HASSELBACK POTATOES

 I always wanted to try these, and now that I have, I will be making them more often.

HASSELBACK POTATOES

Ingredients:

5 or 6 Med. Russet Potatoes, scrubbed well and dried

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Butter mixture:

5 or 6 T. butter, melted in microwave or in small pan on stove.

Add to the melted butter:  1/4 teaspoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary, salt and black pepper.

Note:  You can sprinkle taters with Garlic and Pepper Seasoning with the first initial brush with oil.  Also sprinkle on salt and black pepper. 

Tools:

Oven 425*F pre-heated

1 Baking Pan covered in aluminum foil or parchment paper

2 Wooden Spoons or Chopsticks

1 Soft Brush

Cooking Time: 1 Hour to 75 mins.

Preparation:

Pre-heat your oven to 425*F

Scrub your pototoes well, dry them.  Set aside to dry.

Place two wooden spoons on your cutting board to get accurate slicing.  Cut off the bottom lengthwise on your dried potatoes so they sit evenly on your cutting board for slicing.

Lay your potato level on the board and slice narrowly across the length of the tater.

I found that using my tomato/onion slice guide worked very well for this step.  I could get nice accurate slices.  Slice down to the wooden handles., 

Lay out your potatoes on your baking sheet including those sliced-off bottoms.

Brush the foil and the taters with olive oil, salt and pepper along with the sliced bottoms.  If you like a bit more spice, sprinkle also with Garlic and Pepper Seasoning.   Place in 425*F oven for 15-20 mins.

You will be brushing your taters with the melted butter mixture every 15 mins.  Try to get as much of the butter mixture between the slices as you can each time.

Note:  Your cut-off bottoms, being small, will bake sooner than the rest of the taters so check them every 15 mins. and remove when they are done.

When the taters have baked for about 45 mins. you can separate the slices a bit more for the last of the butter and the baking.  Try to get the butter in between the slices as much as you can for best flavor.

An extra few sprinkles of pepper before serving adds more flavor.

Note:  If you run out of butter mixture, just melt another tablespoon or two plain for finishing.

I found that baking for about 1 hr 15 mins. worked fine for mine.

You can eat these taters fresh from the oven or you can save some for leftovers.  They are tasty even re-heated in the microwave the next day.

I personally found these taters very tasty and pleasing, even the next day.  Enjoy.

Yay, More Tomatoes

Finally, my tomatoes are not only blossoming, they are bearing lots of new fruits.

I kept the varieties separated.  In the top bowl are many Lizzanos.  There are some greenies, which I will keep on my counter to ripen later.  When I reach under the plants I can't quite see all the toms so when I pull off some, a few greens come with them.  

The bottom tomatoes are from my tiniest of plants, the Red Robins, and they are larger than the Lizzanos.

Those 2 very small plants along the bottom right with the taller radish greens between them, are Red Robins.  They only grow from 8-12" tall but give lots of fruit.  In the upper right in this photo in two cages are my 2 Lizzano tomatoes.  They have smaller cherry tomatoes than their much tinier Red Robin cousin.

The tomatoes behind the blossoming Nasturtiums are Lizzanos with their very small cherry tomatoes.

I just taste-tested them both and the Red Robins are a little bit sweeter than the Lizzanos.

I watered my garden this morning.  We are expecting low 90sF today which is much too warm for me.  I will be staying indoors reading my Mrs. Pollifax mystery series.

  Luckily I kept my books when I moved.  Yes, I kept some of my favorites and this series is one of them.  The idea is that Mrs. P, a widow living in New Brunswick, New Jersey, at the age of 63, is tired of volunteer work and just raising her geraniums and wants something more in life.  Her doctor advises she do something she really always wanted to do.  Well, when she things about it, she always wanted to be a spy when she was a kid.  With that in mind, she heads for the CIA offices in Washington D.C. and by a twist of fate, is chosen for a courier job.  The woman they expected was late for her appointment and Mrs. P happened to be their office when they entered so they thought it was their assigned courier.  She gets into the strangest problems in her new career.  There is excitement and a bit of romance here and there and some comic bits.  It all makes for great reading.  Since its been some years since I read these books (I have 8 of the 9 she wrote), all the plots are unexpected since I do not remember all the facts.

Yup. I will continue reading on this hot day, indoors with my a/c going and some Ginger ale floats to keep me compnay.

Enjoy your gardens.

