Winter/Spring Harvest

This

+ This

= a Delish Dish!

Our oranges and cilantro made it through the frosts.  Wish I had a lime tree old enough to produce.  Anyone want to trade oranges, clementines for limes?  The over wintered cilantro is really growing with our warm days.  I thought I'd share a favorite recipe while this fresh abundance lasts. 

CITRUS YOGURT MARINADE AND SAUCE

2 Cups plain low fat Yogurt
2 Medium Shallots, finely chopped
3+ Medium Garlic cloves, minced (garlic lovers feel free to add more)
1/4 Cup freshly squeezed  Orange Juice
             frozen pineapple orange juice concentrate may be substituted
2+ Tablespoons freshly squeezed Lime Juice
2 teaspoons Cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin
1/4 teaspoon White Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Salt

After thoroughly combining the above ingredients set aside some marinade to use as sauce after the meat is grilled.  Marinate meat (chicken, fish, pork) for 1 hour to overnight before grilling, allowing meat to get to room temperature before putting on the heat source.

For garnish:  2 oranges and 2 limes, sliced plus 1 bunch cilantro


BTW if you have not grown or tasted Cilantro Delfino I highly recommend it (not pictured above).  It looks airy like dill but has a supreme cilantro flavor AND it is heat tolerant!  It not only has bigger (not bolder) flavor but is easier to work with and eat due to it's leaf size and shape.  I've only found it in seed.  If you prefer transplants and not having to start your own then start asking your nurseries to carry it.  They and the growers can respond to requests when enough of us chirp.

First Friday Flea Market and more

A fabulously busy two weeks here at Tre Soli.  All of the roses have been pruned and fed.  Two new rose beds with irrigation built and planted.  Four new veggie/ herb beds built and irrigated.  Six more fruit trees espaliered.   Daffodils blooming.  Peaches and Apples bloomed and leafing.  Plums, cherries, apricots and figs budding.  Corn, herbs and tomatoes planted.  And drum roll please...Gophers caught!  Oh boy goody!! So this is such a busy time that the blog languishes but I have posts in the works with photos so stay tuned. 

In the mean time I hope to see you Friday at the Willows for their monthly First Friday Flea Market. 
http://thewillowshomeandgarden.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-first-friday.html
The weather will be perfect.  I have met such wonderful artists and craft women at these affairs.  And of course Bev and the girls always have the dearest lovelies for sale in the shop.

Since the roses are just leafing out I will not have any of the girls with me at the First Friday Flea Market. They don't like to come out in public without full regalia. Instead I will be squeezing fresh tangerine/orange juice. Liquid Gold we call it at our breakfast table. Additionally I'll be cutting cilantro, dill, chard and perhaps some daffodils. If you purchase the juice and cilantro I'll give you my favorite grilling marinade recipe that uses both of those ingredients.

+=

Marinade

And isn't it the perfect time of year for us to grill outside and enjoy the evenings.  The best of both worlds, warm enough to be outside yet cool enough for a fire later in the evening!  Don't gloat too much to your friends and rellies back home.

See you Friday?!

Fresh Dug Roses for You...sold

All of the freshly dug roses have new homes.  We like to grow a variety of other fruits, flowers, veggies as you may have noticed so...when I was at Baker' Nursery the other day, to pick up the new roses, I strolled the hot house with all of the tomatoes.  They have quite a wide variety if you are in the market.  I picked up 3 "Black Prince" starts.  I love those dark tomatoes.  It should do well in our cool late winter and maybe get a jump on some of the heat lovers.  We'll see.  At Berridge Nursery I found "Black Cherry" cherry tomatoes.  Can't wait to try them!

I haven't checked out Harper's tomato stock, if you have let me know.  Don't Forget!  Another couple of cold nights could still happen.  Depending on your microclimate temperatures could still get as low as 30 and lower.  Toss your frost covers on the frost tenders, be sure all are well watered, add Christmas tree lights (and don't forget to turn them on!) to those too large to cover.  Remember to resist the urge to prune the damaged foliage for about another month.  Your tomatoes should say in a protect place until the night temperatures reach 50.

Smellavision

Why hasn't it been invented yet?!  Here's a treat that may stimulate your olfactory memory.

Now Close your eyes, lean in closer and breathe lightly.... 

Or just scroll down...

Now that's heaven scent!

ROSE PRUNING DAY

February 8, 2011
Spring can only be 4-6 weeks away when we give the girls the spa treatment. 

A few of the girls, behind the lavender and fruit trees, before pruning on February 7th

First they get a hair cut, like going from braids to a pixie cut! 

Next we take care of their feet by bathing them in chicken poo, sea kelp, banana peels and other organic fertilizers.  To strengthen their legs Epsom salts are added.  Finally their cocktail receives a dash of sugar - to attract bugs, the healthy microbiotic type.

We dug a few to make room for new.  Moondance, Queen Mary II, Tamora, Abbaye de Cluny and others are now potted and ready for you to plant.  They should go in the ground asap.  Let me know if you want to give them a home in the next few days.

And Here is this years Freshman Class of Roses.  All members of the David Austin family.  They can't wait to get into the new beds we built for them.

