Parks Brothers Greenhouses

It’s Okra Season!  And if you’re like us, you’re picking it left and right.  And after frying it day after day, we thought you might like a new recipe for your okra.  This is Claudette’s Special Okra Salad.  It’s simple, refreshing, and oh so delicious!  Happy Eating!!!

Ingredients:
Chopped okra, enough for one meal
Corn Meal
3 or 4 slices bacon
One or two fresh tomatoes
1/2 onion

Directions:
Fry okra with corn meal, drain on paper towel
Fry bacon, drain on paper towel
Chop tomato and onion
Mix all ingredients together and serve

If you have a favorite summertime recipe, send it to us.  We would love to feature some great recipes on our website.  You can submit your recipe to golden@parksbrothers.com.  And if you have a photo of the dish, send that too.

See you at the Greenhouse!

New this year from BALL are three varieties of Black Petunias.  Apparently they got a lot of attention at the OFA show and one variety, Black Velvet, won the Greenhouse Grower’s Industry Choice Award. 

Here are the new varieties Black Velvet (left) and Phantom:

And Pinstritpe:

All of these are supposed to have a more mounded growth habit similar to regular petunias.  I think these will be better suited to container growing but they may also do well in the flower bed. 

So what do you think of these new additions to the petunia market?  Is this something that you will want to plant in your garden or patio pots?

We are trialing these this fall.  I think they will be pretty good for fall color and Halloween flower bed and container patio decorations.  We are trialing them in both gallon and #10 deco pots. 

My personal opinion is that they are better suited as accent color to combination planters and baskets.  I think I can come up with some pretty cool color combinations with these petunias.  I will have to see how well they do in the flower bed. 

Here is a picture of the petunias we have growing now.  We will plant some more next week.

It wasn’t easy choosing between our entries, but we have finally declared a winner!  Congrats to Tina for her Flower Garden entry!  Don’t forget to come out and claim your $20 Gift Certificate!  See you at the Greenhouse!!!

Yes, it’s Summer.  Yes, it’s HOTTTT.  And yes, we are plum crazy to already be planning for the Fall in the middle of a heat wave.  But hey, what true gardener isn’t a little crazy?  While we relish in the spoils of our current crops, somewhere in those wild brains of ours, we are already deciding which veggies we’re going to plant next. 

Fall Tomatoes are just like regular tomatoes, except you harvest them in the Fall clear to the first frost.  The plants are slightly smaller than what you’re used to, but fear not, they are hardy little things and will grow up to be just as big as those other tomato plants you know and love.  Fall tomatoes need lots of water, especially during the drought-like conditions we’ve been having lately.  They also need a little lime in their soil.  To prevent Blossom-end Rot, Septoria Leaf Spot and other viruses, you will want to spray your tomatoes with a fungicide beginning the first week you plant them and once every week thereafter.  This is the prime-time to plant Fall Tomatoes.  We have a few varieties to choose from, but they will go fast.  So be sure to come see us soon. 

And while you’re here, you might as well check out our End of the Season Summer Sales!  Hanging Baskets, including Breath-taking Ferns, are all on clearance for just $7.00 right now!

See you at the Greenhouse!!!

***Picture provided by Burpee Home Gardens***

Hey all you gardeners, it’s time to show off your skills in our first ever Flower Garden Showdown!  Grab your trusty camera and take a spectacular shot of your flower bed creations.  Then drop it in an email to us complete with your name and phone number, and you just might win a $20 gift certificate to Parks Brothers.  All submissions will be showcased both on our blog and on our facebook fan page.  Our non-biased office staff will be selecting the winner on July 9th.

 
1st Submission – Becky Whitlock

You can email your submission to golden@parksbrothers.com.  Please put Flower Garden Showdown in your subject line and don’t forget to include your name and your phone number. 

No purchase necessary.  Gift Certificates must be picked up in person at Parks Brothers.  Winner will be notified by phone.  Must be 18 years or older to enter.  One entry per household please.

When my little boy presented me with my Mother’s Day gift this year, I was tickled pink.  It was a beautifully handwritten book of all his thoughts and ideas.  Every page had a different topic and beneath each header were little snippets from the mind of an eight year old.  One page in particular seemed to leap out at me.  ‘”What would make the World a Better Place?”  My little boy’s answer was ‘The world would be a better place if everyone threw their trash away and quit littering.’  And you know, when I look back (way way back) to when I was his age, I can’t for the life of me say I ever once worried about the effects of littering.  But as the Environment takes center stage in news and politics, it’s not surprising that even a child would be concerned with environmental issues.

And the trend-setting word these days as we battle toxic waste, ozone depletion, and unsightly soda cans tossed on the side of the road is green.  Once thought to be just a color on the color wheel, Green is now a personal choice to making the world a better place.  Going Green is the new hip way of living.  Recycling.  Conserving Water and Energy.  Saying ‘no’ to plastic and carrying a re-useable shopping tote instead.  As well as replacing harmful chemicals with more organic options.  It’s all part of Green Living.  And it’s the ‘in’ thing to do.  Everyone and everything wants to be green these days.  Even Gardening.

