Slow As Snails Seedlings

It's about time... I muttered to myself as I watered my bitsy babies.

The laziest of my perennial seedlings (Bellflowers) poked their heads out of the soil this weekend. I started them a month ago. Gave up hope after 2 weeks. That's when I referred back to the seed packet for instructions that might have prevented me from ever planting them in the first place.

Seed starting is a lost art. It's slow. It's messy. Most houses need a grow light for good results.
But, I've got a big, sunny, bay window. One that inspires me to experiment with most every type of seed. Including bell peppers ~ which I grow with the leftover seeds from peppers I buy at the market. (Saves me a bundle on over-priced produce. :)

Most seeds germinate in about 5-10 days. I'm discovering that Balloon Flowers take forever. Which probably means they'll take forever to bloom, too.

Seed packages will generally tell you the time it takes for seeds to germinate and also how long to first flowers. Some perennials require 2 summers to put forth their first flowers. Such is the case with these slacker Bellflowers. If I'd know that ahead of time I would have saved my $1.79!

PS: Want instant gratification? Plant Cosmos. They'll sprout in 1-2 days if they're in a good mood.

Miniature Heirloom Veggies

Yippy skip! My seeds arrived.

Yikes. This might be a sign of old age:
For years, I've been a perennial purist. If it's growing in my yard it had dang well better be a flower. Practical produce is a job for Farmer John.

Until now. This spring, I have a burning desire to live off the land. Grow pure and wholesome heirloom veggies! My own personal Garden of Eden, if you will. (Who knows? Come harvest, I might be dancing around out there, naked.)

What's most ridiculous about this is that I don't even like vegetables. Well, that's not completely true. I love potatoes. I'm evolving into a potato! I'm growing rounder and plumper every year.

So, here's my plan: I shall grow them in containers on the deck and bestow this bounty on all my friends. If they taste like crap I've got that covered, too. I have a mean neighbor who deserves a bushel basket of this stuff...


Lots of veggies grow well at high altitudes. Start them indoors 6 weeks prior to planting for best results.

Seeds of Change contributes $$ to advance the cause of sustainable organic agriculture worldwide. I think that's pretty cool...

Day Late, Buck Short: Faux Shamrocks!

Oxalis deppei Iron Cross

If only plants could talk. Imagine how gorgeous our gardens would be.

Of course, in my case this would be more painful than raising a dozen teenagers. Non-stop complaining and an incessant battle of wills. Because I know ~ I just know ~ they would accuse me of never understanding their needs.

I scooped up this pretty little baby the day after St. Patrick's. Like most of my houseplants, she was half dead on the dollar table of a local store. These folks simply cannot get their heads around the fact that they should water the plants they sell.

Since she was a Shamrock, or so I thought, I watered her a bunch and put her far away from the sunny window.

Who knew?
Turns out she loves sun, prefers dry soil and flowers, too! Bright pink blossoms showed up as soon as I (accidently) placed her in the sunny window.

* If you ask me, the name Iron Cross, like most plant names, is pretty inappropriate for such a dainty little bloomer. It refers to the shape of the leaves. (zone 9)

Princess Megan & Queen Anne's Lace

The taproot of Queen Anne's Lace is a wild carrot, from whence hybridized carrots originated.

At dinner, people were asking: how do you know when a horse is mad? Trust me, Sue says. It's easy to tell when an 1,800 pound animal is upset...

This is 100 pounds of carrots!

It was the best way I could think of to say "I'm sorry" to 3,000 pounds of horse.

Once upon a time there was a horse-crazy woman who simply could not wait a moment longer for the first horseback ride of the season...

Things were going just fine until we walked across what appeared to be a thin cover of snow. It turned out to be a deep hole filled with snow. The horses sunk in up to their bellies, tossing Sue and I off in the process.

Megan and DH are pretty good sports about most things, but this episode pissed them off royally.

Meg was still giving me the silent treatment the next afternoon when I stopped by to see how she was doing.

