Flu Season Already

 

 

Tom Stoppard opens up today’s act with his quote, “A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.” That’s the beauty of gardening. Once people get the bug, they usually carry it to others. How do I know this? When we received a follow-up call this morning from a vendor, he sheepishly admitted he planted three grape vines. He caught the bug when he was here last fall. The grapes were ripening and he took some home for his wife to make grape jelly. Today he wanted advice on what to do with the grape vines growing haphazardly on the ground. A big oops goes out to him and his wife because it sounds like he caught the bug. From here, it could easily become a chronic case of ‘grape fever’.  



So on this rainy Friday morning, don’t let the raindrops stop you from carrying a positive message. It starts with attitude and then takes off with 'example'. What garden bugs are you sharing? Figs; another catchy one, too!

Top image of Figs ripening in the July sun by Ann Bilowz
Image of Vidal grapes(great dessert wine) ripening in the vineyard by Greg Bilowz

If you like this blog, hope you check in daily. You can like our fan page at http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz (where there are even more shared tidbits) or subscribe on the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. Contact me direct at annbilowz@gmail.com Happy Gardening. Annie P.S. You can now follow with visuals on Pinterest, too! http://pinterest.com/bilowzassoc/

Tidbits for Thursday

 

Without going too far out on a limb this morning, a simple recipe is in store for this last Thursday of September. For those still enjoying fresh leafy greens from the veggie garden, here's a super easy salad dressing. You can dress your red cabbage (easy to grow, too) chopped up and mixed in with your fresh greens or you can use it strictly as a ‘slaw’ dressing. It’s a great addition for a fall barbeque salad, too! 

It’s a recipe I discovered from CD Kitchen while looking for an ‘easy’ sweet and tangy salad dressing. If you adjust and play around with its few simple ingredients, you can find the right dose of sweetness or tang. With dressings this simple, you should never consider one of those expensive bottled ones from the store. Plus you’ll recognize all these ingredients, unlike the list of unknowns on the supermarket’s version.

Here’s all you need.

¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Whisk together and serve over your salad, it’s that easy. 

With parsley removed from the ‘grow list’ this year, I opted for no herbs with this recipe. But I’m a Romano cheese girl rather than Parm so I did sub that one. I used the precise measurements the first go around but I wing it now and go less sugar, more olive oil to reduce the sweetness a bit. I’ve also added more cheese and tried less, depending on what flavor I’m looking to achieve. There are lots of things to add, subtract or change to this base recipe. But with a dressing so uncomplicated, it keeps things simple on your greens. On that ending note, let’s take a bit of advice from Aristotle. “Change in all things is sweet.” Including your salad dressing!

Why the flower picture when the topic is dressing? Most often times, these are the prettiest shots. Plus, this dynamite perennial, Geranium 'Rozanne' is still sporting some wonderful blossoms in late September. That’s the extra Thursday tidbit. 

Image of Geranium 'Rozanne' by Ann Bilowz

If you like this blog, hope you check in daily. You can like our fan page at http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz (where there are even more shared tidbits) or subscribe on the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. Contact me direct at annbilowz@gmail.com Happy Gardening. Annie P.S. You can now follow with visuals on Pinterest, too! http://pinterest.com/bilowzassoc/

Making Room

 

As we stretch into the shorter days of fall, it’s time to evaluate and organize how much time was spent in our gardens or our outdoor spaces this year. Making room is today’s wordless Wednesday theme; although it’s hardly ever a wordless Wednesday here. Today’s focal point - as the days get shorter and the garden scales tip toward ‘clean-up’ rather than ‘creative’, ‘tis the season to evaluate your overall landscape/garden objectives. 

The most important objective – did you make room? We’re not just talking about your physical space but did you make room for spending time in your created landscape? Nothing can be as beautiful or as imperfect as the time you spend nurturing something, especially your outdoor space. So the best way to carve time and make room for this hobby or obsession (you choose) is to create a routine. Whether it’s daily, weekly, monthly, if you evaluate where you put your efforts this past spring/summer season, it should be very easy to figure out where you need to make room. If it means cutting back some of those perennial beds or planting less tomatoes but more lettuce, it’s asking yourself how much time can you spend each day, each week, or worse, each month in your garden space. As Napoleon Hill profoundly pointed out, “The world has the habit of making room for the man whose actions show that he knows where he is going.” It’s the perfect season to make room. Evaluate your outdoor space! 

Image of Grapes still flourishing in the small vineyards by Ann Bilowz

Yes, the grape thing has become an obsession and one that’s eating up all the physical space! And if you missed yesterday’s post, making room is another one of those ‘Running Parallel’ analogies. Enjoy your Wednesday.  

If you like this blog, hope you check in daily. You can like our fan page at http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz (where there are even more shared tidbits) or subscribe on the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. Contact me direct at annbilowz@gmail.com Happy Gardening. Annie P.S. You can now follow with visuals on Pinterest, too! http://pinterest.com/bilowzassoc/