Nadia Knows Gardens » Garden Fruits

Favorite Garden Moments

nadiaqh — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:43:56 +0000

This is a photo gallery of my favorite garden moments from the last year.

Desert King Figs and Heirloom Yellow Pear Tomatoes

7 foot Sunflower is a smile maker

Strawberries squeezed in anywhere I can find space

Herbs are always so rewarding to grow: Rosemary, Parsley Chives and Oregano

Sugar Baby Watermelon- another first for me in the garden this year- LOVED them

Growing short carrots was fun and great in soups and stews- super tasty

Dahlia flowers that continued to bloom month after month and made a great cutting flower

I planted Zinnia flowers for the first time in a rainbow of colors- very rewarding flower.

Happy New Year 2012

Happy Gardening

www.nadiaknows.com

Sugar Baby Watermelon

nadiaqh — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:16:58 +0000

♥ SUGAR BABY WATERMELON ♥

Watermelon growing in-between planters

These melons were started as small plants vs. seeds in wine barrels with the vine trained to grow over the barrell and on to the ground. If your garden has space limitations then growing the vines on the ground and along pathways may give your vine plants that extra room needed for meandering growth.

Small sized watermelon almost ready to pick

* When a watermelon is ready to be picked it should be ripe and ready for eating. Have you heard that watermelons do not continue to ripen off the vine? This was new information for me so I’m waited to harvest these beauties. Watermelon should have a dull colored rind and a brown dried stem when it is ready to be picked. Watermelon are heavy feeders meaning they need steady watering. The soil needs to be rich and fertile with a healthy amount of calcium in the mix. Trellising is also an option by using small fabric slings to support their weight as they are suspended in the air. Coastal San Diego gets a lot of overcast days with sunny and warm days leading into October creating a late growing season for my melons.

Raised planter: watermelon, rosemary, eggplant, parsley and a few green onions.

Late growing season for watermelon in San Diego. The skin of the melon is a shiny green as it grows, then turns dull when it is ready to be picked.

Super Ripe !

Chula my Chihuahua with a Sugar Baby Watermelon. Watermelon = 7 pounds & Chula = 6.5 pounds

- In Search of the Perfect Muffin -

nadiaqh — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:25:18 +0000

Here is a diversion today from the garden into the kitchen. I have been in search of the perfect breakfast muffin and getting closer to finding one. I am posting this one today with a few diversions from the original Dr. Oz’s : Apricot Pecan Muffin. In a quest for a low-fat, low sugar, high fiber, good tasting muffin that borders closely as being a “plonk” or a “scone” this is the best I have come up with. Believe me, I have made some really bad scones and muffins lately. Now the trick will be to just eat one in the morning! This altered recipe came out great. Post a comment if you have some ideas to make it even better, or share a link of your favorite! Maybe my lovely blogger from Kate’s Short and Sweet can help me find a great Plonk/Muffin recipe…

THE CHANGES I MADE ARE IN RED BELOW NEXT TO THE ORIGINAL RECIPE….

Dr. Oz and Marjorie Johnson: Apricot Pecan Oatmeal Muffin Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup all-purpose flour instead I used: * 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour & 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp baking power

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup dried apricots, --instead: 1/4 Cup Chopped Dried Apricots and 1/4 Cup Dried Dates

1/2 cup chopped pecans — instead I used * UNSALTED CASHEW PIECES

1/3 cup canola oil (next time I will try using part apple sauce and part oil) stage #2 of revisions.

1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed- instead I used a little less and topped the muffins before cooking them with Wheat Germ and Brown Sugar

Dr Oz & Marjorie Johnson Muffin Recipe

Directions:

1. Put the oats and buttermilk in a bowl. Stir well. Cover and let the bowl stand for 20-30 minutes to let the buttermilk soak into the oats completely.

