Western Garden Centers

for what grows here

Tomatoes

SEEDS, SEEDS, SEEDS

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seed packets

Several of our customers want to see what seeds we have available during this COVID-19 pandemic.  Since we currently and temporarily are only taking phone or email orders with curbside pickup, we are posting photos of the seeds we currently have inside the store.  Limited to supply on hand.  We apologize if these photos are difficult to see, but until we get some closer photos, these will have to do.  You may need to ZOOM in close to read the varieties.

Thank you again for supporting the small businesses in our community.  We appreciate you shopping at Western Gardens for quality products and services during this more than unusual spring.

ORGANIC SEEDS

organic vegetable seed packages at utah garden center

Organic Vegetable Seeds – soybean, beets, huckleberry, sunberry, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, corn, collards, cucumber, greens, kale, melons, peas, peppers, gourd, and more.

organic vegetable seed packages for natural garden in Utah

Organic Seeds (minus the bottom 2 rows) – radish, squash, tomato, pepper, beans, corn, peas, spinach, and more.

VEGETABLE SEEDS

Utah vegetable seed packets

Vegetable Seeds – Artichoke, Asparagus, Bean, Beets, Cabbage, Cardoon, Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, Grains, Kale, Lettuce, Melon, Okra, Onion, Peppers, Radish, and more.

Vegetable seed packets from peas pumpkins leeks, beans, and more

Vegetable Seeds – Beans, Carrots, Collards, Corn, Greens, Melons, Peppers, Pumpkins, Rutabaga, Spinach, and more.seed packets of vegetables for gardening

Vegetable Seeds – Bean, Berries, Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Corn, Cowpea, Eggplant, Endive, Greens, Lettuce, Melons, Peas, Radicchio, Radish, Pumpkins, Gourds, and more.Summer squash seeds for a vegetable garden

Vegetables – Squash-Zucchini, Winter squash, Strawberries, Swiss Chard, Tomatillo, Tomatoes, Watermelon, and more.

HERB SEEDS

seed packets of herbs for gardening

Herb Seeds – basil, chives, cilantro, coriander, dill, fennel, lavender, oregano, parsley, rosemary, stevia, thyme, and more.

FLOWER SEEDS

Flower seeds packets

Flower Seeds – Alyssum, Amaranth, Butterflyweed, Caster beans, Daisy, Gourds, Lavender, Nasturtium, Petunia, Morning Glory, Poppy, Salvia, Snapdragon, Sunflower, Sweet Peas, Mixes, and more.

Sunflower seeds and more

Flowers – Bachelor Buttons, Cosmos, Flax, Hollyhocks, Marigold, Nicotiana, Penstemon, Poppy, Sunflowers, Zinnia, and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Veggies to Plant Now to Save Money Later

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Hello! So glad to you’re here!  header

Do you love fresh, delicious produce, but you also love saving money?  Then you’re in the right place!  I’m sharing ten of my favorite veggies that not only taste better grown at home, but’ll keep more green in your wallet, too!

I am blessed with a household of children who love to eat veggies.  When I hear parents planning/plotting ways to get more veggies into their children’s diet I say a silent prayer of gratitude that isn’t a battle I have to fight!

But because we love our veggies so much, we tend to fly through them, especially during the summer months, when it’s hot and a heavy meal is too much.  This year, instead of running to the grocery store every other day, we can just run out to the garden!

Let me start by saying, if your family hates tomatoes, growing them yourself probably won’t make your kids suddenly love them (even though they definitely taste better than store-bought!).

So before you start planting, think of things your family enjoys and build around that.  Eat a ton of spinach?  Plant a ton!  Love kale, but hate spending $5 every week for a bag of organic baby leaves?  Put that on your garden list.  Save money by planting what you’ll actually eat and cross them off your grocery list!

There are a ton of great veggies that grow well here in Utah.  My list saves me money every year and they taste amazing fresh from the garden (and yes, I know a tomato isn’t botanically a vegetable, but in our house it falls into that category!).

Click NEXT to see what 10 garden veggies are saving me money!

Western Garden Centers | Salt Lake City | Sandy | West Valley UTAH

9 Plants you need for your Salsa Garden

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Welcome, I’m so glad you’re here!

Love Salsa? Plant a salsa garden and make it fresh! 9 Veggies you need in your Salsa Garden! www.westerngardens.com

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Do you love fresh pico de gallo, chili verde salsa or red salsa with tortilla chips?  Then a Salsa Garden is perfect for you! We love enjoying any of these with our favorite Mexican dishes, and what’s better than being able to make it from fresh veggies from your own garden?!  The taste of homegrown tomatoes vs. store-bought is huge…homegrown tomatoes are so much more delicious and flavorful—and it’s exciting to be able to say “I grew that!”

