Friday Favorite: Quercetin
This Friday favorite is for Mr Chiots, who suffers terribly from seasonal allergies for the entire spring/summer/fall. In the years we’ve been married he’s pretty much always been on some sort of prescription for them, but they all quit working after a year or two and he has to move on to something else. The drowsiness and other side effects were also an issue for him with the prescriptions. Four years ago, a friend recommended trying Quercetin. Low and behold, this product is a lifesaver for him. He LOVES it!!! It works beautifully for his allergies (another bonus is that it’s very inexpensive).
I thought I’d share here in case any of you suffer from allergies and would like to give it a try. He takes two capsules at breakfast, one at lunch, and two at supper. He’s tried other brands of Quercetin and this one with added C and digestive enzymes works best for him. His favorite part is that there are no side effects, no drowsiness! So, if you also suffer, give this a try, it may just work for you as well.
Do you have seasonal allergies?
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Tips and Tricks
I’m an efficient person, my mind is always trying to figure out how to maximize time and effort. I probably missed my calling in life and should have become someone who consults businesses on efficiency and process. When I garden, my mind is always trying to find ways to maximize my time and effort. There’s always a yard stick in my garden, laying in wait for planting and seeding time. I noticed this year that my yardstick was no longer legible. After considering my options, I realized that marking my long handled garden tools would be the best way to have a measuring stick at hand all the time.
Long handled tools are generally long enough to mark out at least 3 and a half feet, which is about the most I ever need. Now I can start measuring out the distance between my tomato and pepper stakes without hunting for the yardstick.
How do you measure for planting?
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Seasonal Goodness
It’s rhubarb season here in Maine, my six rhubarb plants are finally mature enough that I can harvest as much rhubarb as I want. Three of my plants are old fashioned rhubarb and three are ‘Glaskins Perpetual’ rhubarb (which means it’s supposed to be harvested all summer long).
I make a variety of rhubarb products, two of our favorites are rhubarb syrup to mix with soda water and rhubarb BBQ sauce. A decent amount of rhubarb finds its way into the freezer to make strawberry rhubarb semifreddo in the middle of winter. Rhubarb is one of those things that people seem to love or hate. I especially love the tartness of it and the unique flavor it imparts.
Do you love or hate rhubarb?
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Garden Reading
I’m always thankful that Amazon has a wide variety of used books for sale. In fact, I appreciate that it gives used bookstores a great outlet to sell their books across the country. It also saves me searching high and low for books I want, especially those that are out of print. Most recenlty, I purchased ‘The Intimate Garden’ by Gordon & Mary Hayward. I have all of Gordon’s books, since he’s a Northeast gardener, I find his books to be extremely useful for me.
This book was of special interest to me, because it chronicles their personal gardens throughout the 20 years or so they have been gardening there (in 2005 when the book was published). I’m always interested to see gardens as they grow and mature and throughout the seasons as well. I’ve always thought more gardening magazines should have gardens that are featured each month as they grow and develop. I’m always happy to purchase books that chronicle the development of a garden as well. Way too often we see gardens at their peak, both seasonally and in maturity. But in reality, gardening is the process, not the final product. Way too often we see the final product and not the process, which is what matters most to many of us.
While I don’t especially want to incorporate his garden design ideas into my gardens, I can appreciate his principles and advice. I can glean planting ideas and recommendations for specific plants as well. Most notably in this book, he used Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium) for a hedge around his herb garden. As I’m planning a hedge around my main edible garden, this was of interest to me. Originally, I planned on using beech, but now I’m thinking this is a much better option, especially since it’s native (and it will be about half the price of a beech hedge).
What are you gleaning from gardening books this week?
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Too Early
My peppers are blooming, they’re still indoors under the grow lights. This year I followed the MOFGA seed starting guide, it recommends seeding peppers on March 21st. That’s a little too early. I’ll be pinching off these blooms, so the plant can put energy towards growth.
Peppers, tomatoes, zinnias, and other heat loving flowering and vegetables don’t do well with cooler temperatures. Most won’t even set fruit at lower temperatures, thus there’s not reason to seed them or try to get them to flower extra early. I’m making a note in my seed starting guide to start peppers when I start tomatoes (April 15th).
Did you start anything too early this year?
