FB HEADER

Search The Rusted Garden Journal: Just Enter a Key Word or Phrase

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

KNOL: A Basic Salsa Recipe (In Pictures)

This entry is a copy from a KNOL I wrote found at Google. Google will be discontinuing the KNOL's platform and I am in the process of storing them on my blog. Please enjoy the article. I have about 50 coming over to this blog.

Salsa is not a science. No matter how you chop it - salsa is a basic sauce.  This recipe will give you a base salsa you can adapt over time. This recipe won't give you exact measurements for the ingredients. That's just to much work. Chop what you like and get it into a bowl.

A Basic Salsa Recipe (In Pictures)

by Gary Pilarchik LCSW-C
My Vegetable Gardening Blog: The Rusted Garden


A Basic Salsa Recipe

The fresher the ingredients the better. I recommend growing your own salsa garden. If you have a fairly green thumb or more importantly some basic gardening interest, you can grow a salsa garden.



If you start a garden you will be able to mix and match store bought vegetables and home grown vegetables as they become available. Where ever your ingredients come from, this Knol will give you a salsa recipe to enjoy as is or to use as a base for developing your own wonderful salsas. The key to any salsa is cilantro. If you want the classic salsa taste you will need to use cilantro. Don't like cilantro? No problem - substitute an herb you enjoy. Salsa is packed full of vitamins and it is low low low in calories. Eat all you want but mind the chips!



Basic Building Blocks for Salsa



Salsa Ingredients



  • Cilantro
  • Roma Tomatoes
  • Lime Basil (substitute with lime juice or lemon juice)
  • Vidalia Onion
  • Green Pepper
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Garlic Cloves (not pictured)
  • Salt and Pepper

Since it is May the only thing from my garden at this time is the cilantro and lime basil. The rest was purchased at the grocery store. One thing to keep in mind is a meaty tomato. You can use any tomato but I find a Roma type or Paste tomato works best. They are more fleshy and the meaty and that part of the tomato builds a nice salsa.

Chop the Vegetables and Herbs

Chop up your ingredients and put them in a medium sized bowl. I figured pictures are worth a thousand words, so here you go.

Salsa: Click to Enlarge


I used 5 Roma tomatoes for this recipe. You can use more or less based on your taste. This recipe will give you a basic salsa to eat and enjoy or use as a base to create different salsas year round. Experiment and tweak away.


Salsa: Click to enlarge


I used all the cilantro pictured and I chopped the lime basil in the same fashion.You can use more or less cilantro based, again, on your taste. I don't expect everyone to have access to lime basil. You might not even like lime basil. Omit it. If you like lemon and lime add 2 tablespoons of either juice to this salsa or maybe one of each. Some people use red or white vinegars. I prefer to use lime juice. Again, your taste is key.


Salsa: Click to Enlarge


I used 1/2 of the green pepper for this recipe. Chopped as seen. It is easier to cut the pepper into strips before cutting them down to size.


Salsa: Click to Enlarge


I used all three jalapenos. I enjoy some heat. You can substitute the jalapenos with the other half of the green pepper. You can also use orange and red peppers to add color. The best way to prepare a jalapeno is to cut it in half. You will notice the seeds and white pith in one of the halves. The pith and seeds are typically the hottest part of peppers. You should remove the seeds and white pith under cold water. I don't put them in my salsa but I suppose you could.


Salsa: Click to Enlarge


I used 1/2 of the vidalia onion. Again, you can use more or less based on the flavor you want to achieve. A red onion can certainly be substituted and it would add color to your salsa.

I finished the salsa off with two cloves of a garlic crushed through a garlic press. I added salt and pepper to taste and I added about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. If you are not familiar with a garlic press it is pictured with the finished recipe below.


The Finished Salsa


A basic salsa

Here you have... a basic salsa. This base recipe can be used to build you own unique salsas. I use coarse sea salt. The salt will pull the juices out of your vegetables and herbs. Salsa is best served about an hour after you make it. The salt will draw flavors out and you will notice more juices in your salsa. After about an hour, mixed it up thoroughly and enjoy. Try baked chips. They are a lot healthier and because of that you can eat more salsa!


Try My Google Gardening Search Box

I tweaked this search box to better reference all things gardening. It will provide you with highly specific searches beyond what a typical Google search can do.
It is located on the top page of my Garden Blog: The Rusted Garden. Try it and join my Blog while you are there. Thanks.

