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Until next time, Fill your garden with joy! Lisa

Echium aka Pride of Madeira

The Holiday Haulers, a group I founded, was honored by the County of Santa Barbara for outstanding contribution to the Foodbank. We worked hard for this! click here for details
Thanks to all my haulers!

Garden Gossip Friday December 2nd-Gifts from the Garden and Chef MD, Dr. John La Puma

Great show today with Dr. John La Puma (author of Chef MD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine). Dr. La Puma gave us some tips on how to enjoy the holidays without packing on extra pounds and how to bring your cholesterol down without harmful drugs (cholesterol drug Lipitor went generic this week).
We've got gift ideas from your garden and of course there is the Montecito Landscape/Garden Gossip photo calendar give-away. No one had the correct guess for name that plant, so we'll continue that next week. Listen to rebroadcast Saturday at 11am on newspress.com or download past episodes from www.montecitolandscape.com

A Bit of Halloween History

Halloween, a time to dress up in some crazy outfit and go have some fun..but why do we do this? And why on the 31st of October?
Let's go back to the 5th century, B.C. Celtic Ireland for the answer. The Celtic new year was November 1st and it was thought that on new year's eve (October 31st) that everyone who had died in the previous year came back to look for a new body to inhabit! Apparently, this was their only way for an afterlife..
Of course the living, not wanting to be possessed needed a solution to this conundrum. They dressed up in outlandish and scary costumes and paraded around making as much noise a possible to frighten away the marauding spirits who were looking for bodies to possess..
And, what about Jack 'O Lanterns? Also and Irish tradition, though in Ireland they used root vegetables like turnips and potatoes (pumpkins are native to the Americas). This custom of hollowing them out, carving ghoulish images into them and placing a lighted candle inside was all in an effort to ward off evil spirits and especially the spirits who roamed the countryside on October 31st! Happy Halloween!

Summer in a Jar

Summer is over, but there is still time to preserve a bit of summer in a jar. Last week that consisted of pickle making. I love pickles and have worked for some time to perfect my pickle-making-prowess..And, I can tell you that I have done it. There are a couple of secrets.
1. I use about half the sugar called for in the recipe.
2. Cane sugar or evaporated cane juice is the only sweetener to use (unless you use cane or evaporated cane juice or certified organic sugar you will be getting GMO beet sugar)
3. Low-temperature pasteurization method.
The result: crunchy, spicy fabulous pickles. I happened to make Bread and Butter pickles, but you could just as easily make dills or one of my favorites; pickles carrots with fresh oregano and jalapeno. Now, the last batch I used every veggie I could find, onions, turnips, carrots, cauliflower and of course, cucumbers.
And you'll have your own version of Summer in a Jar!

Here's the recipe
For two quarts of veggies:
Suggest: cucumbers, sweet peppers, sweet onions thinly sliced, cauliflower, etc.
prep veggies, place in non-metalic container and sprinkle with salt then cover with ice and leave for 3 hours or over night in fridge (or outdoors covered)
1/2 cup pickling salt

Rinse veggies and drain well
Sterilize jars, and lids according to instructions, for canning basics see (Ball Blue Book of Preserving)

Combine in large kettle:
3 c. cider vinegar
13/4-2 c. cane sugar
3 cloves garlic minced
2 T mustard seed (whole)
2 t. turmeric (ground)
2 t. celery seed (whole)
1 t. ground ginger
1 t. pepper corns (whole)
1/2 t. cloves (whole)
Put on the heat and stir until sugar is dissolved then bring to a boil
While this mixture is heating, prepare your jars by cramming the sterilized jars full of the veggies, leaving about one inch to the top.
Pour the boiling vinegar mixture over the veggies, clean and seal according to directions.
Place in hot water bath, and process (here's the key) for 30 mins at 180-185 degrees.
For more on low temperature pasteurization method see:
Low Temperature Pasteruization Method

Fill your garden (and your kitchen) with joy!
Lisa

The Secret Garden

A secret garden is a place that transports you to another place and time. It is a place of refuge, peace and solace. It could be as simple as creating a cozy nook in the corner of your property, sheltered by hedges or it could be a bench placed beneath a large tree. It can be created in a corner of your house where you could place a lounge chair and thus have a quiet place to read or nap. Point is, all it takes to create a secret garden is to make it so there is a process of discovery, either by surrounding the area with tall shrubs or creating a "switchback" so that the pathway isn't obvious. You can also use teak screens or potted plants to hide your secret spot. Your garden is an extension of your home, live in it and remember to fill your garden with joy!