So I begged and pleaded with the produce manager at the local supermarket. Bada bing, bada boom, 100 pounds of carrots fell off the truck (for the low, low price of $38.00!) A small price to pay to get back into their good graces.

Depending upon where you live, Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) is a either a blessed wildflower - blooming all summer in dry, poor soil. Or, a tyrannical ruler - east of the Mississippi she is sometimes considered a noxious weed.

Lavender Cookies & Other Purple Passions

"You can never have enough purple in the garden." - Grandma Anne

Critters outsmart me, gobbling my tulip bulbs, so I force Tulips indoors.

When I was a college kid, I tried hard to be dark and brooding. I even went through the black and white photography phase. Mostly because I thought that made me look artistic and hopefully kind of cool.

French Lavender (Lavender stoechas, zone 8) grows fast by seed in a sunny window, with true flowers vs. narrow sprigs.

When I showed off my artsy fartsy photos to my Grandma Anne, she yawned and told me they were not 'snapping her socks.' (i.e. boring) Then she proceeded to educate me on a few more inescapable truths:

Kate, she said, give it up. You're never gonna be cool. The real point of taking pictures is to document the bright spots in a colorful life.

All Lavender is edible but most of them don't taste that great. Grow English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) if you plan to cook with it. Do all Grandmas smell like lavender? I hope so.

These are for you, Gram.

Lavender Cookies

• 1.25 cups butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 4 tablespoons fresh lavender flowers, crushed

Cream together butter, sugar and eggs. Mix in the flour and lavender flowers. Spoon onto a cookie sheet. Bake about 15 minutes @ 350 degrees F. (You might as well double the batch right now because you know in your heart that you want to...)

Forced Tulips and French Lavender spend their days sunning themselves on my deck. Both warm their toes, indoors, at night.

Spring Sanity Garden

I've been deputized, by Sandy, to host Easter dinner. Clearly I am slipping. For years, I've suckered her into doing all that hard work.

This, of course, has inspired a cleaning frenzy, indoors and out.

I began by searching for the walkway to my front door. During our winter of record-breaking snow, I threw in the proverbial towel and quit shoveling. (My way of encouraging friends to invest in snowshoes if they want to come visit.)

This acreage has what we call severe micro-climates. The Backyard Garden is still resting under 4 feet of snow. The Sanity Garden is completely melted, with tiny daffodil shoots and hardy geraniums peeking out of the mud. (Both gardens in full sun.)

And, this, my friends, is why I named it 'sanity.' Gardening defies logic high in the mountains. I keep my wits about me by making mud pies in this hot spot, while impatiently waiting for spring to grace the rest of the yard.

Happy Spring. Happy Easter.

Easter Side Dish: Sweet Baby Veggies

• 1/2 lb. miniature carrots
• 1/4 lb. miniature zucchini
• 1/4 lb. patty pan squash
• 3 tbs. butter
• 2 tbs. dark brown sugar
• Sprinkle with lemon pepper and chopped fresh chives

Steam veggies to crisp-tender. Melt butter and brown sugar in a stir-fry pan. Toss baby vegetables for about 5 minutes, until warm and nicely glazed.

Micro Climate Gardening: I can cheat zones in areas of my yard with heavy snow. Drifts serve as a blanket, keeping zone 6 and tough zone 7 perennials alive. The Sanity Garden is zone 4 since the bare ground suffers from hard freezes without snowdrift protection and moisture.


The rock behind this blanket flower seedling is the culprit. Intense mountain sunlight heats it up, even in the midst of a cold winter. The heat it generates melts surrounding snow.

Easter Parade

I strolled through the blogosphere yesterday, visiting everyone ~ from casual acquaintances to good blogging friends.

Gardeners were giddy over the coming of spring.

Photos of bright daffodils, luscious violas, and feisty little crocus greeted me wherever I went.

A feeling of spring is in the air here, too. Warm mountain sunshine is making short work of this tiresome snow.

The horses are shedding their thick, winter coats. They kicked up their heels and raced the length of the corral, when I arrived. That's their way of saying: Me! Pick me! For the first spring ride.

