Plants Gone Wild: Part 5 - Sitting Garden On the Mend

More progress on my sitting garden this weekend.  Like to spend hours working on it not minutes so that is pretty much when any work gets done!

Plants gone wild:  Not so much any more. With still a lot of work to go, my overgrown front garden is turning into a nice sitting garden.

What I learned today:
1) Ivy has a mind of it's own.  It will grow one direction and as soon as it spots a wall to climb, it will turn 90 degrees and grow that direction.  I swear!
2) When having a drink tucked under your arm and holding a tool in the other, don't bend over to set the tool down.
3) Pulling on an ivy vine is kind of like "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop".  You keep pulling and pulling and pulling, then you just wanna break the damn thing off!

Plants gone wild:  A view from my sitting garden chilling out under a tree during a break on a hot humid day.

Back to Plants Gone Wild - Part 4

Don't Know What Things to Make with Zucchini? Try Zucchini Pie

Don't know what to do with your zucchini other than chop it up for salad?  Here is a great recipe for a quiche type dish known as zucchini pie.

Don't know what to make with your zucchini?  Try zucchini pie.

ZUCCHINI PIE

Aka “Mystery Dish” because some folks get turned off by the name.  However it tastes nothing like it sounds.  This was passed down to me by a friend of mine. I alter it however by using different cheeses and optionally adding bacon or ham.  However, any version tastes great.

Prep time: about 20 to 30 min

Cooking time: 40 to 50 min

Ingredients:

3 cups grated zucchini

1 small onion chopped (use a large one to make it a little more zesty)

1 cup all purpose flower

1 cup grated provolone cheese ( I use a combination of mozzarella and provolone, Sargento Classic)

Optionally: 4 to 6 slices of bacon chopped depending on thickness( I typically use 98% fat free turkey bacon to keep it relatively healthy)   OR  about ½ cup of diced ham cooked

3 beaten eggs (I typically use ¾ cups Egg Beaters to cut down on cholesterol)

¼ cup vegetable oil (I use olive oil)

4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese  (a few more tablespoons will be required for topping) (I use packaged Sargento Artesian parmesan)

2 teaspoons chopped basil

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (Use a bit more to beef up the zesty flavor)

1. If you choose to add bacon or ham, prepare the meat by grilling it while grating and chopping the other ingredients
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
3. Combine all ingredients in large bowl
4. Use 10” round glass pie plate (foil plates work too if you want to take it somewhere)
5. Coat pie plate with vegetable oil (I use lite olive oil cooking spray)
6. Bake 45 to 50 minutes (depends on oven, I bake for 40)
7. Remove from oven, immediately sprinkle grated parmesan over top of pie
8. Optionally, place pie back in oven to melt the cheese topping a bit
9. Allow to cool, 20 minutes before serving (Must be in a open area.  Placing inside a microwave or small enclosed space will cause the center of the pie not to solidify)

Also tastes great cold the next day as a snack however, warming it give the best flavor.  Can be a great breakfast or side dish.

Plants Gone Wild - Part 1

In over five years of neglecting my garden, I have declared it "Plants Gone Wild" as the plants have seemed to have a mind of their own and have taken over everything.  I have taken on this project of taming my "Plants Gone Wild".

Things that I learned from this session of Plants Gone Wild:
1)  I rediscovered that my driveway is really about 60ft instead of 30ft and can hold 4 cars instead of 2
2)  Forsythia's are a pain in the a** when the try to spread out everywhere
3)  There is a plant that is even more of a pain in the a** that even overtakes the forsythia and I don't even know the name of it
4)  Totally vacuuming your leaves up from every tiny corner that they gather in every year is much better that dealing with it when you don't
5)  I found my garden hose again
6)  My basement windows were dark for a reason

Plants Gone Wild: BEFORE There is actually a driveway under there and a house for that matter.

Plants Gone Wild: AFTER - Hey! There's my garden hose.  I haven't seen that in a while.  And there are the basement windows! And you can actually see the driveway.  Good stuff!

Plants Gone Wild: AFTER -You can actually see into my backyard from the front of the house now.  If you look at the BEFORE photo above, you couldn't even see the gate opening.  Wow.

Continue to Plants Gone Wild Part 2

How To Make An Effective Slug Trap

If slugs are eating away at your ground cover, here is a tip to build a better "slug" trap.  My particular problem was that slugs were chewing nasty holes in my hostas.  Here is what to do:

1. By some slug bait containing an insecticide at your local gardening center.
2. Collect a few small plastic water bottles. Large soda bottles are too large you will not be able to hide them well.
3. Cut the tops off of the bottles about a half inch below where the straight part of the bottle ends.
4. Pour a little slug bait into the bottle.
5. Turning the top of the bottle around, place it back into the bottle so that the mouth of the bottle is now inside.
6. Take a stapler and fasten the reversed top to the bottle.
7. Place the bottle in an area of your garden where the slugs do the most damage.

There you have it!  A very effective slug trap.  The reversed bottle top now makes an easy ramp for the slugs to enter.  The bait will attract them.  They crawl inside, eat the bait, then they cannot get out very easily and they die before they can escape.  Once the trap is gets too many slugs in it, just throw it away and make a new one.  However, if you don't mind the extra effort, you could be Earth Friendly and cut the top off the trap, scrap the slugs into the trash or compost pile, then recycle the plastic container.