This year I decided to make a non-traditional, nature-inspired Christmas wreath for my front porch. 

I made the base with balsam fir tips and then tucked in a few sprigs of pine from my backyard.

Then I visited to the Dollar Store in search of the perfect decor. When you live in rural Maine, big craft stores like Hobby Lobby and Michaels are miles from home. So you learn to make do with Dollar Store finds.

I was uncomfortable with the traditional glitzy, glittery Christmas decor and started looking for something closer to nature.

And then I spied it. This adorable little owl was tucked behind the other decorations. I knew I needed him on my wreath!

The flowers and leaves seemed right for making him a cozy home.

​It may not be everyone's concept of what a Christmas wreath should look like, but it makes me smile in the morning.

​I'd love to see photos of your Christmas wreaths!

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I'm always looking for new ways to use the abundance of zucchini and summer squash from my garden and discovered this delicious creamed zucchini and summer squash soup this year.

​It is easy to make, packed with nutrients, and is surprisingly flavorful.

1 small to medium Zucchini
1 t0 2 small Yellow Summer Squash
2 medium Potatoes
Chicken Base (Better Than Boullion)
3 Slices American Cheese
​Dash of Garlic Pepper

1. Peel and cube the potatoes.
2. Dice the zucchini and summer squash. If you are using large zucchini or summer squash remove the seeds. They do not need to be peeled.
3. Cover the veggies with water and add the chicken base to taste. If you are using Better Than Boullion (or similar base) you can adjust the amount after the veggies are cooked, but I think the veggies are more flavorful if you cook them in the chicken base. Likewise, if you are using chicken broth instead of chicken base, simmer your veggies in the broth to cook them.
4. Simmer the veggies until they are soft.
5. Puree the veggies with an immersion blender until they are thoroughly blended and no chunks of veggies remain.
6. Add a dash of garlic pepper to taste. 
7. Adjust the chicken base as desired.
8. Add 3 slices of shredded American cheese and heat over low heat, stirring frequently, until the cheese is melted. I used white American as that is what I had on hand, but you can use yellow if you prefer.

Notes:
Some prefer to add cream or sour cream to a creamed vegetable soup, but I like it just fine without it. If you intend to add cream to your soup, use care to barely cover the veggies with water when cooking them, as adding  cream later will thin out the soup.

​You could substitute cheddar cheese for the American cheese, if you prefer.

I also used 2 red pontiac potatoes from the garden. You can use any type of potato you have on hand, but many recommend russet potatoes for potato soups.

Creamed zucchini and summer squash soup makes a great lunch, but can be served for dinner too. I paired it with oven toasted ham, cheese, and tomato sandwiches on crusty rolls.

I'm always looking for new ways to use zucchini. Little did I know that you could use zucchini to make this delicious chocolate cake! 

Trust me, You will not believe how moist and delicious this chocolate zucchini cake is. 

Honestly, I think it is the best chocolate cake I have ever made from scratch. The flavor reminds me a chewy brownie with the texture of a fluffy cake. If you love chcocolate cake you owe it to yourself to give this recipe a try!

I made peanut butter frosting for mine but you can use canned vanilla or chocolate  frosting or whip up a batch of cream cheese frosting if you prefer.

​

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup Hershey’s cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs (lightly beaten)
• 3 cups shredded zucchini

​

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
2. Add the eggs and oil and stir to mix completely.
3. Add the shredded zucchini and mix thoroughly.
4. Pour into a greased 9” X 13” pan or two 8-inch round pans. I used an angel food cake pan.
5. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

 

Notes: 
I used a small zucchini directly from the garden. This likely affected how moist and fudgy the cake came out. You could use a big, overgown zucchini for this recipe but my experience has been that zucchini bread also comes out better with a youg zucchini.

Some recipes for Chocolate Zucchini Cake use all white sugar. I liked the boost in flavor from the brown sugar.

​Likewise, some recipes call for walnuts in the Chocolate Zucchini Cake. I'm sure walnuts would be good, but it is perfectly fine without it.