2. In another large bowl, mix together the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour.

3. Mix in the apricots and pecans. (any nut or dried fruit that you love)

4. Next, add the brown sugar, egg and oil into the oatmeal combination.

5. Add the oatmeal combination into the dry flour mixture.

6. Stir just to combine – do not over-stir! It is fine if it looks lumpy!

7. Pour the muffin batter into 12 well-greased muffin tins.

8. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

9. Remove the muffins from their tray and let them cool on a rack.

Apricot and Date Muffins

Apricot, Dates, Cashews and Whole Wheat Flour - seriously good! Did I mention the buttermilk?

YUMMY and HEALTHY! HAPPY GARDENING AND COOKING!

www.nadiaknows.com

GROW YOUR OWN SUPERFOODS

nadiaqh — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 04:12:42 +0000

How many super foods can you grow in your own garden? The super food lists usually boast about 20 beneficial foods to incorporate into your diet. Super foods are high in anti-oxidants, high in fiber, low in fat and overall the most nutritional foods ounce per ounce.

According to resveratrol.com: Super Foods, also known as anti aging foods, are foods high in antioxidants as well as high concentrations of crucial nutrients that have been proven to help prevent and in some cases, reverse the effects of aging.

Peppers growing in a Topsy Turvy Planter

The Super Foods:

avocado, broccoli, onions, peppers, soy, spinach, and sprouts, hot peppers, leeks, daikon radishes
açai, apples, blueberries, pomegranates, pumpkin, kiwi, oranges,and tomatoes
wild salmon, turkey, eggs
beans, barley, seeds, nuts, lentils, oats, walnuts and buckwheat
cinnamon, dark chocolates, garlic, honey, extra virgin olive oil (“cold pressed”), sea salt, yogurt & kefir
sea vegetables, irish moss, umeboshi plums, wheat grass, miso
red wine, green tea and water were also on this list.
Blueberries for the Southern California Garden

The Orange Highlighted items are super foods I grow year round and can be grown in a Southern California garden very easily. Radishes, Spinach, Blueberries and Peppers I find are the easiest to grow. Dwarf Apple and Citrus trees make even the smallest spaces a gardening possibility. I buy my honey locally and according to homeopathic and allergy specialists, eating honey collected from the area in which you live (local honey)“ helps to reduce allergies. (Just what I have heard folks!)

Dwarf Anna Apples

Spinach

Raw and Green: Juicing from the Garden

nadiaqh — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:05:15 +0000

Boost your immune system, help your bodies digestion, increase your energy, help with weight loss, add more anti-oxidants to your diet… that’s the information I read on what a juicer can do for us, so why did it take me so long to finally purchase one? Maybe it was the price tag, or another appliance fighting for space on the counter. More likely it was the thought of having to clean out an appliance on a daily basis and buy a cart-load of vegetables each week to maintain a new health habit. I have a back yard garden to grow seasonal fruits and vegetables, not a farm that produces high quantities of juicing fruits and greens. It took watching the documentary ” Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead ” to change my mind and give it a chance. I don’t have a weight problem, so the anti-oxidant and increased vitality health claims were the motivation that lead to a purchase.

Two very popular juicers are the Jack LaLanne and the Breville Elite: I chose the Breville.

Breville Die-Cast 800JEXL Fountain Elite Juicer: quoted straight from the website: “ It is called the most powerful centrifugal juicer that is available in the market today. It can juice any produce within seconds with 1000 watts motor and spinning rate 13,000.You can make any combination of juice with it. It has quite a wide chute and spares the need of cutting and dicing fruits. You can pour the juice in the plastic pitcher with skimmer to prevent foams in the citrus juice. The machine has a stainless-steel mesh basket that removes the pulp automatically into a juice container. The juicer has two kinds of speeds to juice soft and hard fruits. It is dishwasher safe.”

Great Recipe Book For Juicing: “The Big Book Of Juices“: more than 400 natural blends for health and vitality every day by Natalie Savona.

