Ready to Build Your Own Veggie Beds?

Here is a question I received from Jocelyn:

"I have to start building my raised garden beds this week (mother-in-law in town to babysit while I build) – before I can get to the “Raised Beds” seminar this weekend at NHG. I was hoping you could help with a build question today! I am thinking of going in one of four directions. 1 x 12:

1. Cedar finished with AFM Safecoat Dynoseal (http://www.afmsafecoat.com/products.php?page=6#73)
2. Cedar unfinished
3. Regular lumber (the basic building lumber from Lowe’s) finished with AFM Safecoat Dynoseal
4. Regular lumber unfinished

How fast would unfinished wood deteriorate in our DFW weather? Is a sealer necessary? What type of lumber do you use and has it held up?

Jocelyn,"

Honestly, I would not personally use any sealer or treatment on the wood except perhaps Linseed Oil. Linseed oil is combustible so you you have to take care in using it, but it can be safely used on wood for veggie beds.

I built all of my beds with rough-cut untreated cedar. This is going to be the most naturally long lasting option. I also built my chicken coop out of the same material, untreated. I used 2 x 12’s instead of 1 x 12’s on my beds so they won’t bow as much and they’ll last much longer. About half of my beds are going on 6 years. They still look great and I wouldn’t expect that I’d need to replace any of these beds for another 5 or 6 years. Probably much longer to be honest. I used 4” coated deck screws to assemble them, with 4 x 4 corner posts for bracing. Here is how I build mine: raised beds

I would not use regular treated lumber, and unfinished regular lumber (pine) will disintegrate on you much more quickly.

Now, the rough-cut untreated cedar is going to cost you the most money. And the only place I’ve found it for the past few years was at Ivey Lumber in South Dallas. I’ve heard rumors that Lowes or Home Depot might be carrying it now, but they won’t do any cutting for you. Ivey will.

Second in longevity to the Cedar would be Redwood.

For soil recommendations you can go here: Raised bed soil mix

Cedar Raised Beds
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

There aren't many opportunities for treats on my restrictive diet. So when I came across this recipe for homemade ginger ale, and I realized that all the ingredients were not only things I'm allowed to eat, but I'm allowed to eat them on the same day... I had just had to make it of course! It sure is yummy...

• 2-3 tablespoons filtered water
• 1/3 cup peeled/chopped fresh ginger
• ¼-1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3-5 table \spoons honey
• 2-3 tablespoons agave nectar
• one pinch sea salt
• Club soda or sparkling water

First take the peeled chopped ginger and mix with 2-3 tablespoons filtered water in a blender or magic bullet type mixer. Pulse a few times and then blend on high speed until really smooth.

Then take some cheese cloth and place it over a strainer. Pour mixture onto cheesecloth/strainer into a small pitcher. Once the liquid has passed through, pull the corners of the cheesecloth together and press out all the juice into the pitcher.

Add the lemon juice, honey, nectar (or stevia) and salt together. Stir until completely mixed.

Pour about 1/4 of the mixture into a class with ice and fill glass with club soda or sparkling water. Top with lemon slice.

YUM...I can actually have some soda!

Lol...I'm sure spring will be back next week!

The veggie garden in the snow...

The gals huddled together inside their coop...poor Phyllis and Einstein and their poor wet dirty hair!

Cool Season Color

Iceland Poppies

As a horticulturist, and someone who is greatly passionate about plants, I’m often asked what my “favorite” plant or flower is. Usually, I just laugh. How could I pick just one? But this little corner of mine here in the e-newsletter is titled “My Favorite Things” so I do try to whittle down to the best of the best for you when I can. If you backed me into a corner and asked me “what is your favorite cool-season annual, or else…” I would be compelled to answer Iceland Poppy, or Papaver nudicaule.

What is not to love about this boreal beauty? On sunny days, light shines through the brightly colored, paper-thin petals creating a brilliant display in the garden. The flowers are even sweetly scented. Every part of the poppy plant from the silvery foliage to the unique furry flower buds, offers a bounty of interest. They are the perfect companion for other cool-season plantings such as parsley, kale, pansies and violas. In their natural state, Papaver nudicaule is usually found in shades of white and yellow. The recessive colors of orange, pink and red are brought out through selection and all colors are generally offered as a mixin the garden center.

Iceland poppies are technically a perennial, but only behave as such in the Northern most parts of the United States and into Canada. In our climate, Iceland Poppies should be treated as a cool season annual, or biennial if you will. In Texas, it’s best to plant Iceland Poppies in the fall, along with your pansies and violas. This allows them to put on a larger root system and thus a bigger spring show of blooms. Plants will bloom in the fall and until the first hard frost. Often, they will continue putting on blooms through the winter. Hard frosts will nip the blooms, but won’t hurt the plants. In spring, you’ll be rewarded with a burst of blooms in late February or early March, to accompany your tulips and daffodils. Plants will continue to flower until temperatures heat up in mid- to late-May.

Iceland Poppies don’t like the heat and will die off with the onset of summer. They are generally very easy to grow and don't require extra care. The one thing they don't appreciate is wet feet. Make sure your soil drains well and you don't provide too much extra irrigation in the winter months. Mulching plants with about 1-inch of expanded shale can help cut down on excess moisture around the root zone.