I've been growing Brandywine tomatoes in my garden ever since a friend gave me some of her extra seedlings about 10 years ago. We love them for eating fresh, in sandwiches, and on burgers. The first brandywine tomato of the season is always used for BLTs as their flavor is hard to beat.

If you are wondering if you should try Brandywine tomatoes, I've put together a little info to help you make your decision.

​Brandywine tomatoes are prized for their exceptional flavor without the high acidity of many beefsteak tomatoes. The tomatoes are large and meaty, making them ideal for a slicing tomato.
​
If you have issues with acid reflux or don’t like acidic tomatoes, Brandywine is a good choice for you.

Brandywine tomatoes have been passed down for generations. They were introduced in the late 1800s with both Johnson and Stokes and Burpees laying claim to the original Brandywine tomato.

​Other stories attribute their origin to an Ohio farm. Still, others claim the Amish have been growing these wonderful heirlooms for over 100 years.
​
Whatever their origin, farmers and home gardeners have been saving their seeds and keeping their line pure since at least the 1880s.

You may wonder if Brandywine tomatoes earned their name because they can be used for making wine. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Brandywine tomatoes were named for Brandywine Creek in Chester County, PA, where farmers first grew the Brandywine tomatoes.

However, I did find this handy page on making tomato wine that you might find interesting. I have not tried this recipe (or any wine recipe), but check it out if you are so inclined.

​If you are looking for the perfectly shaped globe tomato to grace your table, Brandywine isn’t going to fill the bill. Brandywine tomatoes are large, lumpy, irregularly shaped tomatoes. They often have some cat facing on the blossom end of the tomato. This all makes Brandywine challenging to slice or dice in perfectly shaped sections.

Modern tomato hybrids, like those you buy in the grocery store, have been bred for their appearance because shoppers are more likely to buy perfected shaped and colored tomatoes. In the process, some natural tomato flavor has also been lost.
​
Brandywine retains all the natural flavor of vine-ripe tomatoes

Brandywine is an heirloom tomato and will produce new Brandywine plants from the seeds. However, care must be taken that your Brandywine tomato plants have not cross-pollinated with another type of tomato. Seeds from a cross-pollinated tomato plant will not produce Brandywine tomatoes identical to those in your garden.

Because tomato plants are self-pollinated, they do not depend on flying insects to carry pollen from another plant to pollinate them. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. You can decrease the risk of cross-pollination by growing your Brandywine tomatoes at least 25 feet from other tomato varieties in your garden, says Selected Plants. Planting flowers in between will also help to prevent cross-pollination.
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Remember that cross-pollination is only a concern if you intend to save seeds for the following year. Cross-pollination does not affect the quality of the fruit on your Brandywine tomato plants.

​Brandywine tomatoes make excellent canned tomatoes and can be used for sauces too. But there are some things you should know. Because Brandywine tomatoes are low in acid, it is vital that you add lemon juice or citric acid when canning them.

The odd shape of the Brandywine tomatoes makes peeling them difficult, even after blanching them in boiling water. In addition, Brandywine tomatoes have a more significant core that needs to be removed before canning them. While you can make flavorful canned tomatoes and sauces from Brandywine tomatoes, they are labor intensive to prepare.
​
If you cook your tomatoes with the peeling intact and use a food mill to remove the seeds and peels, Brandywine tomatoes may be a good choice for you. Likewise, if you make your sauce by blending the entire tomato (peel, seeds, and all), Brandywine should work for you.

Brandywine is definitely one of my favorite tomatoes for eating fresh or for sandwiches. They are also good in stir-fries, fresh salsa, and even in a salad.

Although I like the flavor of canned Brandywine tomatoes, I only can them if I have them leftover at the end of the season. I find Heinz Processor tomatoes easier to can and grow them for that purpose.

I planted blazing stars (liatris) in my perennial bed last year. I had never grown them before and wasn't sure what to expect. Last year they produced a few small blooms. This year they really put on a show.

I love the splash of purple in the flowerbed, but the real delight is that blazing stars are magnets for bees and butterflies. 

This monarch has been hanging in the flowerbed fluttering from one blazing star to another. 

Bees of all shapes and sizes have also taken up residence on my  blazing stars.

