Springtime Color & Butterfly Garden Re-Do

We had such lovely weather over the weekend, the boys cut the lawn, we had a BBQ dinner, enjoyed being outside and wandered around our garden paths.

Here was a nice surprise. An Airplant nestled in between two pine trees decided to put out a flower. A splash of color among a lot of greenery.

The little raised brick garden I put in about a month ago is coming along nicely with its red Salvias and white Pentas.

Looking South

But the butterfly garden is yet again sadly neglected and completely overgrown with Spanish Needle (which we all know the butterflies love). Also a pretty creeping plant Beach Sunflower (or something similar), has become rather invasive and crowded out the Milkweed and Coleus. Nothing will grow under Beach Sunflower. It's completely drought resistant and thrives in our sandy soils. So after pulling out two wheelbarrow loads of weeds............I was left with a whole lot of nothing butterflies like, except for the Dill.

Looking North

So a trip to the big box store was in order. Verbena, Lantana, Trailing Petunias and Kangaroo's Paw, Begonias, Pentas and Mona Lavender "Plectranthus."

Kangaroo's Paw

Verbena

Lantana

I have a rather shabby little fountain which I set up and got running. Maybe in a month or two I'll treat myself to a new one. The splashing of the water is very relaxing.

In order to define the space, I added some bricks around the revamped area and included a few pots of different colors and textures to add some height - Dianthus, Catmint, Mums. I'm fairly happy with the result. It just needs to fill in a little bit. Perhaps some Moss Rose/Portulaca would do the trick.

Tip: I added half a teaspoon of water crystals to each plant hole I dug and then I watered the area thoroughly with a soaker hose. 

This area is outside our patio so we can enjoy the view. Now I think I need a couple of pieces of garden art, but a gnome or plastic flamingo isn't on the short list. Something more rustic perhaps. I'll work on that and get back to you with an update in a week or two.

Meatless Monday - Mushroom, Spinach & Apple Lasagna

Complex and robust flavor. The apple layer adds an "oooh yum what's that?"
This healthy dish is wonderful for a light but filling dinner serving, a lunch dish or pot luck.

You will need:
10-12 No Boil lasagna noodles
3-4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup dry Parmesan/Romano cheese
Cooking oil spray
2 peppers - I used one sweet and one hot banana pepper, slice and dice
8oz mushrooms, slice thinly
1 or 2 squash, slice and dice
1 cup onion, slice and dice
1 apple
2 cups of spinach leaves
salt and pepper (optional hot pepper flakes, if you like some heat)
snipped basil leaves
24 oz Jar spaghetti sauce

Heat oven to 450F and spray a glass pan with cooking oil. Add the sliced/diced squash, onion, mushrooms and spray with oil and roast in the oven for 30 mins, then flip veg over and cook another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and lower oven to 400F.

The roasted vegetables will look like this. Slice your apple thinly and remove core/seeds.

Take a 13x9x2" pan and spray with oil. Put a 1/2 cup pasta sauce on bottom and add 3 noodles. Add 1/4 cup pasta, cup of spinach leaves, all the sliced apples, 1 cup of the roasted veg mix and enough mozzarella cheese to cover. Repeat layers with a final noodle "crust" topped with a little sauce, sprinkled with snipped basil leaves, the remaining mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the parmesan/romano mix (and if you wish some red pepper flakes for a little "kick."). I top my dish off with some fresh tomatoes from the garden.

Before Baking

Bake for 35-45 minutes uncovered on middle shelf. Let stand 10-15 minutes and serve.

Makes 4 generous servings. Approximate cost $14. Total time from start to finish 1hr 40minutes. You might not go back to eating regular lasagna with meat after trying this!

Mama Screech Owl and Her Baby. "Awwww...How Cute!"

A Lucky Photo Shot. 

Mama Screech Owl and her baby. Isn't that just a precious thing?

Not as close up as I would have liked, look at those big yellow eyes!

Broccoli and Tomatoes...Oh My!

The temperature in Zone 10 is ramping up and the recent tropical thunderstorms have enhanced production in the garden.

Remember this? From my recent post. 

April's Yield - A Veggie Update

Give that Broccoli a good shearing!

After the main head has been removed from the Broccoli, and little biddy side shoots are still being harvested, just give the Broccoli a really good shearing. At least a quarter of the plant off. Cut off all those "healed" side shoots and put them in your compost bin.

And, after two or three fairly decent yields just from just the off - shoots, and after the shearing, here is the result a week later from just one plant.

And here is the total Broccoli produce - just from side shoots, along with my tomato yield.

I have a variety of tomatoes ripening on a western window shelf, because if I don't pick them the Woodpeckers will pick at them. The larger green/yellow tomats are "Lemon Boy," also the best tomato ever in my opinion.

The small red and green tomats are "Early Girl" a total dud in my opinion. Also non producers in my garden is the so called "Heatwave," and the equally misnamed "Solar Fire," (not shown here since all shriveled up and died in our 'heatwave' of 70 F, yup, totally worthless). I have yanked all three from the tomato bed. 

The temperature is already in the mid 80F here in South Florida, so Zone 10, do yourself a favor and stick with at least one Lemon Boy in your garden - they will still yield fruit into June.

A Tale of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Lepidoptera Sightings

Many years ago when our boys were little, and naughty......

Check out those mischievous faces!

We made the weekly ride to the library in order to beef up their vocabulary and reading skills. 

What with trying to keep track of two little boisterous and friendly youngsters, attempting to minimize their volume level to within library-protocol and restraining them from bouncing off the walls and the other patrons, I neglected to keep track of what they were having scanned out. You know, I was just too busy deflecting icy stares and numerous "tsk tsk's."