Horses, like plants and people, too, all have special things that make them particular happy.

Megan (right) is a sucker for crisp, crunchy carrots.

Smokey Bear (left) would stand on his head if you offered up a Fig Newton.

The cactus pictured below sits squarely on a furnace vent to encourage these bright blossoms.

My bug-eyed alien is laden with blooms:





And, Heirloom Hyacinths have a sweet perfume.

Nickels, Dimes & 5 Buck Plans

Goodies for the gal with no sprinkler system. (That would be me.)
Purple Coneflower (obviously named by a blind botanist) is a lovely shade of petal pink.* Less xeric than some waterwise perennials, she's a great indicator of when the garden needs a drink.

My biz partner and I got in a little argument about that evil entity, the bank. Wells Fargo Bank charged us $1 whole dollar to do online payment transfers between our personal checking accounts.

Orange Geum blossoms on tall, skinny stems
that wave back and forth on windy days.

She thought that $1 charge was reasonable. I think it's an outrage! That bank holds the mortgages for both of our houses, making a fortune off us every month. Would it kill them to pick up the tab once in awhile?

I'm not nearly as cheap as I sound. I'm just irrational and old-fashioned. I have a devout belief that customer service is a necessary part of doing business.

I'm also egotistical. I think my huge spring plant order requires a lotta respect! Hugs and kisses, even.

Paprika Yarrow puts up with all sorts of abuse,
while happily putting on a pretty show.

I've never placed a truly huge plant order before but this summer's project is one that requires extra creativity. So, I wrote to several garden companies for advice...

White Flower Farm was wonderful:


Sadly, High Country Gardens was the worst of the bunch:

Five Dollars a Day:
Drinking coffee is great for the garden. Not drinking coffee is even better!

These days, I save the 5 spot I used to donate to Starbucks every morning. It goes in a shoe box, because if it goes in the bank it goes for something completely boring, like utilities.

$5 a day = $1,825 in one year. (Do NOT under any circumstances use this fun money for something practical.)

Spend a nickel, save the dime.

*Purple Coneflowers are now available in a variety of colors, though interestingly enough, they still don't come in purple.

Monarchs & Milkweed

Tropical Milkweed
Monarch Butterflies love this stuff!

The first of my seedlings have sprouted, tiny green shoots poking out of the soil in my sunny window. Ah... spring, exhilarating spring... It's been a long time since I've experienced one. Years!

That's because spring doesn't really happen in the mountains. We go from snowstorms to summer in the span of a week or two. Massive melts, knee deep mud...

Swamp Milkweed
(What an awful name for such a pretty perennial.)

This, of course, is why I'm a passionate seed planter. Growing in my sunny window are two kinds of Milkweed.

I'm hopeful they will thrive and flower in containers on the deck - because wouldn't this be cool!?! Watching Monarch Butterflies flit around me while I'm sitting on my arse, postponing another weeding session!

Monarch butterflies only lay their eggs on Milkweed. These are two varieties recommended by a real pro, my Aunt Jan.

Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata, is hardy to zone 3 though it needs a lot of moisture to thrive (hence my container planting.) Great for egg-laying and nectar.

Tropical Milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, serves as a gourmet meal for monarch caterpillars. Plant as an annual.

Smart Cookies:
Why Milkweed? The plant has a substance (cardenolides) that, when eaten, makes Monarchs taste downright awful, saving them from hungry birds.

* Some varieties of Milkweed, especially Common Milkweed, can be invasive in the garden.

Wee Bit o' the Emerald Isle

I've been to Ireland 3 times. Twice with family, once for business. On the business trip, to Belfast, I was detained by men (with guns!) I was traveling on a brand new passport so clearly I was a terrorist.

This happened pre 911 ~ before US airports started behaving like prison guards ~ and I was terrified.

But that wasn't nearly as scary as my 1st trip to Ireland, when I was traveling with my (crazy as a loon!) older sister. 'Nuff said about that.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Home to Roost

Original oil painting by my very talented friend, Karen.

