Gardening

Baked Zucchini Fries

June 25, 2014 by Becky

Baked zucchini fries are not only fast and easy to make, but it’s a great way to use all that zucchini in your garden when your plants are giving you more than you can use (and give away!). This makes a great summer side, and it’s a great alternative for zucchini when you’re tired of zucchini bread, brownies & cake!

These baked zucchini fries can be prepped in less than 5 minutes, then just toss them in the oven while you worry about the rest of your meal. They are crispy and delicious and they go great with just about any main dish! Whether you’re grilling burgers or broiling chicken, these will be a great addition to your meal.

Ingredients

https://westerngardens.com/baked-zucchini-fries/

Deadhead Flowers

June 21, 2014 by Becky

You want your garden to always look it’s best, so don’t forget to deadhead your flowers when the blooms are spent! It’s easy, quick, and gives your plants a fresh look. It will also encourage more blooms on your flowers, so you get more bang for your planting buck.

Why Deadhead?

Plants want to ensure the survival of their species, so they produce seeds to grow the next generation. Flowers produce blooms, which will typically develop seeds. Once the plant has gone to seed, it will stop producing blooms because it has already done its job…it doesn’t need any more flowers. To get your flowers to keep producing beautiful blooms, remove the dead ones so they can’t produce seeds, and it will continue flowering in an effort to get those seeds! {THIS BEING SAID HOWEVER, most flower plants that are sold in stores are hybrids. They are bred by growers to develop different traits like color and hardiness. These flowers generally DO NOT produce seeds that should be replanted. Do not save seeds from hybrids, they will not produce a plant that is the same as the parent plant. Check with your local garden center if you aren’t sure about your particular plants.}

How Often?

How often you deadhead really depends on the size of your garden and how much you are in it. A small garden can go a couple of weeks in between deadheading, while some gardeners deadhead every day. You will quickly figure out how often you need and want to deadhead as you spend time in your garden.

How do I Deadhead a Flower?

It’s easy to deadhead flowers! You can pinch off the expired bloom between your thumb and forefinger, or go down to the first leaf below the flower and pinch it off there to hide the cut stem. If you don’t want to use your fingers, or the stem is too tough, use garden shears or even scissors for a nice, clean cut.

My 7 year old wanted to paint my nails sparkly green. Not sure if it’s coincidence or fate that I have a green thumb in these pictures!

As you deadhead flowers in your garden, you will notice more blooms and get more mileage out of your beautiful flowers. It only takes a few minutes to clear the dead flower heads away, but it will give you (and everyone else who sees your garden) more enjoyment as you spend time in your lovely space.

Happy Gardening!

How to cut Grape Tomatoes {Tip!}

June 17, 2014 by Becky

Today I have a great tip for you–how to cut grape tomatoes quickly and easily! {Plus a to-die-for recipe that just happens to need grape tomato halves!} With this simple method I can cut a dry pint of grape tomatoes in less than a minute!

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Berry Green Smoothie

June 11, 2014 by Becky

If you are looking for a little variety in your green smoothie repertoire , try this Berry Green Smoothie! It’s loaded with greens, but still has enough fruit to make it sweet for my picky kids. Green smoothies are the best when it comes to great nutrition that I can actually get IN my kids!

Smoothies are great for getting fruits and veggies in kids and adults alike. If you have a hard time getting your kids to eat a variety of veggies, try juicing small amounts of your vegetable choice and putting it in a smoothie. It will give them added nutrition while helping them acquire a taste for those veggies they think they don’t like! Sometimes all it takes is a little exposure for kids to realized they actually do like it!…

Roasted Broccoli

June 3, 2014 by Becky

We discovered roasted broccoli last year at our house, and veggies have never been the same. I don’t steam broccoli anymore because roasting is so easy and delicious, and holds more of the nutrition in. Great as a simple side dish, or even to go in a casserole, you will love roasted broccoli!