At home the boys proudly stacked up their hoard on the coffee table and we settled in for an afternoon of cuddles, reading and giggles - more giggles it turned out than we bargained for.........

"Me first, me first!" yells David, and thrusts a large multicolored book under my nose. 

"Is there something wrong with my eyesight? Did I suddenly become dyslexic?"

On the front cover was a monstrous caterpillar, but what on earth was the title all about? Oranges and caterpillars perhaps?

La Oruga Muy Hambrienta

David had mistakenly picked up the Spanish version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Without missing a beat, I tried to read the Spanish text. My boys mouths dropped into two twin O's. You should have been there, I'm still laughing about it.

"Mommy! Stop speaking funny and read me story 'bout caterpillar!" David bellows.

It took a couple of belly laughs and many giggles to explain to David and Danny that the book was written in a different language and I couldn't understand it, but seeing their disbelief and puzzlement, I just decided to read it as I saw it, I mean what's a mom to do? Yep...if all else fails improvise.

Do you have a funny story regarding your kids?

Meatless Monday - "BeetLoaf"

Dinner is served with a healthy glass of juice!

This recipe is a little complicated but worth the effort, you get a meal and a great freshly juiced beverage.

For the BeetLoaf:

A Juicer
1 Large Beetroot, peeled, top and tailed, chop into 2 inch pieces
4 Large Carrots, as above
1 Large Apple, cored and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 Cup Spinach

1) Juice all the above 2) SAVE the pulp and remove to separate bowl

Now add to the juicer:
6 Strawberries, cup of blueberries, stalk of celery and 3 x 2inch pieces of cucumber. Set juiced beverage aside.

The juice and the pulpy beet, carrot, apple, spinach

Get a large bowl - add the beet pulp,
salt substitute and fresh ground pepper, a chopped pepper (I used hot banana pepper), chopped parsley and thyme, 2 beaten eggs, a cup of breadcrumbs and a cup of mozzarella. Drain and rinse a can of black beans, add to bowl and mash with potato masher. Add 1/4 cup of the juiced beverage and incorporate well into mixture. Heat oven to 350F.

Beetloaf mixture

Spray a meatloaf pan with Pam and press the Beetloaf mixture well into the pan with a spoon. The mixture will be quite moist.

Bake for 25 minutes, then add 1/2 cup more cheese on top, add freshly ground pepper and put back into the oven for 15 minutes. The consistency is somewhat closer to Lasagna than a Meatloaf but its very tasty. You should get four servings, unless of course you have two ravenous teenage boys in which case you might get only two.

Serve with your juiced beverage, and enjoy!

Dinner or Lunch is Served with Fresh Beverage

April's Yields - A Veggie Update Part 3

Lots of growth and more produce from the Springtime garden.

clockwise: Broccoli, Purple Carnival Pepper, Tomato, Hot Banana Pepper, Cauliflower, Spinach, Radish, Blue Lake Pole Beans.

See my previous blog:

March's Yields - A Veggie Update Part 2

What's done in my garden: Spinach, Lettuces, Arugula, Cauliflower, "Early Girl" "Solar Fire" and so-called "Heatwave" Tomatoes....really..I won't bother with either of those 3 varieties again.

What's ongoing and thriving:

Onion slips planted in November are filling out.

Back in November, when the daytime temperatures were between 75 to 79 F, I planted slips of onions and cauliflower transplants. In January I planted cabbages which are still maturing.

March Onions

Onions take "forever" to form mature bulbs, I'll probably harvest them in May...or maybe even June the rate they're growing! Onions like lots of water, so I have had to water them a lot as rainfall has been light this winter....doesn't look like much progress at the moment, does it? But all of a sudden they will form bulbs..although nothing as spectacular as a Vidalia.

April Onions

Cauliflowers are done. It has been such a warm "winter." If I had planted more (as transplants in December and January) I might still be harvesting them to (maybe) the end of April. I tied off the Cauliflowers with their own leaves - "blanching" - to keep the heads white, Cauliflowers have very shallow roots, so they don't need a deep space to thrive in....but like the onions they also need a lot of water, so they share the same veggie bed as the onions. I can't recommend growing this enough. Home grown Cauli is just awesome! You can break off the florets and eat them raw with a ranch dip - or blue cheese - very healthy!

March and April Cauliflower "White Cloud"

Cabbages:

March Cabbages

April Cabbages

As you can see the Cabbages have spread out and bare compost-earth is no longer visible. I hope they don't all bolt before I can harvest them. Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower seedlings prefer temperatures below 75 degrees Fahrenheit. In Zone 10 we are already in the mid 80's.

Broccoli:

Packman: After we harvested the main heads, we have been able to harvest broccoli shoots every day for over 2 months now and allow me to give you a word of advice. When the little broccoli shoots get smaller and smaller, give the plant a really good haircut - maybe a 1/4 off the whole plant. It will spring right back- really it will! I let a few buds mature into flowers because the hummers and those cute-little-green-bees can't get enough of the yellow flowers.

Give that Broccoli a Haircut.....please!

I have a second planting in place (Waltham) and they are maturing nicely, so we will enjoy home grown Broccoli into late May.

Carrots:

Danvers

Danvers carrots are a teeny bit crowded, but our Cockateil loves to eat the nutritious shoots, so when I thin them out "Sunday" gets a treat.

Tomatoes:

April 11th 2013

For years I have vacillated between growing tomatoes in the ground, and growing tomatoes in large pots. This is the pot that has a small, sunken pot in the middle in which I put the hose to water both the tomato and the nasturtiums.

Same potted Tomato: March 29th 2013

The potted tomato is three times larger than a transplant planted at the same time in one of the vegetable beds in the garden.

Pineapple:

The pineapple is coming along. Homegrown pineapple is so much juicier than those bought in the store.