My Other Gardening Knols

Join My Garden Blog:The Rusted Garden
Sometimes the links below, by title, are defunct for unknown reasons.
Here is a main link, if one below is not active. This link is always active My Gardening Knols Direct Link 

 


My Gardening Recipe Knols





Posted by at 2 comments:

Monday, December 5, 2011

KNOL: How to Grow Tomatoes in an 18 Gallon Storage Container


This entry is a copy from a KNOL I wrote found at Google. Google will be discontinuing the KNOL's platform and I am in the process of storing them on my blog. Please enjoy the article. I have about 50 coming over to this blog.





I have over 50 garden videos. Why not join my YouTube Garden Video Channel? A video on container gardening with peas A video on building self-wicking/watering 5 gallon containers How to grow large tomatoes in containers Not another article on tomatoes!  Consider this a Knol on container gardening. I happen to enjoy growing tomatoes and this method will help others, that my not have  a lot of gardening space, grow a vegetable garden.  This method works with any vegetable.  An 18 gallon container can easily be moved by two people. If you have lighting issues, you can move these containers around. Labor intensive but worth the reward of home grown vegetables.

How to Grow Tomatoes in an 18 Gallon Storage Container

by Gary Pilarchik LCSW-C
Join My Garden Blog:The Rusted Garden
This method of container gardening will work for any vegetable. The key to container gardening is matching the size of the container to the watering needs of the vegetable plants. A vegetable plant left in the sun, in a container that is to small, will dry out. No matter how vigilant you are with your watering, a day will come when the container drys completely out. This only needs to occur once and the health and productivity of your vegetable plant is severely effected. Watering and maintaining moisture is the key to successful container gardening. Fertilizing and maintaining your plant comes second.
Using an 18 gallon or similar storage container to grow you plants may not be as attractive as using a clay or fancy pot but it is by no means ugly. What you sacrifice in the way of the round more attractive containers, you gain back 10 fold in the productivity and health of your tomato and vegetable plants.

The Supplies

 
18 Gallon Container Gardening: The Supplies

  • An 18 gallon storage container
  • 2 cubic feet of garden soil per 18 gallon container
  • A bail of sphagnum peat moss (the above pictured size will be enough for 10 containers)
  • A bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer (the standard 40 pound bag will meet all your summer container needs)
  • A bag of pulverized lime (the standard 40 pound bag will meet all your summer container needs)
  • A six foot stake for tomatoes or other plants that need staking
  • A tape measure
  • A knife
  • Plants of your choice
These are the essential supplies. This Knol provides information on constructing the container and describes how to plant, grow and tend to a tomato plant. You can plant other vegetables in this type of container. Just keep in mind the size of the plant when it is mature. You don't want to create an over crowding problem.

Preparing the Container

Measure two inches from bottom on both sides of the container that contain the handles. Using a blade, cut a square hole on each side of the container at the two inch mark. The picture below should provide the perfect visual. Once that is done the container is prepared.
Many containers traditionally have either no holes for drainage or have a hole on the bottom of the container for drainage. The method I describe uses a hole 2 inches from the container's bottom. Water will occasionally sit in the bottom of the container. This will not cause a problem. You have drainage holes to prevent more then a two inch build up of water. You want to have that reservoir. The soil you are mixing will suck this water up quickly. This is a strategy to maintain moisture in your soil during the hot days of Summer.

18 Gallon Container Gardening: Preparing the Container

 

Preparing the Soil

Dump 1 cubic foot of soil into the container. Your bag of soil is probably either a 1 cubic ft. or 2 cubic ft. bag. Sprinkle a 1/2 cup (I use an 8.5 oz Styro-Foam cup) of 10-10-10 fertilizer onto the soil. Also sprinkle a full cup of pulverized lime onto the soil.  Add three heaping spade/shovel fulls of peat moss to the mix. Just for clarity sake your are using your large shovel not your hand shovel. Thoroughly mix the contents of your container together using the shovel.
Make sure the soil you buy is GARDEN SOIL and not TOP SOIL. You can also use POTTING SOIL. I use the Miracle Grow brand for my garden soil. I recommend using a brand that also provides 3 months of fertilizer. The plants in the container will need to be fertilized regularly. A tomato will use up the soil nutrients quickly. Since the soil is contained, the vegetable plants have limited space for their root systems to search for moisture and nutrients. Once the nutrients are gone, you will notice plants begin to yellow.
Dump 1 more cubic foot of soil into the container. Sprinkle 1 more cup of pulverized lime onto the soil and mix everything together. Four or five turns with your shovel is fine. The peat moss provides extra matter to retain moisture. The pulverized lime not only neutralizes the acidity of the peat moss but it adds calcium and magnesium to your soil. Calcium helps prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes.

