Great Gardening Books: Front Yard Idea Book
Lately I have been reading a bunch of books to get ideas for my front yard. We eventually are going to need to redo our driveway (it’s a terribly graded gravel driveway that turns into a river every time it rains and all of our gravel ends up in the road) 
I came across Taunton’s Front Yard Idea Book: How to Create a Welcoming Entry and Expand Your Outdoor Living Space (Idea Books). What a great book. There is a chapter on driveways and it explains all the different types of driveway material. This book is a great reference and would be great to read before you do any kind of driveway/hardscape installation. There a tons of great photos (which always make a great book better in my opinion). This book is a definite read if you’re looking for front yard ideas!
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More Volunteers Please!
This year I have volunteer petunias growing up throughout my flowerbeds. I don’t know if they’re coming from my compost or some that I bought. I don’t really mind them though, they are beautiful. Here are a few of the different colors I have popping up.
I may try to save some seeds from them for next year. I also have squash vines and tomatoes that sprout up throughout the gardens as well as this butterfly bush that sprouted in my driveway (when it’s finished blooming I plan on moving it).
I actually don’t mind the volunteers and usually leave them where they are or occasionally I transplant them somewhere better suited for them. What kinds of volunteers sprout up in your gardens?
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That’s One Hot Dog!
The longer the tongue the hotter the dog!
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In the Limelight
One of my favorite plants is the ‘Limelight’ hydrangea. I’ve confessed my love of all flowers green before. I bought this shrub as a tiny stick from a mail order nursery several years ago. It’s now taller than I am and blooms beautifully every year. One great thing about this hydrangea is that it blooms late summer through the fall, which is nice since many other flowers are fading at this time.
The blooms on ‘Limelight’ hydrangeas come out green then slowly change to white then to pink in the fall. I leave the blooms on mine till the following spring, they add some interest to garden in winter.
If you’re looking for dried hydrangea blooms, this plant makes the prettiest one. I’m not one to have dried flowers in the house, but I’ve dried some for friends. Depending on when you pick them they dry green or pink.
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A Peck of Pickled Peppers?
I was at a local farm buying peaches 2 weeks ago and they had banana peppers for 6 for $1. Since Mr Chiots and a friend LOVE hot peppers on their pizza, I decided to buy some and try my hand a pickling them. I looked up a few recipes and finally settled on a combination of 2.
So do they pass the test? Yes, Mr Chiots had some on pizza the other day and loved them. So I guess next year I’ll be growing banana peppers (good thing I saved some seeds) and pickling them for a years’ worth of pizza toppings.
Here’s the Recipe I used:
PICKLED HOT PEPPERS
1 1/2 lb of banana peppers
6 cups vinegar
2 cups water
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon non-iodized salt (kosher or pickling salt)
Cut peppers into 1/2 inch pieces. Combine vinegar, water, garlic & salt in a large sauce pot. Bring mixture to a boil: reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes, remove garlic. Pack peppers into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Ladle hot pickling liquid over peppers, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Remove air bubbles (by running knife around jar edges). Adjust 2 piece caps, process 10-minutes in boiling water canner.
If you don’t want to process your peppers you can just keep them in the fridge. Since I was only doing half a batch this is what I did, they’ll be eaten up quickly around here.
Anyone out there have a pickled hot pepper recipe they love?
