One Last Whiff

We're in the midst of switching out the summer annuals for pansies and other cool weather blossoms.  I was just about to pull the dying annual verbena from this container when I realized the concrete bunny appears to be savoring that last little whiff of summer fragrance.  Perhaps I'll wait another day or two......

Late Bloomers

This has been the perfect morning to grab a cup of coffee and take a little stroll through the Stepchild Garden with Sadie the Dog.  It’s in the mid-50’s at the moment, so there’s lot of residual moisture on the plants, which doesn’t really please Her Majesty, but she loves to just hang out in the sun pretending to be interested in what I’m doing.

Many of the summer perennials are ready to be cut down for the season, but the late bloomers are going crazy with these cool nights and the abundant rain from earlier this week.  Every year at this time I am reminded of that basic plant cycle of  “ grow, bloom, and then collapse.” I was speaking to a Master Gardener group recently and we were discussing the importance of including late blooming plants in the landscape, because they are generally easier to manage.  Since most plants don’t tend to collapse until AFTER they bloom, the autumn bloomers give you great green structure all summer, mightl require the “Chelsea Chop” once or twice during the course of the spring and summer, but generally will still look amazing long after some of the other perennials are reduced to brown sticks.

Many people say that gardening in the south doesn’t allow them to mix things like geranium, geum, wallflowers, etc., that can’t tolerate out hot summers.  If looking at it from another angle, we actually get TWO seasons of those flowers in the south.  Walking around this morning, I was amazed at all of the old-fashioned things that have resurfaced after their hot summer hiatus.

Go out and enjoy your garden today.  

Farro Salad with Asparagus & Cranberries

This is a great recipe that I've made a couple of times recently, and it's been overwhelmingly well-received by everyone who's tasted it.  The added bonus is that it's vegan, very low fat, very low sodium, and no added sugar.

I am always poking around at the supermarket looking for foods that I've never cooked before, and farro was one of those.  It's an Italian wheat, and I would equate the size and texture perhaps to barley.  What I bought at Whole Foods was "pearled" farro; pearling removes the rougher outer husk on the wheat kernels, which makes it cook faster than plain farro.  If you can't find the pearled type, I would guess that you would just have to boil the farro a little longer.

2 cups pearled farro

1 lb fresh asparagus, blanched and chilled, cut into bite sized pieces

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped scallions

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tsp. prepared mustard

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper 

 

Rinse and drain the farro.  Put in a large bowl, and cover with a good amount of cold water.  The farro will double in size by soaking.  Cover with plastic and allow to soak for 6 to 8 hours at room temperature. Rinse and drain the farro again. 

Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil (like for pasta), add the farro, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes until al dente.

 

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, mustard and spices.  Slowly add the olive oil, whisking to emulsify into a vinaigrette.  Add  vegetables, nuts and cranberries.

 

When the farro is cooked to taste, drain and rinse.**  Add to the mixing bowl with the remaining ingredients and combine.  Can be served at room temperature or chilled.  This recipe makes about 12 cups of finished salad, which will hold for a few days in the refrigerator with no real change in quality. 

 

**In my opinion, it isn't necessary to rinse the farro after cooking to the point of making it cold.  It actually absorbs the flavors of the dressing better when it's mixed warm.

 

Enjoy!

The Road to Getting Healthy

When I reach fifty (a couple of years ago), I realized I needed to focus on being healthy for the remainder of my life, which hopefully is at least another thirty years.  With that in mind, I had my first complete physical exam in several years (typical male), and was shocked into reality.  I left the doctor's office with prescriptions for cholesterol medication, a blood thinner, blood pressure medication, and a couple of others. 

Through the "wonders of modern medicine," my numbers were quickly brought into the normal range by the medications, and I figured everything was just fine and dandy; a year later, though, I got to start the routine of "well, now it's time to check your liver function to make sure there are no serious effects from the cholesterol medication."  Clearly, the medications weren't going to be a long term solution that I was comfortable with.

I'm happy to say that since January of 2011, I've managed to drop 90 pounds and eliminate all five of the medications from my regimen, all based upon quite simple changes in eating and lifestyle.  On the insurance charts, I've gone from "morbidly obese" to "normal." Since I regularly get questions about how I managed to bring my weight into line (and maintain that loss), I'm going to start sharing some of the things that I've done, particularly recipes that are now a part of my regular repertoire. 

