The Arugula wintered over well and is producing abundantly!

My cat Honey tests all the water in the cans before I use them!

Globe Zucchini blooming and setting fruit!

Things are coming along well in my small vegetable garden. The Arugula wintered over very well and is providing an abundant crop and the globe zucchini is flowering and starting to bear fruit. My cat Honey is enjoying the time we spend together in the garden each day, she tests the water in the watering cans and catches all manner of bugs and eats them. As helpers go she is a pretty good one!

Growing herbs in containers is very easy if you choose your container and your growing mediums wisely.  The number one thing that I recommend is containers that are “sealed” or “glazed.”  I love terra cotta pots, but unless they are glazed, they suck the moisture right out of the soil.  Next, you need to make sure that you choose a container that is large enough for the herb you are growing. A good rule of thumb is that the container is large enough to hold below the soil a root structure that is as large as the plant above the soil. Small pots may be cute, and attractive to stick a plant in while you are giving it as a gift – but a ‘too small’ container is the number one reason that most potted plants die.

You don’t have to spend a fortune for your containers; many stores carry a variety of low cost, high quality planters that are suitable for growing herbs. I find a great many of the containers I use at Big Lots™, Grocery Outlet™, Wal-Mart™, OSH™, and Target™ stores.  I never pay more than $10 for a container that holds at least 2 gallons of growing medium.

Your growing medium. Most people just go out and buy “potting soil.” Please resist the urge to do this. While buying some potting soil is okay, in reality you need a good mix that is not highly acidic. If the medium you choose has redwood or other “evergreen” mulch in it – it is pretty acidic. You need a mix of good old fashioned soil, peat, mulch, and fertilizer. Most bagged growing mediums are “sterilized” this means that the contents are sterile – they are also pretty nutrient free.  If you live in an area with heavy clay soils like I do – DO NOT add sand to your soil thinking that you will improve drainage. Adding sand to clay soil creates CONCRETE, it does not improve drainage.

Once you get your bags of growing medium home you need to mix it. I have to admit, my favorite thing to mix my soil in is – my large ice chest!  I open each bag and pour it in, 1/4 bag at a time in layers – then I toss it together a bit with a hand trowel and fill my pots. My large ice chest holds enough growing media (4 – 20lb bags) to fill 10 of my large planters. I fill the planters with soil and then transplant the 4″ herb plants that I purchased. Once I am done, the ice chest goes outside and is hosed out, washed with a bit of hot soapy water and rinsed and it is good to go for the next outing. In the mean time – I was able to do all my planting in my kitchen with minimal mess.

I love Totally Tomatoes and if you have not done business with them, I can attest that they know their tomatoes and have more varieties than any other seed catalog I have seen. A couple of the new ones I will be trying this year are the “stuffers.”  These are cool tomatoes shaped like a bell pepper and mostly hollow for stuffing – with salad, or what ever you can imagine!  We purchased 30 varieties of tomatoes, and have them starting in small pots already getting ready to set them out in early April. 

The other thing that Totally Tomatoes does amazingly well is Pepper Seeds. We will be planting a dozen varieties of these as well; ranging from the traditional red and yellow bell peppers to Thai Hot.

I am so looking forward to this growing season!

We are quite often limited by our own beliefs and those of others. Take some time and do an internal inventory of your belief system and ask yourself what things you believe because you have been told “that’s how it is” rather than investigating for yourself. Next step: How many of those beliefs are running your life?

Rustic Mashed Potatoes

Mashed Potatoes are near the top of my favorite food list. I like many types of mashed potatoes but the ones I make the most for “everyday” dinner are my Rustic Mashed.

I use a mix of Spring Red and Yukon Gold potatoes. Making them is a very simple process. I use 3 medium potatoes per person. Wash them well, leaving the skins on but cutting out any dark spots or damage. Leaving the potatoes whole, place them in a pan where you can cover them with water plus 1 inch of water more in the pan. Place them over medium heat and bring them to a boil, once they are boiling turn the heat down just enough to maintain the boil. Cook them until they are fork tender being careful not to overcook them, approximately 20 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, drain them in a colander, emptying all the water from the pan and then return them to the pan. Place the pan on the counter and using a regular table knife roughly cut up the potatoes until they are in small chunks, then cut 2 Tablespoons of butter into the potatoes for every 3 potatoes that you cooked. Once the butter is cut into the potatoes, add some salt and freshly ground pepper. Next pour approximately 1/2 cup of milk (I use fat- free half-and-half) into the pan with the potatoes and mash them by hand using a potato masher such as the one shown below.

Best Potato Masher

As you mash the potatoes, feel free to add more butter, salt and pepper, or milk as needed. You will know when the consistency of the potatoes is right to serve. At this point, you can fold in some “extras” if you want to. Extras that I use might be crumbled bacon, crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, chopped chives or flat leaf parsley.
To make richer potatoes use butter and half-and-half, to make healthier potatoes use “Smart Balance” butter substitute and fat-free milk or half-and-half.

It is with this in mind that I write the content for this site, and share my passions with you.

I appreciate your company on this journey.