You can plant Iceland poppies right now and then again in October through November. I hope you enjoy these beauties in your garden as much as I do in mine!

With the restrictive diet I'm on right now, I don't have a lot of options when it comes to grains and proteins. On the day-2 rotation of my LEAP diet, I'm allowed barley. I have to admit, it had a been a loooong time since I'd eaten barley and I honestly couldn't tell you if I'd ever cooked it before. I knew I could use it like a rice or quinoa on the days where I'm not allowed those staples. But then it occurred to me that it might actually make a nice breakfast.

So I cooked up a batch of barley pearls, of which bulk can be purchased at your local health food grocery. Takes about 25 min to cook then I just store it overnight. The only dairy I'm allowed on day #2's is goat milk. Which I have tosay, I seem to be able to drink just fine without a lot of problems(can't do regular cow's milk without taking a lactaid or buying lactaidmilk). So I take about a 1/3 cup of the cooked barley, added about 1/2 cup of goats milk, added a teaspoon of maple syrup and some fresh blueberries. Heat it up for about 1 1/2 minutes and whaalaaa. A pretty yummy breakfast cereal.

Barley is also apparently very good for you. "Barley contains eight essential amino acids.According to a recent study, eating whole grain barley can regulateblood sugar (i.e. reduce blood glucose response to a meal) for up to 10hours after consumption compared to white or even whole-grain wheat,which has a similar glycemic index. The effect was attributed to colonic fermentation of indigestible carbohydrates. Barley can also be used as a coffee substitute." (Wikipedia)

So there ya go...barley is yummy and healthy...

Some of you may have read a while back that I had food allergy/sensitivity testing done. And there are about a million things I can't eat anymore, including tomatoes, garlic, lentils and all sorts of other good stuff. So, for the last couple of months I've cut out all my "red" and "yellow" offenders. But didn't start my prescribed super strict rotational diet, or L.E.A.P (lifestyle eating and performance) diet until this past Monday.

Now, having to cut out many of the foods I love was traumatic enough. But now, due to this restrictive diet, I've also had to start eating fish in order to get enough protein. I've been a vegetarian for 20 years, so this is no easy task for me. But, I can be really stubborn and shrivel away to a string bean, or I can eat some fish for 6 weeks. So, there ya go.

What I've discovered about this diet is that I'm going to have to end up getting really, really creative in the kitchen. So I figured I might as well blog about it...and maybe you folks and help me out! Who knows, maybe I'll come up with some really good recipes.

Here is what I'm allowed to eat, on a rotating system for at least 6 weeks, but should try to continue longer. I eat what's on day 1 list, then day 2, then day 3, then I can go back to day one...and repeat. There is no deviation from the list. If it's not on the list, I can't eat it. Period. No processed foods.

Day 1: Egg, Garbanzo bean, pinto bean, sole,amaranth, tapioca, oat, buckwheat, asparagus, peas, lima beans, onions, bananas, olives, papaya, raspberry, strawberry, American cheese, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, bows milk, whey, yogurt, cashew, olive oil, sesame seed, Ginger, honey, leek, turmeric, vanilla

Day: 2 Tilapia, barley, kamut, spelt, weat, carrot, celery, mushroom, zucchini, avocado, blueberry, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, pear, cocoa, goat's milk, hazelnut, pecan, walnut, cane sugar, cumin, maple, parsley

Day 3: Salmon, tuna, crab, quinoa, rice, white potato, eggplant, lettuce spinach, apricot, cranberry, grapefruit, peach, coffee, tea, almond, sunflower seed, basil lemon, mint, mustard, paprika

Day one is definitely the best! But you start to look forward to the one or two things you really like on the other days. For dinner on Monday I had a big bowl of oatmeal with some milk, honey and lots of fresh bananas and strawberries. Mmmmmm. Yesterday, I bought some goat's milk and some raw cocoa (cant' have any additional ingredients, like soy lecithin or sweeteners, etc.). Made myself a cup of hot chocolate. It was actually really good.

Last night, I made tilapia for the first time (remember folks...it's been 20 years!). Using the ingredients I'm allowed to eat, I made a blended marinade/sauce from some goat's milk, cumin, salt, a piece of cantaloupe and some parsley. Covered the fillets with the sauce and bake/steamed it with Julienned carrots, zucchini and mushrooms. Because I can have hazelnuts, I found hazelnut oil to use. Which is very tasty! Also cooked some barley pearls and served the fish and veggies over that. The husband liked it...It was ok for me. It's going to take me a while to get used to this fish thing! But the tilapia is not toO "fishy" so that's good.

Today I made light tuna with lemon juice, basil, green peppers, and a little mustard. Served with lettuce and spinach. I went looking for sunflower oil to use as a salad dressing, but haven't been able to find it yet. Anyone know of a good local source?

That's my challenge now...how to make decent salad dressings and mayo...Wish me luck!

Hi folks, I got word that a friend of mine is in foster possession of a wayward Barred Rock Hen that got loose this past weekend in Dallas. The hen was found this past Saturday by a pet sitter at a home near Park Lane and Hollow Way in Preston Hollow. The sitter took care of the bird through Sunday. It was hungry and thirsty, but once caught was pretty docile. I'm sure her mommy or daddy would really like her back! So if you know of someone who's lost their Barred Rock, from that area, please comment or email me through my about me page. Thanks!