So how do you make your Garden Green?  Use Organic Pesticide?  Well, yes, that’s a start.  But there are other things you can do to create a greener garden that would make Mother Nature proud. 

1. Conserve Water – Now, don’t panic.  I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that you deprive your garden of water.  That would be silly.  Instead of going green, you’d be going yellow with half starved plants.  But with a little effort, you can collect rain water and/or pump water from a nearby stream or pond.  You can even use waste water.  Not only would you be saving on your water bill, you would be helping the environment.  There are lots of options in the water conservation arena, but below are just two to get you started.

Rain Water:  Collecting rain water is fairly simple and not very costly.  It just requires something to catch the water in and a little help from a storm cloud.  You can use anything to catch the water from a barrel to a bucket.  Just whatever you have on hand.  That’s the easy part.  Getting help from a storm cloud may prove to be more difficult.  But if you do manage to charm the cloud with a rain dance, be sure to teach the dance to us too cuz that’s one skill we haven’t mastered yet either.

Irrigation Pump:  Water Pumps range in price starting around $30.00.  There are all kinds of pumps available depending on your needs and watering requirements.  They even have solar powered pumps if you want to be super green and conserve electricity too.  Although a water pump requires a little setup and creativity, it’s a long term investment that you can use year after year.

2.  Recycle and Reuse – Everything in a garden, from the plastic containers to spoiled veggies, can be recycled and/or reused in your garden.  So before you toss that tomato the worm made a home in while you weren’t looking, think about starting a compost pile instead.  Compost piles are a great alternative to chemically enhanced fertilizers and are fairly easy to make.  Plus you can throw just about anything in a compost pile.  And don’t give your slightly used containers to the trash man to discard, rinse them out and store them to plant new seedlings in next year. If you want to go an extra step, you can recycle yesterday’s newspaper and conserve water at the same time.  Just fold up a couple of pages and place them under one of your containers on the patio.  The paper will absorb the runoff water and allow the plant to get excess moisture when it needs it all at the same time.  Or spread your old newspapers under your garden mulch.  Not only will it absorb the excess water, weeds will smother underneath them. 

3.  Plant More – Gardening itself is green.  Planting veggies, flowers, trees, and shrubs is in essence going green.  And isn’t it nice to know that your love for gardening is actually just one more step to making the world a better place? 

Going Green isn’t easy, but then nothing extraordinary ever is.  However with a little thought and effort, pardon the age-old saying, you can make a difference.  For more tips on Going Green in your Garden, visit PeachyGreen.  And if you have some ideas for a Greener Garden, share them with us here.  We would love to hear from you! 

And remember, it’s ok to purchase a few more pretty flowers and rose bushes than what you actually need, because you’re not really purchasing them for you….you’re saving the world one plant at a time!!!

Come on, I know you remember that adorable little girl asking her daddy if he was going to eat the last pickle right?  It was one of my favorite commercials growing up.  And to this day, every time I hear the word pickle, I remember that same silly commercial.  Aww the memories…

But memories from commercials aren’t nearly as much fun as the memories we can create all by ourselves in our own day to day lives.  And with our gardens flourishing in cucumbers, we can make a brand new pickle memory!  So grab those cucumbers ladies and gentlemen, and let’s make some pickles!!! 

Easy Dill Pickle Recipe

Ingredients:

Cucumbers (Count will vary depending on the size of the cucumber)
Quart Size Canning Jars with Lids
1 Grape Leaf (Optional) Per Jar
1 Clove Garlic Per Jar
1 Sprig of Dill Per Jar
1 Chunk of Onion Per Jar
Pickling Lime (In the Canning Section of your Supermarket)
3 Quarts Water
1 Quart Vinegar
1/2 Cup Salt
1 Teaspoon Alum Per Jar

Directions:

Soak Cucumbers in Lime Water for at least 4 hours (Follow directions on Pickling Lime to make Lime Water).  Boil Jars in a large pot.  Boil Lids and Rings separately in a smaller pot.  Boil Vinegar, Water, and Salt in another large pot.  Remove Jars.  Put Grape Leaf, Garlic Clove, Dill Sprig, and Onion Chunk in bottom of Jar while Jar is still hot.  Pack Cucumbers tightly in Jar and sprinkle with 1 Teaspoon of Alum.  Pour Vinegar, Water, and Salt mixture over Cucumbers.  Remove Lids and Rings from boiling water and Seal Jars tightly while Lids and Rings are still hot.  Follow Manufacturer’s Directions for Sealing your Jars.

Hot Sweet Freezer Pickles

Ingredients:

3 1/2 Cup Thinly Sliced Cucumbers
1 Medium Onion – Separated into rings
2 Jalapeño Peppers – Diced
2 Large Cloves of Garlic
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Vinegar
1/3 Cup Water
Freezer Safe Container

Directions:

Place Cucumbers, Onion, Jalapeños, and Garlic Cloves in Freezer Container.  Boil Sugar, Water, and Vinegar until Sugar dissolves.  Pour into Freezer Container and place in Freezer.  Thaw when ready to eat.

