After introducing himself, a server asks companions and me if we’d like a gratis taste of the wine the Italian restaurant is highlighting tonight. We nod, and a splash of red is poured into the stemware pre-set on the table. Moments later, a basket of piping hot breadsticks, bundled in linen, follows. 

If nothing else, Olive Garden makes a hospitable impression with free wine and warm bread. 

Another meal away from home, a relaxed American restaurant lures friends and me into its dining room with all sorts of promises affixed to all sorts of banners, chalkboards and table tents: late hours, discounts for military members on Mondays and “ladies“ on Wednesday, even curbside pickup service. Spotting my group on the sidewalk, a hostess races to open the door for us; seated in a booth, we spring for a deal that gives every diner a taste of two entrees for as little as $10.99. 

Convenience, value and more recently a solution to “food envy“ help explain why Applebee’s is the world’s largest casual chain restaurant, with $4.2 billion in domestic sales last year. 

Meanwhile, at a meat market with a disputable association to another continent, colorful spice jars filled with the restaurant’s secret seasonings practically turn the foyer into an art gallery. Nearby is a cold-water dispenser with a spa sensibility: sliced lemons and limes floating inside. 

If you have to wait for a table, Outback Steakhouse, which is in the process of freshening up half of its 979 restaurants, wants to make sure you’re comfortable. 

Are there tips independent restaurants can pick up from casual chain concepts, a category loosely defined as operations involving full service and bars, hold the high prices? A recent tour of some of the biggest brands in the business – Cheesecake
Factory, Red Lobster and TGI Friday’s included – suggests that warm
bread and meal deals reinforce consistency and value, hallmarks of that
dining segment. 

One of the big advantages many chains have over sole proprietors is the time and effort they take to train the staff, spending from $25,000 to $500,000 on in-depth training programs that touch on product knowledge, service strategies, pre-shift briefings and continual coaching, or fine-tuning, says Bob Brown. He’s president of the Ashburn-based Bob Brown Service Solutions and a consultant who has coached local chains (Great American Restaurants, Matchbox, ThinkFoodGroup), national ones (Olive Garden, Red Lobster) and even Disney. 
 
Some independent restaurant operators “don’t know what they don’t know,“ says Brown. It’s one thing to give a server a menu and have him memorize it, quite another to “bring it alive“ through a “food show“ that let’s him see, say, the whole fish, smell the saffron and touch the fresh rosemary used in a restaurant’s dishes. The latter lesson, says Brown, “stays in your mind forever.“ 

It helps, of course, that casual-dining concepts typically involve a single menu. 

Applebee’€™s, Tottenville, hosted a “Dining to Donate” event in July, the proceeds of which benefited Autism Speaks. From left, Matthew Ladis, Cody Smith, Julia Ladis and Alexa Shannon Gravitch. Ten percent of the proceeds of the meals from the all-day event were donated to the non-profit organization when the Applebee’s diners identified themselves as someone who was invited to participate and support the organization.Staten Island Advance File Photo
The stakes for restaurants of all stripes are high. Trips to casual-dining chain restaurants account for 11 percent of all industry visits, and if that doesn’t sound like many bowls of pasta or slices of cheesecake, consider this: As of March, Americans had eaten away from home 61 billion times this year. Still, that’s down from more than 62 billion industry visits in 2009, according to NPD Group, the market research giant. Casual chain restaurants, which experienced no growth over last year, have “lost a lot of ground,“ says Bonnie Riggs, an NPD restaurant industry analyst. But traffic at independent restaurants is down 2 percent compared with the same months in 2012. 

Hit hardest by the recession, millennials have retreated the most, cutting back 50 percent over the past five years. Trying to lure them in, Applebee’s recently launched “Take Two,“ which lets patrons of any age select two main courses for under $13 and thus erase what the chain calls “food envy“: in this case, the nagging wonder whether you should have ordered the four-ounce blackened sirloin with potatoes tossed in tomato-pesto sauce rather than the lemon shrimp fettuccine with fresh spinach and lemon zest your tablemate got. (Go for the steak.) 

Baby boomers, who were raised on fast food and have traded up to full-service establishments, “keep the industry at least flat,“ says Riggs. 

Biting into the casual chain business, particularly during lunch hours, are quick-service but high-quality places including Chipotle, which uses naturally raised, antibiotic-free pork, and Sweetgreen, the salad purveyor committed to buying ingredients in season and from local farmers. 