Recyling Basics

Chef, author and contributing columnist to Edible Santa Barbara, Janice Cook Knight was kind enough to join us on the show yesterday. She had recently done an article for "Edible" on recycling so we asked her to give us the low down on recycling basics. Here is what we learned.

1. Paper or cardboard food containers (to-go boxes, pizza boxes, paper plates, napkins, etc) CANNOT be recycled! That was big news to us.  If the paper goods have touched food, they gum up the works in the recycling process. These items must be COMPOSTED.

2. Plastic bags (the kind you get at the grocery store, either for veggies or as a carry bag) CAN BE RECYCLED at any grocery store. The State mandates that stores must take them back. They are then used to make decking material. That's good news. A tip on that, if the bags are gooey or greasy, rinse them out before returning. The bad news is only 5% of the plastic bags distributed are being recycled.

3. Milk cartons. Bad news, these are not recyclable in Santa Barbara County. Nor are those "boxes" that contain soy milk, almond milk, etc.

4. Styrofoam, this is a complicated subject. It can not be recycled and it leaches stuff into food.

5. The good news is that all metals can be recycled.

Those are some basics, I highly recommend reading the full article in the most recent Edible Santa Barbara for the full story.

What Can You Do?
1. Tell the shops you frequent to stop using Styrofoam.
2. Recycle and reuse your plastic bags. 
3. Compost paper goods that have touched food.
4. Take your own reusable bags everywhere.
5. Spread the word.

It's our planet and it's the only one we have at the moment, so it's up to all of us to protect it. If we all do are part it's not such an overwhelming task.
 Click here for recycling basics in latest issue of Edible Santa Barbara

June Gloom leads to Chilly July

Anyone in the center of the country who wants to get out of the heat only needs to head to the coast of California where it is a chilly 61degrees this morning with a mist that is sitting on the hills like a cotton blanket. We haven't seen much of the sun since June 1st and now that it is ten days into July the prospect doesn't look too bright. I checked the weather forecast this morning and we are supposed to have another week of this. So, what does that mean for your garden? It's one of those good news/bad news scenarios.

The good news is that the air is moist and the plants aren't stressed from heat and dry air. The bad news is that this type of weather can lead to sooty mold and fungal diseases. The best way to combat this is to keep your plants clean. The best way to do this is to wash them off with soap and water. This applies to everything, Roses, fruit trees, veggies, everything will benefit from a washing off every week or two. Here's how: Using a hose-end sprayer (the standard sprayer is called a Gilmour sprayer-see photo) squirt some organic dish soap in the bottom, fill with Kelp extract and if you like some fish emulsion, set the dial to 3 T per gallon and wash everything off thoroughly. Kelp extract is a natural plant booster and the soap washes off the dirt, fungi, mold, etc. This can be done weekly to keep things clean and happy. If you can get hold of some compost tea put it in a watering can or a pump sprayer and wash everything down. Even if all you do is spray with soapy water (1 tsp. in 5 gallon bucket is sufficient) that will keep everything clean and will help to combat disease.

Here's my much-used Gilmour sprayer and seaweed extract..

Garden Gossip Newsletter

 Click on link to view the latest Garden Gossip Newsletter! It is our special 40 year anniversary edition! 

Garden Gossip Newsletter

Chapala Chickens on Garden Gossip

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get into Jason and Michelle's garden. That's for sure.
Jason and Michelle are urban farmers in downtown Santa Barbara, CA. who started with a few chickens and has since expanded into ducks and raised vegetable beds full of every kind of produce you can imagine. Chapala Chickens is the name of their facebook page, which they started as a way of keeping their friends up to date on their chicken world. If you haven't checked out Chapala Chickens, it is a great page with lots of fun stuff.
As a chef, Jason is accustomed to utilizing great ingredients so it was a natural progression into growing his own food. His inspiration was his grandfather, a police officer and urban farmer in Santa Barbara, CA. Jason's story is inspirational in itself. His grandfather definitely set a good example for Jason. Michelle, Jason's girlfriend couldn't get a word in on the show, but she and Jason were celebrating their two-year anniversary. They look like they are made for each other. Congratulations you two!
We had fun talking about their livestock and their vegetable garden and if you look closely at the picture, you'll see the fabulous basket of produce they brought us! Yum, yum.
For me, it is particularly exciting to see younger folks becoming as excited about gardening as we are. 
If I can figure it out, technically, you will soon be able to listen to Garden Gossip on my website, blog or facebook (whichever I can figure out first). I would love so help from a technical person out there. Until next time, fill your garden with joy! Lisa  

  Chris and Lisa Cullen, Michelle and Jason and the ever-perky Leana Finley

Song of Solomon

"For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come; and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."  

