Herb Companion Blog PostsPatsy on the Road Visit Patsy as the Ozarks Travel Examiner
 Patsy Bell Hobson  Patsy Bell Hobson is a freelance writer based in Missouri. For her, it's a great day when she can combine the two things she enjoys most: gardening and traveling. |
Spring 2009 was fabulous. Can Spring 2010 be as fine?
Q What is the difference between daffodils and narcissus? They are the same. Narcissus is the Latin or botanical name for all daffodils. Daffodil is the common name for the genus Narcissus.
Old House Gardens has heirloom bulbs and will consume hours of your time reading and learning about these rare beauties.
is one of my favorite bulb buying sites because daffodils and tulips just need to be planted in massColor Blends.
This is a practice post.
As gardener frustrated by poorly drained and weighty rock-filled containers, I discovered the best back-saving container garden product on the market. If your potted plants are turning yellow from the bottom or wilting even though they are getting enough water the cause may be insufficient drainage and aeration.
Better Than Rocks produces healthier plants, lighter containers, drains excess water away from plants and keeps the soil in the planter. BTR is inexpensive, recycled and reusable. If it is not in your garden center yet, order it online. www.betterthanrocks.com
This product, like good tools, are a one time purchase. The Better than Rocks product I bought three years ago is the same product I will use this spring. What I like about this product is that you buy it one time then use it and reuse it forever.
Line the bottom of containers with Better Than Rocks. Smaller pots require one layer for good water drainage and to keep your potting soil from washing away. Big, deep pots can handle several layers of Better Than Rocks to lighten up the container and reduce the amount of pricey potting soil. Better Than Rocks can stay in the pot as long as you like. If you empty the containers at the end of the season, hose off the recycled plastic material and BTR is ready to reuse.
Sarah B. Atkins, who discovered the material, has used and reused the same Better Than Rocks product in various containers for ten years. What could be better than a garden product so good that you never have to buy it again?
Better Than Rocks How It Works
Better Than Rocks Where to Buy
This is Tigger, the melon. I mention it now because I am getting a lot of comments on Facebook about it.
I’ve never grown this midget melon before, but the seeds were free. So I am sharing with five other gardeners. I can do this because there are more seed than the 25 seeds the package promised.
Here is what I know. It’s two months before the last frost date here in Southeast Missouri. I’ve seen the seed advertised in Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and Territorial Seed Company.
The plants are heavy producers of baseball sized, white fleshed fruit. What caught my attention is these fragrant fruits are only about a pound when mature. That’s about all the cantaloupe-type fruit I want. Watermelons, pumpkins and cantaloupe rarely make an appearance in my garden because the sprawling plants take up a lot of garden space.
Because they are so small, I may try to grow them on a trellis. The seed packet says 80 days, Tigger will ripen about the same time the garden explodes with tomatoes.
How To: Make Chili Rellenos
 Patsy Bell Hobson is a garden writer and a travel writer. For her, it’s a great day when she can combine the two things she enjoys most: gardening and traveling. Visit her personal blog at http://patsybell.blogspot.com/ and read her travel writings at http://www.examiner.com/x-1948-Ozarks-Travel-Examiner.
Chili rellenos are one of my favorite Mexican restaurant foods. Last year, when I had a bountiful crop of mild chilis, I attempted to make chili rellenos. I never got the hang of it. The best I could do was make a greasy, cheesy mess. I did become a master at charing peppers.
The cook at El Acapulco Mexican Restaurant in Cape Girardeau, Missouri showed me the secret. Ramon Soriano Cruz is the cook at El Acapulco. He shared the secret about how to make chili rellenos from scratch..
Ramon had already blackened, peeled and stuffed the peppers. That is how the restaurant is able to serve chili rellenos in less than an hour.
Gradually add flour to eggs a little at a time. Five egg whites are beaten until stiff.
Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson
My lesson started after the whole peppers were charred, peeled and stuffed. At this point the chilis were frozen. Ramon began by rolling the frozen chilis in flour and set them aside while making the batter.
Chili Relleno Instructions
Separate 1 egg for every chili. Beat the whites until stiff then sprinkle in flour to the egg whites as they begin to stiffen. With Ramon’s expertise, he mixed an unmeasured amount of flour into the eggs—I think a scant ½ of a cup of all purpose flour. He set aside the batter and rolled each frozen pepper in the flour again.