“Everybody is going after the same very small discretionary budget,“ says Kathy Hayden, a food service analyst with Mintel, another leading market research firm. 

Appreciated for their consistency but mindful of the need to stay fresh, casual chain restaurants are responding by “pulling out all the stops,“ says Riggs. 

This summer, Olive Garden rolled out Tastes of Italy Small Plates, a promotion of snacks including grilled chicken spiedini and risotto “bites“ at $3.99 each. The selections address a nation that’s still hungry for small plates. “People like something new,“ says Jay Spenchian, Olive Garden’s vice president of marketing. 

For its part, the 700-unit Red Lobster revamped its menu last October so that 60 percent of its list is priced under $15 and a quarter of the choices are non-seafood, helping eliminate the dreaded “veto vote“ by consumers who don’t like surf. In January, the chain reached out to Hispanic diners with an advertising campaign inviting them to try “La Experiencia de Red Lobster.“ 

Watching your weight? Casual chain restaurants are eager to help you monitor any dieting, with Applebee’s serving lemon Parmesan shrimp over rice at under 550 calories and Olive Garden devoting a section of its menu to Lighter Italian Fare: lasagna primavera with grilled chicken and other entrees at under 575 calories. All this, even though only 24 percent of U.S. consumers say they eat healthfully when they dine out, the NPD Group reported this month. 

In an attempt to attract more patrons, many chains are extending their hours or “day parts.“ Applebee’s stays open at least until midnight where permitted, and Outback Steakhouse now serves lunch seven days a week. 

A quarter of casual chain customers are known as “deal seekers“ looking for the best price. “Meal deals get in traffic,“ says Hayden, the food service analyst, “but not loyalty.“ Ultimately, “it’s the food that matters.“ 

Bret Thorn, senior food editor at the trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News, says the changes in casual chain restaurants are “driven by a more discerning public, and that’s driven by an increased interest in food“ – thank you, “Top Chef“ and not-so-top chefs on TV and elsewhere. 

Even basic dishes are being rethought. One of the first things Mike Archer, a former executive with Morton’s the Steakhouse, did when he became president of Applebee’s five years ago was reinvent its hamburger, previously made from frozen patties and partially cooked in advance. These days, the casual chain’s hamburger is made with fresh ground chuck and grilled to order. Applebee’s sandwich will never be mistaken for a Palena burger, but this diner appreciated the juicy patty, the toasted bun and the gentle price, $8.49, frozen (but not inedible) fries included. 

“Chain restaurants are good at finding that sweet spot between the adventurous and the bizarre,“ says Thorn, who points to the arrival of sweet Thai chili sauce to accompany McNuggets at McDonald’s. The general public often has more of a taste for what “seems authentic“ than the real deal, he says. Of the new “Korean BBQ Chicken Stir-Fry“ topped with kimchi slaw at P.F. Chang’s, he says, “I don’t think your average Korean would recognize that as authentic Korean . . . but for P.F. Chang’s customers, it’s close enough.“ Similarly, the unlimited breadsticks and fried lasagna at Olive Garden speak more to mainstream American than traditional Italian tastes. 

Yet, says Thorn, “once people’s horizons are expanded, they stay expanded.“ The house wines at Olive Garden, for instance, have been modified to be less sweet and more aroma-driven and fruit-forward. 

The president of Applebee’s tells his corporate kitchen team in Kansas City “you have more influence on how America eats“ than even the starriest chefs in the country. Given that his company serves a million people a day, Archer could be right. 

Don’t expect independents to start peddling two-for-one entrees a la Olive Garden, which recently allowed customers to choose one of five main courses to eat in the restaurant and another to take home for later. Given the huge price breaks offered by most chain restaurants, “they’re almost giving the food away,“ says Gus DeMillo of Passion Food Hospitality, a collection of restaurants that includes Ceiba, DC Coast and District Commons in Washington. “They’re buying in mass quantities and selling food for cheap. We’re more about quality of food and creating relationships with people in our restaurants.“ Plus, he adds, “there’s only so much tilapia you can sell.“ 

Not that independent operators aren’t chasing after stomachs and wallets, too, as evinced by their participation in Restaurant Week, happy hour and pre-theater promotions, among other recipes for filling dining room seats. 