I turned the dining room into the war room, spreading out all the garden catalogs from my great, big stack. Time to stop screwing around and figure out a plan of attack. My mission: what to plant in the [coming soon!] Street Garden [aka weedy ditch in front of my house.]

What's holding me back? Public failure! I love to gamble with my gardens but this one faces a busy road for all the world to see. When those flowers drop dead, everyone is gonna know I screwed up.

K's glorious chicken watched over me during the planning session. As I stared at that painting, it dawned on me...

The colors that bring K's chicken alive are the same bright, bold colors I want in that garden. Colors so demanding passers by will be transfixed on the success stories and they won't notice the dead junk planted right next to it.

Some folks are bursting with raw, natural talent. Others succeed through perseverance. Karen is a card-carrying member of the talent group. I'm a perseverance sort of gal. I don't perfect things. I dabble.

Like knitting. I learned how to knit a scarf and not drop a stitch and I thought I was pretty hot stuff. Then I tried to knit a hat.

Möbius Strip
When you knit a hat you must pay attention to detail and stick to that project to the bitter end. If you don't, all hell breaks loose. That hat grew to magnificent proportions before I realized it had become a never-ending circle of stitches from whence there was no escape.

Here's hoping my Street Garden doesn't follow suit.


Chicken poo is very high in nitrogen ~ the richest animal manure in the N-P-K ranking system. (That 15(N)-30(P)-15(K) plant food analysis shown on the side of the box.) Elephant poo is ideal! But, just imagine the size of bags that stuff comes in...

PS: Thanks, Karen. I think Mr. Chicken is happy in his new home.

These photos are the wildflowers I've decided upon so far. Globe Mallow, Prince's Plume, Red Penstamon, Blue Geranium, lots and lots of Wild Four O'Clocks. Please send me any ideas you might have. (No sprinkler system so they need to be very xeric.)

Indoor Garden: Kalanchoes

I did not forget to water the Kalanchoe. I did that on purpose.Kalanchoe ~ In Minnesota we pronounce this Kuh-lang-ko. But then, we also say 'you betcha!' Elsewhere it's Kal-an-ko-ee.

Did you water the Kalanchoe? Or, no? (That's how you talk in Minnesotan.) When I lived there, I bought Kalanchoes every year. Buy 'em, kill 'em, buy some more!

Now I am older, a tad bit wiser, and infinitely more frugal with my plant purchases.

Plus, I live in a high plains desert and they love it here. They'd love the dry furnace air in your house, too. That is, if you have a sunny window.

Kalanchoes are succulents.
Transplant in cactus potting soil, place in a bright sunny window and deadhead religiously for long months of cute, little flowers.

To get them to re-bloom, torture them a bit.
Remove from sun, avoid watering for a couple of weeks.

That should piss them off royally ~ which is a good thing because abuse sometimes encourages plants to flower like crazy. (Reverse psychology. It never worked on my teenage daughter, but it works like a charm on flowering perennials.)

After you've abused them, be nice to them again, with water, sun and fertilizer. That gets em so happy they almost always begin flowering.

One of my sunny windows is rapidly becoming a bonafide Kalanchoe museum. These gals range from 1 year to 4 years. I've got red, yellow, orange, fuchsia, petal pink and when they hybridize a purple version, I'll buy that one, too!

If you want my opinion, pronunciation is the only difficult aspect of this favorite indoor bloomer.

Succulents retain a lot of water, so it's easier to withhold water, without drastic damage to the plant. That's why they do such a fine job of protecting your property from wildfires.

Visit Julie at A Succulent Life.

Bonus Photo!
Why is Buddy wearing a tie?
Because I work from home and we've got a client meeting later today. (Always good to make a professional appearance when clients are coming over!)

Perky Primroses

'Tis time, once again, to murder the Primroses.

Come on, admit it: you've killed 'em, I've killed 'em, we've all killed 'em.

