The growing season has come to an end, but to gardeners that means only one thing: Another spring is on the way. Give the gardeners in your life a head start this holiday season with a gift that will remind them of blooms to come. Here are five of my favorites this year:
Nassau County's very own Caitlin Monaco, from Centre Avenue School in East Rockaway, has won the New York State prize in Bonnie Plants’ 3rd Grade Cabbage Program for growing a whopper of a crucifer.
The program, launched in 1995, is designed to teach children the self-gratification that comes from gardening. Here's how it works: Bonnie distributes free O.S. Cross, or "oversized," cabbage plants to third-grade classrooms nationwide whose teachers sign up to participate. This year, 1.5 million students in 40,000 classes had the opportunity to plant and nurture their own cabbages. O.S. Cross cabbages can grow to more than 40 pounds.
At the end of the season, teachers from each third-grade class select the student who has grown the heaviest cabbage. Then the student is entered in a statewide drawing. One child from each of the 45 participating states is awarded a $1,000 savings bond toward education. Caitlin took the NY prize for her seven pounder.
Bonnie Plants has also recently partnered with the National Future Farmers of America Organization to promote gardening to youth through the cabbage program. FFA members will get involved by delivering the plants to third-graders and will also go to the schools to give classroom demonstrations on how to plant and care for the cabbages.
Through its affiliation with the FFA, Bonnie Plants will co-sponsor the Diversified Horticulture Proficiency Award, which the FFA awards to students who are interested in learning and working in horticulture.
Congratulations, Caitlin!
As you can see, my desk is buried beneath books sent by publishers and authors hoping for a favorable review. But I'm so dang busy, it's impossible for me to read -- let alone review -- all of them. And so they pile up. In fact, even the ones I do review pile up.
Because I don't want to create a fire hazard here at Newsday headquarters, I've decided to have another giveaway. But you'll have to work for it.
First, familiarize yourself with the step-by-step How Tos I've written in Gardening 101. Then, keeping those in mind, shoot me an email with your idea for an instructional gardening piece.
Be sure to include your full name, mailing address and email address. If I use your idea, you get a free book. And I get a clear desk. It's a win-win.
Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay is holding its 4th annual holiday tree lighting ceremony on Dec. 12 at 6 pm (gates open at 5:30). This year, they're lighting a thirty-five foot Japanese Umbrella Pine on the south side of the Camellia Greenhouse.
Several special guests, including Santa and carolers, will be on hand, and guests will be able to check out holiday decorations on the first floor of Coe Hall, including the new magical banquet exhibit in the dining room and several hundred poinsettias in the Main Greenhouse.
Admission is free. For details, call 516-922-8600.
Directions: Long Island Expressway, Exit 41 North (Route 106) to Route 25A west. Follow signs to the park.
Click photo to get started.
Quick tip!
When buying poinsettias, check under leaves for white flies and eggs. Don't buy infested plants.
Click photo to start the slide show.
Thanks for all your emails over the past week. I'll read them as soon as I get settled in. I've been home for the past 8 days with "the flu or a flu-like illness," and I could barely stand, let alone blog.
But I'm back, and I have some news to report: Carol Barker of the United Kingdom has won a copy of "The Herb Gardener: A Guide for All Seasons," by Susan McClure, for submitting some intriguing uses for all that mint taking over my backyard. (Carol, I'll ship the book out to you today.)
Here are the recipes Carol sent, which she passes along from the mediterraneangarden blog. . I'm just grateful for internet conversion tools, because though the U.S. flirted briefly with the metric system in the 1970s, the experiment didn't even last a year, and so I'm hopelessly inept at making conversions on my own.
Winter vegetables with North African Salsa
Ingredients
4 ounces or 100 grams of Carrots
4 ounces or 100 grams of Parsnip
4 ounces or 100 grams of Potato
4 ounces or 100 grams of turnip / swede
4 ounces or 100 grams of green beans
4 ounces or 100 grams of Broccoli florets
Method
Steam the broccoli florets and green beans until tender (al dente)
Roast the root vegetables sprinkled with cumin and coriander seeds, sea-salt
and ground black pepper.
Salsa
Natural yogurt, sweeten with honey and add your chopped mint leaves, season
with salt and pepper.
Spoon the salsa over the hot vegetables, dust with paprika and a pinch of
cinnamon.
Serve at once.
Desert - Mint ice cream.
568ml carton double cream
300ml whole milk
6 large egg yolks
375g caster sugar
300g Dark chocolate chips
2 green cardamom pods
3 or 4 Sprigs of fresh mint leaves
Method
Sugar syrup
Separate the mint leaves from the stems.
Heat 2 oz. / 200grams of castor sugar and 16 fluid ozs./500mls. cold water
in a heavy pan
Bruise the mint stalks by crushing them then add to pan.
Boil mixture for 10 minutes then remove stalks.
Allow syrup to cool
Blanch mint leaves in boiling water
Refresh leaves in cold water and then allow them to cool
Once the sugar syrup has cooled add mint leaves and blend until smooth green
consistency is reached.
Ice Cream
Beat the egg yokes with the remaining sugar until the mixture becomes thick
and creamy.
In a heavy based pan heat the cream and milk until just before they reach
boiling point. Pour the hot cream mixture on to the egg yolk mixture,
whisking constantly.
Return the mixture to the pan and heat gently,
Crush cardamom pods lightly then add to mixture.
Once mixture has thickened remove the cardamom pods and pour mixture in a
bowl
Allow to cool
Stir in the cool sugar syrup mint leaf blend and cool for several hours
Stir in the chocolate chips
Place in ice cream maker and process until completion
Serve with mint leaf garnish
Q: I have a beautiful fruit-bearing fig tree that, unfortunately, is planted next to an air-conditioner unit. It is now so large I need to move it. When is the best time to move the tree? Fall or spring? Should I move it to full sun? -- Mary Fran Jeffrey, Manhasset
A: The best time to transplant your tree is when it is dormant in late winter (early March), before new growth begins. Be sure to dig up as much of the root ball as possible to avoid transplant shock. Since the tree is large, this will be a big job.
For the fig tree's new home, dig a hole twice the size of the root ball and exactly as deep as the original hole. Be sure to water regularly throughout the entire first year, until it's fully established. A spot with full sun would be ideal.
(AP Photo/ The Gainesville Sun/Brad McClenny)
As schools, banks and some businesses close to honor veterans, the holiday takes on a more personal meaning for those who've lost love ones who have fought in a war. And while Memorial Day lends itself to cemetery plantings and live plant monuments, not much will survive out there on November 11. But that doesn't mean resorting to cheesy plastic flowers.
Consider decorating with evergreen branches, weather-resistant silk flowers and small flags. And for a more permanent tribute, plant some Sedum 'Autumn Joy' now. It'll come back every year, and by November 11 will be blooming in a rich seasonally appropriate maroon.
E-mail
Facebook
Digg
Delicious