Culinary epiphanies eluded me as I explored the menus of my subjects, but some dishes made me see glints of light if not actual stars. The minestrone at the Olive Garden has a pleasant homey quality (“We make our soups and sauces from scratch,“ the chain’s vice president of marketing told me), and the kale salad with almonds, apples, cranberries and green beans at the Cheesecake Factory is something I could see White House assistant chef Sam Kass tossing for the first family, albeit with less of the buttermilk-black pepper dressing. The recipient of the nine-ounce sirloin at my table at Outback Steakhouse praised the $13.99 entree even before he sliced into it. “This looks like it does on the menu!“ (I preferred the snowy baked potato to the grilled-as-we-asked-for-it beef.) As for Outback’s nearly 2,000-calorie Bloomin’ Onion, the subject of several paragraphs in a recent review of the chain by LA Weekly’s food critic Besha Rodell, I concur with the native Australian’s assessment: “Crispy, oily, sweet, crunchy,“ she wrote. “A big slick of salt and grease. Slightly disgusting.“ And then: “Completely addictive.“ 

My sorriest meals were endured at Red Lobster and TGI Friday’s. 

The only reason I could imagine returning to the seafood chain is for another fluffy Cheddar Bay biscuit, a warm welcome currently celebrating its 25th anniversary and popular enough to be sold as a mix at Sam’s Club. Otherwise, everything I witnessed at a branch in Silver Spring, from the listless lone lobster in the fish tank to the one-note clam chowder and the corn on the cob that tasted as if it had been cooked in a dishwasher, made me wish I were just about anyplace else – anyplace else, that is, but TGI Friday’s, where the dated striped decor competes with the hamburger (where’s the beef flavor?) in a blank bun to offend the senses. Like a lot of the competition, TGI Friday’s has brushed up on food trends, although its supposedly “Thai“ pulled pork tacos smack of canned tuna scrunched in tortillas made from plastic. 

Speaking of plastic, here’s something chains can learn from independents: Paper menus don’t just feel better in a customer’s hands, they suggest more style and neatness. Just about every shiny chain menu I was handed felt sticky, none more so than the 200-plus item-filled binder (available in large print and Braille, by the way) from the Cheesecake Factory. 

As much as analysts, restaurant owners and critics talk about
consumer interest in value, freshness and flavor, food isn’t always
foremost on diners’ minds. 

In a nationwide household survey conducted last year by the National Restaurant Association, 1,000 adults were asked what factors influenced their choice of where to eat away from home. “Recommendation from family member or friend,“ responded 94 percent of households. Almost as important, 82 percent of the participants revealed: “Ease of parking at the restaurant.“ 

“Life,” I Wrote

Life Editor Ivan Lajara talks about living in the Hudson Valley, language, the Web, cats and even politics. But he shouldn’t.

The Trustees of Reservations has just completed Phase 1 of an extensive 5-phase, 3-year, $3 million garden and landscape restoration project designed to rejuvenate Naumkeag’s gardens. The transformation is remarkable, the most noticeable being the renovation of Fletcher Steele’s iconic Blue Steps — one of the most photographed garden features in 20th-century American landscape design — which are celebrating their 75th Anniversary this summer. More information can be found here and a few photos are below: http://www.thetrustees.org/about-us/press-room/naumkeag/naumkeag-restoration.

Naumkeag is a National Historic Landmark located in Stockbridge which is visited by thousands of garden, landscape and history enthusiasts each year. Formerly owned by the Choate Family of New York before it was bequeathed to The Trustees in 1958, Naumkeag is a 44-room Berkshires “Cottage” from the Gilded Age is filled with arts, antiques and collections around from around the world. It is also one of the only remaining intact cottages from this time period open to the public. Naumkeag’s gardens are a masterpiece of 30 years of collaborative, creative work by former owner, Mabel Choate, and her dear friend, Fletcher Steele — America’s first, modern landscape architect. Featuring a series of unique garden rooms and described by the Library of American Landscape History as a “playground for the imagination” Naumkeag’s gardens are one of the nation’s finest examples of early American Modern landscape architecture and a rare surviving example of the work of Fletcher Steele still open to the public.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation is holding it’s “What’s Out There in the Berkshires Weekend” on 9/21 22 offering free tours of two dozen beautiful spots which could be a good time to come out and tour some other properties – and the fall foliage is gorgeous at that time of year too. More info here: http://tclf.org/event/wotw-berkshires

(BPT) – There are so many reasons it’s rewarding to tend a garden throughout an entire season. Every month offers new plant growth and well into autumn you get to enjoy nature’s bounty as well as mental and physical health benefits. And enthusiasm for gardening is high: Nearly half (49 percent) of American homeowners have gardened in the last 12 months, or 164 million people, as stated in a 2012 report on GreenhouseManagement.com. But one unwelcome part of taking up gardening as a hobby is the potential for strain and injury.