These recipes will get you started on your way to new pickle memories and were submitted by our very own Retail Manager, Claudette Parks.  But don’t let your Pickle Creativity stop here.  Head on over to Cooks.com for even more Pickle-liscious ideas!  And when someone asks if you’re going to eat that pickle, go ahead and say “Why yes I am!  After all, I made that pickle!”

Sometimes Gardening can feel like a circus.  All your perfect little flowers lined up and ready to perform, and then suddenly they get performance anxiety and shy away from reaching their full potential while you’re stuck walking the tight rope and trying to make this year’s circus act the best act yet.  It can be exhausting to say the least.  And tho half the fun of gardening is overcoming these little obstacles, it’s kind of nice to have a few back-up plans just in case…

Welcome to Circus Acts 101 – Tips and Tricks and Quick Fixes Under the Big Top

1.  Location, Location, Location!!!
Flowers are picky.  They can’t help it.  They just are.  Some like sun, some hate it.  Some like acidic soil, some are allergic.  Some can’t decide what they like and can go either way.  So when you sign up new flowers for your three ring stunner, check out their background and make sure they will be a good fit for the location you’ve chosen.  If your flower bed is in the shade, you need shade plants.  If your flower bed is in the sun, you need sun plants.  If your flower bed is half and half, get flowers that need half sun/half shade.  Some flowers have special soil needs too, so be sure to look closely at your tags for special requirements.  And think about soil drainage.  Aside from water plants, not many flowers enjoy swimming, so make sure the location you’ve chosen is out of the flooding zone.

Quick Fix:  Flower Bed turning into a marsh land?   Dig up your plants and lay them on a tarp nearby.  Remove the soil and lay about a four inch layer of gravel in your bed.  Refill the bed with soil or organic compost and replant your flowers.

2. Violating the Maximum Capacity Rule

The Big Top may be big but it can only comfortably hold so many occupants, and overcrowding can lead to disgruntled flowers and riots.  Remember those little information tags that came with your flowers?  They also have spacing requirements.  And tho you might think that tiny little plant couldn’t possibly need as much space as its tag suggests, don’t forget that those little flowers grow up to be big flowers.  And big flowers take up more space.  By the same token, imposters can rob your flowers of their personal space, so get those weeds out of there.  After all, they didn’t even purchase a ticket to your circus did they?

Quick Fix:  Having trouble telling your flowers apart from an imposter?  It’s easy to tell a flower apart from a weed when a big beautiful bloom is sitting on top of it, but before it performs in front of the crowd, it can be kind of hard to tell the difference.  So, until your little flower is ready for its close-up, stick the flower tag in the soil in front of your star performer.  If you don’t like the look of the tag, you can label a popsicle stick and insert it instead of the nursery tag.

3.  Hiring a Camera Hog

Everybody in the Circus is a star, but some stars think they are the only ones entitled to the star-treatment and try to take over.  Your job as the Ring Leader is to quickly put them back in their place.  If you’ve chosen to hire an invasive plant, give it ample room to spread so it doesn’t trample your other flowers.  Plants like Sweet Potato, Vinca Major and Ivy grow quickly and spread like wild fire.  So if you see words like spreads quickly, prolific reseeder, or vigorous grower remember to keep them far away from your other stars.

Quick Fix:  Got a Star that’s out of control?  Cut it down to size!   Most invasive plants can take some pruning, so go ahead and cut them back to keep the shape and size that you want.  Remember you’re in control.  We recommend pinching the plants at a joint when cutting them back.  And a stern reprimand every so often probably wouldn’t hurt either.

4.  Have Fun!

A Circus without fun is like a week full of Mondays!  So bring on the clowns, the lions, the bears, and the magicians and dazzle the crowd with the Circus you create!!!

Watch any cooking show on TV and you’re almost certain to see Garlic used in just about every recipe.  Flip over to a Health Channel, and you’re liable to hear a blurb or two about the medicinal properties found in Garlic too.  And we all know that Garlic is a tried and true Vampire Repellent.  But did you know that Garlic can be used as a natural pesticide too?

That’s right, those little cloves that you love to use to spice up your everyday cuisine can also be used to get rid of those pesky little critters in your garden.  You can effectively take on a wide array of bugs ranging from ants, aphids, worms, caterpillars, beetles, moths, mites, even fungi and bacteria.  Remember back in the day when people swore Garlic to be the cure-all?  Well they weren’t kidding!

Our Sales Manager, Leigh Ann, prefers a special blend for her Natural Pesticide when gardening.  If you’re looking for a natural way to get rid of pests in your gardens, we recommend you give her recipe a try.

Ingredients:

3 Quarts Water
1 Large Onion – Chopped
1 Large Head of Garlic – Chopped
2 Teaspoons Cayenne Pepper

Directions:

Toss all Ingredients in a large pot.  Bring Pot to a Boil and allow mixture to boil for at least 10 minutes.  Remove Pot from burner and let sit for approximately 1 Hour.  Strain liquid.  Pour liquid into Spray Bottle.

Spray plants with Natural Pesticide and Re-Apply every 3 to 5 days.

For more Garlic Inspired Pesticide Ideas, check out this website.  How to Use Garlic as a Natural Pesticide

A couple of quick videos of Charley’s garden and picking squash.