-
Favorite Banana Nut Bread
Bananas almost always go bad in our house, especially since Joe and I both prefer them slightly green. The following recipe (tweaked from allrecipes.com) saves those bad bananas and makes one loaf of my favorite banana nut bread. It won’t disappoint, but pay no attention to how unhealthy it is.1 cup all-purpose flour1/2 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon baking soda1/4 cup applesauce (I use Mott’s natural.)1/4 cup butter, softened1 cup white sugar (This can be reduced to 3/4 cup if you choose.)1…
-
Container Gardening Tips
16″d, 20″w plastic pots and saucers from Big Lots: $11 ea. Last year I grew several containers of tomatoes and peppers. The Anaheim, Cayenne, and Jalapeño peppers (in 10” deep pots) did great. The Patio Tomato (in a 16” deep pot) was very bushy, produced well and didn’t need vertical support, but the birds often beat me to the crop. The better boys (in 12” deep wood barrels) were no good and gave me only 1 tomato, likely because they…
-
Gardening Weekend
This weekend was full of hard work and planting. Some of our plans changed. We were originally going to plant along our South boundary where we planned on installing a fence in the future, but our neighbor had planted a line of Crape Myrtles. In 5-10 years the fence line would probably be too shady for a vegetable garden. We decided to relocate to the area in front of the pines in the back yard, the area that still gets…
-
Gardening Notes
I am getting very excited about gardening this year. Last year’s garden ended up being such a disappointment, but I learned a lot, namely to do my research and planning ahead of time! There are several new things I going to try out this year: 1) growing potatoes in containers, 2) pole beans, 3) square foot gardening, and 4) companion gardening. Hopefully the square foot garden and companion gardening will help maximize the use of our space and reduce the…
-
Time to Plant!
Because the weather has been so nice this week, I’ve had the itch for gardening. This morning Scooby and I went to Logan’s and you can imagine my excitement when all the old-men gardeners were at the store buying up seeds and plants. It’s time! It’s time! Here’s a list of what should be planted between now and March 15 in Piedmont NC, asterisks indicate what I will be planting. Asparagus (roots) Beets Broccoli (seeds*, plants) Carrots * (Before March…