Perky little Primroses are so misunderstood. Each spring, we walk into the stores and there we are greeted by a bright display of these bitsy baby flowering potted plants.

Who can resist such cheery little blossoms?

So, we bring them home, put them in a sunny window and... watch 'em curl up and die.

Primroses can't take the heat. They're winter-hardy, zone 3 perennials who would love you to death if you'd just plant them outdoors in a semi-shady spot.

They happily bloom, in early spring, at the same time as your Daffodils.

Mrs. Moon

Mrs. Moon Pulmonaria

In the evenings, I gaze out the window and absentmindedly flip through magazines. Grinning down at me, last night, was a new sliver moon.

Shoulda waited* ~ I thought to myself.
Yesterday I planted 50 little pots of seeds, new stuff to spruce up the ugly half of my backyard.

That got me thinking about one of my favorite little blue bloomers: Mrs. Moon.

Sound asleep under the snow is a drift of Mrs. Moon (Pulmonaria,) who, with any luck, will put forth a bright burst of color toward the end of May.*

She's a goodie for mountain gardens, flourishing in wet clay soil during springtime. Dormant later in summer, when things dry up.

Mrs. Moon has phases, too. She starts out blooming pink, then her dainty flowers turn to pretty shades of blue.

She's the hardiest of the bunch, though there are many Pulmonarias to choose from. Last year I bought her a new playmate, Rubra Red:

Did you know?
Plants respond to the same gravitational pull of tides that affect the oceans. Just as the moon pulls the tides in the oceans, it also pulls the subtle bodies of water. Scientists may argue about it's effect on us but tests have proven seeds will absorb the most water at the time of the full moon - and germinate faster during this time in the lunar cycle.

Blue Moons:
Pulmonaria saccharata Mrs. Moon, also called Bethlehem Sage, USDA zones 3-8, grows to about 12 inches tall. Pretty speckled foliage with silver spots.

Gardeners in kinder climates might prefer these Pulmonaria varieties. They have more intense color though perform poorly in my high altitude garden. :( I am partial to blue: Azure, Benediction, Blue Ensign, Lewis Palmer, Majeste.

Pulmonaria blooms late in May at 7,000 feet (where I live.) Will probably bloom a month sooner for you gardeners at the bottom of the hill.

Tigridia & the Tenant Garden

Tigridia (Tigridia pavonia,) also called Mexican Shellflower puts forth a breathtaking bloom that lasts for one spectacular day.

No esté triste. ¡La primavera viene! (Don't be sad. Spring is coming!)

Poor Ivonne. She's been shackled to me much longer than she probably ever intended. In order to afford my sweet, lazy life I turned half of my house into an apartment. She's so in love with the gardens, she refuses to leave.

When she first moved in, she inspired me to learn Spanish: ¿Piensa usted pagar el alquiler en cualquier momento pronto?

I inspired her to read books in the Tenant Garden I planted on her side of the house.

I never thought I'd utter such words, but I'm beginning to dread the coming of spring. Temperatures are warming, the 12-foot drifts that border my driveway are smaller by half, turning portions of the old ranch road into a river.

As the snow shrinks in size, I see the chaos created by this record-breaking winter. Plum, Pear & Cherry Trees all have broken branches. Flattened rose vines stripped from an ancient rusting arbor, listing heavily to one side.

Perhaps it was her reading garden's devastation (or maybe my tears,) that inspired Ivonne to knock on my door and gift me with an unheard of summer-blooming bulb ~ Tigridia.

She calls them the poor woman's orchids.* Explaining that this flower, like so many that blossom in our gardens, got it's start growing wild somewhere. In this case, Central America, where she grew up.

It boosted my spirits as did this blog and that blog, when I discovered that while Tigridia might be new to me, she's a familiar friend to other gardeners.

Speckles on the breathtaking Tigridia blossoms might inspire the orchid reference. She blooms for one day. Orchids can bloom for months. USDA zones 8-11, requires dry soil.


It takes a village. Awe-inspiring one day bloomers are best paired with long-flowering perennials.