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If you have never grown a garden in your yard, I suggest getting your soil tested. The cost is about $10 and can be done at USU in Logan, Utah. You can just mail in a sample and they can tell you the P and K levels, pH, salt, and lime content, which can help you find out what your soil might need before you spend money on your plants and take the time to plant and water them. Knowing these levels can help you avoid things like bottom rot and make sure you get the most out of your plants.

Avoid planting your veggies until the overnight temps are at least 50° or above. This is typically around May 15th in Utah.  Watch your local forecast…our Utah weather is famous for being temperamental!

Ready to get started with the 9 veggies?  Click NEXT to see what to plant!

Western Garden Centers | Salt Lake City | Sandy | West Valley UTAH

Fresh Tomato Soup

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Fresh tomato soup is one of our family’s favorite go-to soups.  It’s comfort food for sure, and pairs perfectly with grilled cheese (a staple in our home)!  There are variations galore, but this is a basic, actually-tastes-like-garden-fresh-tomatoes soup.

Fresh Tomtato Soup This is one of our favorites, especially when you need something quick on a busy weeknight.  It only takes about 20 minutes to throw together, and you don’t have to have a lot of special ingredients.  Just a few pantry staples and, of course, some lovely ripe tomatoes!

This is a great recipe to double, or even triple, and freeze some for another night.  If tomatoes aren’t in season and you don’t have any left from your garden, you can easily substitute canned tomatoes (use 28 oz whole peeled or diced tomatoes).

To make the grilled cheese croutons, butter one side each of two pieces of bread.  Place cheese slices between the bread, making sure the buttered sides are facing out.  Cook in a panini press until both sides are golden brown.  Cut into squares and add to soup.

Fresh Tomtato Soup 5*Butter or avocado oil may be substituted for the coconut oil.

Spinach Salad with Marinated Tomato & Basil

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Tomatoes in a salad are nothing new.  More like an old standby, really.  But if you are new to marinating tomatoes before you add them to your salad, this recipe just might knock your socks off!

Spinach SaladPerhaps unless you’re shopping at a farmer’s market, homegrown garden-fresh tomatoes really have no equal.  Even a good, expensive tomato from the grocery store can never compare in flavor and texture to a vine-ripened, juicy tomato from the garden.  John Denver even sang about homegrown tomatoes!  If you’ve never heard the song, give it a listen.  It’s cute…and true.  Winter without homegrown tomatoes is most definitely a “culinary bummer!”

The balsamic dressing for this salad is simple and goes together quickly, but it adds a wonderful dimension to the tomatoes.  With just a few simple ingredients, your side salad will become the highlight of your meal!

Spinach Salad 2Give this simple salad a try and you might just start marinating all your tomatoes!

For more great recipes using tomatoes and basil, check out:

Caprese Appetizers

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These beautiful caprese appetizers are the perfect addition to any meal.  They are light, full of flavor, and fun to make!  You will love them because they are easy and delicious…and when the tomatoes and basil come out of your garden, they’re inexpensive too!  (And who doesn’t love that?!)caprese appetizer 5

One of the very best summer tastes is a garden-fresh homegrown tomato.  And one of my favorite garden-fresh tomatoes is the Sunsugar cherry tomato.  They’re sweet and delicious…and perfect for an appetizer like this!  Especially if your plants are producing more than you can eat and you need more ideas to use them up!  (Because when my sunsugar plant starts producing, I can hardly keep up with it!)

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Stack it with some basil, balsamic, bread & cheese, and you’ve got an appetizer that just might ruin your dinner!

For the most amazingly easy way to slice cherry tomatoes in seconds, see our tutorial!

caprese appetizer 2 This is a fun appetizer to customize any way you want it.  Change up the order of ingredients, or the way you assemble it!  Or even make each of them different.  No matter how you put them together, they taste incredible and you won’t be able to stop at just one!  It’s the perfect combination of flavors…which means you might not save room for dinner.  But when the appetizers are this good, who cares?!

Companion Planting 101

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Companion planting can help your garden flourish in ways it never has before.  You can have healthier plants and a better harvest (and even control some garden pests!) by choosing with care which plants go together and which plants to keep apart.  Companion planting isn’t difficult once you have a few basics down.  This is, however, a very broad subject, so we’ll cover the basics here to get you started!  Through companion planting you can:

  • enhance the flavor of your harvest (plants like herbs can enhance the flavor of nearby plants)
  • increase your yield (some plants help others grow better)
  • improve nitrogen (some plants can make nitrogen available to other plants)
  • repel pests (the biochemicals of certain plants can repel insect and other pests)
  • attract good guys (beneficial insects are attracted to or like to inhabit certain plants)
  • divert pests (certain plants attract pests, which can keep them away from your garden)
Companion Plants

