Vegetable gardening as part of the home landscape

Lately, I have been seeing more and more people add vegetable plants in their landscaping plan. I saw this technique featured at the Southeastern Flower Show this past spring and I thought it was very inventive.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed my neighbors were clearing a space beside their shrubs at the side of their house and planting vegetables. It was a great use of a small space and it looks really good. You can see the tomato plants above -- still looking good, even with all this heat.

The green pepper pants are looking good, too. I like the straw that surrounds the plants -- very neat and no weeds.

There is a cucumber vine and yellow miniature tomatoes in the middle. Our neighbors actually apologized for the plants and hoped we didn't mind they planted their little vegetable patch. We thought it was wonderful and asked if we could have some photos.

In other countries, this is a common practice. They have limited space and make the most of it. I hope it becomes a common practice here. Most people have a little extra space around their shrubbery that would make a great mini garden. Extra veggies are always welcome, too. I think my neighbors are very smart.

A new way to cook okra

One of the plants that loves hot weather is okra. This year we have had plenty of hot weather so that means we have also had more okra. (Last year we had to fight the deer for the okra. This year we have the electric fence so we get to keep the okra.)

There are a number of ways to use okra. It is great in soups and gumbos and it freezes well for that purpose. I also like boiled okra, though that is probably not what most people prefer. Everyone in my family, with the exception of my son, loves fried okra. It is really great, but I really hate to make it too often because it has so much oil in it.

A couple of weeks ago, my mother came up with a great, easy solution. She found out how to cook the okra in a little oil in the microwave, and honestly, it is almost as good as the fried recipe. I have been cooking it often and I really love it.

Microwave Fried Okra

Cut up 3 cups of okra, place 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a microwave safe dish with a lid, stir the okra in the oil, add salt and pepper and microwave for three to four minutes, covered. Remove from microwave using potholders (the dish will be hot). Stir in 2 tablespoons of cornmeal, cover and return it to the microwave another 3 minutes or until it is bright green. It won't be browned by just using the microwave. If you want it browned, put it under the oven broiler for 3 to 5 minutes. You can make a larger batch just as easily by adding more of all the ingredients, but it will need more time in the microwave.

I think it would also work in a skillet in the oven, too. I just like the ease of using the microwave.

Thanks Mom! This is really a great recipe.

Planting late tomatoes and peppers

 On Saturday, just before it rained, we plowed under a portion of our garden and planted the last of our tomato and pepper plants. We have been talking about planting them for some time but waited because it was just so hot. We felt we needed to wait until the weather was milder. The weather is only slightly better but we knew if we didn't plant them soon, it would be too late.

I don't know if there will be time for them to produce anything but it can't hurt and these plants need to go into the ground. I have ordered a floating row cover and I am hoping the use of a cover might help extend the growing time. It would be nice to get some late tomatoes and peppers.

Everything we do in the garden is a learning experience. I think organic gardening has an even higher learning curve than gardening conventionally. I think our garden is often an experiment, but how will we learn otherwise? I would love to visit some organic gardens in our area to learn their methods and I hope to do that in the future. Meanwhile, the experimenting continues.

A natural bouquet

I love this bouquet. I went to a retirement party over the weekend and as I was leaving, Janice, the retiree's very creative wife, gave me this bouquet. It was one of the table centerpieces. When we walked into the room, the tables were bright and welcoming because of the black and white checked tablecloths and these pretty bouquets.

I found it interesting that the sunflowers were purchased from a florist, but the greenery was gathered from the field next to her house and from her yard. She used regular glass jars, added some greenery and finished it off around the top with a natural raffia ribbon. I think it ingenious to decorate by using ingenuity and creativity. She really hit a home run. I don't think a florist would have done any better and I appreciated that she put so much love and time into making sure everything was so pretty. I also know I will try this myself in the future and I appreciated the idea. 

The food was great, too and I think this couple deserves a wonderful retirement.

Bisquick -- it now comes gluten free!

This weekend I was shopping and came across this new product at my local grocery store. My friend Bonnie mentioned there was a gluten free Bisquick but I had never seen it. When I noticed it on the grocery shelf, I thought two things: One, this is a product that can help so many people who have problems with celiac disease or are allergic to gluten. And two, there must be so many people who are suffering from this problem -- enough people to make this product marketable. I hope to see more products like this in the future.

The ingredients are rice flour, sugar, leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate), modified potato starch, salt, and xanthan gum. This does sound gluten free, I haven't tried it yet, but I intend to in the future. I don't know how it rates, compared to the regular product, but if you go to www.bisquick.com you can find plenty of recipes -- some of the old standbys like garlic biscuits and cheese balls and some new ones, too.

What I really liked was the website slogan, "Introducing pancakes that don't leave anyone out." I think that sums it up.

I'm Loving How-To Videos

Recently, I have been watching how-to gardening videos on the Internet. It can be a hassle sometimes to find the video that will be helpful, but I have been gaining some valuable information from them.

How do I find them? I usually do a Goggle search for the problem I'm having or the question I need answering. I always find something, even if it is not the miracle solution for which I am hoping. Some videos are more helpful than others. I am a visual person and just seeing the solution or idea is better for me than reading about it. A video is even more helpful because it is more dimensional than a photo.

I recently turned up this video on an organic solution for garden caterpillars and I will give it a try in the future. If you find a website you like, please share it. I can always use more information.

A rainbow of tomatoes

In the last couple of years I have noticed that tomatoes come in all sizes, shapes and colors. My photo, above, is not very good but this gives you the idea of what I mean. I planted seeds for Heirloom Brandywines, pictured at back, which will turn a rose-colored red when ripe, yellow tomatoes, in the center, and Black cherries, bottom right.

I didn't think any of my yellow tomatoes grew, but noticed these yellow ones after they began to ripen.

I also like the shapes. Large, like the Brandywines are good for slicing but have a large core. I don't have one right now but the Rutger tomatoes I planted are large and bright red, a good all around choice.

The Romas, center left are cone shaped and are a good, meaty variety.

The nutritional value of each color varies. The red tomatoes have more vitamin C, more lycopene and are more acidic.

The yellow and black tomatoes are best for people who suffer from reflux or acid-related stomach problems and have more B Vitamins.

I just like having a variety of colors. My husband really doesn't like the black tomatoes because he says they look like they have gone bad. He also is wondering why we just can't grow regular tomatoes. On some times we just have to agree to disagree.