Jun3

How to Save Cantaloupe Seeds

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I had some yummy ‘Athena’ cantaloupes recently and decided to save some of the seeds for next year. ‘Athena’ cantaloupes are F1 hybrids, which means that they may not be exactly like the one I bought, but I’m not too picky.

After all, why buy seeds in a packet when I just bought some in a cantaloupe?

Let’s keep this simple, shall we?

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Scoop the seeds out of the cantaloupe.

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Put the seeds and pulp in a glass of water. Smush the pulp to release the seeds. Pour off the murky water and repeat the smushing and pouring process.

Once the water is clear the seeds are clean.

Dry the cantaloupe seeds for at least 24 hours.

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Store your seeds in a cool, dry place.

I recently visited a local strawberry farm. It was the end of the season, but I still managed to find some berries! You can read about that soon!

Jun2

June To-Do List

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This month, I have more fun than work planned.

Large Florida backyard garden

Large Florida backyard garden

The large garden has been producing green beans, yellow squash, zucchini, and green onions.

Hopefully I will have some cherry tomatoes ready in the next few days. 😀

As you can see, the DIY cucumber trellis is up and the cucumbers are climbing!

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I can hardly bear to look at this garden. It is getting quite a bit of shade now and the fall crops are bolting and I have some bare spots, which I despise!

I should be able to grow some basil here. I also just planted some ‘Kentucky Wonder’ green beans there today.

Here is my list for June; I only consider the first item to be work, the rest is fun!

  1. Mulch shed garden.
  2. Get 200 likes for the Coffee to Compost Facebook page. I’m sooo close!
  3. Plant sweet potato slips that I started from a potato from last year.
  4. Plant purple-hulled peas. These do a  great job of enduring the North Florida summer heat and humidity.
  5. Plant more basil for homemade pesto.
  6. Hopefully, I will have tons of tomatoes soon. Guess I will have to endure harvesting those orbs of awesomeness.
  7. Make Tomato Cucumber Feta Salad. 
  8. Make homemade PICKLES!!! I made some last year and we have been looking forward to them so much!!
  9. Oh yes, one more thing. BLTs!

What’s on your to-do list?

May31

Have a Mint? Make another Mint!

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Most of my herbs are for savory dishes, but one of my herbs pairs especially well with sweet. Mint is a wonderful herb to have in your backyard garden. I love to crush a few leaves to release the clean, fresh scent. It makes a refreshing hot tea on its own, and pairs nicely with iced tea, like in my refreshing mint-infused sweet tea. If you have a mint plant, but would like another; or you want to give one to a friend, mint is easy to propagate.

You only need a few cuttings of fresh mint. If you want to start a mint plant for yourself, you can get cuttings from a friend. You could even use cuttings purchased from the fresh herb section of a grocery store.

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mint cuttings

Cut off the leaves so that the bottom few inches are bare. Leaves below the water may begin to rot and create a nasty, smelly situation.

Place the mint stems in water.

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You should begin to see little white roots begin to grow within about two weeks. You may have some that will not root for you, but most should grow roots.

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Once you have multiple roots a few inches long, you can pot them into some of your homemade compost or some purchased potting soil. Leave it in partial shade for a few days to harden it off ( or you can place it on the bottom shelf of your snazzy pallet potting bench).

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You now have another pot of mint for eating or giving!

If you are brave, you can skip the whole rooting in water process and put the cuttings directly in soil. I think it is a bit more risky, but it can save you a bit of effort.

If you make another mint, what would you do with it? Make more tea or give it away?

Have you used this process for another plant? It’s really easy to comment on my blog and I’d love to hear your thoughts!

May30

Easy Chicken Salad with Fresh Dill

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Summer is here! With all the sunshiny warmth, sometimes I’m in the mood for a light, simple lunch. I have some dill growing in my garden, and it was the inspiration for these yummy chicken salad sandwiches.

DSCN4481Here’s what you need: 2 cups chopped cooked chicken, green onions, 3 sprigs of dill, 1 stalk chopped celery,  dried cranberries (optional), pecans(optional but so good!), approx. 3/4 cup mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste. Makes 4 sandwiches.

