Garden Talk

I did spend time over the weekend reviewing past garden plans and new seed catalogs and have added my 2010 Garden List to the Gardening page on the blog.  Of course … there may be additions since it is so early in the year!  The list is a combination of new choices along with others I have grown in the past and saved the seeds.  I have a new interest in dried beans and hope to also can some beans if I have an overabundance.  The dried beans and the canned beans will be great pick me ups during the long winter months!  The pepper and tomato choices are favorites and all will be grown from seeds I have saved with the exception of the Principe Borghese Tomato which lists as a great sun-dried tomato – this will be my first year growing these.  I have tomatoes dried in my dehydrator and use them as sun-dried in recipes so this new choice should work well.  Those that have grown the Cherokee Purple Tomato can vouch for its superb taste and wonderfulness as Annica from Roots and Flowers commented in a previous post!  The Amish Paste I use for canning since they are meaty and don’t have an overload of seeds.  There are so many different types of both tomatoes and peppers and it can be difficult to narrow down the choices.  I had great success with the Tam Jalapeno and have some frozen and canned – these were great gifts over the holidays.  The Cayenne I hope to dry and include along with my garlic harvest.  The Alma Paprika peppers are remarkable and Lisa at GetintheGarden commented she plans to grow these this year also.  These peppers have 3 color stages – yellow, orange and then red.  They mellow out a bit as they turn to the final red color.  Little did I know my first year growing these – I was so excited to try them.  I grabbed a nice big yellow Alma off the plant and bit right in ……..Ouch!  They are hot!  My favorite dish with these peppers has been Pepper and Tomato soup – roasting the peppers, peeling off the skin and then blending them in the blender before adding to all the other soup ingredients.  I made this soup up and froze it using all my peppers.  This year I plan to actually dry some and make paprika powder!

 I have an area which I plan to revamp and create a nice herb garden.  Dill is the Herb of the Year for 2010 and you can read more here .   Lemongrass and Stevia will be two new herbs growing in the herb garden this year.

 Flaxseed grew very well last year and Gigi at Plangarden commented on this healthy addition to meals in a recent blog comment .  I hope to grow much more of the seed this year and continue to add it to our meals .

 In past years I have grown Luffa and find this to be an unusual and fun plant to grow for sponges.  Gourds were a focus last year and they are beginning to dry completely now so I will be working on these soon and hope to show all the neat works of art I create!  I found Cotton seeds and will try my hand at growing these – should be interesting!

Thank you for the nice comments and I hope you are busy making all kinds of gardening plans for a great 2010!!!