But now it's on to the citrus.  For a Valentine treat they receive a long deep drink of water with a chaser of organic citrus food and another long deep drink.

This gardener's worst enemy...

...THE GOPHER.  They eat the roses!  They eat the artichokes!  They eat the Jasmine!  It goes on and on.  For twenty years we've battled them.  Hoses, vibrators, traps, even chewing gum.  They really are just like in the cartoons!  If you see a plant waving in the wind, yet look around and see there is no wind, you know it is a gopher!  If you see a plant going down into the ground before your eyes, you know it is a gopher!

Fortunately we do have other allies in this war - ferrel cats as well as the family cats and dogs.  Ugly as those gophers are I breathe a sigh of relief when some four legged family member brings me a headless gopher or sometimes the head of a gopher.  Cats are rewarded with bits of salmon when they turn in their gopher. 
Here are a few shots of Nala a resident skitty kitty doing her thing guarding the garden from above.  Must have been a guardian angel in a past life.

When preparing for any job one must prepare one's tools.  Nala sharpens her claws while keeping a steady eye on her prey - a gopher we hope!

Keeping her eyes on her prey, tail swishing, Nala begins to crouch down from her guard tower.

Darn I missed the photo of her crouched at this hole.  Another hole.  Another day.  Nothing for Nala this time.  In the meantime Nala decides she's earned a nice roll in the dirt. 

Interesting she chose to roll right where I had fallen into a gopher run earlier in the month. Do you suppose she is creating an olfactory camouflage?! 

 "Ahh! It's good to be a guard cat!"

1 + 1 = Veggie Garden Success

http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/do-don't.htm
+
http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/az1005.pdf
=
SUCCESS

KIDS! Come To The Table!

"It's Soup!"  When the weather gets cold the cooks get cookin'.  Lentil soup is one of the ultimates for me.  A simple meal of a nutritious pot of soup can be ready in under an hour.  It is so bright, cold and refreshing outside today that I decided to add some color to my usual lentil soup.  While I didn't grow my lentils I did add my carrots, celery and onions after sweating them in some Italian "Communiti di Mondo X" olive oil.  To the 16 oz of lentils, and 8 cups of stock, broth or water add about a tablespoon of cumin as well as a pinch of salt and pepper to the pot.  When the lentils were soft it was all topped with more lovelies from my gardens... red and yellow chard and the last of the tomatoes.  No need for a recipe.  Plenty to serve or freeze.  Don't you love coming in from outside to smell dinner cooking?!  If you are the cook, take a quick break outside and then come back inside to fully enjoy what you're lovingly preparing.



Nothing goes better with soup on a cold day than warm fresh baked bread.  This loaf baked on Monday was from an old family recipe. 



Well maybe not old.  And maybe only passed from a cousin, Brian, to my Aunt Nan to me.  But it is a busy (or lazy) bread lovers dream...No Knead Basic Bread I call it.  The gorgeous crust is due in part to the two tablespoons of olive oil and the flax seed meal.  It is so wonderful toasted, perfect crunch to the crust.  Nice holes for filling with bruschetta made from your own tomatoes or home made jam from your own orchard.  Grind you own almond butter, available at many grocery stores these days, and you'll never go back to jarred nut butters.  And of course it's just slurpy good with butter alone.  Double toasted with herbed chevre...ummm!  Now for those who don't toast it tears and dips just fine into olive oil with a bit of balsamic vinegar or pepper added to the oil.  The recipe will be posted in the Recipe Archive.

Wind Chill? In The Valley of the Sun?!

Yes, Virginia!  There is wind chill and it can happen...even here.  Those aren't gophers making the gardens tremble today.  THAT is W-I-N-D!  Fortunately nothing like my family in the Midwest is experiencing.  For instance on my patio the thermometer reads 34 degrees.  My fields and gardens are not as protected so it is usually 5-10 cooler (or warmer in the summer)  At http://www.weather.com/ it says that my zip code is currently showing 38 degrees and "it feels like"  30 degrees due to winds of 14-21mph.  So I am guessing that "it feels like" close to 25 degrees here in the gardens at Tre Soli.  For weather information the pilots use http://www.noaa.gov/   Each of these two sites has it's assets.  I use them both when I want a compete picture of what the weather is and has been as well as educated guesses on what it will be.  Try them both why don't you.  What are the micro climates like where you are growing?

If you are having trouble finding enough things to keep your frost cover on in the wind try rocks, bricks or even bags of fertilizer, and containers of water can work too.  Just be sure things are heavy enough not to be tossed in the wind.  Your local hardware store, that carries gardening supplies, may also have U-pins that you can insert into the frost cover and push in to the ground.  Be sure your frost cover does not touch the foliage, which means that your cover will billow, that's actually looks kind of cool!  There needs to be room for the air to circulate so let it billow.

Stay warm!

Colors In My Winter Garden

Mother Nature has a way with designing the colors in a season.  I love the purples and burgandy with the deep greens and lime greens.  Who knew they went together so beautifully?!  Wouldn't they be great in a paisley fabric?

Mustard

Arugula

                                                                                                             Grafitti Broccoli

Mustard, Arugula, Snapdragons sprouting

First little rose leaves sprouting out