father's day sales, salsa garden, It's About Thyme

Free Workshop tomorrow (Sat): Basic Landscape Design Principles.
10 a.m. Zilker Botanical Garden. (2200 Barton Springs Road.) Free.
www.tcmastergardeners.org

_____________________________________________________

Salsa gardening

by Chris Winslow

It’s simple to create the perfect salsa garden. All you need is to grow
some peppers, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and lime… and mix them together
in a way that suits your taste buds. Luckily, most of them grow fairly easily
in our central Texas gardens.

Peppers: Plant your favorite type of pepper in a sunny spot in the spring
after the last freeze. The plants will keep producing peppers all the way
through the summer until the first frost of winter. A clear favorite for salsa
is the jalapeno. They come in a number of heat and size options. If you

don’t like your salsa too caliente, choose the TAM mild jalapeno. For
those who like giant jalapenos, I suggest ‘jumbo Hidalgo.’ Other peppers
work well too: chilipetins, serranos, habaneros, and New Mexico Hatch
chilies (Anaheim or Sandias).

______________________________________________________
Tomatoes: Plant these at the same time as peppers, after winter’s last
frost.. The most popular for salsa is the Roma tomato (pictured above).

These are dense and meaty, with low moisture and few seeds. They’re
considered one of the easiest tomatoes to grow, and the plants are big
and prolific.

______________________________________________________

Onion: Usually started in the fall, onions will produce till the end of May.
After harvest, store them in an airy, dry and cool location through the
summer months.

______________________________________________________
Cilantro: This would normally be grown in the cooler time of the year,
and presents a challenge in the summer months. As the heat index rises,
cilantro bolts, then blooms and turns to seed. It’s almost impossible to
grow when it’s hot. Option one for cilantro is to shop for it in the local
grocery store. Option two: grow a little ‘summer cilantro’ (Polygonum
odoratum). This Vietnamese coriander flourishes in our summer heat,
and tastes like cilantro with a lemony flavor. Locally it is called Rau Ram.

______________________________________________________
Lime: The final addition to our salsa garden. You can grow a Mexican
lime tree in a container or plant one in a protected location. They need to
be shielded from winter temperature below the mid-twenties.

______________________________________________________
Put the ingredients all together, and you should have a salsa muy especial,
that’s at least ten times more fresh and flavorful than anything you can buy
in a store. Congratulations,… and Happy Salsa Gardening Everyone!

______________________________________________________