18 Gallon Container Gardening: Preparing the Soil

18 Gallon Container Gardening: Finishing the Soil/Room for Mulch


There should be about 4 inches of space left in your container. The four inches of space allows you to easily water your plants and it provides space for mulching. I use grass clippings as mulch. Mulching the top 4 inches of your container will help manage moisture. Remember watering and moisture control is the key to successful container planting.

Planting the Tomato

18 Gallon Container Gardening: Planting the Tomato



You will notice I pinched off a few branches of leaves from the stem. In this type of container you want to get about 6-8 inches of  the root ball and stem into the hole. Tomatoes are vines. The stem the gets buried will actually grow roots. A deeper planting will provide you container tomato a bit more stability. The tomato will also get staked. The tomato should be planted in the center of the container. If you transplant is smaller then the one in the picture, plant it at 1/2 its total height. That's it, your done.

Tending and Maintaining Your 18 Gallon Container Garden

  • Water it every other day thoroughly. On consecutive 90 degree days when the tomato or vegetables are mature, you may need to water the plants daily. Soak the container until water drips out the holes on the bottom.
  • You can check your plant for moisture by poking your finger into on of the holes you cut. If the soil is dry, you should water it quickly. Don't wait for it to dry out.
  • You loaded the soil up with fertilizer when you filled the container. It should easily fertilize the plants 4 or 5 weeks. After that, I recommend 1 gallon of water soluble fertilizer weekly. Just 1 gallon.
  • You should mulch up the container as soon as you can to help with moisture management.
  • You will have to prune your tomato as it grows and tie it to the stake.
  • I use a touch of Sevin dust for insect problems as needed. You can search the web for alternatives.
  • I use an 18 gallon container because I can move it. If you have shade issues you can move the container around as the sun moves.


The Finished Product

18 Gallon Container Gardening: The Planted Container



I also tucked in two endive lettuce plants (front) and some basil and cilantro (back).  The endive will mature in about 10 days and it will be harvested. It won't compete with the tomato. The herbs will grow for about 3 weeks before they bolt. That will leave the tomato alone without competition as it matures. As the tomato matures, I will also tuck in more cilantro and basil. The container can handle one mature tomato and 2 or 3 annual herbs.

Other Vegetables

The 18 gallon container can be used to grow other vegetables.
  • Two peppers per container
  • One squash or one zucchini bush type plant per container
  • Two bush cucumbers per container
  • One vine cucumber or one vine squash per container (you will need a trellis of some sort)
  • One water melon, cantaloupe or similar per container (you do need room for the vine to run)
  • One pumpkin per container (you do need room for the vine to run)
  • Six to eight heads of lettuce per container.
  • Eight to twelve pea plants per container (you will need a trellis of some sort)
  • Dozen of herbs per container
Don't be afraid to experiment. See what you can grow. This is a great way to garden if you have limited space or if you just want to grow more vegetables.

Try My Google Gardening Search Box

I tweaked this search box to better reference all things gardening. It will provide you with highly specific searches beyond what a typical Google search can do.
It is located on the top page of my Garden Blog: The Rusted Garden. Try it and join my Blog while you are there. Thanks.

My Other Gardening Knols

Join My Garden Blog:The Rusted Garden
Sometimes the links below, by title, are defunct for unknown reasons.
Here is a main link, if one below is not active. This link is always active My Gardening Knols Direct Link 

 


My Gardening Recipe Knols

Posted by at 3 comments:

KNOL: How to Build a Framed Layer "Lasagna" Vegetable Garden


This entry is a copy from a KNOL I wrote found at Google. Google will be discontinuing the KNOL's platform and I am in the process of storing them on my blog. Please enjoy the article. I have about 50 coming over to this blog.




