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!

Whoohooo! The flower buds are swelling on the peach trees...

Just a shot of some lovely broccoli coming on in the garden. Now's the time to harvest broccoli planted back in Nov/Dec. It's also the time to plant new transplants of broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts!

Whilecity life may not always afford the space to grow all of our own goodies,there’s usually room for at least a few herbs in containers. Now is a greattime to plant cool-season herbs for spring harvest. Here are a few of myfavorite must-haves for the fall garden:

Dill: One of the easiestherbs to grow from seed, this feathery beauty has many culinary uses. Dill isfantastic added to salads, cream cheese, and much more. Dill prefers a sunnyspot but can tolerate some afternoon shade. Swallowtail butterflies will laytheir eggs on dill plants, so be prepared to plant a few extra for them!

Cilantro(Coriander):I wish I could grow cilantro year-round, as it’s probably my favorite freshherb. But, it prefers the cooler temperatures of fall and spring. Plants can beeasily grown from seed or planted from transplants. Keep plants harvestedregularly to postpone flowering. Pinch off flower buds as they emerge. Theyyoung leaves tend to have the best flavor. Full sun or a bit of afternoon shadeis best.

Parsley: If you’re lookingfor a way to brighten up your winter landscape, parsley makes a beautiful emeraldgreen companion to your pansies. Parsley is a frost tolerant biennial and willgrow from fall through spring. You’ll typically find flat leaf and curled leaf(French) parsley in the garden center. Both types are full of vitamins andminerals. Curled parsley is a prettier ornamental and can be used much likecabbage and kale in the winter garden. Full sun is best.

Fennel:Aperennial or biennial herb that looks a lot like dill, but is anise-scented andgrows quite large, up to four feet. Plants are quite beautiful, especially someof the bronze-leafed varieties. Fennel, like dill, attracts swallowtailbutterfly caterpillars.

Allof these lovely and flavorful herbs can be successfully grown in containers.

Just a heads up on the next few gardening classes or programs I'll be giving soon:

All Texas Garden Show with Neil Sperry - Feb 27th & 28th. I'll be giving lectures both days on backyard vegetable gardening, composting and keeping chickens in the city. Plus demos on growing tomatoes in small spaces. I'll update specific times soon.

NORTH HAVEN GARDENS  Sun, MAR 14 1pm-4PM "Vegetable Gardens 101" by Leslie Finical Halleck, GrowLively Blog, NHG GM, MS Horticulture, offers a comprehensive class on how to grow the best harvest in North Texas! Registration Fee: Grow Card Members $20 / Non-members $25 Register in-store, over the phone. Call 214-363-5316. Application here. Sign up early! This popular class will fill fast! Leslie covers: Soil types & health Soil Amendments Raised Beds Compost Varieties to Plant Now & culture Starting Seeds Pest Control General Maintenance All with an Organic Focus! We kindly ask no children under 13 to attend. Children 13 and up will need to pay the registration fee. Thank you.

NORTH HAVEN GARDENS Wed, MAR 10TH Noon-1PM "Just Tomatoes" by Leslie Finical Halleck, GrowLively Blog, NHG GM, MS. Don'tmiss this very important program on selecting the right tomato for yourneeds, varieties available, planting, maintenance and pest control. Just in time for the arrival of spring tomatoes! Feel free to bring your lunch or snack to class!

 

NORTH HAVEN GARDENS Wed, MAR 17 10am-1PM "Vegetable Gardens 101" by Leslie Finical Halleck, GrowLively Blog, NHG GM, MS Horticulture, offers a comprehensive class on how to grow the best harvest in North Texas! Registration Fee: Grow Card Members $20 / Non-members $25 Register in-store, over the phone. Call 214-363-5316. Application here. Sign up early! This popular class will fill fast! Leslie covers: Soil types & health Soil Amendments Raised Beds Compost Varieties to Plant Now & culture Starting Seeds Pest Control General Maintenance All with an Organic Focus! We kindly ask no children under 13 to attend. Children 13 and up will need to pay the registration fee. Thank you.

 

Iceland Poppies

My Favorite Things…

LeslieFinical Halleck - originally published in Neil Sperry's Gardens E-Newsletter

 
As a horticulturist, and someonewho 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 thislittle 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 youbacked 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 Papavernudicaule.

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

Iceland poppies aretechnically a perennial, but only behave as such in the Northern most parts ofthe United States and into Canada. In our climate, Iceland Poppies should betreated as a cool season annual, or biennial if you will. In Texas, it’s bestto plant Iceland Poppies in the fall, along with your pansies and violas. Thisallows them to put on a larger root system and thus a bigger spring show ofblooms. 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 nipthe blooms, but won’t hurt the plants. In spring, you’ll be rewarded with aburst of blooms in late February or early March, to accompany your tulips anddaffodils. Plants will continue to flower until temperatures heat up in mid- tolate-May.

Iceland Poppies don’t like the heat and willdie 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...