I Am Enjoying Harvesting Tomatoes and Greens

 I love checking out my garden bed every day and today it was bountiful.  Today I harvested several Lizzano tomatoes.

Can you see the little red tomato at the bottom in the plant along the back edge?  Its only one of several I was able to harvest today for my luncheon salad.

In this photo you can see my Nasturtiums are starting to blossom in red, yellow and orange.  Its just the beginning.  In front of them are lettuces and thyme, which I also harvested today.  In the back are cukes on the left and Lizzano tomatoes on the right.

My cucumber plants are loaded with blossoms, but no fruit yet. 

The peppers along the top in this photo are doing well.  Lots of blossoms yet to sprout and many little green peppers on the plants.  In the foreground are Tokyo bekana with the darker green Tatsoi behind them.

Look at all the little green Lizzano tomatoes on these two plants.  I will be harvesting enough to roast many of them.  I love the flavor of roasted tomatoes.  I harvested several red ones this morning to make a nice big salad today but honestly, I was hoping for sweeter flavor.  I love having fresh tomatoes, but I would rather another variety that makes larger and sweeter ones.  That is planned for next year when I know I can transplant some tasty varieties.  This year I opted for some small plants that could be planted in containers if the beds were no built this year.  

Another view of my garden bed.  In the very front, looking very small, are my 2 Red Robin tomatoes.  They are barely a foot tall and loaded with many green tomatoes. The Kale is doing well as are the lettuces and other greens.  My Salvia on the far right in the foreground is getting bigger.  The bed is healthy.  I am very pleased to have this garden this year.  

Enjoy your gardens.

To Help Prevent Mis-shapen Cucumbers

I know its happened to me so I wanted to find out why.  Well, my friend Luke at MIgardener has some answers for me....

I have learned from this video and hope to lower my losses in my cucumber harvest this year.

I hope this information helps you as well.

I am finally getting some tomatoes.  My harvest was very small, but it was tasty.

There's nothing tastier than fresh from the garden.

Enjoy your garden everyone.

Why Are My Cucumber Leaves Wilting?

That's a good question and there are a few reasons.  Its better said by an expert so I am posting this video from Luke of MIgardener......

I was sure mine was from lack of water so that took priority.  I find no insect life on my leaves either today or the last few days when I checked.  My plants have blossoms now but still no fruits.  I am hopeful that I will harvest some fine cukes this season.

Enjoy your garden.

How To Prevent Early Transplant Disasters In Your Garden

 We all know that most transplanting is done in the spring.  But fall also has its transplanting chores.  Many grow brasssicas and fall crops to add to their garden in the late summer to harvest in fall.  Here are some tips from MIgardener Luke.

I especially like the toothpick tip.  Since I started using them several years ago, I never lost another transplant to cutworms.  It really works.

Enjoy your gardening.

How To Collect and Harvest Cucumber Seeds and Tomatoes

When you find a non-hybrid cucumber that you love and want to be sure to have them again the following year, you will want to save seeds and sow your own next year instead of paying to buy another package.  Here is a short video on how to do that....

Gary, the Host of this site, The Rusted Gardener, is very knowledgable about growing a home garden. 

Please note that this cannot be done with every crop, but for many it will work.  Some crops, like tomatoes, must have their blossoms isolated from passing pollinators which can cross-breed that tomato with little effort.  For those, you need to bag your early blossom, using a mesh bag tied around the stem as soon as you spot it and before it forms a fruit to keep all pollinators away from it.

To be sure it gets pollinated, you just have to tap the branch that's holding the blossom at least once a day which pollinates it without critters.

Once the tomato is growing, you can remove the bag, but mark the tomato with a ribbon or cloth so you know that is the tomato from which you must save your seeds, and not any of the other tomatoes.  When the tomato is fully over-ripened, you can save its seeds.

In this photo below I have a newly-forming tomato blossom bagged. Its closed tightly on the top to prevent any critters from getting in the bag and cross-pollinating that blossom.

Do Not Save seeds from any Hybrid variety.  Its already a crossbred plant and if you save those seeds, you cannot be sure what you will get once you plant those seeds.  It could have traits of either parent or even their grandparents, so be very careful which plants you choose to save seeds.

In the case of tomato varieties, you need to save your seeds from an open-pollinated variety or heirloom but none from those marked F1.  An F1 is a crossbred variety.

Enjoy your garden.