This is not going to morph into a healthy lifestyle blog, but if this information is helpful, feel free to borrow whatever works for you.

In this first post, I'll share that the key to losing the first 30 pounds for me was removing artificial sweeteners from my life.  If you pay attention at the convenience stores and restaurants, it is almost always the overweight person who is buying the diet soda or sugar free snacks.   It was difficult for the first couple of weeks, but after that it became much easier.  Consider that some of the zero calorie sweeteners are 600 times sweeter than sugar, and it makes perfect sense that these products INCREASE the craving for sugar rather than decreasing it. 

Let me emphasize that I did not remove sugar or natural sweeteners from my life.   I did stop drinking sweetened beverages (soda, sweet tea, etc.), but  I continue to use honey, raw sugar, etc., in my diet, just not artificial sweeteners.  Because I have been able to remove that craving for sweet, I have become steadily more sensitive to just how sweet some things are, and I am able to choose accordingly.

I'm not a dietician or a physician, but this was a huge breakthrough in weight loss for me, and one I would encourage you to consider.

Ya Gotta Love Tatarian Aster!

I snapped this photo yesterday with my telephone as I was playing in the garden with Sadie the Dog.  If you aren't familiar with Tatarian Aster, it's one that you need to check out!

Aster tataricus, hardy zones 3 to 9

I got a tiny little clump of this baby a couple of years ago from a gardening friend, and now have enough to have split that original piece into six spots around the Stepchild Garden.  It is definitely a strong plant, but not one that I would call invasive or a thug of any sort.  It just hangs out in its original location, steadily growing into a larger clump.  It separates beautifully and easily, so sharing is no problem at all.

The real appeal to me with this plant is that it is as close to maintenance free and I have found in the perennial bed.  Seems to be just fine in wet years and dry, and is always neat and tidy.  I have done NOTHING to this plant all season, and the stalks are all now about 4 feet tall and standing perfectly erect.  No staking, no "Chelsea Chop," nothing.  When frost finally gets it, I'll go through and cut back to the stalks to the base, and then it will do its thing for another year.

It is a late bloomer (some time shortly after Labor Day in Atlanta), so tuck it somewhere in the back of the bed.  It just sort of hangs out looking well behaved and a strong green until August, and then it gets its growth spurt.  Once it bursts into bloom, it is covered with butterflies and bees, and has a really beautiful clear lavender-blue color. 

Fifty Shades of Green

One of the programs I developed recently for presentation to local gardening groups is called "Fifty Shades of Green."  (One of those garden porn things......)  This presentation is a very casual list of fifty of the best ideas I've learned from other gardeners, some of whom I know well, and some I have never known personally, although they are (or were) well known.  My goodness, is that a convoluted introduction to this post!

In any case, if you're bored and want to hear some excerpts from this program, we discussed it on a local radio station recently, and it's now available on podcast.  We recorded two programs that morning, so I think it's listed as "Winter Containers" on the website.  My guess is that the container program will show up there soon.

http://www.radiosandysprings.com/showpages/mastergardener.php

A Late Summer Container for Shade

 

I honestly tried to upload this photo because I've been having such difficulty getting Blogspot to accept photos I've always been able to upload.   Since this photo seemed to work, I figured I would just let it stay.

 

This photo isn't the best quality, since it was taken with my phone a couple of days ago, but I think the container has handled the Atlanta summer heat really well.

 

It is in what I would call "bright shade," since the driveway where this is positioned has a bright white finish on it, and when the sun hits this pavement, it is almost painful for humans.  This collection of three containers doesn't get direct sun, but it gets a ton of indirect light from that reflection.

 

The large fern is an Australian tree fern, that came to me in a 3 gallon container in April.  I learned from my grower that the trick to these guys is to NEVER let them dry out.  They can take a ton of heat and are even ok with a fair amount of sun, but the water has to be there all the time.  We also fertilizer all of the tropicals really heavily (high nitrogen) all summer.

 

The other plants that stand out are "Kong Rose" coleus, Alpinia (Shell Ginger, which never blooms, but has great foliage), Kimberly Queen fern, Farfugium, Browallia, and Pseudoanthemum.  If you want specific cultivars, let me know and I'll find that information in my files.

 

Hopefully this breakthrough with the photo means I'm back up and running on the blog!