To get the most out of your time gardening, consider these tips for avoiding physical discomfort:

1. Start with a few stretches

You wouldn’t go for a jog or attend a workout class without warming up, so why would you garden without taking a few moments to stretch first? Before grabbing your tools and heading to your yard, spend five or 10 minutes doing stretches focusing on your arms, legs, back and neck. You’ll be moving and turning a lot, so be sure to stretch and loosen muscles to avoid strain when you’re out tending your garden.

2. Avoid bending and lifting the wrong way

Chronic back pain is an issue for many Americans both young and old. Just because you have back issues doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy gardening. Consider installing raised garden beds, which allow you to garden without having to bend over. Additionally, container gardens can be placed on tables or deck railings for easy access. If you don’t suffer from back pain, avoid back injury by bending and lifting the right way. Remember to maintain good posture, minimize quick twisting motions, bend at the hips and knees only, lift items in a slow and controlled manner, and enlist help if necessary.

3. Protect hands and wrists

Gardening can be physically demanding, and the repetitive motions of weeding, hoeing, raking or shoveling can be problematic for the hands and wrists, particularly if you suffer from arthritis. Minimize irritation by wearing a supportive glove, like Imak arthritis gloves, commended by the Arthritis Foundation for Ease-of-Use. These specially designed gloves provide mild compression that helps increase circulation, which ultimately reduces pain and promotes healing. Washable and made from breathable cotton, the gloves are great for the garden enthusiast. Plus the extra protection helps gardeners avoid painful blisters.

4. Protect the skin from the sun

One of the best parts of gardening is you get to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors, but that can mean extended time in the sun so it’s important to protect your skin. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat and light cotton clothing that covers exposed skin are good first steps. Always apply a water-resistant, broad-spectrum lotion that is SPF 30 or higher at least 15 minutes prior to going outside, as recommended by the American Academy of Dermatology.

These simple tips will help position you for a full season of gardening delights. Without injury or other physical irritations, you’ll be able to savor the fruits of your labor in the beauty of Mother Nature.

 

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The weather this week has been amazing! Fall is in the air. So, to save you some time and money, here is my list of “do it” items for the landscape.

It’s a list of simple, easy suggestions that will make your landscaping much more enjoyable.

• Do use pinestraw, mini bark, cypress mulch to a depth of 3 inches in all beds.

• Do use holly, loropetalum, cryptomeria and Okame cherry as a good starting point for plants that succeed in Middle Georgia.

• Do use edging around all beds that touch the lawn. Use metal, brick or stone.

• Do use natural materials made of recycled materials for yard art, hanging baskets and containers.

• Do use Mexican heather, lantana and perennials for color in the summer.

• Do use clump forming liriope. I like the variegated varieties.

• Do use fountain grass in the landscape.

• Do group several plants of the same kind together.

• Do plant American wisteria, clematis, or tangerine crossvine.

• Do get a soil test for the lawn, shrubs, flowers and veggies.

• Do use a sand/soil mix on lawns as needed for low spots.

• Do buy larger plants at the nursery; they’ll grow better and look better.

• Do check all plants you buy for disease and insect problems.

• Do add landscape fabric and mulch to all beds.

• Do buy the best outdoor furniture you can afford. Remember, aluminum frames don’t rust.

• Do buy cushions for outdoor furniture that are cover with Sunbrella fabric.

• Do buy outdoor seat cushions in bright, sunny colors that are popular now.

• Do use terra cotta planters and containers. Use the good stuff that is frost proof.

• Do buy shovels, rakes, hoes, hoses, etc., with lifetime warranties.

• Do create a low maintenance landscape, one that you can enjoy for years without a lot of work.

Todd Goulding provides residential landscape design consultations. Contact him at www.fernvalley.com or 478-345-0719.

By Joan Casanova

The growing season isn’t over with the arrival of cool weather. Until the first hard frost hits, you have plenty of time to plant, pick and plate cool-weather crops.  In fact, many cool-season crops hit their heyday as autumn temperatures drop, and some even taste better when nipped by a light frost.