{The list looks small, just click on it to enlarge!}

companion plants
Other highly beneficial plants to consider for your garden:
  • catmint: deters ants
  • chamomile: helps keep nearby plants healthy
  • foxglove: lends strength and longer life to nearby plants
  • lavender: attracts bees and deters caterpillars, mice, ticks & rabbits
  • marigolds: deter pests
  • marjoram: repels insect pests, attracts bees
  • mint: repels insects pests, attracts beneficial insects
  • nettles: a weed, but it excretes nutrients into the soil and protects against aphids, black fly & mildew
  • pennyroyal: deters ants & burrowing insects
  • soybeans: nourishes and reconditions soil, and deters corn pests
  • tansy: repels pests
  • tarragon: beneficial to nearby plants
  • yarrow: good for veggies & herbs, attracts beneficial bugs

Bruschetta squareOne of our favorite combinations for the garden is one of our favorite combinations for the kitchen…tomatoes and basil!  Basil will add subtle flavor to tomatoes, makes it more disease resistant, and repel aphids, fruit flies & house flies, and it will attract bees!  If you missed last week’s recipe for
bruschetta, a simple but amazing combination of tomatoes and basil,  be sure to pin it so you can make it this summer!  We will keep bringing you weekly garden-fresh recipes to give some kitchen inspiration for all those delicious fruits and veggies!

Happy planting!

Bruschetta

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One of our favorite ways to use tomatoes is in this simple, fresh & delicious bruschetta recipe.  It goes together fast and is beautiful enough to serve to guests.  This is a great way to use tomatoes when you have more than you can share with your neighbors (one of the best problems to have!).

Bruschetta mainToasting the bread in a hot griddle with butter adds even more flavor, and makes them brown beautifully.  This can be done with baguette (used here) for an appetizer size, or french bread for a main dish.

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DIY Solar Lantern

DIY Solar Lantern

Ingredients

  • empty small-mouth mason jar or other small decorative jar
  • inexpensive solar yard light
  • canning jar ring (optional)
  • hot glue

Instructions

  1. Remove the lid/ring from your small jar.
  2. Remove the solar light unit from the inexpensive solar light. Recycle the rest of the solar light or reserve for another project.
  3. Place the solar light unit (with solar cells facing up) on/into the top of the jar opening. Secure with hot glue.
  4. If desired, place a canning ring on top of the jar (around the solar light) and secure with hot glue.
  5. Place solar lights in your yard, they look great sitting on the porch or hanging from a shepherd's hook!
https://westerngardens.com/bruschetta/

One of the best parts about this bruschetta is its versatility.  If you like more salt, add more salt.  If you want more basil, add more!  You can adapt it to whatever your taste may be, and the wonderful flavors of the tomatoes and basil will always shine through.

Avocado & Slow-Roasted Tomato Toast

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Roasting is one of my favorite ways to cook veggies, as I mentioned in my post about roasted asparagus.  Tomatoes are another reason why.  Slow roasting concentrates their flavors, making even so-so tomatoes wonderfully delicious and tender…similar to how a slow-cooker can turn a tough cut of meat into a tender and juicy dish. If garden-fresh tomatoes aren’t in season but you need a fix, this is a perfect way to prepare them to get maximum flavor from a less-than-flavorful store bought tomato!

slow roasted tomato toast 3 pin

The flavors of roasted vegetables are deep and rich.  The tomatoes come out juicy and soft and the garlic will spread right into the toast.  slow roasted tomato avocado toast collage

Slow-Roasted Tomato & Avocado Toast

Ingredients:

  • 4 medium tomatoes, halved
  • 8 cloves garlic, unpeeled
  • 2-3 Tbsp olive or avocado oil
  • dried Italian seasoning (or 2 sprigs fresh herbs)
  • freshly ground sea salt & black pepper
  • 2 avocados
  • 1-2 tsp lime juice
  • 8 toasted french bread slices
  • balsamic reduction*

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Place the garlic cloves and tomatoes, cut-side up, in a baking dish.  Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt & pepper.
  2. Roast for about 1 hour & 45 minutes (up to two hours). Tomatoes should be slightly reduced in size and skins should be puckered.
  3. Check the garlic after about 1 hour 15 minutes.  They might be done before the tomatoes.  Remove if done, continue roasting if not.
  4. Tomatoes can be served right away, or refrigerated for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
  5. To assemble the toast, begin by toasting 8 slices of french bread.
  6. Peel and pit the avocado and mash with lime juice.
  7. Remove the peel from a clove of roasted garlic and spread it over a slice of toast.  Spread avocado mixture over the garlic.  Top the avocado with a roasted tomato, and drizzle with balsamic reduction.

slow roasted tomato toast 6 square*To reduce balsamic vinegar, add 1 cup to a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir frequently for about 10 minutes, or until balsamic is reduced to desired consistency.  It will thicken as it cools, so remove it from the heat before it looks completely done.

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