Remodeling House

Drying orange peel is a great way to make the most of your citrus, and with the prices we're all paying for a bag of oranges, it pays to get the most we can for the money we're spending.

I've always liked orange peel. I've candied it and just tossed a peel in the wastepaper as I passed to keep it sweet smelling. A few years ago I decided to take a more active role in saving peels, so from

Balsam Apple Seed Pod(Momordic charantia)September 22, 2010
I have taught my husband well!  He was out on the golf course with a couple of buddies and spotted a rather interesting plant so he brought me home a seed pod for identification.  Despite warnings he should not touch unknown plants just in case apparently this plant did not pose a warning for him.  I now have to get him used to taking

We had heavy rains the last few days.  It really has been a little too late though.  Now it will become an issue of too much rain for the local farmers to harvest before the crops rot in the fields.  The soybean harvest has been halted due to the rains and this definitely is not good for those trying to harvest tomatoes.  Our average day of first frost (ADFF) falls the end of the first week of

Orange TreeSeptember 18, 2010
Apparently the oranges are so plentiful here that people put boxes of them to the road hoping someone will take them.  Pictured is one of our neighbour's orange tree.  They said to help ourselves when the fruit is ready for picking.  We rented in the park our first trip here that was meant to purchase a house in the park that we had seen online.  We decided against

Unidentified MothSeptember 16, 2010
During one of out strops a few days ago I spotted this pretty moth fluttering around on the sidewalk.  His wing span was about 3 - inches so a rather impressive size.  He stopped just long enough for me to get this picture showing his gorgeous markings.  I'm not sure what kind of moth he is.  If you can help identify please leave a comment.

Happy Gardening!

Butterfly BushSeptember 16, 2010
We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast a few days ago.  They had a lot of these gorgeous bushes bordering the parking lot.  As we enjoyed our breakfast I watched a large number of butterflies frequenting the bushes.  I aptly named them butterfly bushes but that likely is not their name.  What I found very interesting is the range of colours in the blooms.  

I've been emailing with a couple of neighbours at our vacation home.  Here we are experiencing one of the driest summers in ages and apparently the average rainfall where our vacation home is the average monthly rainfall was six inches.  I told them they could send a little our way!  We are experiencing another cold spell so the chances of the organic farmer having another harvest of pickling

The weather has turned cool here so the organic pickling cucumbers I was hoping for haven't materialized although there is still a slim chance.  I've been keeping a close eye on my garden.  It is a bit sheltered so can tolerate a bit more adverse weather conditions.  We are quickly approaching our ADFF but most gardens should still be going fairly strong and if fall crops were planted they should

My gosh!  I think 2010 is going to go down in history as the worst gardening season ever.  I'm not kidding and in some ways it is a bit frustrating but in other ways it just makes me dig in my heels a bit harder and fight back.  Despite the local predictions of a dry spring we had a wet, cool spring.  Then we were hit with high heat and humidity for July and August but very little rainfall.  To

A Small HarvestSeptember 7, 2010
This really has been a bad year for gardening here.  August has been so dry that it is more than affecting the local growers.  Irrigating has been the only way to save the crops but still that may not be enough.  I did a clean pick of the garden a couple of days ago.  The tomatoes are producing nicely and despite the weather the sweet peppers are really performing

Swiss ChardSeptember 7, 2010
I didn't plant  a lot of Swiss chard this year but the 2 square feet are producing nicely.  I've been cutting the outer leaves then letting the inner leaves mature which seems to be keeping the plants a bit more productive.   I picked enough for freezing a couple of nights ago.  It wasn't a lot but it was enough for about two cups of steamed greens for the freezer. 

I have been discussing spider control on my homemaking blog.  In this particular infestation I have had to resort to using chemical insecticidal control because four identified species are venomous and there has been a burst in the funnel spider population so reducing their numbers is important to lessen the risk of a problematic spider bite.

Anytime I have to resort to chemical pest control it

Pink HibiscusAugust 26, 2010
Daily walking has become my excuse for being a garden snoop.  This way I can check out what other great plants others are growing in their gardens and ones I may want to add to my gardens.  I spotted this pretty pink hibiscus on one of my walks.  Hibiscus is a member of the mallow family and while I haven't grown hibiscus I have grown okra and rose mallow, both

King of Denmark is a wonderful heirloom spinach that performs nicely.  One look at the mature plants and you will easily see why this variety is king just from the sheer size of it.  A few days ago I noted that the King of Denmark spinach was looking rather good.  Then I noticed that something had been helping itself to a taste test.  A couple of days later I found the critter responsible for the

Well, if you don't know about the bedbug explosion - uh, the explosion of bed bugs, you've probably been unconscious for the last year. These small, biting bugs are voracious, very hard to kill and, if you listen to the news reports, almost everywhere. This would include hotels, movie theaters, retail dressing rooms, offices, dorm rooms, airports - you name it.

Eradicated for the most part by

I've encouraged you to try a flavorful and wonderfully aromatic pesto, so here is my recipe entry. It's basic but delicious. You can find all the ingredients at your local market with the possible exception of the pine nuts. They're more popular than they used to be, so try the gourmet section or the baking aisle where they keep the other nuts.

Pesto is best fresh, but you can freeze it in a