Fiddlehead Soup

With such nice spring weather I've been antsy to start sampling the fresh greens and goodies. Oh... How good fiddlesoup would taste! Of course I never use a recipe, just take a little of this and a little of that, then put it in the crock pot. Wouldn't you know, pretty soon that pot is full and I was only gonna make a small batch. Oh well! That's life. You can never make a small batch of soup.

Went out yesterday afternoon for a walk to check the fiddleheads. Nope not up yet. Darn it! The asparagus isn't poking through either. The rhubarb is coming along nicely but not ready to pick yet either. Guess I'll just have to continue waiting impatiently for spring greens.

For those of you that use recipes for soup, here's a link to a fiddlehead soup recipe. And if you are wondering what fiddleheads are, here's a good fiddlehead article that tells about the different kinds of ferns you get fiddleheads from.

Technorati Tags: fiddleheads, soup, spring greens

Starting Tomatoes

A few days ago I dug out the garden seeds and started a bunch of tomatoes. I know for many of you this will seem late to be starting seeds. Well... Here in North Central Minnesota where I've seen frost every month of the year, I've found that starting them much earlier is no benefit.

Mostly I've gone with New Girl tomatoes again. They are 62 days, an indeterminate, and improved Early Girl. They have always produced nice marketable sized fruits. I also did some Sweet Chelsea, another indeterminate, and a large cherry tomato. Another tomato I started is Gold Nugget, a yellow cherry and a determinate.

Here's a cute tomato design I've added to GardenerWares:



You say tomato, I say tomato...wait, what's the problem? These Mugs, T-Shirts, & more with a cute tomato drawing are great for gardeners and chefs. They also make great gifts.
This great design is from Nitwit Creations

Technorati Tags: Tomato, Starting Seeds, Gardening

White Roses and Japanese beetles

Like many of you, I'm a big fan of white roses, especially the JFK Rose. One of the biggest problems with these wonderful flowers is that they seem to attract Japanese beetles! These pesky little varmits eat away at the flower, the leaves and eventually destroy the plant.

One of my gardening buddies came up with a really neat idea! She didn't want to use the pesticide Seven on the roses, and the beetle traps didn't seem to help. She noticed that these beetles seem to be attracted to white flowers. So she put up a white sheet in her backyard away from the roses. Lo and behold, the beetles gathered on the sheet. The next morning, she came outside and saw all the beetles on the sheet. She picked them off and put them in soapy water. The trick worked. No pesticides, and no more beetles.

Here are some white roses, that will NEVER have beetles and will always be in bloom.


White Roses

Happy Gardening


Nitsupak Art & Photography


Technorati Tags: Japanese Beetles, White Roses, Roses

Flowers, trees and cranberry harvesting

The natural world is full of colors! Take a look at some of my photography captured on various items -- like these ceramic-tile-covered wooden boxes!

I love to marvel at the strength of tiny flowers bursting through both the earth and piles of leaves!! I especially love seeing the bare trees of winter just soak up the sunshine of spring and then one day exude tiny leaves.

Seeing images of these beautiful and fragile things is one way I am reminded of the wonder of the world.

Commodore@CommodoresLocker.com

Technorati Tags: Flowers, Trees, Cranberries, Gift Boxes

Visualize Whirled Peas

Easter is a good time for all of us to be thinking of World Peace with everyone getting along and having fun together.

What better way to have fun gardening than planting Peas. What a great Spring veggie.

Now... Wouldn't it be great if everyone, and not just us gardeners could 'Visualize Whirled Peas'? Wouldn't that would make the world a better place?

So... to make the World a better place at this time of year why don't we all try to get everyone to 'Visualize Whiled Peas'!


Visualize Whirled Peas Throw Pillow

Technorati Tags: Whirled Peas, World Peace, garden, Easter

Speaking of Bunnies

We have a lot of wild cottontail rabbits that live all around our house. Most of them have learned that we've trained the dogs not to catch them, so they don't run very far away anymore when we go outside. Sometimes the dogs kind of run after them for a little bit, but it's only for fun - I think it's the equivalent of a person running through a flock of pidgeons and watching them scatter. Anyway, the other day I had my camera with me, so... wallah! Bunny photos!

Technorati Tags: cottontail, rabbits, photograph

Rhubarb Cake Recipe

I weeded the Rhubarb bed the other day and spread a fresh layer of mulch. That prompted thoughts of all the great things you can fix with rhubarb.

So.... Here's a recipe for Rhubarb Cake

1 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Soda
1/2 cup Shortening (part Butter)
2 cup Sifted Flour
1 egg
1 cup Buttermilk or Sour Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 cup Cut up Rhubarb

Topping
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar 1 tsp Cinnamon

Cream first 2 amounts of sugar & Shortening - add egg & vanilla - add alternately flour & soda - (wich have been sifted together) and Buttermilk. Spread 1/2 of batter in 9 X 13 greased Pan. Place rhubarb then rest of batter. Sprinkle on topping.

Technorati Tags: Rhubarb, cake, recipe

Bunnies and More Bunnies

Found some Great Art with Bunnies at Evonne's Art Creations.

Lots of Cute Bunnies of all kinds and many of them nibbling on garden goodies.


Bunnies & more Bunnies!

Technorati Tags: Bunny, Garden, Art

New Garden Gossip

Welcome!

This is the start of Garden Gossip here at GardenerWares.com. Talking about anything and everything Garden related is on the menu. We hope to have lots of fun and unique garden stuff for you to read.