Spring Sale: Gardens Alive - $20 Off $40 Or More.

Baby Vegetables & Adventure Dining

Working up an appetite: We cross-country skied along a lantern lit path to this Mongolian yurt, a 4-star restaurant, buried in snow.
As I was nibbling my way through 1 amazing dinner, I started thinking about the cute and oh so yummy miniature vegetables on my plate.

Can I grow these in my own garden?

Seed companies don't promote these delicacies but the short answer is: yes, you can. It's not as simple as harvesting big veggies early. That wrecks the flavor. Miniatures grow faster, are quite delicious, ideal for containers, cute as a button!

Mini Red Bell Peppers grow to a whopping 1.5 inches in size. 60 days.

Lemon Cucumbers: sweet, round golf ball size cukes do well in the mountains because they need less heat to ripen.


Chires Baby Sweet Corn: matures in about 75 days on short stalks. With baby sweet corn, you can eat the cobs, too.


Red Fig Tomatoes: little 1 inch pear-shaped heirlooms that date back to the 1700's. (There are tons of tiny tomato choices. I was searching for a rare one.)


Cocozelle Bush Zucchini: matures in 60 days and is harvested between 3 and 5 inches in length.


Haogen Melon: matures in 85 days. Bitsy 1-pound fruits have a citrus and pineapple flavor.

* These might seem like odd choices. I was basically following chef's orders. If you live in lower altitudes, you have many more options.

* Adventure dining at the Solitude Yurt gets even more adventurous when dinner is over and they boot you out the door. To get back to the parking lot, you ski downhill, along a narrow path in the dark. Since none of us know how to stop or slow down on cross country skis it was kind of like human bumper cars. :)

Yeast Bread Recipe: High Altitudes

Behold the fruits of my labor. 7 hours of labor, to be exact.
Rocket science is child's play compared to baking yeast bread at high altitude.

Everything encourages yeast breads to fail at high altitudes. Yup, everything: dry air, thin air, aggressive kneading, water softeners... your apron is probably causing trouble, too. Yeast breads are just that temperamental.

Tips

• The terms 'instant' and 'rapid rise' yeast are relevant to people who live at the bottom of the hill.
  
• High altitude baking requires patience.
  
• Let yeast percolate slowly in the 'frig for a few hours.
• Use bread flour vs. all purpose flour and weigh it.
  
• Measuring flour in cups as you do liquid screws everything up.
• Water softeners fiddle with yeast magic, try bottled water. (I use sparkling water since it's always in my 'frig.)
• Terra cotta planters and terra cotta saucers make great bread pans.

Artisan Bread Recipe

1 pound bread flour (about 3 1/3 cups)
1 teaspoon instant rapid rise yeast
3 teaspoons honey
10 ounces bottled or filtered water
3 teaspoons salt



Create a liquid yeast mixture:
Combine 1/4th of the flour and yeast with all of the honey and water. Refrigerate for a few hours.


Mix the rest of the dry ingredients with the liquid yeast mixture. Let rise for 30 minutes. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes.


Create a humid environment:
Fill your largest casserole dish with hot water, stick it in the oven. Put bread dough on upper oven rack, let rise for about 2 hours.


Knead gently, let dough rest for 15 minutes. Repeat. Give terra cotta pot or saucer a non-stick spray. Let dough rise about 1 hour.


Brush with egg white and water.
Bake @ 400 (F) for about 1 hour.

Seed Starting Indoors

Happy hour enthusiasts?

Or, avid gardeners in disguise?

I'm guessing gardeners!
Toasting the success of another wild and crazy... seed planting party!

Everyone enjoys a pint now and then. Especially seedlings. Start them in 'planters' that help develop long, strong roots.



Seed Planting Tip:
16-ounce clear plastic drinking cups are ideal for seed starting.
- Plastic cups do a nice job of retaining moisture. (Poke holes in the bottom for drainage.)
- Clear means they work like an ant farm so you can see what's happening underground.
- 16 oz. depth allows fragile seedlings to grow big and strong without disrupting growth by transplanting to larger containers.
- And, they cost next to nothing!