We wanted carrots to go with our broccoli, so I added a big handful to the bag before I tossed it with the avocado oil. They finished roasting at the same time, and they were a fabulous addition to our meal! I added freshly ground Real Salt and pepper, and they tasted buttery when they came out of the oven! Since no butter is used (but we love butter at our house!) it was a healthier choice with all the flavor! Avocado oil is my go-to oil for roasting because it has such a high smoke point (500 degrees!). Other oils can be substituted for roasting, but since this is my current favorite, it’s what I list in the recipe.

Snail Beer Trap

Ingredients

2 disposable plastic cups
an old pencil
a can of beer OR DIY Yeast Snail Bait
DIY Yeast Snail Bait:
1 Tbsp of flour
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of yeast
2 cups of water

Instructions

Dig a hole to fit one of the cups in your vegetable or flower garden, near your plants.
Place one cup inside the hole, making it level with the ground, so the snails don't have to climb far.
Carefully poke 4 drainage holes in the bottom of the remaining cup. Poke two more holes near the top, just under the lip, for the pencil to go through. This will ensure a gap between the cups so you can easily remove the top one to dispose of the snails the next morning.
Place the cup with the holes and pencil inside the cup buried in the ground.
Pour the beer or DIY Yeast Snail Bait inside the cup, leaving about an inch of headspace. The snails will climb down into the cup, and drown in the beer.

https://westerngardens.com/roasted-broccoli/

*I start checking mine at 10 minutes, but it usually takes 15. Smaller pieces may be done more quickly than larger pieces.

Ranch Roasted Potatoes

May 27, 2014 by Becky

Ranch Roasted Potatoes are one of our favorite summer side dishes. They are quick and easy to prepare, and can roast in the oven while you worry about everything else on your menu. Without fail, someone always comments about how delicious these potatoes are! And they couldn’t be any easier. This side dish is almost easy to overlook when it’s placed in a lineup with fresh fruit and grilling meats, but once you taste them, you’ll be eyeing the buffet for more! This recipe is perfect for trying out some of those new potatoes in your garden!…

How to Water Your Lawn

May 24, 2014 by Becky

Have you ever wondered how to water your lawn correctly? Think you’re watering too much? Not enough? Not at the right time of day? Or maybe you’ve never even thought about it! We’ve put together some pointers for you to cut out the guessing and save you water and money this summer! Because who doesn’t want to go green and save some green?!

Climate and soil and sprinklers are different everywhere you go. When people ask us how long to water their lawn, it would be great to have a tidy, pat answer to give. But because there is so much variation even within the same area, the answer usually starts with, “It depends.” It depends on how well your soil drains, how much water your sprinklers put out, what time of day you water, and even how long your grass is! Even though there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer for everyone, it isn’t hard to determine how much water to give your grass.

How Much Water Does My Lawn Need?
Lawns in the Salt Lake area need about 2 inches of water per week (not per watering). An easy way to see how much water your lawn is getting in a watering cycle is to place some straight-sided containers around your lawn. Empty tuna cans work great. Check them after the watering cycle and measure how much water is in them.

How Often Should I Water My Lawn?
If your lawn is planted in loam or clay soil, it’s best to water twice a week with one inch applied at each watering. Sandy and gravel soils won’t hold an inch of water in one watering, so they need to be watered a little more often (every other day works well with about 0.6″ applied each time).

When Should I water My Lawn?
Early Morning is the best time to water. Watering in the evening or late at night is not a good time because the lawn remains wet overnight and is more susceptible to fungus, and makes snails and slugs harder to control. Never water during the heat of the day—most of that water will just evaporate.

What Else Can I do to Save Water?
Set your lawnmower height as high as you can stand it. The longer the grass, the more shaded the soil will be, and the more moisture it will retain. Shorter grass doesn’t shade the soil as well and the heat of the summer sun will evaporate all the moisture you just worked to get in there.

For more specific questions about your lawn or soil type, stop by one of our locations (Salt Lake, Sandy or West Valley) and talk to one of our helpful plant pros!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

May 20, 2014 by Becky

Stuffed bell peppers are a summertime must! If you have bell peppers in your garden this year, be sure to save this recipe for stuffed peppers! Unlike many stuffed pepper recipes, this one is meatless, so it’s a great vegetarian option. If your garden gives you small bell peppers, this would be a great side dish for brunch!

