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

Garden Gossip Show Friday, Feb 12 2010

Friday on Garden Gossip our guest was garden designer, chef and author, "Skip" of cosmic soup.  Sunday is the first day of the Chinese New Year and being a bit of an Asian aficionado Skip filled us in on some of the traditions of the holiday. And, since it is also Valentine's Day weekend, we heard from the "zesty" Jill of Cali Bressan chocolates of Carpinteria http://www.ChocoCaliBressan.com. Her husband, Jean-Michel Carre is the chocolatier of this wonderful shop. In fact on our way home, we visited Jill and took home a bag of Valentine's treats for ourselves. 

We talked about planting Bamboo in your garden, maintained properly, it is a wonderful addition to a tropical garden. Skip's garden is planted with 32 varieties of Bamboo, so we consulted him on the proper care of this plant. First of all, there are two general types of Bamboo, that represent the way in which the plant grows. There are clumping and running varieties. As the names denote, the clumping types are easier to control and maintain and are less likely to "take over the world". But Skip gave us the key to controlling Bamboo. 

Starting in April, the Bamboo starts sending out its new sprouts, if the shoots appear where you don't want them, snap them off by hand, like you would Asparagus, and the Bamboo will stop spreading in that area. They key is that this is a DAILY activity. If the new shoot gets too tall you won't be able to snap it off. The Bamboo continues sending up new shoots until June at which time you get a break until next year.  Another maintenance tip from Skip, the fallen leaves from the plant are important to leave on the ground as they provide the nutrition the Bamboo plant needs. (thought you'd like to see a photo 

of Skip's beautiful garden-see below)

 

And what about Name that Plant? In honor of the New Orleans Saints win of the Super Bowl, our plant is most famously associated with New Orleans. A native of Europe, it was brought to the US in the 1700s. The leaves can be eaten, the root dried and made into a beverage which is thought to be effective in cleansing the blood and improving the health of the liver. This plant was mentioned by the Roman poet, Horace as being part of his diet. It's flowers are blue and open and close at precisely the same time every day. It has been used for hundreds of years as a supplement for both animals and humans for its efficacy in eliminating intestinal worms.If you haven't guessed by now, the answer is Chicory. Join us next week for another rousing game of 

Name that Plant! Until then, fill your garden with joy! 

Chris and Lisa

this week on Garden Gossip

This week on Garden Gossip we talked about what to do in your garden in Feb.
We also had a winner in the Name that Plant contest. If you didn't hear the answer to this (and last) week's Name that Plant contest was Nettles...yes, they are good to eat, use them to dye your clothes green and flogging someone with them will wake them up! Anyway, next week we will have another contest. I think I will plant more Dahlias this year. I had such an abundance of them in the past and I think the gophers ate them. Anyway, they are very rewarding. I have always ordered them on line from Connell's Dahlias in Washington, because the selection is fabulous.
Here is a photo of what you have to look forward to if you plant Dahlias...
I love them in combination with Sunflowers. And as you can see they are beautiful as cut flowers!