If you are looking for perennials that attract bees and butterflies, blazing stars, also known as gayfeather, are a great choice. These perennial bulbs (corms) don't take a lot of care and can be planted in the spring. The first year's blooms aren't spectacular (although they are attractive) but you will be amazed by what they will do in coming years.

Technically, blazing stars grow from corms, not bulbs, but many gardeners refer to them as bulbs. Corms are thicked roots that look a lot like a bulb. Corms lack the scaley or fleshy leaves or sections on the outside. The roots and stems grow from the bottom (and top) of the corm, whereas a bulb contains the stem and leaves inside the bulb.

Blazing stars can be planted in the spring while the weather is still cool. This gives them time to develop strong roots before they send up shoots.

If you have existing blazing stars in your garden and you want to move them, do so in late fall once the foliage has died back or in the early spring.

Newly planted blazing stars will bloom in 70 to 90 days. The first year's blooms may be small, but they will increase in size with the coming years. It typically takes 3 years for blazing stars to reach their full glory.

​Established blazing stars bloom in midsummer.

I don't profess to be an expert in ridding the yard and garden of Japanese Beetles, but I can offer you my experiences with trying to rid my yard and garden of Japanese Beetles. Here's what I've done to get rid of Japanese Beetles.

We have been overrun with Japanese Beetles this year. There are usually a few on my rose bushes and I handpick them and drop them in soapy water to keep them under control. But this year the Japanese Beetles descended like a plague.

It all began with some leaf damage.  I wasn't overly concerned as it was only a few leaves and I could easily keep up with hand picking them.

Finding them devouring the flowers concerned me more, but I continued the daily ritual of hand picking them and dropping them in soapy water. 

Then, they attacked my plum trees. On a sunny afternoon hundreds (if not thousands) of them were swarming the canopy of the tree.

I decided to try a Japanese Beetle Trap. Japanese Beetle Traps work by attracting Beetle with lure. The lure contains both floral scents and phermones to attarct the beetles. The beetles fall into the bag and cannot get back out.

Japanese Beetle traps don't pose a risk to other insects, are not toxic to humans and pets, and don't contaminate the environment.  It seemed like the ideal solution for my Japanese Beetle problem,

I hung the bag halfway between my fruit trees and my rose bushes with at least 20 feet between the trap and the trees and roses.

I was delighted to see them swarm the trap and drop into the bag. I thought the problem was solved. But I soon learned the trap could not handle the Japanese Beetle infestation I was facing.

I gave up and sprayed the fruit trees and rose bushes with Bonide Fruit Tree Spray. I didn't want to spray my roses because it will kill off bees and other flying insects, too.

​But the way I see it I had two choices. Spray them and risk killing off other beneficial insects or let the Japanese Beetles devour my fruit trees and rose bushes.

Update: It has been two days since I sprayed the fruit trees and roses. The Japanese Beetles are still devouring my rose bushes, but there are fewer on the fruit trees. I took the Japanese Beetle Trap with the lure down and that seems to be helping, too.

From what I have read, the lure in the trap can attract Japanese Beetles from miles away. I decided I already had enough beetles to contend with and didn't need to lure them in from across the countryside.

If you decide to try a Japanese Beetle Trap to control the Japanese Beetles in your yard or garden, be aware that you may attract more beetles to you yard!

After days (weeks?) of battling Japanese Beetles with little success, I decided to give Sevin Concentrate a try.

It worked like a charm. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. Here's how I applied it with my Ortho Hose End Sprayer.

1. Pour the concentrate in the hose end sprayer bottle.
2. Set the dial to 4 ounces per gallon.
3. Attach it to the hose.
4. Use the spray setting to wet the foliage on the affected trees/shrubs.

That's it! Within a few hours all the Japanese Beetles were gone.

Always follow manufacturere's directions and avoid contact with the spray. If you are spraying an area over your head, stand back as far as possible and avoid looking directly up to avoid getting droplets on you face.

I've found the safest application for me is to take a shower immediately after spraying and to put my garden clothes directly in the wash. If you are spraying a small bush or shrub, this may not be necessary, but I found it difficult to spray fruit trees without getting some residue on me and my clothes.