~Song of Solomon~

Spring Musings

"It is one of the first days of Spring and I sit once more in the old garden. Here the only movement I am conscious of is that of the trees shooting forth their first sprays of bright green, and of the tulips expanding the radiant beauty of their flaming globes, and the only sound I hear is the blackbird's song..the liquid softly gurgling notes that seem to well up spontaneously from an infinite joy, an infinite peace at the heart of nature and bring a message not from some remote Heaven in the Sky or Future, but the heaven that is here, beneath our feet, the joy, the peace, at the heart of the mystery which is Man. For man alone can hear the revelation that lies in the blackbird's song." Havelock Ellis~Impressions and Comments 1918

Garden Gossip Radio Show April 2, 2010

What do you get when you cross a bunch of gardeners with a musician? The Garden Gossip first annual joke show with musical interludes by Spencer Barnitz (aka Spencer the Gardener)! Okay, last week's show was a bit unconventional, but we had fun. Spencer played tunes from his CD Organic Gangster and we told jokes. Like this one: "What do you get when you cross a four-leafed-clover with poison oak? A rash of good luck!!" Or, how about this one? "What do you get when you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole? Hot cross bunnies!"
And, "How do you turn a duck into an R&B singer? Put him in a microwave until he's Bill Withers."
Anyway, Spencer ended up having a good time I think and we sure enjoyed his songs. This new CD of his is his first kid's record, with songs like "Don't eat genetically modified food" and "Worm Girl".
You can get his music on itunes and at the link to Spencer the Gardener website. Anyway, I am working on getting the Garden Gossip website up so that I will be able to post our shows and you will be able to listen any time you want. Oh, but I have a learning curve on that...hope to get it done soon...until then, contemplate this "What do you have when you have two Pinon nuts in one hand and on Pinon nut in the other hand? A difference of a Pinon"..Guess that sort of sums up last week's show...
Until next week, fill your garden with joy! here is the link to spencerthegardener.com

Garden Gossip Radio Show March 26, 2010

This week on Garden Gossip our guests, Gary and Lisa Young, enlightened us on the subject of making great pickles. This brother-sister team are multiple blue-ribbon winners for their pickles and preserves (well, I guess Lisa is the multiple winner, Gary won for his Dill Pickles). They told me about a low-temperature canning method to preserve the crispness of the veggies. I was very excited to learn about this. They said just google "blue ribbon pickles" to find out more about this new (to me) method of canning.
I have included a photo of the pickles and preserves our guests brought to the show. I had some of the pickled green tomatoes with my eggs and toast this morning! Yummy!
Regular listener, Marilynn, won "Name That Plant" and in case you were wondering, the answer was
Grapefruit! Did you know that Grapefruit is a natural cross that occurred in the 1700s in the Caribbean? The most famous variety, Ruby Red, was a chance mutation that was discovered in Texas in the 1920s.

Congratulations, Marilynn for winning Name that Plant. 

 Here is the promised photo of pickles and preserves brought in by my guests Gary and Lisa Young. You can see that the pickled Asparagus has been broken into! Gary told me to poach eggs in the home-canned Tomatoes and serve them for breakfast. Doesn't that sound good?
By the way, next week is our first annual Garden Joke Show with live musical accompaniment by Spencer the Gardener! I need your garden jokes, please send them to gardengossip@verizon.net.

And, finally, we played an excerpt of a show when our guest was Fess Parker, I don't think there's a way to post an audio to this blog or I would do that and share with you that special moment when Mr. Parker was on Garden Gossip. He passed away last week and this saddened us. Where ever you are, we wish you well and look forward to seeing you up the line in the future. Until next week, fill your garden with joy! Lisa

