Pigeon Peas

 Easy to start from seed, virtually disease free, and nutritious, pigeon peas are a great plant for thefood forest.  They thrive in hot, humid weather and are a staple in the islands.  Use them as you would any bean, but they are traditionally served with rice.

I hope you enjoy this new video.

God bless,

Pam

The Frugal Garden: San Marzano Tomatoes

When planning my Fall garden I am taking into account my limited garden area and our easy access to local u-pick farms.  If I had a huge garden I would gladly grow enough generic tomatoes to supply my canning, but without a large garden I pick my basic canning tomatoes at one of my favorite u-pick farms.

The tomatoes I grow in my garden need to be hard to find locally and known for their high quality.  I've already talked about my favorite summer yellow grape tomatoes, but for fall I am going to concentrate on tomatoes that are great in salsas and sauces.

If you watch the Food Network, you have seen the chefs touting the taste and quality of San Marzano tomatoes.  They are an Italian paste tomato with a rich, full flavor.

San Marzano's hold up to cooking and are fleshy enough to make a thick salsa.  They are a beautiful, red plum shaped tomato.

Give these tomatoes a try.  Versatile and tasty.  A great frugal choice for a smaller garden.

God bless,
Pam

Asparagus Beans

Last Spring we grew asparagus beans for the first time.  They were such a success that we will be putting them in again this Fall growing season.

I am not sure why they are called asparagus beans.  They should be called two foot long beans.  The smallest bean we had was two feet long.  The flavor is that of a standard green bean and the plants are a standard, vining bean plant.  Easy to grow on simple supports.

Asparagus Bean Plant

Why is this bean so attractive to me?  They take up no more space than a regular bean plant and produce the same number of beans, but each bean is so much larger than a regular green bean.  So, each plant produces more food without using more garden area or inputs.

This one is a keeper.  Add it to your list for your next gardening season.

God bless,
Pam