As long as their basic growing conditions are met, vegetable plants don’t care what season it is. If you live in a warmer climate, you may be able to grow your fall garden all winter long. If, however, you live in a colder area, your growing season will be shorter. (However, growing fall crops in raised beds can help protect plants from frost damage.)

In most regions of the country, gardeners plant fall vegetables in August or September for harvest in October and November. You’ll need to carefully calculate your growing season so you can ensure plants have time to produce before freezing weather arrives.

Generally, you should plant fall vegetables when daytime temperatures range between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit (the cooler the better), night temperatures should be above 40 degrees, and you’ll need enough sunshine to ensure plants will get at least six hours of sun per day. You’ll also need to give plants at least an inch of water per week.

Find out your local frost and freeze dates. For most areas, frost doesn’t have to end the fall growing season. Monitor your local weather forecast during late September and early October so you know when frost is coming. (To determine the first freeze dates for your area, go to http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov)

Once you know your local frost and freeze dates, you can begin planning – and planting– your fall garden. Remember, when growing vegetables in the fall, plants need to be in the ground in time to mature before the first frost, and to yield most of their harvest before the first heavy freeze. Some cool-season crops mature in as little as 30 to 40 days, while others may take several months to produce.

If you’ve been diligent in your garden all summer, you won’t have much work to do preparing it for cool crops. If your garden got a little ahead of your efforts, don’t worry. It won’t take long to get it into tip-top shape for a second season of planting. Just follow these simple steps:

Tidy up: Remove spent plants, like early planted beans, cucumbers or lettuce, since they’re pretty much done for the season and can harbor pests. Clear away holes left from pulling plants, and get rid of weeds before they go to seed. Throw away anything distressed and compost the rest.  Discard any fallen fruits, rotting produce can attract pests. Take note of where everything was planted so you can be sure to rotate crops.

Set up the soil: Freshen garden soil by removing the existing layer of mulch and replace it. Straw makes an excellent cover because it’s easily scattered, it’s also a favorite home for spiders that will help control insect pests in your garden. You can also use a layer of shredded leaves for mulch.

Loosen compacted soil and fluff it up with a garden fork. Major tilling isn’t necessary; just move soil enough to allow new plant roots to settle in and let water get through. Test soil (you can buy a testing kit at most garden retailers) to see if it needs help. Add amendments, if needed. At the very least, work some compost in where your plants will be growing.

If you’ll be using a cold frame or hoop, set it up early so that it’ll be ready to go when you need it and you won’t risk damaging plants and roots once they begin to grow.

Pick your plants: Starting with transplants will buy you lots of time. Since plants are six weeks or older when you put them in the ground, you’ll harvest sooner than if you start from seed.

Here are some top crops for fall planting:

• Winterbor kale – This vigorous producer weathers winter easily, even in very cold climates. Cut outer leaves so that center can continue growing. Space transplants about 12 inches apart.

• Georgia collards – Another leafy green similar to kale, Georgia collards are prized for their sweet, cabbage-like flavor. Space transplants 36 inches apart.

• Romaine lettuce – Romaine packs more vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytonutrients than other popular types of lettuce. Space transplants 18 inches apart.

• Early dividend broccoli – Popular, productive and easy to grow, this broccoli is high in fiber and calcium. Set transplants 18 inches apart.

• Mustard greens – Offering spicy hot leaves; this is a very fast-growing, nutritious vegetable. Mustard greens always taste sweeter when nipped by frost. Space plants 12 inches apart.

• Bonnie hybrid cabbage – Bonnie’s best cabbage (www.bonnieplants.com) is high in beta-carotene, fiber, and vitamins C and K. Space transplants 24 inches apart.

• Arugula – These fast-growing leafy greens are super-food for your bones. The leaves are “nutrient dense” and low in calories. Leaves grow best in cool weather.

As winter grows closer, you can extend your garden harvest by using floating row covers on frosty nights, or by planting in containers that can be brought indoors overnight. Be ready with some kind of protection to cover your plants. You can opt for something commercially manufactured, such as, cloches, polyethylene blankets and corrugated fiberglass covers. Or, try simple household items like old towels, bed sheets—or even used plastic milk jugs with the bottoms removed.

You can continue to enjoy fresh, homegrown vegetables through fall and even into winter when you start with some expert knowledge and the right plants.

Joan Casanova is the founder of Green Earth Media Group in Avondale, PA.

To learn more about growing a fall garden visit www.bonnieplants.com. The company sells an all-natural fertilizer made from Soybean oilseed extract that includes vitamins, minerals, amino acids and proteins, enzymes, plant hormones, and carbohydrates.

