Wordless Wednesday

Seed GROW 2011

Last year as part of the Seed GROW project sponsored by Renee's Garden, garden bloggers from around the United States including myself grew Nasturtium 'Spitfire'.  I am very excited to be chosen once again to be part of the Seed GROW project.

This year Renee's Garden has provided everyone in the Seed GROW project with the following free seeds:

Lettuce, Container, "Garden Babies"  

Exclusive - These babies have softly folded leaves, a lovely buttery texture and outstanding sweet taste. Ideal for containers, Garden Babies are slow bolting, heat tolerant, and make compact 6 heads at maturity.

Basil, Container, "Italian Cameo"

Exclusive - From our best Italian breeder. Easy growing and deliciously fragrant, Cameo has closely packed, luscious big leaves and a compact 6- 8 inch habit. Perfect for containers, window boxes or edging garden beds.

Marigold, "Summer Splash" 

Exclusive - This flower powerhouse offers crisp blue-green foliage literally covered with sunny yellow, cheerful blossoms. These plants bloom nonstop and are more heat, rain tolerant than any marigold we've seen.

Here in Wisconsin we have had a very cold spring.  The soil wasn't even warm enough to consider planting seeds until this week.  I had planted the lettuce a few weeks ago, but some hungry bunnies ate the sprouts so this is all that is left.

The Marigold "Summer Splash" seeds actually germinated really fast.  I planted them on Monday and some of the seeds have already germinated.

I am trying my Basil "Italian Cameo" in this planter.  I hope it works out!

I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Renees Garden for the seeds.

Watch those hostas grow!

It's amazing to me just how fast hostas can grow.  Hostas love cool and wet weather, which is exactly how we could describe our spring here in Wisconsin this year.  Hostas are water loving plants, so instead of fertilizer they just need rain.  These pictures were snapped of my hosta beds just over the past three weeks.

Back Bed

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Rhubarb loves cool weather, so it's been a great spring for rhubarb. I decided to harvest my first batch of rhubarb tonight, and decided to make a rhubarb custard pie. I will admit that I took a short cut and used a store bought pie crust.

1. Cut up 4 cups of Rhubarb.  I always find it easy to chop up the rhubarb if I peel away the flat side of the rhubarb (see the curls to the left), and chop the rhubarb with the peeled side down.  Preheat oven to 375.

2. Place the chopped rhubarb into a pie shell.

3. Make the custard:

• 3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 TB milk
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Mix together in a bowl

4. Pour mixture over rhubarb.

5. Make crumb topping mixture.

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• cinnamon/nutmeg to taste (optional)
• Mix together until crumbly

6. Sprinkle crumb topping on top of pie

7. Place in the oven, it's best to place pie on top of cookie sheet so if it boils over the cookie sheet will catch it.  Bake for 40 - 50 minutes.

8. Take out of oven and let cool, usually best to cool for a few hours or overnight, if you can wait that long.

Wordless Wednesday

Pics from May 7th, 2011

Midwest Hosta Convention "Isthmus in July" Madison, Wisconsin

If you really love hosta, I highly encourage you to attend the Midwest Regional Hosta Convention which will be in Madison, Wisconsin this year.  The convention will take place July 7-9.

What's a hosta convention?
In short, it's a gathering of people who love hostas.

What can you expect to see or do?
You can expect to see hostas, of course.  There will be hosta vendors from around the country selling hostas, and opportunities to tour beautiful hosta gardens in the area.

Where can I find more information?
http://wihostasociety.com/html/2011_convention.html

Do I have to attend all days?
No, you can just come for a day.

Not to be missed?
The Friday night hosta auction is usually something to be seen, unless you have a very strong weakness for hosta and won't be able to control yourself.