Bite of Delight is sharing this recipe with us today, because it’s too good not to spread around a little more! The wild rice is a great mix of sweet and savory, and the egg helps tie it all together. It cooks until the egg is just set, so the yolk is nice and runny, making a great sauce for the rice. This is an easy weeknight dish, but fancy enough to make for company!

Fresh Peach Mint Lemonade

Ingredients

4 cups water
½ cup sugar
4 medium peaches, quartered
2 Tbsp mint leaves
1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 large lemons)

Instructions

Add water and sugar to a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add mint and peaches to sugar/water mix, reduce heat to med-low and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Pour into a blender jar and remove the center of the lid, if possible (to allow steam to escape).
Place a towel over the lid and blend on low for 25-30 seconds, or until smooth.
Pour through a cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer into a pitcher. Discard the solids.
Whisk in lemon juice and cool in fridge for at least 3 hours.

https://westerngardens.com/stuffed-bell-peppers/

Raised Garden Beds

May 17, 2014 by Becky

Raised garden beds have become very popular in recent years, and for good reason. Growing more food in less space with less work sounds too good to be true, but it’s not! If you are thinking about taking the plunge and building raised beds for your garden, we’ve included links to 12 different tutorials for raised beds.

Why Raised Beds?

Less Compacted Soil. Roots (and worms!) need air space in the soil to grow, so if you’re stepping in your garden beds, you are compacting the soil and destroying that important air space! For more information about compost and soil amending, see this blog post all about it.

Deeper Soil. The deeper the roots can grow, the healthier your plants will be and the better your harvest. It is often suggested to line the bottom of your garden box with cardboard or black weed barrier cloth, but this will prevent your roots from growing as deep as they want. Try it without and see how your garden grows!

Weed Control. Your veggies will be further from the grass and weeds in your yard, but you will also be able to plant more densely…crowding out weeds that would otherwise grow.

Grow More in Less Space (with less work!) Traditionally, our gardens have always had narrow rows for plants and wide rows for walkways. There is no real reason to design your garden this way, except maybe because it’s how your grandparents gardened. If you have wider rows for your plants, you can fit much more than if you were to plant single rows. Utilize your space more efficiently and you can grow more in your garden than ever before!

Here is a great link to another good article about raised garden beds and on how to build a raised garden bed.

Check out these great tutorials for raised garden beds!

Garden Box Collage

Rectangle Garden Boxes | Vinyl Garden Boxes

U-Shaped Garden Box | Narrow Garden Box

Long Garden Boxes | Cinder Block Garden Box

Garden Box with Brick Border | Tall Garden Box

Rolling Casters Patio Box | Painted Garden Box with Cage

Raised Garden Boxes | Vertical Pallet Planter

Let us know what kind of raised beds you have in your garden, or what you plan to try!

Happy Gardening!

Zucchini Chips

May 13, 2014 by Becky

Zucchini chips are a healthy, delicious snack, and a simple way to use up some of that end of season zucchini when you have used what you can and your plants are still giving! It takes only a few minutes to prepare, and then has some hands-off time in the oven. Doesn’t get much simpler!

Wash and dry your zucchini, then slice thinly, about 1/8 ” thick. Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment and lightly spray with olive oil. Place zucchini slices close together (but not touching) and lightly spray with olive oil.

Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. The zucchini will shrink as it dehydrates and the flavor will intensify, so don’t over-season your rounds. If you under-season them, you can always add more when they are done.

DIY Tabletop Terra Cotta Fire Pit

Ingredients

Terra Cotta Pot (visit Western Gardens for the largest selection of sizes and designs)
Aluminum Foil
Charcoal
Charcoal Lighter Fluid
Lighter

Instructions

Line terra cotta pot with aluminum foil.
Fill pot with charcoal.
Drizzle lighter fluid on top of charcoal.
Stand to the side and light charcoal.
When charcoal begins to turn white, start roasting!
If you have a chimney-style charcoal starter, you can use that to start your briquettes. Transfer to your terra cotta fire pit when they begin to turn white.

https://westerngardens.com/zucchini-chips/