DSCN4486Snip the onions and dill into little pieces with a pair of kitchen scissors, and coarsely chop the pecans. Mince the cranberries.

I had pecans that I harvested locally and was able to use them in this recipe. After trying to remove the pecans from their shells, I can appreciate why chopped pecans cost approximately $92.76 per teaspoon at the grocery. 🙂

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Easy Chicken Salad with Fresh Dill

Mix all ingredients together with mayo and salt and pepper to taste. I like my chicken salad on the dry side, so I only used about 1/2 cup of mayonnaise. If you don’t like dried cranberries, you can substitute raisins or quartered grapes or just omit them altogether.

Are you eating gluten-free? Try it rolled in some romaine lettuce as a wrap or with some gluten-free crackers.

Trying to eat low-carb? This could be a welcome change in how you eat chicken.

I like chicken salad served on a croissant or with crackers. How do you like  your chicken salad?

For dessert, why don’t you take some cookie dough out of the freezer and bake yourself some fresh cookies?

 

 

May29

How to make Mega Cookies (Great Gift Idea!)

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Who wants a homemade chocolate chip cookie? How about a MEGA homemade chocolate chip cookie?

I recently finished tutoring for the school year and wanted to give my students a little end-of-the-year gift. The students had different backgrounds, ages, and interests so it was a bit of a challenge to think of something they would all like.

Sometimes it’s hard to find just the right gift to say thank-you, or to let someone that you’re thinking of them. However, I’ve met very few people who don’t like homemade chocolate chip cookies. My students were no exception, and your friends probably aren’t either.

Mega cookies are the answer!

If you have some frozen cookie dough from following the instructions found in another gift idea post, you can skip a few steps. 🙂

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Otherwise, just make your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (or you could make my spectatular Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cranberry Walnut cookie recipe), then put 3 scoops together on a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet. I can fit 2 of these cookies per cookie sheet.

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Wet your hands with cold water and smooth them. Since they are so big, the middles will be undercooked if they are not leveled.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Check on them starting at about the 8 minute mark, as ovens vary.

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Don’t they look yummy and ready for a big glass of cold milk?

The parchment paper helps them to remain in one piece as you remove them to cool on a wire rack.

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Let them cool for a bit, then wrap in plastic wrap and tie a bow. Such a yummy and thoughtful gesture!

Do you like this idea? Pin it so you can remember it later when you need an idea for a special thank-you gift or thoughtful gesture.

Do you have friends that may like this idea? Feel free to share the link on Facebook!

 

May29

I Have a BLUE Vinca!

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Vinca bloom their little hearts out, even in the hot Florida summer. Pretty and heat-resistant, they are fabulous flowers to grow.

I bought a landscaper’s flat of assorted pink and white vinca about 5 years ago and they have reseeded for me every year since then.

I have only ever seen them in shades of pink and white, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw these at Wal-mart.

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blue vinca

Blue is very rare in the flower world, and I really think of this as more of a deep purple, but it was so amazing to me that I just had to get one.

I plan to strictly stick to the list whenever I have one of my rare Walmart excursions, but they had blue vinca! What could I do? I wouldn’t have been able to stop thinking about them if I didn’t take one home with me.

Have you ever seen this? Are you pretty excited too?

Feel free to share this on Facebook with all your gardening friends!

What has been your favorite gardening impulse buy?

 

 

May27

Florida Raised Bed Gardening: Harvest!

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If you have followed the progress of this raised bed, you may have been wondering about the growth.

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The above pictures were taken 2 weeks ago.

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Florida raised bed garden

Look at it now! The first green beans were harvested this last week and the gardeners were so excited!

 

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They planted ‘Kentucky Wonder’ bush beans and some yellow wax beans. They were able to eat green beans for lunch that they grew in their backyard.

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yellow squash plant

They have signs of little yellow squash growing too. They should be able to harvest squash in just a few days.