The Santa Barbara International Orchid Show on Garden Gossip

This week, our guest was owner of Cal Orchid, Lauris Rose. The 65th Santa Barbara International Orchid Show is coming up next week, Fri, Sat and Sun, March 12, 13 & 14th at Earl Warren Showgrounds and Lauris gave us the scoop on this year's show. With exhibitors and visitors from all over the world, this is an opportunity to see and buy orchids you won't find anywhere else. We also had an opportunity to ask Lauris about growing Orchids.
If your Orchids need to be divided, do it right after they finish blooming, put them into fresh Orchid bark and water well. As far as fertilizing, once they start to push new green growth, feed them every month. Stop feeding when they start to push out flower spikes and don't feed again until after they finish blooming. Another very important tip, if you use a knife or shears to divide your Orchids, sterilize your blade before moving onto another plant so as not to spread viruses. If you want to learn more about growing Orchids, come to the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show, March 12, 13 & 14 at Earl Warren Showgrounds. Until next week, fill your garden with joy!
The Santa Barbara International Orchid Show 2010

Foodbank Holiday Haulers get ready for the Spring Food Drive

The Foodbank Holiday Haulers are getting ready
for the spring food drive. The Spring Food Drive
begins on March 22nd and goes until April 4th.
The Holiday Haulers are gearing up to transport
donated food to the Santa Barbara County Foodbank.
Here Leana, Chris and I are just having fun during the December Holiday Food Drive.

Garden Gossip Show Friday, Feb 26, 2010

Today, our guest was Lotusland Executive
Dir. Gwen Stauffer and boy did we have fun.
Lotusland is a treasure of Santa Barbara County and if you haven't visited this incredible garden, you are missing something very special. Gwen talked about an upcoming exhibit that is the installation of sound throughout the garden. These sounds range from recordings of Madame Ganna Walska singing opera to those of birds singing in the gardens. This exhibit will only last 4 days! Opening day is Wednesday, March 17 and ends Saturday, March 20. Call Lotusland for reservations at 805.969.9990 or visit on the web at www.lotusland.org.
Lotusland also has a winter special, from now until March 13th the entry fee will be discounted 20%.
What about name that plant? The answer was Allspice! Allspice is the unripe fruit from a type of Myrtle tree that is grown in Jamaica. We discovered that the wood is used to smoke meats and that the Allspice tree can not be propagated by seed unless the seed has been first digested by a bird! See you next week and if you have any questions about your garden call us for a FREE Home Garden Consultation at 805.969.3984 or on our website: www.montecitolandscape.com. Until next week, fill your garden with joy! Chris, Lisa and Leana
 

Garden Gossip Show Friday, Feb 19 2010

The man behind the French Festival, Steve Hoegerman, was our guest on Friday. We were talking about the gardens of Provence. Steve is a frequent traveler to France and specifically the region of Provence. In fact once a year he organizes a trip to the area, taking his guests to the
hidden spots that he has discovered in his years of travel there..
I was thrilled that a new caller won the Name That Plant Contest..this week's prize was two tickets to the upcoming International Orchid Show March 12, 13 & 14 in Santa Barbara.
One of the clues I thought was fun: this plant (which is traditionally an ingredient in Herbs de Provence) was used as an additive in beer as a preservative and aromatic before the introduction of hops! It was known as a symbol of happiness to the Greeks and Romans in early times. The answer: Marjoram! Steve Hoegerman's websiteI always have some fresh Marjoram growing in my garden.
Next week on Garden Gossip, we'll be talking with executive director of Lotusland, Gwen Stauffer. She is always fun..see you next week and remember to Fill Your Garden with Joy! Lisa
Steve Hoegerman's Website

Chris and Lisa Cullen of Montecito Landscape Volunteers of the Month

We were honored as Volunteers of the Month by Partners in Education for helping renovate a couple of planting beds at Santa Barbara Jr High. See link for details.Volunteer spot light Partners in Education

What to do with excess citrus?

Citrus Syrup

Sometimes we get an excessive amount of citrus.
Right now the trees are bulging with Tangerines, Meyer Lemons and Oranges.
Here's what to do:  

Scrub the fruit thoroughly
Squeeze the juice into a large kettle (through a strainer to remove seeds)
Scrape the pulp out of the citrus skin 
Slice the skins into 1/4 inch slices and pop these into a plastic bag and put in the freezer
Put the kettle of juice on the stove over med high heat
Reduce the juice until it is syrupy
Pack in containers and freeze.

What you have is the most delicious tart-sweet citrus reduction on earth (no kidding)
Use it to make salad dressings, marinades, baste chicken, add to Asian-style stir fry, etc.
You'll figure out the rest.
As far as the skins go, save them in the freezer and you candy them later in the year when you are doing your holiday baking..(more about that in a later post).
Happy cooking!