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August News 2004 |
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and Updates for August
2004 Welcome to our monthly "Newsletter". This is where we announce the most recent additions to our website along with "what's happening in our gardens", helpful hints, herbal tips, etc. Please check back often as we will be updating regularly. What's happening in our garden for August: Our summer weather this year is amazing with loads of sunshine and warm weather. So warm in fact that we recently set an all time record for the hottest day in our history and the driest July on record. In these kinds of conditions we are very thankful to have our own water supply although we try to be as conservative as possible. My husband literally picked 60 cucumbers last night. You think that I would learn to cut down on our garden size. Since we have had an abundance of sunshine our heat loving vegetables are producing bumper crops. Homemade relish and dill pickles is on the ‘work’ list. Our grandson is now 8 months old and spends much of his time in our pool. Presently he is on his 2nd camping trip with his ‘surfing’ parents. Our kids all take this annual surfing trip each year with many other couples. We miss them already. My husband removed 2 old hedges to save me time pruning. He hauled home stone bricks from a ‘cull’ pile for free and built us a new low rock wall. I have always wanted a boxwood hedge so we will be hunting down some potted boxwoods for a decent price at several nurseries this weekend. As this area of our garden tends to be hot and dry we are looking for some drought tolerant plants with variegations of colour and form. I am looking forward to it as this is one of my favourite jobs – creating a new garden bed. August "To Do" List: -water deeply when needed – the heat and lack of rain stresses plants causing insect infestations. Keeping plants happy will keep bugs at bay. -mulch plants with compost to conserve water and keep plants cool. -water hanging baskets and containers once a day, sometimes twice a day during hot spells. Keep fertilizing regularly and deadheading. Petunias, lobelia, and other straggly plants can be cut back, fertilized and watered and they will come back beautifully. -harvest vegetables as needed. -cut down raspberry canes which have produced this season’s berries. Leave 3 to 5 new canes for next year’s crop. -continue picking blueberries – cover bushes with netting if birds are a problem. We have lost an entire crop overnight to our voracious robins. -our apple trees also need netting covering the fruit as the crows can totally destroy the apple, pear and grape crop. -sow spinach, radishes, lettuce, carrots, mustard greens, kohlrabi. -give roses plenty of water to prevent plant stress – deadhead regularly – rake out and discard diseased leaves – do not compost them. -leave finished pea vines in the garden as they add important nitrogen to the soil. -finish harvesting fava beans leaving some to develop into seeds to sow next year’s crop. -cut down perennials which have finished blooming. -stake dahlias and other tall growing plants which would topple over while being watered or from heavy rain. Greenhouse Gardening for August: (for a cool greenhouse kept at 40 - 45F (5 - 7C) -plants in bloom for this month – bougainvillea, pelargonium, oleander, jasmine, gardenia, dipladena, passion flower, gloriosa lily, hibiscus. -take softwood cuttings of pelargonium and fuchsias. -sow perennial seeds. -sow fall annuals such as pansies and asters. -dampen down several times per day on hot sunny days – I now dampen down the greenhouse every time I walk by which has prevented aphid and whitefly infestation during our unusually hot and dry summer. -remove faded blooms and debris. Herbal Hints: -continue harvesting and drying herbs. -cut back lavender to shape shrub when finished blooming. -harvest and dry herbs removing no more than 1/3 of the plant. -freeze chives, chervil, basil, dill, fennel, parsley, and cilantro as these do not keep much of their flavour when dried. Peak time to harvest herbs: With all the sunshine we are having this summer our herbs are producing a bumper crop especially lemonbalm and basil. Basil can normally be quite a challenge to grow outdoors in our location. How long a plant’s fragrance lasts depends on the individual plant, when the harvest was taken and how the plant was then handled and stored. Properly harvested and handled, many home grown herbs will be more fragrant for a longer period compared to commercial herbs, yet another reason to grow your own in the first place. Avoid exposing your herbs to heat or light. Proper preparation and storage significantly increases the amount of time a dried herb will remain fragrant and useful. To dry properly and not go moldy during the drying process herbs must be dry to start with. It cannot be raining on the day they are picked or for several days before. For long term fragrance, harvest when the herb’s volatile oils are at their highest concentrations. This is normally just after the dew is off but before the sun has climbed too high in the sky. For many herbs the highest concentration of volatile oils occurs just before the plant comes into bloom. This is the best time to harvest. A few herbs are best picked after they have started to bloom such as lavender, oregano, peppermint, rosemary, spearmint and thyme. Handmade Soap News: Part 13 – Soap Making To make soap hard, salt was added at the end of the boiling process. A hard cake of soap formed a layer at the top of the pot. As common salt was a hard-to-get luxury it was not usually wasted to make hard soap. Soft soap worked just as well and common salt was more valuable to give to their livestock and preserving their foods. Therefore, colonists did not usually make hard soap. Natural Cleaning Products: Oven Cleaner: -1 cup baking soda -1/4 cup washing soda -small amount of water Mix first 2 ingredients together, and then add enough water to make a paste. Apply this paste to oven surface and let soak overnight. The next day scrub off soda mix removing grease and stains. Rinse surfaces well with water. Adding a little vinegar to your rinse water works very well to remove any remaining grease. Organic Gardening Tips: Organic control of fruit tree maggots: Trap the flies by hanging 2-4 strips of tanglefoot in each tree. Or make your own fly trap by filling jars with a mixture of 1 part blackstrap molasses to 9 parts water. Be sure to collect all dropped fruit asap. Health and Wellness My Mom’s Rhubarb Pie: This is my favourite dessert using up our home-grown rhubarb. Our daughter-in-laws also like it so much that I always pick extra rhubarb for them. I leave out the pie crust but you could also make a shell with a graham wafer crust or if high fat content doesn’t bother you the original recipe called for a pie dough shell. This recipe is wonderful as it is though. Pie: -2 eggs beaten -2 Tbsp milk -1 cup sugar -5 Tbsp flour -1/4 tsp salt -1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg -3 cups rhubarb, cut into 1” pieces -1 Tbsp butter Crumb topping: -1/2 cup butter -1/2 cup brown sugar -1 cup unbleached flour For the pie, combine beaten eggs with milk, sugar, flour, salt and nutmeg. Stir in the rhubarb and pour into pie dish. For the topping mix the brown sugar and flour together and cut in the butter until mix is coarse and crumbly. Pour this mix over the pie and dot with 1 Tbsp butter. Bake at 400F for 50 to 60 minutes. Best served warm. Store remainder in the fridge to keep crisp. Thanks for visiting! Susan |
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