This week in your Massachusetts garden & landscape
Week of November 6, 2017
If you love the fragrance of apples cooking in the kitchen, try Ginger Applesauce. It’s super easy and delicious!
Here’s the recipe – 4 pounds of apples (approximately 12 medium), peeled and cubed, ¼ cup water, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons minced fresh gingerroot, (I’ve used the spice ground ginger) and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. In a 4-quart slow-cooker, combine all the ingredients. Cook, covered, on low until apples are tender, 4-5 hours. Mash if desired. Refrigerate leftovers. Recipe from Renee Pajestka, Brunswick, OH, in the Taste of Home, Christmas, 2017 Cookbook
Still enjoying the outdoors in the garden?
- Apply a layer of well-rotted manure over rhubarb beds. The use of fresh manure is not recommended because it will promote certain diseases of rhubarb.
- Spread, and rototill into the soil, where winter crops are not planted, in the vegetable garden a 1 inch layer of compost. Incorporating this organic matter into the soil will help with sustaining good soil structure and fertility.
- Mounding the soil in your raised beds where early crops are to be sown next spring will allow for the early start to root crops, peas, and leafy greens. The mounded soil will drain quickly after the ground thaws.
- Be sure to check on the green tomatoes that you had stored. They should be red by now. If they have remained green, you can use them in relishes or simply fry them up!
- If your pumpkin decorations are going to now be used for cooking, don’t throw away the seeds. The seeds are a nutritious snack when roasted. Clean the seeds well, toss with vegetable oil and salt. Spread them onto a cookie sheet and roast on low heat for approximately 30 minutes. Stir them to keep them from burning.
- Privet are very forgiving plants. Prune as much or as little as needed and whenever you want. It all depends on what you would like the plant to look like.
- Recycle or return used pots, which have been accumulating in the garage or the shed all season, to accepting nurseries.