Breville Juicer

Juiced Carrots, Apples and Pink Grapefruit

* Organic Fruits and Vegetables are best*

I wanted a juicer that was easy to clean so that I would actually continue to use it. I give it a thumbs up for simple assembly and cleaning. The best part about the pulp leftovers is returning it to my compost bin and worm farm. Both compost bins are benefitting from the scraps. Another use for the pulp can be used for making soups by returning the pulp to the juice and simmering with herbs and spices. Not a bad way to juice up your nutrition and enjoy the benefits of adding more vitamins, minerals and micro nutrients to your day.

Scraps (Pulp) for the compost bins

Wine Barrel Container Gardening

nadiaqh — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:12:11 +0000

Early Girl Tomato Plant & Wine Barrel Container

Raised planters provide extra room for gardening and using wine, or whiskey barrels has become very popular. These barrels add a bit more character and rustic charm for tomato vines and rose bushes. Last year I started off with adding barrels for planting blueberries then slowly added on rose bushes, dwarf citrus, a floral container and some for tomatoes. The key to a successful barrel planter is to drill out holes on the bottom for water drainage and supply water lines for easy maintenance. The soil in raised planters need to be fed continuously, so check with your local garden store about organic amendments specific for what is grown. For example, blueberries need acidic soil and using Azalea mix is the perfect soil for this plant, without it the blueberries may never produce.

Create drainage holes at the bottom of the barrel with a large drill bit.

Blueberry Plants for Southern California

Mission Fig Tree surrounded by Daffodil bulbs.

Eureka Lemon Tree & Plumeria Plant mixed together.

Desert King Fig- Ficus carica

nadiaqh — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 03:39:45 +0000

We all know about Mission Fig Trees with the dark purple skin and matching pulp, but have you ever tried a Desert King Fig? I have one of each in my yard and the Desert King with its’ green skin and pink/strawberry colored pulp in the middle is my favorite. The photo below is a combination of the two types of figs.

Desert King and Mission Figs

Fig trees can be pruned to a size that is manageable and continue to produce year after year. I keep mine at a manageable size so that the fruit does not go to waste.

The pink inner pulp of a Desert King fig These figs seem to me to taste sweeter than the mission figs.

A vigorous deciduous tree best describes the Desert King with its heavy bearing fruit and rapid growth. In San Diego near the coast it bears fruit June to August then has a second burst of fruit that produces into November. A great tree for providing a lot of shade during the producing season with leaves that are 4 to 10 inches long. No pollination is needed or any special application of fertilizers or food, it also is tolerant of many soil types. Fig trees also grow well in containers, I have my mission fig in a cut -in-half wine barrel that I drilled holes into for drainage.

Harvest: Figs should ripen fully on the tree when they are slightly soft and only keep for several days. Dry, preserve or eat figs fresh.

Desert King fig gets a visit from some bees

Pruning: Fig trees produce quite well with our without pruning. Avoid heavy pruning once the tree is established and never prune heavily in the winter. Follow this online site to buying bare root fig trees: FIG LINK.

Thank you for visiting today! Enjoy – Create – Grow!

San Marzano “Fresh Off the Vine” Tomato Sauce

nadiaqh — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:13:26 +0000

♥ → ♥ SUMMER GARDEN COOKING ♥ ← ♥

Determinate tomatoes on the vine ripen all at one time which makes them ideal for a big batch harvest and cooking up some pasta sauce. I found several online recipes for San Marzano Pasta Sauce and combined them to create a custom sauce with lots of garlic and fresh basil. A photo journal below on how to make a simple tomato sauce and I admit this is my first time making pasta sauce completely from scratch.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog today: www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Enjoy – Have Fun!

Fresh off the vine San Marzano Tomatoes

After chopping up the tomatoes I added them to a low heat mixture of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and chopped Garlic.

Medium heat cooking for 10 minutes and then mash the semi- cooked tomatoes with a potato masher.

