Recipe ~ Grilled Chicken with Fresh Herbs

Check out this great grilled chicken recipe from Wholefoodsmarket.com I can't wait to try it on the grill this weekend when we go to the lake for our family camp-out!

 

Ingredients: 

• 3 whole chicken legs (thighs and legs attached)
• 3 bone-in chicken breasts
• 1 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (optional)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano or marjoram
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme

Method: 

Preheat a grill to medium heat. Put chicken into a large bowl, add oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat. Arrange chicken on grill grates and cook, turning occasionally, until deep golden brown and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.

While still hot, toss chicken in a large bowl with lemon juice, mustard, chives, oregano, rosemary and thyme. Transfer to a platter and serve.

Nutritional Info: 

Per Serving:260 calories (140 from fat), 15g total fat, 4g saturated fat, 105mg cholesterol, 520mg sodium, 1g carbohydrate (0g dietary fiber, 0g sugar), 29g protein

Garden Tip Tuesday ~ Tapered Tubers!

So, after planting a nice fat, round variety of beets, they turned out long and tapered instead. This occurs when they don’t have enough potassium. Not a problem, use this quick-fix from Jerry Baker’s Giant Book of Garden Solutions to get you back on track.

*Spray the plants with fish emulsion and sprinkle wood ashes on the soil in the bed. Then, every three weeks during the growing season, feed them with a liquid organic fertilizer that’s low in nitrogen and high in phosphorus and potassium.

There's an App for That! Garden Manager: Plant Alarm

Use Garden Manager to keep a log of your plants from Day 1. With features that include:

1. Various Alarms ~ You can set alarms for fertilizing, watering, spraying and so on, Custom tasks are also available.
2. Plants Photo Diary ~ Track your plants growth with photos and comments. Include widths and heights, and you can see them on the graph.
3. Sharing ~ Share photos of your plants with friends and ask for advice.
4. Find nearby florists.

 

This App has a rating of 4.7, out of 5, stars. It has been installed between 5,000 and 10,000 times. It requires Android 2.2 and up, and best of all is FREE.



Some of the user reviews have this to say,

"Much needed app

I think its the best and perhaps the only app in the market that can help you keep a log of your plant's growth from Day 1. I can only wish for few more customizations though. And maybe some sections where your plant can find a place to discuss about and view opinions. Also a widget that could provide me a graphical picture of the approx time of the seeds to germinate and sprout, so that i stop myself being too curious to take out seeds from the soil to check their growth :-D. Get it if you really need reminders to water your plants :-D"

Well, since I just downloaded this app, I'm off to the greenhouse to take some pictures of my newly planted seeds. Happy gardening, Survivalist JacLynn is signing off.

Garden Tip Tuesday ~ Leggy Seedlings

Plant leggy vegetable seedlings deeper (up to the first set of leaves) to provide a stronger start outdoors. Seedlings started indoors or in crowded greenhouses (places without enough light) may develop lanky, barren stems that topple over in the garden. As long as they grow from a single stem (rather than a rosette of leaves) and go into well-drained soil, leggy seedlings can be submerged slightly deep for extra support.


Happy gardening!

Garden Tip Tuesday ~ Trouble in Onionville!

You notice that some of your onion seedlings come up with long, dark, thickened splotches at the base. On plants that are starting to bulb, you’ll see black lesions near the base of the scales. What’s going on?

*Onion Smut! It’s a fungus that attacks only onions. Start by getting rid of any infected plants. Then treat the rest of the crop with the following Vinegar Fungus Fighter, every week for the rest of the season.

*Combine 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
               1 gal. water

Pour solution into spray bottle, and spray plans in the morning so the have time to dry.

But what if onion smut isn’t your problem? What if the top growth stars wilting and you discover that roots are turning pink or red? Then you’ve got a whole other problem. Pink Root! This disease can effect all members of the onion family, and there is no cure. You must pull and destroy the plants and then avoid planting onion plants in that area for a full 6 years. The good news? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

• Drainage ~ I like to grow my onions (and their relatives) in raised beds with plenty of organic matter worked into the soil.
• Care ~ Take care when cultivating, wounds on the skin are open door for pink root fungus.
• Control Onion Maggots ~ Their tunnels let the fungus creep into the plants.
• Shop Carefully ~ Look for varieties with pink root tolerance.
• Rotate ~ Rotate your crops!