Then, he used the kitchen’s deep fryer to cook the chilis. At home, heat cooking oil 1- to 2-inch deep in a big frying pan to about 375 degrees.
Hold the chili by the stem, dip it in the egg batter until well coated. Use a rubber spatula to help spread batter if it doesn’t cover the entire chili.
Ramon Soriano Cruz can serve a full restaurant. The sauce served over the chili is a mild seasoned tomato sauce.
Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson
Gently place the battered pepper in the hot oil, carefully turn the chili until it is well browned. You can cook two or three at a time, just don’t fry so many that it lowers the temperature of the oil. As each chili is browned, place it carefully on the plate. Ladle heated tomato sauce, over the pepper. Serve with beans and rice.
Once the beans and rice are on the plate, a quick zap in the microwave insures the complete meal is served steamy hot.
Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson
Look for ancho or poblano pepper seeds or plants. Find seeds and plants in most of the seed catalogs. Wait on the last frost date in your area and hold off for another week or two before planting peppers. The seedling and plants do not like wet feet.
Thanks Ramon!
Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson
Resource: El Acapulco Mexican Restaurant; 202 South Mount Auburn Road; Cape Girardeau, MO, 63703.
1.  2. 3. 4. 
1. Chips and salsa with happy hour Margarita.
2. The cheese stuffed pepper should be completely melted. If not, a few seconds in the microwave will heat it through.
3. Removing the stem from the outside of the pepper, the seeds, (where the heat is) insides of the pepper were removed bef0re it was stuffed.
4. Handsome volunteer model, “discovered” in El Alcapulco Restaurant in Cape Girardeau MO.
New! Chinese Chives Are the devil in disguise. Really, these are garlic chives.
Here is what Renee has to say about Chinese chives:
“One of my favorite fresh herbs, Chinese chives, combines the flavor of garlic and the sweet oniony taste of chives in a perfect marriage. The 10 to 12 inch long, strappy flat leaves are scrumptious whenever you want a hint of garlic flavor without the fuss! Use fresh as they lose their savor when cooked. I snip them into ½ inch pieces to sprinkle over fresh salads or on top of most steamed vegetables or a plate of juicy sliced tomatoes. They are wonderful in potato or pasta salads, with scrambled eggs, or even deep fried to finish a rice dish. When your plants begin to bloom with pretty white flowers – break up and sprinkle the individual florets over salads for an ornamental and edible flower garnish.”
And I agree. They are everything Renee says. But there is more:
This is my story: After a lecture on herbs, the speaker said she had free samples of garlic chives for everyone. She had enough clumps to give to each of the 30 young and foolish beginning herb gardeners. She dug up these 30 fist fulls of garlic chives and wrapped them in plain newspaper to keep from getting our cars messy, she said. As I look back on this herbal exchange, I now believe the newspaper was meant to cover up the garlic chives. Sort of like the infamous plain brown wrapper. That way neighbors could not see what we were bringing into the neighborhoods. There would be no screaming or shouting or alerting the homeowners association plant police. And it also provided a cover up so no one would know she was herb trafficking in garlic chives.
To say that garlic chives are invasive, is an underestimate and should be punishable by law when people do not offer full dislosur. The plain truth is Chinese Chives are out to take over the world, one herb garden at a time.
In fact, this is how I started out on the herb speaker’s bureau. I volunteer to speak to herb gardener wannabes. After the lecture, I pass out free samples of Chinese Chives to all the attendees, and have enough for their friends and families too.
Renee’s Garden
http://twitter.com/reneesgarden
I decided to be a little more consistant with Bloom Day postings this year, hence this flowerless January post. Flowerless is OK. One of my favorite cakes is a flourless chocolate cake. But I digress.
The only flowers that are blooming in my home are in the seed catalogs. One thing I did notice this holiday season is that bromeliads were used at a couple of malls and a restaurant instead of the traditional poinsettia.
 
One plant that I do not think of when I think about bromeliads is the pineapple.
It’s obviously a bromeliad when you see a pineapple growing. But I rarely see a pineapple as a plant.
It’s as if the seed catalog industry hasn’t heard about global warming. They keep putting out paper catalogs with astonishing frequency.
Wish I could say Let’s make a deal.You only send one catalog a year. And I, knowing that, will keep this one catalog all year.
Richters Herbs – Medicinal, Culinary, Aromatic – Plants & Seeds. The Canadian nursery offering an extensive selection of culinary, medicinal, and aromatic herbs.