Sea Salt/Kosher Salt with Herb Blend added with Basil and Crushed Pepper to taste.

Blending with a hand blender right in the pot after 10 minutes of cooking.

All Done... Ready for eating or freezing. The final sauce has a nice bright orange-red color. Home-made sauce has a flavor that just cannot be replicated with store-bought... do you agree? I was amazed at the difference.

The Tomato Taste Test

nadiaqh — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:49:40 +0000

This summer my garden is abundant with tomato variety and the dinner menu is in full test mode. Tonight we had the Italian Costoluto Genovese tomato served Caprese style with EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), Balsamic Vinegar, Sea Salt, Basil and crushed Pepper. A perfect summer salad or appetizer.

photo credit: http://www.learninghowtocook.com

Looking for the perfect tomato plant? My pick is the Sungold Cherry (Hybrid) tomato which continues to produce thru the season, tastes super sweet and is very easy to grow in a pot, raised planter bed or ground level garden. This rewarding cherry tomato is beyond measure and one single plant can produce up to 1,000 tomatoes. A great tomato for salads and snacking.

Seeds started indoors this year under a grow light.

The Early Girl is everyone’s early season favorite with the first tomato to usually ripen before all others in the garden.

The San Marzano - Lycopersicon esculentum a 3-5″ tomato is the Italian Favorite for making pasta sauces and cooking. The San Marzano bears heavily and is a determinate tomato which means that the plant fruits and ripens about the same time creating a window of harvesting to be done all at once, hence the perfect tomato plant for making a lot of pasta sauce.

I also grew Rutgers Open-Pollinated/Determinate tomato. These are about 7 oz. and loaded with delicious flavor… we eat these in our salads. Pictured below.

There is a tomato for every desire and dish in the kitchen. I over planted this summer because I didn’t want to miss out on anything and decided on the jungle style of gardening design. Neighbors always benefit from an abundant garden and nothing has gone un-eaten.

Red and Yellow Pear Tomato

Each year I grow Yellow-Pear Tomatoes and that runs a close second to the Sungold Cherry. Next in line for ripening are my Snow White Cherry Tomatoes- this is a new one for my garden and I look forward to that taste testing in a few weeks.

Enjoy these last few months of summer gardening and I hope you will try a new plant before the summer heat dissipates!

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Grow – Enjoy!

Left Basket: San Marzano --- Right Basket: Rutgers, Italian Costoluto Genovese with deep red-lobes and hidden underneath is "Crimson Carmello".

Clockwise from TOP: San Marzano, Sungold Cherry, Bottom = Fat Cherry Tomato, Top Left = Rutgers, Middle: Early Girl

Garden Ice Cubes

nadiaqh — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:19:58 +0000

Organic Yellow Nasturtium

Making decorative ice cubes is a fun way to spruce up your summer drinks with organic herbs, fruits or edible flowers. Mix some mint into cubes for iced-tea or strawberry cubes for a glass of lemonade. Flower petals look fantastic under ice along with lavender and nasturtium.

It seems one would not need a recipe for making ice cubes, but there are a few tricks to making the most of a decorative garden cube:

1. Fill mold halfway with water and freeze.

2. Dip flower, herb or fruit in cold water and place on top of frozen cube.

3. Fill to the top with water and freeze again.

* I have read that using distilled water creates a clearer looking cube although I have not tried it. Regular filtered water has worked well for me in the past.

* Decorative Ice cubes look great in club soda or sparkling water.

* Organic is the only way for these freezer squares.

* List of Edible Flowers- LINK.

Enjoy! Thanks for your visit today – www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Grow – Be Inspired!

Fruit Cubes

Photo Credit: http://diy.wed-central.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/boomette1.jpg

Photo Credit : http://www.jonathanfongstyle.com/flowers/rose_ice_cubes.html

Photo Credit : http://sallygardens.typepad.com/sallygardens/2007/08/beautiful-herbs.html