Environmental News from Living Green Magazine – Where Green Is Read

 

Tags: environmental news, fall garden, Home Garden, Living Green, vegetable garden

Category: Featured Articles, Home Garden

Wonderful gardens in England are still very plentiful, but one garden in the northern part of East Sussex called Great Dixter exceeds all others. Dixter was the lifelong home of gardener Christopher Lloyd. During his 83 years, Lloyd worked hard in his garden and the nursery he created. Doing it all himself eventually began taking its toll.

Of course there were helpers, interns and students who assisted Lloyd on and off. When Lloyd met Garrett, a horticulturist with a Turkish background, the two formed a formidable friendship. Together they gardened the “brave way,” breaking all the rules. Garrett and Lloyd designed beds with succession blooming patterns as their signature.

Succession blooming pattern gardening focuses on when a plant finishes blooming or “goes off.” The gardeners then replace it with a plant that will fill in and bloom where the old one left off. Consequently, the long border has three and four different “looks” through one growing season. Lloyd and Garrett fed off each other’s passion for gardening in a bold style.

One of Lloyd’s most ground-breaking decisions was ripping out all of his mother’s roses from the well-established rose garden, to the dismay of every gardener in England.

Lloyd was on a mission, so he and Garrett planted an exotic garden in its place filled with bananas, dahlias and colorful cannas. The setting was surrounded by a curtain of yews. Inside the hedge of yews was an explosion of color. The Exotic Garden lives today, three years after Lloyd’s death. Each year, it is lovingly redesigned and planted by Garrett.

Lloyd and Garrett spent their time trying new planting combinations. Garrett worked side by side with Lloyd for 19 years and grew to love him. As Lloyd got older, Garrett traveled with him as they lectured, participated in the Wisley Plant Trials and searched for their next plant combinations.

As Lloyd got older and unable to come down to the garden, Garrett gave him a bull horn and told him to use it to call to him from the window in his bedroom. Garrett wanted him to feel a part of the garden, even if Lloyd’s health would not allow it.

When Lloyd died in 2006, he gave Garrett the garden.

The staff grew at Dixter, and Great Dixter now welcomes more than 50,000 visitors per year. Dixter’s most endearing quality is its staff, who are all dedicated to preserving the historic house and garden. They are adamant that the house and garden not become a “museum.” Lloyd would have hated that. He did not want the garden preserved as he left it. Staff members want the garden to grow in different ways — to be experimental, to be a living, learning experience.

As far as the garden goes, it could not be in better hands. It might not have been his intention, but Garrett has become the director and leader of one of the world’s leading experimental gardens.

Dixter has earned world recognition for its treatment of long borders using Lloyd’s succession planting techniques. Great focus is also given to good planting combinations such as marrying something light and airy with a great dahlia. Dixter gardeners pay attention to multi-level planting combinations.

To further educate gardeners and the friends of Great Dixter, seminars take place there. Group discussions are held on subjects such as succession planting, good planting combinations, propagation, seed starting, staking and composting. Trips to other special gardens and nurseries are organized, and there are guest speakers. The hands-on leadership is incredible. Garrett, Bertelsen and their team of horticulturists tailor each symposium to suit specific needs. It is incredible to be allowed such access to some of the world’s leading plant experts, who make sure you learn.

The Great Dixter team is made up of a handful of horticulturists who care deeply about their commitment to Lloyd’s legacy, his home and garden. It is this special group of people who are taking this garden into the next century. That is why partnerships like this one with SCC are so important. If you cannot go to England, you can attend the seminar and learn all the practical methods that Garrett and Bertelsen use every day.

To purchase a ticket for the symposium, contact Kim Fogle at 592-4624 or sccfoundation@sccsc.edu. Seating is limited, and tickets are $60, which includes lunch.

Terri Schlichenmeyer

“To Eat”

It’s 10 minutes to lunchtime and your stomach is smarter than you are.

You want to finish the project in front of you, but your stomach has other ideas. It snarls and aches and reminds you that breakfast was hours ago. At that point, you know you might as well give in, no matter what kind of work is on your plate. You won’t get anything done anyhow.

But where will that next meal come from? In the new book “To Eat” by Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd, you’ll read a tribute to gardening and to knowing what’s really on your plate.

