growLively

'Four Seasons' Viola...My new fave...

These are the cutest violas! The 'Four Seasons' Viola series is a mounding/spreading type of viola that has a bit better heat tolerance on average. They don't trail quite to the degree that 'Purple Rain' does, but they really fill out a container or basket nicely. They produces masses of small blooms. This is definitely my favorite new series of viola to come along in a while...and now just happens to be the perfect time to plant them.

Viola 'Four Seasons White & Pink Wing'- stunning. A lovely combination of white and lavender/pink. Tons of blooms.

Viola 'Four Seasons Purple & Bronze' - a very unique color combination, love it. The plants look really full.

Viola 'Four Seasons Blue & Yellow' - a more traditional color combo, but it looks like it's going to bloom gangbusters.

What to plant right now...

This is what I planted this weekend....

Still time to get broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and other cole crops planted. Don't forget cool season herbs like dill, fennel and cilantro. Chard, sorrel, lettuce and spinach can go in the ground as well. In this bed, I ripped up a few 'Golden Mama' Tomato plants on their last leg. They were still covered with fruit, but I'm going to make green tomato pickles with what I harvested from them.

This is also the perfect time to plant pansies, violas and other cool season color like Iceland Poppies, foxglove, snapdragons and the like. They will perform much better next spring if you get them in the ground before the first frost (Avg. here is Nov. 17th). I usually do a combo of purples, blues and whites. But every once in a while I shake things up with some orange! I know...livin' on the edge, eh? LOL. So this year's cool season combo is blue and orange, with some purples here and there. (Didn't have the heart to pull out the pretty little gomphrena in the photo...maybe next week). I also planted up some hanging baskets with 'Purple Rain' trailing pansy...fabulous!

Fall Tomatoes...

My fall tomatoes are going gangbusters. But for just a tiny bit of late blight on a few of the plants, most are just about as healthy as they can be. The 'Green Zebra' plants are about 7-feet tall right now! Due to cool temps however, fruit is ripening very slowly. Chances are I'll still be picking a lot of green fruit right before our first frost. But that's ok...just means I get to make fried green tomatoes!

'Green Zebra' in the back are dwarfing everyone else...

'Celebrity' plants have a lot of nice fruit on them and some are finally starting to turn a bit yellow..

 

As usual, 'Golden Mama' plants are absolutely loaded with fruit. They have gotten just a tad bit of late blight, but nothing that's keeping them from producing nicely. I have some Roma's fruiting well also. There is one of my Organic Gardening Test varieties, a saladette type, that is still producing and ripening from the plants I planted in spring. VERY unusual. It's definitely a winner and will be my main pick for the review they publish next year. Can't tell you what it is yet, but it's awesome!

Don't forget...Botany of Desire on PBS tonight!

For any of you that have read Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan, you'll be thrilled to know that a TV version will be playing on PBS October 28 at 8pm, or you can buy it online. It looks just beautiful. Can't wait.

It's a Pesto Party!

It's getting chilly out there folks...that means that very soon, all that beautiful basil out in the garden is going to take a nosedive. You know what that means right? Time to make Pesto...lots of it! I started making batches last night and will continue to do so until we get a frost. Basil can suffer from cold damage at temperatures of 40F or below, so just remember to use it before it gets too cold.

Here is one bunch I picked last evening. A few different varieties mixed in there. Sweet basil is the large-leafed variety. 'Sweet Aussie' the small green leaves, 'Pesto Perpetuo' the small variegated leaves and some 'Purple Ruffles', the dark purples leaves. All basil varieties have a different flavor and fragrance so its nice to have several to choose from.

I'm not very recipe oriented when it comes to making pesto.  I just sort of throw it together. Have on hand some garlic, EV olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, roasted pine nuts, a little salt and LOTS of basil leaves. I use my one "as seen on tv" gadget purchase, my Magic Bullet, LOL, to make my pesto. It's all I use it for but it's totally worth it! I quarter a couple cloves of garlic, throw in a table spoon or so of pine nuts, a pinch of salt, a healthy helping of olive oil, a few chunks of the cheese, then stuff the jar full of basil. Pulse this combo (or process in food processor) until it reaches your preferred consistency. You'll just need to adjust the ingredients to reach the flavor you like best. Some prefer more or less garlic. Then, you can simply freeze portions of pesto in an ice cube tray, covered with plastic wrap. Once the cubes are frozen, put them in a freezer bag and seal. You can keep it for about 6 months in the freezer. That should keep you in homemade pesto until next spring, when you can plant fresh basil plants. YUM!

New Magazine: Urban Farm

I love me some magazines. Just found a new one from the publishers of Hobby Farms and Hobby Farm Home, both of which I subscribe to. Supposedly, I should have gotten a copy in my mailbox about a month ago...haven't seen it. And it should be on newsstands somewhere...haven't seen it. I want it! Any of you guys found it yet?? If so..gimme the 1020. Out.

Fall harvest of beautiful beans...

Aren't these grand? Just picked from my garden, French wax beans called Roc D' Or. You can get organic seeds from Seeds of Change. These are a crisp bean with a buttery flavor. Plants don't take up much space with a max height of about 15"-20". I direct seeded these into the garden for fall harvest back at the end of August/early September. In our area of zone 8 you can plant beans in early spring, around the end of March, June and again in mid- August through early September. I find this last crop to usually be the easiest. 

These plants will continue to produce until it gets cold. All the while, these helpful legumes are enriching the soil with Nitrogen they fix themselves from the atmosphere. A nice bonus for the next crop you plant in that spot. What beats free fertilizer? Ok, a few things, but hey, in the vegetable garden you take the free fertilizer!  Mmmm, can't wait to eat these...

Passion flower - Passiflora violacea

I planted a small container of this Passiflora violacea 'Lavender Lady' in the middle of summer. It took off like gangbusters and has spread about twenty feet...along the chain link fence, up the hackberry, you name it! In the photo, it is commingling with some blackberries. It's covered in blooms right now which a welcome sight in the dreary rainy weather we've been having. I'll post some photos of the sky vine in bloom tomorrow.

 

What to plant this weekend...

Ok, it's been rainy, but the weekend is supposed to be nice. That means you have nice soft moist soil just waiting to be planted. So what can you plant right now? Well, a bunch of stuff! Any of the cole crops, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and the like. You can plant from transplants and you might still have time to go ahead and start some from direct seeding as well. Swiss chard, kale, collard and mustard greens (transplant or seed). Salad greens can be direct seeded right now. Also, direct seed radishes, beets, turnips and carrots. The weather is perfect for their quick germination. It's also the perfect time to plant cool season herbs like dill, parsley, cilantro and fennel. Garlic! Don't forget your garlic. The month of October is the perfect time to get your garlic cloves planted. Separate, but do not peel, the individual cloves. Plant about 1-inch deep and several inches apart. You'll harvest bulbs in late Spring. You can plant onions from seed right now, but not from slips or sets. You'll plant those in January. Oh, and don't forget your fava beans. direct seed those in garden now. It's a bit too late to seed peas...they really need to go in the ground in early September.

Here is some Swiss chard in my garden that I seeded back in August and then again in September. 

Dallas Orchid Show this Weekend...don't miss!

At North Haven Gardens this weekend the 10th & 11th