New Yard Birds in the Home Kitchen Garden Store

New Yard Birds in the Home Kitchen Garden Store

Yard Birds are adorable, whimsical garden sculptures made from tools such as shovels, rakes, hoes, and cultivators. These clever pieces of folk art come from the small town of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania where the artist has worked for years repairing lawn, garden, and farm equipment. The artist is a skilled machinist who designs his yard art and builds every piece by hand. Usually, he sells his lawn sculptures at an annual street festival in Lewisburg, but the Home Kitchen Garden Store posts photos of Yard Birds that you can purchase for shipment within the United States.

The Store recently posted a new batch of Yard Birds. Even if you aren’t shopping for lawn art at this point, do yourself a favor and have a look at these amusing sculptures.

http://www.homekitchengarden.net/yard-birds

Make and Can Tomato Sauce

Make and Can Tomato Sauce from a Home Kitchen Garden

Here’s a handy step-by-step video that demonstrates how to prepare tomatoes and cook them into tomato sauce. It also shows how to can the tomato sauce for long-term storage.

Learn more about canning at http://www.homekitchengarden.com

Fried Green Tomatoes from a Small Kitchen Garden

Fried Green Tomatoes from a Small Kitchen Garden

My friend Kerry gardens in Maine, and grows all kinds of plants in containers. She recently wrote about cooking with green tomatoes, and provided a recipe that she describes as “delicious.” I’ve never eaten a fried green tomato I liked, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. Please check out her recipe at About.com: Container Gardening.

Find information about harvesting tomatoes to assure the best possible fruit at The Vine-Ripened Tomato Lie blog. You might reduce the number of green tomatoes you have to deal with at the end of the season.

Monthly Photo Contest for Gardeners

For several months, I’ve been a fan of this photo contest specifically for bloggers—and more specifically for bloggers interested in gardening. Have a look:

GGW Picture This Photo Contest

Since its inception in April 2009, GGW’s Picture This Photo Contest has become a popular repeating event in the blogging community. A guest judge from the garden photography or publishing world poses a theme, then participants post their entry on their blog and leave us links to their post and their photo. At the end of the month, we post the announcement of the winners, who are entitled to display their winner’s badge on their own site.

I submitted an entry last fall: http://www.smallkitchengarden.net/small-kitchen-garden/picture-this-from-my-small-kitchen-garden and hope to get myself organized enough to enter a few more times in the coming months. Good luck if you decide to enter!

Indoor Small Kitchen Garden: Herbs

Indoor Small Kitchen Garden: Herbs

To grow produce indoors during the winter, you need a lot of light… probably a lot of artificial light if you’re trying to grow vegetables and fruit. However, many herbs do well with far less light.

According to Allecia Vermillion of GateHouse News Service

Certain herbs thrive indoors. Here are some basics for starting an indoor kitchen garden:

Basil: Once you have a ready supply of this favorite, you’ll be amazed how many recipes call for its fragrant green leaves. Basil needs more water than most other herbs.

Oregano: Transplant a cutting from an outdoor plant into a pot and flavor your pasta sauces year-round.

Mint: This flavorful herb can take over in a garden, but easily grows by itself in a pot.

Parsley: Give it a sunny windowsill and watch this hardy kitchen staple thrive.

Rosemary: Strong and fragrant, this herb can grow all year in a sunny spot. Don’t overwater it.

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I second the recommendation about basil. It’s incredibly easy to grow… I started some by accident one year as I explained in After Frost in a Small Kitchen Garden.