If you have been thinking about gardening, you can start small with a raised bed. The husband in this gardening duo had never planted a seed before, but he is now able to harvest vegetables from his backyard.

Please don’t think of gardening as expensive, complicated, or difficult. Start small, and enjoy the process. Gardeners are always learning, so don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know.

You can read about how they started their garden in this post, and follow their progress.

May25

Backyard Garden Harvest!

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In the Florida panhandle, we can garden all year long. I really enjoyed the kale(did you try my favorite kale recipe?) and collards from my winter garden, but I have really missed fresh green beans.

This last week was the start of the harvests from my spring garden.

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I love fresh green beans! They are nothing like their commercially canned, mushy counterparts or the watery, commercially frozen beans.

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I love fresh yellow squash too. So far I have harvested 6. If you are having trouble with your baby squash or cucumbers shriveling and dying, be sure to read my post on how to prevent wrinkly baby squash syndrome.

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My cucumber plants are beginning to sprawl so I must put up a trellis for them ASAP. They are near a large privacy fence and I have a neat idea for a support. I plan to post pictures of this DIY cucumber trellis-the trellis will be quick to assemble and inexpensive to make!

I have many tiny green tomatoes and am looking forward to juicy BLTs and fresh salsa!

What are you harvesting?

 

May22

Help! My Baby Squash are Shriveling and Dying!

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It’s disheartening to carefully tend your seedlings, finally spot a tiny squash, only to watch it shrivel up and die. If your little squash are getting wrinkles, and the plant looks otherwise healthy, it’s probably not your fault.

Blame the bees.

There are two types of flowers on a squash plant (this goes for cucumbers and melons too). The male flowers often bloom first, announcing their presence to any bees or pollinators nearby your garden. If the bees do not find your garden in time to transfer the pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers, the squash will not grow to maturity.

This is a male squash flower. Pretty basic.

The female flowers below have a baby fruit at their base. Do you recognize the common vegetables?

female yellow squash flower

female yellow squash flower

female zucchini flower

female zucchini flower

female cucumber flower

female cucumber flower

Little cucumbers are cute and very poky. 🙂

So what do you do if the bees haven’t found your garden yet? You can transfer the pollen yourself.

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All you have to do is take a male flower (I like to tear off the petals to make this easier) and transfer the pollen to a female flower. Some people use a makeup brush, but I don’t like to share my makeup brushes, especially with squash pollen.

Once you see lots of bees buzzing around in the mornings, this won’t be necessary.

This should solve the wrinkly squash syndrome for you. Hopefully you will soon have boatloads of zucchini!

If you are swimming in zucchini or patty pan squash, you should try some Chocolate Zucchini Apple Bread.  It’s really good and a nice way to use all that squash.

May20

Quick, Easy, Thoughtful, and Homemade Gift Idea

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I saw this pin a while back and have not forgotten it- it is such a great idea! Basically, you freeze cookie dough either for you to use later, or to give as a gift.

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I like to use the classic recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag (or it can be found on Nestle’s site). You could also use another recipe, like my Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cranberry Walnut Cookie recipe.

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Scoop the cookie dough on a cookie sheet. I like to put the dough on parchment paper for easy removal and clean-up.

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frozen cookie dough gift

Label a freezer bag with the contents, date, and baking instructions. If you have a small family, this is a great way to avoid the temptation to eat a whole batch of cookies in two days. I like being able to have fresh cookies at a moment’s notice.

Homemade cookie dough would also make a nice housewarming gift. This would also be a thoughtful gift for a new mom; with this gift they can have fresh-baked cookies without the hassle of mixing and clean-up.

If you are one of those super-crafty people, you could put them in creative packaging as seen here and here and here. Don’t you just love Pinterest?

Now if I can only keep myself from eating all the frozen cookie dough in my freezer!

Would you like to receive a gift like this?

Another yummy gift to give is homemade jam. I plan to get some fresh local strawberries soon and to can some strawberry jam or strawberry-lemon marmalade. When I do, I’ll be sure to post pictures!