All of our plants were donated by Red Butte Garden and Arboretum. With the generous funds from the Whole Kids Foundation, the school was able to build four additional wood raised beds. We also had a farmer's pump installed!
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Six Herb Pesto--Use Your Summer Herbs!
1 cup basil, loosely packed
1 cup parsley, loosely packed
1/4 sage, loosely packed
1/c cup majoram or oregano, loosely packed
1 Tbs chopped rosemary
1 Tbs chopped thyme
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
1. Blend Half the Basil With Nuts, Cheese, and Garlic: Combine half of the basil with the nuts, cheese, and garlic cloves in a blender or food processor. Blend until the ingredients are finely chopped.
2. Blend the Rest of the Basil: Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the rest of the basil. Blend until a uniform paste has formed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Pour in the Olive Oil: With the blender running, pour in the olive oil. Less olive oil will make a paste good for spreading on sandwiches and pizzas; more will make a sauce better for pastas and stirring into soup. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue blending as needed until the olive oil is mixed into the basil and the pesto looks uniform.
4. Taste and Adjust: Taste the pesto and add salt, more garlic, nuts or cheese as needed to taste.
5. Storing Pesto: Pesto will darken and brown quickly, but will still be tasty for several days. For best appearance, use it right away. If storing, store it in the smallest container possible and thoroughly press the pesto to eliminate air pockets. Pour a little olive oil over the surface, cover, and refrigerate for up to a week. Pesto can also be frozen for several months.
1 cup parsley, loosely packed
1/4 sage, loosely packed
1/c cup majoram or oregano, loosely packed
1 Tbs chopped rosemary
1 Tbs chopped thyme
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
1. Blend Half the Basil With Nuts, Cheese, and Garlic: Combine half of the basil with the nuts, cheese, and garlic cloves in a blender or food processor. Blend until the ingredients are finely chopped.
2. Blend the Rest of the Basil: Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the rest of the basil. Blend until a uniform paste has formed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Pour in the Olive Oil: With the blender running, pour in the olive oil. Less olive oil will make a paste good for spreading on sandwiches and pizzas; more will make a sauce better for pastas and stirring into soup. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue blending as needed until the olive oil is mixed into the basil and the pesto looks uniform.
4. Taste and Adjust: Taste the pesto and add salt, more garlic, nuts or cheese as needed to taste.
5. Storing Pesto: Pesto will darken and brown quickly, but will still be tasty for several days. For best appearance, use it right away. If storing, store it in the smallest container possible and thoroughly press the pesto to eliminate air pockets. Pour a little olive oil over the surface, cover, and refrigerate for up to a week. Pesto can also be frozen for several months.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Moon Carrots--Underused Plants
The moon carrot, Seseli gummiferum, originates from Crimea and can reach 4 ft. tall. As is typical with biennials (plants that complete their life cycle in two years), the plant remains in a basal rosette the
first year. The second year a thick flower stalk arises bearing many white flowers clustered in large, flat umbels. Blooms are continuous
and generous from midsummer through fall. The moon carrot can grow in full sun to part shade and prefers moderate to xeric watering conditions. If you allow the seed heads to ripen and fall, you will have many new plants in the garden in years to follow.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Growing an Ozone Garden--School Garden
Growing an ozone sensitive garden for a school science program would be an amazing way to incorporate visual results to a real world problem.
"The ozone monitoring garden is full of plants that scientists have found to be ozone-sensitive. When exposed to high levels of ozone, each of these plants shows damage on their leaves. Older leaves have the most damage. Plants with ozone damage have very fine colored spots on the upper surfaces of their leaves, and some leaves also turn yellow. Ozone sensitive plants growing in the garden include cutleaf coneflower, cardinal flower, flowering dogwood, and black-eyed susan. All of these species are fairly common and easy to grow, so can serve well for educational gardens.
Students, teachers, and public visitors to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center can learn and teach about atmospheric chemistry and public health with the garden, and can learn about setting up their own ozone monitoring programs."
Here is the link to their site: http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/outreach/ozonegarden.html
The National Park Service has a list of plants that are sensitive to ozone. According to the site species considered sensitive are those that typically exhibit foliar injury at or near ambient ozone concentrations in fumigation chambers and/or are species for which ozone foliar injury symptoms in the field have been documented by more than one observer.
Bioindicator species for ozone injury meet all or most of the following criteria:
The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has created an ozone monitoring garden that a school program could replicate with plants suitable to their gardening zone.
"The ozone monitoring garden is full of plants that scientists have found to be ozone-sensitive. When exposed to high levels of ozone, each of these plants shows damage on their leaves. Older leaves have the most damage. Plants with ozone damage have very fine colored spots on the upper surfaces of their leaves, and some leaves also turn yellow. Ozone sensitive plants growing in the garden include cutleaf coneflower, cardinal flower, flowering dogwood, and black-eyed susan. All of these species are fairly common and easy to grow, so can serve well for educational gardens.
Students, teachers, and public visitors to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center can learn and teach about atmospheric chemistry and public health with the garden, and can learn about setting up their own ozone monitoring programs."
Here is the link to their site: http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/outreach/ozonegarden.html
The National Park Service has a list of plants that are sensitive to ozone. According to the site species considered sensitive are those that typically exhibit foliar injury at or near ambient ozone concentrations in fumigation chambers and/or are species for which ozone foliar injury symptoms in the field have been documented by more than one observer.
Bioindicator species for ozone injury meet all or most of the following criteria:
- species exhibit foliar symptoms in the field at ambient ozone concentrations that can be easily recognized as ozone injury by subject matter experts
- species ozone sensitivity has been confirmed at realistic ozone concentrations in exposure chambers
- species are widely distributed regionally
- species are easily identified in the field
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Bees!
Hunt's Bumble Bee Bombus huntii
What's Blooming Late July
Guara Gaura lindheimeri
Hidcote Lavender Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote'
Liatris spicata 'Kobold'
Ornamental Fountain Grass Pennisetum orietale
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