I have over 50 garden videos. Why not join my YouTube Garden Video Channel? A video of my garden and framed raised beds
This is the quickest way to create a raised bed garden plot. I helped a neighbor set this up.  It took about three hours to complete with a few 'refreshment' breaks here and there. The lasagna is layers. Nothing gets removed from this plot. There is nothing to throw away. You frame it, you turn it, you layer it, you amend it and you plant it. The plants will grow great this year and even better next year when you turn the garden and mix the layers you set up this year.
How to Build a Framed Layer "Lasagna" Vegetable Garden
by Gary Pilarchik LCSW-C



Join My Garden Blog:The Rusted Garden


Build the Frame and Set the Plot 

The frame is 4 feet by 12 feet. The sides are 6 inches high. The lumber is pressure treated with the standard copper process that is now used over the old arsenic treatments. The frame was made by securing each end with 3 inch screws. Before the screws were set, pilot holes were drilled to prevent the frame from splitting. Each joint was secured with three screws.



The frame was placed were the garden will be permanately grown. The inside of the frame was outlined with spray paint to mark the grass that will be sprayed with grass killer and turned. The frame was moved to the right (as in the picture below). The outline was left in white. The outlined area was sprayed with a standard salt grass killer. You can skip the spraying process if you wish but I don't recommend it.









Turn the Grass and Replace the Frame

The grass was turned to about four inches deep. Some grass was still exposed after turning. The exposed grass was sprayed a second time with grass killer. The frame was then placed over the turned earth. The picture below shows the permanent location of the raised layer "lasagna" garden.







Create a Layer of News Paper  

The garden was completely covered with newspaper. Three to four layers were placed over the turned earth. This layer is complete.





Create a Layer of Garden Soil

Ten bags of premium top soil was placed in the garden. This was the minimum soil ammendment quality I would recommend. Premium top soil is sold by weight. These were 40 lb bags. If you buy premium top soil vs. garden soil make sure it is truly premium top soil. It should be blended with a good amount of organic matter. Do not buy basic top soil. It is full of clay and garbage.
I recommend ten bags of garden soil in the 2 cubic ft size. It will say garden soil. At this point you have the turned grass, a layer of news paper and a layer of good quality soil. We sprinkled four 8 oz cups of 10-10-10 feritilizer evenly across the garden.




Create a Layer of Green or Brown Organic Matter

We used fresh grass for this layer. We placed about 2 inches of grass evenly over the entire garden. You could use your home compost, straw or even a layer of brown leaves. Grass clippings are perfect.



Create a Layer of Spagnum Peat Moss  

A large bail of spahgnum peat moss was used for this size garden (4 ft. x 12 ft.). A large bail is about 3.7 cubic ft. If you build a 4 ft. x 8 ft. garden of this type, the supplies are essentially the same. If you build a
4 ft. x 4 ft. garden , you will only need a small bail of peat moss. The peat moss was spread evenly across the garden.
Six 8 oz cups of pulverized lime was spread evenly across the peat moss. Peat moss is naturally acidic and lime is naturally alkaline. Mixing them together helps balance the PH of th soil. Lime also adds calcium and magnesium to your soil. Both important minerals for plants, especially tomato plants. Three addition 8 oz cups of 10-10-10 fertilizer was also spread evenly across the peat moss prior to mixing the peat moss and lime together. You should only mix the peat moss, lime and fertilizer together. Do not mix the layers of grass and premium top soil in with the peatmoss. Try and keep the layers intact. Your hand will work best for this.





Creating the Planting Layer

The beauty a raised bed layer "lasagna" garden is that you don't have anything to remove and throw away. The plants will do extremely well in the first year and the will do even better the following year when the garden is turned. Eight more bags of 40 lb premium top soil were added to the garden and it was mixed in lightly with the peat moss. The basic garden is now set and it was completed in under three hours.
You will need to wait 24 hours before planting to allow the grass killer to be absorb by the turned grass and lose it's potency. Many of the brands such as Round-Up use a salt that quickly becomes in active. It really isn't an issue in my opinion. I have never had damage from this. However, 24 hours provides a period of saftey to protect your plants from accidently coming in contact with the chemical while planting.

