The Early Girl tomato is a medium globe type F1 hybrid popular with home gardeners because of its early fruit ripening. Early Girl is an indeterminate variety. It is tall growing and needs support as the plant grows. Fruit maturity claims range from 50 to 62 days from transplanting. Plants are reliable and prolific. The ripe fruit is about the …

Salvia elegans. This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds. Tubular red flowers and lime-green leaves are fragrant with a scent similar to pineapple. Can be grown in a 1-foot deep, 1-foot wide pot. Salvia elegans, commonly called Pineapple sage or Tangerine Sage, is a perennial shrub native to Mexico and Guatemala. It inhabits Madrean and Mesoamerican pine-oak forests …

Henbit is a small but pretty winter wildflower. Hummingbirds enjoy this wild edible for the nectar. Henbit is also an important early season source of nectar and pollen for honeybees. Unlike many of its relatives in the mint family, henbit does not have a strong or distinctive mint scent. The common name, Henbit, comes from the observation that chickens like …

Dichondra is a warm-season perennial ground cover, best adapted for cool coastal conditions. It will grow in partial shade, but does best in full sun. I grow a small patch (1×4 feet) in the courtyard on the north-facing side. Because dichondra does not tolerate heavy traffic, it is best adapted for small areas rather than large lawns or where mowing …

Think Tabasco. Think Sriracha. Fermenting your own chile sauce is an alternative to a vinegar boil. So, what exactly does fermented mean? Fermented means that bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, have gotten into the food and eaten the sugars. The sugars, through the magical process of anaerobic respiration, have been converted into CO2, alcohol, and lactic acid. Lacto fermentation is when …

When you have a bird seed feeder, the birds drop a large volume on the ground: some of it are whole seeds, others are empty shells. The birds also leave a lot of bird droppings. A whole-seed Feeder with six openings

tbd

This hot sauce is not for the faint of heat. This is a variation of a recipe I first saw on the Rick Bayless show “Mexico – One Plate at a Time”. It has habaneros, carrots, onion, garlic, salt, and then either lime juice or apple cider vinegar.  

Marionberry pie is one of the best uses of the berry. This is a recipe I found in Sunset: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/anjou-bakerys-marionberry-pie

I have tried several types of hummingbird feeders. The key issues are ease of cleaning and preventing other critters from interfering. Avoid feeders that have to be cleaned with special bottle-brushes. The disadvantages of the feeder below are: The small opening to the bottle requires bottle-brushes Larger birds like orioles pry off the yellow screens or just knock the whole …