Come late summer, I always have a good supply of herbs and I’m not always sure what to do with it all. So I love to make pesto and use it as needed. I find it freezes well for several months. Here is the first of several pesto recipes for different herbs.

Classic Easy Pesto Sauce

Your basil should be prime now and here is an easy and delicious way to use it up!

• 2 1/2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup (4 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a blender or food processor, combine the basil, Parmesan or Romano, and olive oil. Whirl to form a paste.
Stir in pine nuts; season to taste with salt and pepper.
Makes about 2 cups.

Persimmons ripen from October to November. You can allow astringent types to ripen to soft – ripe on the tree or pick them firm ripe and allow them to soften at room temperature. Harvesting at firm ripe stage will prevent losses. Harvest Japanese non astringent types like Fuyu when fully colored. Cut the fruit from the spur with pruning shears, leaving the calyx ( the green collar on the fruit) intact.

Persimmon Pudding Cake
Click here for the recipe.

A cool season crop is mostly grown for it's vegetative parts: the roots (carrots), leaves (cabbage), stems, (celery), and immature flowers (broccoli).    

The food value of cool season crops is generally higher than that of warm season crops per pound. Their natural planting and harvesting period is in the cool time of the year. However, the crops can be grown almost all the year in temperate zones, such as coastal areas. Further inland as the weather gets warmer beyond their season, they like a little shade until they are ready to harvest, but not recommended to be replanted.

Vegetables for September - March
(Cool season)

Come in and check out the variety of cool season crops at Orchard.

By Scott Lillich, Garden Shop

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about the benefits of mulching your entire yard with Master Nursery Gold Rush in the summertime (moisture retention in soil, weed suppression, and it just plain looks good!). I also talked about my personal experience using it earlier this year and how all of my plants “popped out” against the rich black color of the Gold Rush. In the article I mentioned that we would be running a Buy 3, Get 1 Free promotion on Gold Rush through the month of August to support all of you in protecting your plants from the summer sun.

Now, cut to a couple of days ago... Driven by my enthusiasm (and appetite) for fall vegetables, I asked Randall, our Bedding Buyer, when our fall veggies were set to arrive. I was surprised and delighted when he told me that they would actually be in starting this week! With visions of my yard teeming with Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Kale, and Lettuce, I immediately began to plot my plan of attack for preparing my raised beds. The first item on my agenda: prepare my soil!

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of Master Nursery Paydirt, and I honestly believe that it is the best amendment to use when planting vegetables. It then occurred to me... with fall veggies quickly arriving, why do I not have my best veggie soil on special? The answer that came to me was that we were already running a promotion on Gold Rush and we typically run only one soil special at a time. Well, that just seemed silly! After all, our entire business model is built on the concept of helping you to be a successful gardener so you will come in and see us often.

So... I’m going to go against normal protocol and announce that, starting this Thursday, we will be running a Buy 3, Get 1 Free special on Master Nursery Paydirt through September 30th in addition to continuing the Gold Rush promotion through August as originally planned. I hope that these promotions will help you to be successful in your garden as we move into the next season.

Now that the seasons of fall and winter are upon us, here is a list of what you will see in stock at Orchard Nursery for planting to keep your garden colorful.

Color is a good indicator of winter squash maturity. When the squash turns the color it is supposed to be, cut from the vine.