Planting

We used two 40 lb bags of premium top soil to plant the vegetables pictured below.  You will need to purchase 2 or 3 bags of soil for planting in addition to the soil that was used to build the layers of the garden. This soil is used to build up the planting areas so the seeds and plants sit more firmly in the ground. Peat moss is light and easily disturbed. This process will not be needed the following year when the entire garden is turned.
Planting is relatively simple. Dig a hole that meets the size of the plant that you are planting. Many plants won't need to be planted deeply in the garden such as lettuce transplants. The hole can be dug with your hand (the soil is loose). An extra handful of soil should be placed in the hole from the bag of soil set aside for this purpose. Simply mix the plant hole area up with your hand. This mixes the peat moss and additional soil evenly together. Dig the hole again to fit the size of your plant.  The plant can be tucked right into the hole.  Use the soil in the garden to gently-back filled the space around the roots of your plant.
Larger plants such as tomatoes require a deeper hole. The hole should be deep enough to go through the newspaper layer and reach the turned grass. Clear out any chunks of grass that are in the planting hole. Fill the hole up with soil from the bag. Mix up the soil up by hand with the existing garden soil and clear the hole out again. The tomato should be placed into the hole and soil from the garden can be gently-back filled into the space around the roots and stem of the tomato.
If you are planting seeds, drop handfulls of soil (from the bag) in the line or square areas that you will be planting seeds. You are basically placing additional soil where ever the seeds will go. Gently mix the newly placed soil with the garden soil and plant your seeds. The additional soil gives some weight to the seed planting area.




Creating the Mulch Layer

The mulch layer that I use is grass clippings. I use 2 inches of green grass clippings as mulch to start. When the sun dries that layer out and the grass turns brown, I add another 2 inches of grass clippings and repeat. I usually stop when I have 2 or 3 inches of dried brown grass clippings. You need to do this in stages so the green grass can dry out.

The Following Year

You now have a planted garden that will do wonderfully. Next year, all you have to do is turn the garden. All the layers will mix and you will have excellent soil for planting a vegetable garden.

Try My Google Gardening Search Box

I tweaked this search box to better reference all things gardening. It will provide you with highly specific searches beyond what a typical Google search can do.
It is located on the top page of my Garden Blog: The Rusted Garden. Try it and join my Blog while you are there. Thanks.

My Other Gardening Knols

Join My Garden Blog:The Rusted Garden
Sometimes the links below, by title, are defunct for unknown reasons.
Here is a main link, if one below is not active. This link is always active My Gardening Knols Direct Link 

 


My Gardening Recipe Knols

Posted by at 1 comment:

Saturday, December 3, 2011

My Greens Made it into December: Multiple Nights of Frost

Well, the garden is still growing into December. Next year I am going to build some cold frames and see if I can make it into January.

Just some greens I had from the garden on  December 1st!

December Garden Greens: Gary Pilarchik


From December Garden to Bowl: Gary Pilarchik



Posted by at No comments:

Germinating Your Saved Tomato Seeds: Test Them!

I saved a lot of tomato seeds this year. The variety shown here is the Sara's Galapagos currant type. This variety produces between 500 and 1000 tomatoes. YES! that many. I will be selling them this year too. Before I sell my plants and before you spend time trying to plant seeds you saved, you want to make sure they germinate.

Here is how you do it.

Germinating Tomato Seeds: Gary Pilarchik

A small zip-lock bag and a paper towel is all you need. Moisten a paper towel and squeeze out the excess water. You should put about 20 seeds or more on youy open moistened towel. Fold it in half and in half again so it fits in the plastic bag.

It will take 5 - 7 days for the seeds to germinate. A few more days are needed to give all the seeds a chance. But I just wanted to see if they were alive and kicking.  I put mine on top of the refrigerator and waited 6 or 7 days.


You Will Get Mold Spots: Gary Pilarchik

After 5 - 7 days open up your paper towel. You will get mold spots. Don't worry about that. If you want a good estimate of your germination rate, wait 10 days. If you just want to see if they are viable, 5- 7 days will work.

Germinated  Sarah's Galapagos Tomato Seeds: Gary Pilarchik

You can see in these two pictures that the tomato seeds germinated. These are seeds I fermented and saved  from this year. I have over 1000 seeds, so I threw a mess on the paper towel. Sarah's Galapagos are a bit more difficult to germinate. The rate is about 50-75%.


More Germinated Tomato Seeds: Gary Pilarchik

After 10 days count the number of seeds germinated and the total number of seeds on the paper towel and divide. The formula is Germinated Seeds/Total Number of Seeds equals the Germination Rate.

Or if you do 20 seeds multiply the number of germinated seeds by five. 

My germination rate was 68%.  Most varieties will be in the 80's.






Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)