I keep Richters catalog all year, frequently referring to it as a valuable reference tool. www.richters.com
Or, Better Yet, just put the catalog online. That’s how I order my plants and seeds. So you do know I am smart enough to find you online.
Renee’s Garden seed catalog is only on line. She doesn’t even print a paper catalog. www.reneesgarden.com
The 10th Annual Spring Garden Festival at Baker Creek is Sunday and Monday, May 2 & 3, (Sunday & Monday) 2010 – 10am – 7pm
Come celebrate spring with renowned musicians, national speakers, historic demonstrators, food activists, western re-enactors, organic growers, gourmet chefs, see historic farm animals & poultry, and meet Ozarkian crafters.
Join more than 6,000 visitors at the spring garden festival of seeds, plants, music, culture and the celebration of historic foods. A hundred local vendors of plants, Ozark crafts, and hand made products will be on hand along with over sixty musicians on 3 stages filled with old-time music.
Learn more about heirloom gardening, seed saving, homesteading, eating local and preserving your harvest by guest speakers.
The Festival is held at Baker Creek village and farm, near Mansfield, MO. Come to Mansfield and follow signs. Free tent and RV camping; no need to register. There are also hotels in the local area or an hours drive west is Springfield. Food is available at the festival.
Spring Garden Festival is at Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company,
2278 Baker Creek Road, Mansfield, MO 65704, phone (417) 924-8917
Springfield, Missouri, Convention & Visitors Bureau Tourist Information Center: 3315 E. Battlefield Road, Springfield, MO 65804.
Admission: $5.00 per person, pay at the event. Children 16 and under are free. All pets over 20 lbs must be pre-approved. No weapons.
Vendors, this is Baker Creek’s largest heritage garden event. Vendors and crafters, call for info: 417-924-8917. (Spaces are limited) Space is free to non-profits & those providing historic demonstrations.
Read more Ozarks Travel Examiner
Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs: A Bountiful, Healthful Garden for Lean Times (Paperback)
Jim W. Wilson (Author), Walter Chandoha (Photographer).
Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs: A Bountiful, Healthful Garden for Lean Times by Jim Wilson shows us practical ways to save time, energy and money in our own back yard.
Even before we get to the Table of Consents, Jim Wilson lays down some common since rules in Health and Safety First. If this is the only page you read it will keep you in the garden and out of the first aide kit.
In plane terms, the book is about the science of gardening combined with hands on experience. Plus, every gardeners delima of too many squash is at last resolved by the kid friendly pizza squash solution.
I had the pleasure of reading the book cover to cover. If you just came from a buying frenzy at a spring plant sale, it’s good to know you can read the book in the I-need-to-know-now order, each chapter being a complete lesson or topic.
Chapter 6 is a every thing you need to know about a particular vegetable. Chapter 7 focuses on fruit and chapter 8 is about growing herbs – often neglected in the home garden. Then there is a quick overview of organic gardening practices.
The 10th and final chapter is about helping ourselves and our neighbors. Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs: A Bountiful, Healthful Garden for Lean Times encourages us to share what we know and share what we grow.
This book is a clear and simple guide for beginning gardeners. It is also a gentle remider to the more experienced gardener that there is alway something new to learn in our back yard.
Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs: A Bountiful, Healthful Garden for Lean Times (Paperback)
Jim W. Wilson (Author), Walter Chandoha (Photographer).
Details: Paperback: 192 pages Publisher: Creative Homeowner; First edition (December 7, 2009) Language: English ISBN-10: 1580114717 ISBN-13: 978-1580114714
Review by Patsy Bell Hobson
“a work of art, this Italian heirloom is almost too beautiful to eat — but it begs to be savored. Each gorgeous head is a sprightly, light green spiral of cone-shaped florets, with a delectably mild flavor and a texture more akin to cauliflower than broccoli.”
from: The Cook’s Garden
Not really new, since it is an heirloom vegetable. Usually, broccoli is not successful in my hot Missouri zone 6 garden. (It bolts at the first sign of summer.) But I will try it and tell you about my success (or lack there of.)
after all, I was successful with Renee’s Garden Pak Choi, Baby, “Green Fortune.”
I try something new every year. Renee has challenged me to grow things that have never been successful in this hot, humid climate. Like nasturtiums, sweet peas and Pak Choi.
|
|
4. 
Recent Comments