Home Made Ketchup

Ummmm GOOD!
As I mentioned in my last post, I actually made some home made ketchup with the help of Mrs. Wages Ketchup Mix from the grocery store.

It has a sweeter taste than "store-bought" ketchup. In fact I like it better because store brands sometimes have a slightly bitter taste.

The only drawback to making my own is the time and effort it took. Each tomato has to be peeled, cored, and all seeds removed. Needless to say, there isn't much tomato left when you're through. It took a lot of tomatoes to get the amount called for in the recipe on the pack of mix.

I canned four pints which wasn't as much as I thought I would get. I used the half pint jelly jars to can the ketchup in. The recipe package states that the ketchup will keep in a refrigerator for a week once opened. No more ketchup than we use would be a waste using pint jars.

Was it worth it? For me, yes. Making home made ketchup was new to me and a feeling of accomplishment when it turned out so good.

Til next time,

Poppy

Hot Times In The Garden

Hot and Busy!
I don't see how it can get any hotter than it has been already. Our heat index down here in south Mississippi has ranged from 95 to 107 degrees over the past few weeks. Along with it a drought. It has been a struggle to keep our plants alive.

The scorched veggie garden has had to be watered every other day. In spite of it all we have managed to gather a descent crop. We have canned pickles, green beans, butter beans, peas, corn, okra, and tomatoes.

I cooked up a "lip-smacking" good dinner with some fresh vegies. All in one pot, I cooked butter beans, peas, corn, okra, tomatoes, and ham. Along with it, some sweet yellow corn cornbread. Talk about good!

Has anyone out there ever made ketchup? There is an over abundance of tomatoes and I can't bear the thought of anything going to waste, so I'm going to give it a try. I picked up a mix from the store for making it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Til next time,

Poppy

New Fall Shrubs for 2009

Hydrangea arborescens Incrediball® PPAF

ENORMOUS Flowerheads Tightly Packed with Blooms!
Descended from the old favorite, native 'Annabelle'.

The Incrediball came about as the result of a research program to develop stronger stems for the hydrangea to prevent full blooms from drooping on the plant. The outcome was a stronger stem and a bonus- surprisingly large blooms the size of basket balls. Each of Incrediball's® flowerheads contains 4 TIMES THE NUMBER OF BLOOMS as 'Annabelle's.


Hydrangea macrophylla Cityline™ Rio PPAF

Extra-large Blooms on Compact Plants!
Blooms earlier than most Hydrangeas.
Extra-large blooms cover this very compact plant, their heads held high thanks to sturdy stems. Among the richest shades of blue, the flowers will turn purple in lime soils, always starred with bright green eyes. Rio blooms earlier than most Hydrangea and resists mildew beautifully. Zones 5-9.


Syringa x Bloomerang™ PPAF

A Heavy-Flowering, Ultra-Fragrant, Reblooming Dwarf Lilac!
Blooms well past the late-flowering varieties!

The most compact, heaviest-blooming dwarf Lilac ever grown, Bloomerang™ is a flower machine for 4 months or more every year! The heaviest flowering is in spring, when this compact, very well-branched shrub erupts in fragrant purply-pink bloom trusses, ideal for cutting yet irresistible in the garden as well. Then the flowers simply continue into summer, long past even the late-blooming Lilacs, with color present on the shrub all the way until autumn. Introduced by Tim Wood of Spring Meadow Nursery, this cross of the famous dwarf S. 'Josee' outdoes all other members of the family with its generosity of blooms over a long, long season.


Clethra alnifolia Vanilla Spice™ PPAF

Larger Blooms, More Compact Habit
These foot-long panicles are fabulously fragrant and irresistible to butterflies.
Cultivar name: 'Caleb'. It keeps a neat, tidy habit that makes it accessible to smaller gardens and tight spaces it has never enjoyed before. The fragrance is overwhelming, the color lovely, and the butterflies thick in the air when Vanilla Spice™ is in full bloom!

Just 3 to 6 feet high and wide, this Clethra belongs in the front of the shrub border, the foundation, or as a hedge in any sun-soaked part of the garden. It is even compact enough for containers! A deciduous shrub introduced by plantsman Tim Wood, it boasts all the native vigor of the species plus hybrid advantages from larger blooms to longer flowering period. For carefree late-season color and plenty of butterflies, you simply can't equal it! Zones 5-9.

I could keep going, but these are some of the ones that caught my attention as outstanding improvements.

Til next time,

Poppy

My Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus Africanus)

One of my favorites in a flower bed is the Lily of the Nile a/k/a Agapanthus Africanus. Why? Its long stalks, usually two to four feet in height, tower above lower plantings with globes (as many as twenty to 100 flowers) of delicate blue blooms. They give the bed a sense of ariness and elegance. Their blooms will last from May into July. Most references suggest Lily of the Nile is cold hardy to zone 8. A few find bliss in zone 7. Some Agapanthus varieties are evergreen and some are deciduous. Many of the evergreens can lose their leaves in the winter and still put on a show for summer if the temperature did not get too cold.

The Agapanthus is in the Amaryllis family. While the plant is listed in bulb books, it is really produced on rhizomes, which are thick, modified stems that grow below the soil.