I have always loved feeding birds and watching them as they flock to the feeder. While I get a wide selection of birds to my feeder over the course of the year, chickadees are the most common and remain all year long.

This time of year they are the first bird to my feeder in the morning and are often waiting for a refill before the crack of dawn. I enjoy their company as I sip my morning coffee and contemplate the tasks I want to complete for the day.

For me, feeding the birds allows me to make use of my garden long after the time for planting and growing has passed.

If you enjoy feeding winter birds you may be interested to learn that providing high-energy food sources, like suet and black oil sunflower seeds, may make the difference on whether the lovely chickadee survives the winter or not. 

​According to Wild Birds Unlimited, offering food for chickadees during periods when the temperatures drop below 10 degrees F nearly doubles their survival rate.

​Without supplemental food a mere 37% of chickadees survive the winter, but with your help via a feeder filled with seed the survival rate surges to 69%.

It has recently come to my attention that working with potting mix comes with some health risks that no one has ever told us about. Because the soil is typically stored in a plastic bag — often in the sun — it provides the perfect breeding ground (warm and moist) for  bacteria and fungi. Normally, this wouldn't cause a problem, but when that bacteria is legionella bacteria, it can lead to legionnaire's disease, a potentially fatal form of pneumonia.

Reports of deaths from legionella bacteria are primarily from Australia and Japan, but are not unknown in the United States, explains a 2000 CDC report.

A July 2017 report by the CDC also lists commercial bags of compost as a possible source of the legionella bacteria. Some commercial potting mixes (and compost) tested in the US have tested positive to legionella bacteria, the CDC further explains.

While the risk appears to be higher in Australia where 73 percent of the soil samples tested contained legionella, gardeners in the U.S. should be aware of the risks associated with opening and using bags of potting soil or compost.

It is believed that inhalation of the bacteria is the primary means of infection, but the CDC has not ruled out contact with the skin.

People with respiratory disorders, such as COPD, those with compromised immune systems and the elderly are at the highest risk, but that doesn't mean it can't infect younger and healthier gardeners, too.

Observe the following recommendations to reduce the risk of exposure to the legionella bacteria.

• Wear gloves when opening bags and working with potting mix and/or compost.
• Wear a face mask. Exposure typically occurs via inhalation of the bacteria.
• Open bags in a well-ventilated area.
• Open bags away from you.
• Do not smoke while handling the soil.
• Wash your hands (even if you were wearing gloves) before eating, smoking or touching your face.

I'm certainly not recommending that you avoid potting soils and compost completely, but never hurts to be cautious, especially if you are at a high risk due to health and/or age.

Then . . . I moved.

When I set the AeroGarden up again it just didn't grow very well. I thought I had damaged it during the move. I changed the water and scrubbed out the basin. I replaced the air stone. I checked that the pump was working. The lights looked fine, but my plants still weren't growing as they should. 

I planted new seeds in new pods.

My seeds didn't germinate well and when they did, the plant growth was stunted. Many of the leaves developed brown margins.

I was puzzled, until I visited the AeroGarden site.

According to the site, my well water might be the culprit. Apparently hard water can prevent germination and cause both stunted growth and browning leaves.

Once again, I emptied the basin and scrubbed it clean. This time I filled it with filtered water. Within days my seeds germinated and showed signs of vigorous new growth.

I am growing petunias and lemon basil in it now. I can't say for sure how long ago I planted the petunias as I forgot to reset the 'days planted' counter. I know that I planted them after Christmas. That means they can't have been growing longer than 40 days or so.

I am so excited to have solved the problem and to have petunias blooming inside as the snow falls outside!

If you are having issues with your AeroGarden, or similar hydroponics unit, try using filtered water instead of your well water. It solved my problems. I hope it solves yours too.

Nearly everyone knows that houseplants grow slowly during the winter and don't require fertilizer, but what you might not know is how to tell when it is time to begin a regular routine of feeding your hungry plants.

Most sources recommend withholding fertilizer from September or October to March, but that's only a rule of thumb. You need to resume feeding your houseplants as soon as you see signs of new growth bursting forth, typically in early spring.