Seed pellet starter systems are very popular. For my purposes, they just don't work that well. First of all, they're too small. I like to give my seedlings a fighting chance by growing larger plants indoors, before hardening them off for transplant into the garden.

The seed pellet fabric mesh decomposes very slowly in the soil, causing new babies to become root bound.

Off to a strong start:

• Seed-starting mix makes a big difference. It contains more nutrients than potting soil, encouraging healthy roots.
  
• Once leaves develop, give seedlings a diluted dose of 10-10-10 fertilizer each week.
  

Pom Poms

Miniature Pomegranate Tree

Mini Pomegranates are ripening in my sunny window. Rumor has it they need insects to pollinate fruit. I have more bugs than flowers growing indoors, right now, so that's not a problem for me!

Gorgeous orange flowers, glossy green leaves... This tiny tree has the most cheerful disposition. She's an easy grower indoors, somewhat drought tolerant. Sweet as she can be. The plant, that is, not the fruit. Man! That stuff is sour!

But that's mostly because the miniature poms need to thoroughly ripen to a bright red on the tree.

I was so excited I jumped the gun and tasted them when they were a little too green.

For years, fresh Pomegranates were considered a delicacy. Now you can buy containers of seeds ready to be sprinkled into all sorts of tasty recipes. Like this one:

Sweet Tart Pomegranate Sauce
Serve on chicken, turkey or pork.

• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped, fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried oregano
• Salt to taste
• Garnish with 1/2 cup Pom seeds
  

Heat chicken broth, pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar in a skillet. Add cornstarch, brown sugar and seasonings. Bring to a boil; reduce and simmer until sauce thickens. Garnish with Pomegrante seeds (officially called Arils.)

USDA zones 9-10. Miniature Pomegranate Trees (this is not a bonsai) bear fruit about the size of a silver dollar. They grow easily in a sunny window. Reach about 2 feet at maturity. Sensitive to temperatures cooler than 40 degrees (F).

PS: Thanks, Wunx. :)

Crispy, Crunchy, Carrots

I live in a one horse town. That, of course, is just a silly figure of speech.

There must be at least 100 horses living in this town and last summer I got to know a few of them up close and personal.

I pretty much had to. I couldn't talk anyone else into mowing the lawn.

Meg, Dolly and the rest of the horses at Almosta Ranch have been lobbying hard for me to abandon the herd of heirloom tomato growers and plant lots more crispy, crunchy carrots.

Since my New Year's resolution is to plant with a purpose I intend to do just that.

Fun facts to know & tell:

• Some carrots actually prefer my alkaline soils.
• Many varieties are fast, fast growers: 50-70 days to maturity.
• They come in designer colors, from lily white to cosmic purple.
• The odds of producing a slender, lovely, perfectly-formed carrot in a Rocky Mountain garden is about equal to me winning the lottery. (Though I still hold out hope.)

Carrots have a tough time in my dense, clay soil. When they bump into underground rocks, they morph into strangely shaped monsters. Seeing as how I'm allegedly a master gardener, I feel foolish serving these mutants to my people-friends at the 4th of July picnic.

As prep for seed shopping weekend, I held a big, group meeting at the corral. The girls unanimously decided on the Parisiens. That's the fancy name for the carrot variety, Parmex. Fat golf ball size carrot nuggets easily handle rocky soil and cool mountain temperatures. Bonus! They mature in 2 short months.

Tip: If your friends are of the two-legged variety you may want to plant Sugarsnax. These picture-perfect carrots are tender and sweet and you don't even have to peel 'em!

* Carrots are underrated. They are one of the world's healthiest foods and if you believe everything you read, they also help you see in the dark.

* Parmex variety freezes very well. This will help the budget since the price of carrots went through the roof, this winter.

Now I buy carrots in bulk. (Finally! A legitimate excuse for a single woman to have a membership to Costco!)