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Visit our Flower Shop to find your Easter flowers for table top and hostess gifts. Beautifully blooming hydrangeas, azaleas, garden baskets and Easter grass will add spring color to your Easter décor. Bring in your own container for custom centerpieces and arrangements. |
April showers bring Easter flowers. And so does the Flower Shop!
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By Randall Barnes, Bedding Department Manager I was heavily inspired to focus on vegetables and their seasons while attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and enjoying the year round farmer's market for five years; I'd start out at Old Country Deli for the ribs. After Cal Poly, I moved to Ithaca, New York and enjoyed eating at the Moosewood Restaurant, while attending Cornell University. That restaurant is a pilgrimage location for vegetarian dining. Since then, I've enjoyed shopping and visiting vegetable markets throughout the United States and Europe. We invite you to come in and check out the many varieties of vegetables we'll be carrying throughout the next several months for the warm season. I hope you enjoy the information. What Do the Terms "Warm" Or "Cool" Season Mean? "Warm" or "Cold" season crops are common descriptive terms for the types of vegetables and refer to more than the necessary weather conditions for growing them. Cool Season Crops A cool season crop is mostly grown for its 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 they are not recommended to be replanted. (Cool season)
Warm Season Crops
Setting "fruit" (eggplants, peppers, squash, tomatoes, etc.) is the objective of warm season crops. The crops require soil warmth and short days to germinate, but need long days and higher temperatures to form and ripen fruit. Early varieties need less total heat than later ones. Late varieties need more heat to mature. The early varieties are good for the home gardener who lives in an area with a short growing season, or for the gardener who wishes to make two plantings. (Warm season)
Figuring Out Planting Time Our area is not subject to prolonged frost or water saturated soil. However, this doesn't mean that you can plant crops all year round. Warm season crops need warm temperatures, for example. In many cases, you will not speed up your harvest by planting earlier than suggested. Plants grow more slowly in cool weather, so earlier planted vegetables of the same type end up being harvested at the same time as those planted later. For cool season crops, planting them early in their season and getting them established will give them optimal growing conditions.
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| When we celebrate Easter, I am reminded of how my mother used to color eggs naturally with onion skins, turmeric, red cabbage and other vegetable scraps. The eggs were softly colored and really beautiful. My favorite was always red cabbage which turns the eggs teal blue! Coloring eggs naturally is a great way to teach kids to be good stewards of their environment. Every part of the egg is used, even the shells. Grind them up and scatter about an inch deep into the soil around your houseplants and gardens. The shells have much-needed natural nutrients! Now there’s no real “recipe,” but here’s how I do it. You can make the dyes ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator Natural Easter Egg Coloring
To make turmeric colored eggs, place two tablespoons of turmeric in 1½ cups water. Stir and place in pan. Cook until it starts to boil. Remove, let it cool but don’t strain. Add a teaspoon or so of vinegar. Place eggs in dye, stirring to coat. When you remove the eggs, gently wipe off the turmeric with a soft cloth or run them very quickly under running water. Depending upon how long they sit in the dye, the eggs made with yellow onions skins will be pale yellow to dark amber. Red onion skins produce eggs that are brick/brown red. Red cabbage is the winner; it makes beautiful teal blue eggs! Turmeric makes the eggs more brilliantly yellow than the marigolds my dad used to plant in our tiny front lawn. Our thanks to Ron Wilson of Natorp’s Garden Stores in Ohio and Kentucky for this wonderful article. |
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What common name are Gypsophila flowers usually known by? 
The winner will be announced in Orchard's next online newsletter. Winner must bring an ID to the nursery to claim the prize. Prize must be picked up in person. Employees are not eligible for this contest.
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What You'll Need:
Step by Step:
Serves 5.
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