss chard and arugula.

A whole new batch of potato plants have emerged in a raised bed that we "thought" we harvested all the potatoes out of! Gardening is always full of wonderful surprises.

Now, we're preparing for Hurricane Sandy's wrath of heavy rain and winds. We'll see what happens... stay dry and be safe.

Photos Copyright (C) 2012 Wind. All rights reserved.

Today in Our Fall Garden #GardenCuizine #gardenchat

Today In Our Garden

South Jersey
USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

October 7, 2012

Fall is in the air! No killing frost yet here in South Jersey. So many colorful blooms continue, including: Cosmos, Mums, Buddleia, Shiso, Salvias, Cannas and Dahlias. At this time of year, look for praying mantis near your porch lights. We found one of these cool creatures sunning on a plant by our front door yesterday. No wonder our Japanese beetle population seemed more in control this year. Mantids are an organic gardeners best friend. Females lay their eggs in the fall.

Our old dog Holly enjoys the cooler air as she waits for Dad to check out the garden. We still have several pounds of "King Harry" potatoes buried beneath the earth waiting to be dug up.

Black Russian Tomatoes Solanum lycopersicum
This year our favorite tomatoes were what I thought were Black Krim heirloom, but it turns out they were Black Russian; both look similar to Cherokee Purple. Black Russian had great flavor! We ate them on sandwiches and used them in cooking and in salsa. The dark green top half color was deceiving, because they were ripe and juicy inside. 

Bay Laurel Laurus nobilis
We harvested bay leaves and noticed that when bay leaves dry, they curl. Store-bought bay leaves must be pressed dry to keep them flat. 

Chiltepin Pepper
Our Chiltepin pepper shrub is producing small, round hot red peppers daily since we took the plant indoors to protect it from cool temperatures. Every morning we harvest another half dozen or so.

Happy and Healthy Cooking and Gardening!
Related Links
Bay Laurel - Grow Your Own in a Container
Photo collage Copyright (C)2012 Wind. All rights reserved.

Tucked away from the #FNCE frenzy in Philly; Today in Our Garden #GardenCuizine

 click on the photo to get a full view 

Today In Our Garden

South Jersey
USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

October 7, 2012

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) in Philadelphia is now underway (October 6-9), drawing more than 10,000 Registered Dietitians - myself included. You can follow updates about the conference on Twitter. Everyone is quite eager to Tweet their updates and as a result several hash-tags have emerged: #FNCE, #FNCE2012 and  #FNCE12. 

I was in Philly before the FNCE frenzy - for a 2 1/2 day Weight Management training certification course, which no doubt benefited my nutrition counseling skills. I was sorry to miss the FNCE food photography class and the excursion to Hershey PA though. Proud to be a qualifying participant in a Hershey cocoa focus group, I look forward to going back to Philly this week.

Philadelphia is in our backyard so to speak; it's not a far drive away. But, what's really in our back yard? A fabulous garden. Backyard gardens provide food, physical activity and fun for the whole family. I highly encourage you and your family to try growing your own vegetables and herbs. And, even if you don't have a backyard - plants can be grown in a neighborhood community garden or grown in pots and put out on a balcony or porch. Here is today's spotlight of a few of our select October blooms and foliage.
 
Photo clockwise from top left to right:

• Chiltepin Peppers (Capsicum annuum var. aviculare) - one potted plant produces literally hundreds of tiny round hot peppers; also known as bird peppers. We just took our plant indoors last night. Peppers grow best in warm climates. Chiltepin peppers require a longer growing season than sweet banana peppers or more commonly grown bell peppers. From a culinary perspective, they are well worth the wait. Once red, they can be pulled off the plant and allowed to dry on plates. When dry, the hot peppers can be stored in a spice jar and used as needed in cooking.
• Swiss Chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla) - what more can I say about Chard? I've blogged often about Chard's healthy nutrition profile and how easy it is to grow. Chard comes in many vibrant colors and varieties. The Chard in our garden (Northern Lights Mix) has been amazing - producing greens for our family all Summer long and even now into the Fall.
• Tomatoes are running out of ripening time! Still, so many new flowers with hopes of growing more tomatoes. Knowing how tomatoes dislike cool temperatures - at this time of year, we start picking them green and allowing them to ripen inside on a sunny windowsill.
• Job's Tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) - are now black in color and will be picked and saved as seed or used as beads - a fascinating plant.
• Garden Mums are ablaze in Fall colors!
• Purple Beauty Berry (Callicarpa dichotoma) - these berries feed the birds.
• Inky Fingers Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) - my absolute favorite Soleno. I took cuttings last night and have about a dozen plants started under grow lights indoors for new plants that will be for outdoor garden planters next year. If you find your local garden centers do not offer some of your favorite coleus, this is something you can do to propagate hard-to-find cultivars.

Happy and Healthy Gardening!
And, have fun at FNCE if you're an RD headed to, or in, Philadelphia
Related Links
Backyard Gardening: Grow your own food, Improve your Health 
Related Articles by Diana Wind, RD
Ayurvedic Herb: Coleus forskeolii  
Homemade Ground Pepper Spices
Job's Tears - A Fascinating Plant
Chiltepin Peppers Garden Spotlight
Photo collage Copyright (C)2012 Wind. All rights reserved.