In early 1970, Joe Eck and his partner, Wayne Winterrowd, moved from Boston to Pepperell, Mass. and into a 211-year-old farmhouse surrounded by wooded land and a vegetable garden. They’d always wanted to be country gentlemen, and they “could not have been more lucky than to start in that house.”

There, they learned and they ate. They discovered gardening tricks, and they ate. They delighted in experimenting with crops… and they ate.

“Eating,” they say, “has always been central.”

After a “glorious year” in Copenhagen (where chickens happily scrabbled on parquet floors and gardening was sorely missed), the men moved on to Boston, and a Victory Garden near the Fenway. In 1974, they moved onto 28 acres of weeds and woods in south Vermont. They named their estate North Hill, and set about making gardens, arbors and meals.

They planted four different kinds of apple trees, each “near sticks” when put in the ground. Those trees yield snacks and — ultimately — pies and sauce. Their spinach crop is good, but not as good as they had in Pepperell; then again, spinach is tricky.

Beets were used for salads and sides; carrots were found wild and cultivated; roadside “weeds” became delicious meals; and while they once grew unusual kinds of potatoes, they gladly saw their favorites become national staples.

They raised pigs (“Showering with a pig is not a common experience”), beef, and chickens; and delighted in Brussels sprouts in winter, rhubarb in spring, lettuce all summer long, and onions in the fall.

“No matter how excellent… the produce of your best local supermarket may be,” they say, “there is something deeply rewarding to growing your own food.”

Partly a love letter to the earth, and partly a paean to good eating, “To Eat” is one of those delicious little books that, like a great meal, you’ll want to savor.

With the circumspection of veteran gardeners, New England authors Joe Eck and the late Wayne Winterrowd share their observations about growing plants, livestock, and together.

I took great delight in their quietly humorous stories of being gentlemen farmers; if you’re a gardener, you’ll find solid tips in each quick-to-read chapter and if you’re a gourmand, you’ll drool at the recipes here, too.

At just under 200 pages, this book will last you through two or three quick lunches or meal-preps, and it may give you some new ideas. So grab “To Eat” and take a bite.

“To Eat: A Country Life,” by Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd, copyright 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is 194 pages and sells for $25.

Contact book reviewer Terri Schlichenmeyer at www.bookwormsez.com or at bookwormsez@gmail.com.

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Sea of Green Hydrogardens Presents Tips on Year-round Organic Garden Cultivation

PRWEB.COM Newswire

Tucson, AZ (PRWEB) August 24, 2013

Sea of Green Hydrogardens, a leading Arizona-based retailer of gardening and outdoor products, is now offering tips on indoor grow. The company, which specializes in everything from hydroponics to outdoor lighting, is now providing tips on how to keep your organic garden going strong all year-round.

In a detailed tutorial the company discusses sufficient lighting, acidity testing, water conservation and fertilization.

“A great first step to having a successful organic garden is to test the acidity of the soil in your garden,” the company writes on its website detailing indoor grow. “The ideal number is 6.5, if your soil is on the low end, it’s too acidic and if it’s on the high end, it’s too alkaline. Neither of those situations lends itself to a successful garden. So by purchasing a soil testing kit before planting, you will assure yourself a beautiful organic garden in the summer.

The article also goes into the details of organic gardening. It discusses using organic compost and organic mulch. The company’s says it is confident the joy of organic gardening can be extended year-around by using proper indoor grow techniques.

“It is possible to indoor grow an organic garden all year if you have a sufficient light source for an indoor garden,” the Sea of Green Hydrogardens website states. “Plants need plenty of light in order to indoor grow properly and there are bulbs that can be purchased to provide indoor gardens with the appropriate amount of light to have them thrive and produce a fruitful bounty.

The article continues on to state that in order “to conserve water when you’re indoor growing, be sure to use three inches of organic mulch.”

About Sea of Green Hydrogardens

Sea of Green Hydrogardens is a leading online retailer of garden-related products. The company sells hydroponics supplies, nutrients, soil and media, pest and disease products, and a large selection of other critical garden-related items. The company also has four brick-and-mortar stores in Arizona. Two stores are located in the Phoenix-area, one is in Tucson, and one is in Flagstaff. For more information, please visit Sea of Green.

About Nuanced Media

Nuanced Media is a digital marketing and graphic design firm. The company specializes in strategic, multilayer marketing campaigns and efficiently crafted, user-friendly websites. Based in Tucson, the company has a variety of clients throughout Arizona, California, and Texas. For more information, please view Nuanced Media.

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