From My Garden to You

Date for Tomato Sale   Hello Gardeners, Here's the updated information on my annual tomato plant sale. This year I am growing over 20 different varieties. The date is Saturday February 17th, time 8am, location 16440 East Bainbridge Avenue, Fountain Hills, AZ, 85268 See list in previous post for detailed descriptions of each variety. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions and feel free to spread the words to your gardening friends who might be interested. Looking forward to seeing both new faces and old friends. Don't forget to bring a box to take them home in !! Happy Gardening everyone

Gardening Class on Tomatoes I am teaching a class this Saturday , December 9th 2017, at the Fountain Hills Community Centre from 1.30pm to 3.30 pm. The Class is "How to grow the perfect tomato in the AZ Low Desert". It is free to Fountain Hills Community Garden members and $5.00 for non members below is the link on their face book page https://www.facebook.com/events/369928800132734/

AZ Style Summer Vegetable Frittata Last week in the garden I harvested squash, yellow tomatoes and some bell peppers. We are getting a bit bored of eating lots of spiralized squash salads, even though the salads have been good, so I thought I would have a go at a summer vegetable frittata - AZ style. Making a frittata on the stove top is also a way of cooking something relatively quickly, without making the kitchen too hot ( believe it or not, this is a very important consideration in AZ in the summer). The less time you have the oven on when it is 116 degrees outside, the better, trust me on this ! I use a cast iron pan which I love. Anyway here's the finished dish, which I have to say was delicious and if you would like to know what I did and how to make it, then read on.........   Ingredients 1 onion chopped ( I use my own, harvested in may) Summer vegetables of your choice - I used peppers, squash, tomatoes. You could also add a chile if...

Another spiralized recipe - a healthy salad So my zucchini are still producing - albeit slowly and now I trying patty pan squash in the spiralizer. This is a very easy salad to make and while I have not grown all of the ingredients, most are from Arizona, so I am supporting local producers, if nothing else !   You can pretty much use any greens of your choice to start with. In this case, I used hydroponically grown lettuce, but I have also used spinach that I purchased at Prescott framers market too. (A good little market to try out on a Saturday morning at Yavapai college.)   I then layered on top the following:   Spiralized patty pan squash (my own) Spiralized cucumber Halved yellow cherry tomatoes (my own) Chopped local figs Toasted AZ pecans Crumbled feta cheese ( Goat Cheese would work too) Chopped basil from the garden.   ( You could also try spiralized carrots, chopped melon and mint, the combinations are many, ...

    Tomatoes June 2017   So....this is my very first post of this blog and where better to start than Tomatoes !   Here in the low Desert, it may be 108 degrees outside, but the tomatoes are still ripening like crazy. Nothing beats the taste of a freshly picked warm tomato, straight from the garden. It is incredible satisfying to grow the plants from seed, carefully nurture them throughout the spring and then reap the delicious rewards of all that hard work ! Local, organic and delicious, plus the added attraction and fun of growing many varieties that you cannot buy in the supermarket. What more could a gardener ask for ?     Tomatoes picked June 6th 2017     Tomato - Black Krim       Tomato Tip:   What do you do if your tomato fruit develop a hard, brown base ? (the opposite end of the stalk).   This is called Blossom End Rot and is caused by lack of calci...

  Heirloom Tomato Tart photo      

           Tomato Tart Recipe A great way to serve all those heirloom tomatoes !           1 sheet puff pastry, thawed but still cold 2 tbsp olive oil 1 cup ricotta cheese 4 oz crumbled goat cheese 2 large eggs 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper ¾ tsp coarse salt ¾ lb tomatoes, cored halved and sliced about ¼ - ½ “     Heat oven 425 degrees.   Line large baking sheet with parchment paper.   On lightly floured surface roll pastry to 10’ x 15” and transfer to baking sheet. Score border 1’ from edge all around rectangle, not cutting through the dough all the way. Prick dough inside the border all over with a fork, this allows the border to rise higher than the inner part. Brush inner part all over with 1 tbsp of the oil.   Mix 2 cheese, eggs, basil, ½ tsp salt and the pepper.   Spread this mi...

What to do with all those cherry tomatoes ? Arizona gardeners know that cherry tomatoes grow and produce like crazy here. But what to do with them all ? Here is a very easy delicious recipe to try. ( Adapted from the cookbook - Nigella Express) Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes You will need as many cherry tomatoes as you like, olive oil, salt, sugar, basil leaves. Set oven to 400 degrees F.   Choose tomatoes.   Half tomatoes and lay on baking sheet     Sprinkle with about 1tbsp sugar and a good grinding of salt. Drizzle over Olive oil and scatter with basil leaves.   Put tray in oven. Turn oven off. Do not open oven until cold. Remove. ( you can do this in the evening, leave it, then go to bed. It will be ready for you in the morning)     Scrape tomatoes, olive oil and all the lovely crunchy caramelized bits onto fresh crusty bread. Top with mozzarella cheese, balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. Delici...