Best blooming will occur in full sun, so choose a site that receives six to eight hours of sun. I have had the best success with plantings in partial shade of four to six hours of sun at the most. Feed with a balanced fertilizer or a 1-2-1 ratio in the spring and again in the summer.

The Lily of the Nile makes a good container plant as the "Thriller" as mwnioned in an earlier post- "Thrillem, Fillem, Spillem". Containers restrict root growth, which causes great flowering. Extra-special winter care is needed for plants grown in containers.

Once Lily of the Nile is established in the landscape, the clumps can be left alone and may not need to be divided for six years. They are easy to divide in the fall if you want more plants.

Til next time,

Poppy


Lily of the Nile

Excuse My Absence

Sorry about my absence.
No excuses, just overly focused on my veggie garden, green house, and landscape. I knew most veggies would be coming in by June and sure enough- they came in big time! We are canning everything that we can preserve. So far we have canned corn, green beans, peas, and pickled cucumbers. We found a recipe for a sweet pickle relish that is out of this world. If you are interested in the recipe, let me know and I will Email it to you. Just drop me a line at marvin@my-garden-world.com

Add to the fun, building a green house and getting a good start on cuttings. So far I have stuck azaleas, crepe myrtle, confederate jasmine, miniature mexican petunia, and more. I am looking forward to trying my luck at gardenia, indian hawthorn, and just about anything else that will be still long enough for me to get a cutting.

Since my retirement, a rigid schedule is a thing of the past. In fact, I have found it difficult to follow a routine of misting the cuttings every hour to maintain the necessary humidity. I start misting around 7 a.m. and continue hourly until 5 p.m. or later depending on conditions. I would never have guessed that such a simple routine could be so difficult to follow.

Another project in progress is that of expanding our lawn area with bermuda grass. Not so bad had the weather cooperated. There has been no rain since seeding. The seed package instructions say that the seed bed must be kept moist until the seed has germinated. So, guess who has to water the seed bed at least twice a day in an attempt to keep it moist. Especially since we have been experiencing a dry heat wave of a heat index above 100 degrees everyday for the past couple of weeks. So far-- no grass!

Anyway, I'll get to my posting like I should. The opportunity to sit down for a while to write will be a welcome relief!

Til next time,

Poppy

An Old Time Favorite- Cleome

Cleome a/k/a "Polecat Plant"

In my younger years, we knew the cleome as the "Polecat" plant. A few years back, my wife and I were cleaning up around her old family home site when she noticed an old familiar plant that was just a few inches high. It's unique shaped leaves is what caught her attention and was able to identify it.

Granny (my wife) recalls the polecat plant for it's pretty pink flowers with tentacles like spider legs. Also, a faint but unique smell of a skunk (also known as a "polecat"). She also recalls it as being prickly if she got too familiar with it.

Today, the polecat plant has made a revival and is more popularly known by the more sofisticated name of cleome. It retails in garden stores at a neat price as well. If the truth be known, it can be reproduced by the dozens by saving the prolific seed pods and planting the next season.

However! I have been quite successful in the past growing all of the cleome I wanted. But for some strange reason that I haven't been able to determine, this year has been different. I have planted and re-planted cleome seed. Results- about four plants have come up. Very humiliating to say the least! All the while my son is telling me about how well his cleome is blooming and doing great!

Anyway, what are some of the qualities of the cleome?

Cleome looks great in tropical gardens with bananas -- after all, they do come from South America. To be honest, they fit in cottage gardens as well as they do at top resort golf courses. They reach close to 4 feet in height, attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and offer both heat and drought tolerance.

They are unbeatable for serving as the tall thriller plant in mixed containers. It goes well with almost any filler and spiller you may want to use.

For incorporating into your garden, select a site that is well drained and receives plenty of sunlight. Morning sun and afternoon shade will also work well. If the bed is poorly drained, add 2 to 3 inches of organic matter. These are large plants, so be sure to space transplants 15 to 18 inches apart.

Place landscape plants to the rear of the border in a bold group. They combine wonderfully with other flowers like petunias, phlox, salvias and vincas.

Cleomes are drought tolerant once established. In midsummer, give them a little fertilizer, like a 5-10-5.

Using flowers with differing textures creates interest and excitement in the garden, and these cleomes certainly do their part.

Til next time,

Poppy

Some Thoughts on Garden Texture

Eleminate the garden blahs with texture!

Do you get tired of just seeing more plants in your garden? I know I do. Sure, I love my plants but sometimes it is nice to see a surprise element, different, and create some excitement.

There is another extreme- those garden beds that become "trinket beds". I'm sure you have seen those that have more toads, useless bird houses and the like filling up the garden. Don't get me wrong, I think some are neat and can create some interest. Where we have a tendancy to go astray is over-doing a good thing.

To me, the use of non-plant accents are just that- accents. They should not be the highlight of the garden, but used to make transitions, create interest, or to call attention to a particular area. For example, let's say that you have some beautiful violets, but they are small and are hidden from a casual view of the garden. A figureine (paying particular attention to the size) placed among them would call the observer over for a closer look. Then voila, "look at these beautiful violets!"

The use of accents can make a garden an enjoyable experience or a complete "turn-off". Use them wisely.

Til next time

Poppy