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             The Gardener Guy of Tulsa, Oklahoma

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Small Joys and Chores

Timing is the key for getting the best quality veggies that you deserve. Almost any vegetable will taste better when picked young. Beans get tough and chewy, even the wonderful "Kwintus" pole beans that I buy from Cook's Garden Seeds (The Cook's Garden). I froze a big batch of Kwintus beans this week, but prefer to do a few at a time. Here is what I do: I bring a big pot of water to a rolling boil, then submerge the beans for 1-2 minutes, using a timer. I like submersing them in a metal colander so I can lift them all out at once. Then I run them under a stream of cold water in the sink, and follow that with submersion in an ice bath ˙ã that stops the cooking. I drain them well, and dump them out on a cloth tea towel. I pat them dry with a second towel, and put into freezer-grade zipper bags.

It's important not to use storage bags, but to buy the thick ones rated for freezing. I suck out any extra air in the bag using a common drinking straw and close off the last bit of zipper as I pull out the straw. Removing the air helps to minimize frost on the food.

Too many zucchini? Steam them until soft, and then puree them in a food processor. This stuff in great as a soup or stew base. You can add fresh spices like basil when you puree them.

Flowers are in season now, too, and I try to have a nice arrangement of flowers on every flat surface in the house. Here are a few tricks: First, pick flowers when they are in their prime - or even not quite fully developed. A bud will open in a vase and last longer. Daylily stems with big buds will keep producing flowers for several days, even though each flower just lasts a day.

Secondly, go outside with a vase full of water, or a bucket of water and pick into that, rather than letting the cut stems stay exposed to air, drying up and getting limp on a hot day. I like to pick early in the morning, but I've been told that flowers have more sugars in their stems - and last better - if picked in the afternoon. Try it both ways, and let me know what you think.

When you come in, cut off half an inch of stem (or more) just as you are ready to place a flower in the vase. Air bubbles in the stem will prevent water from being taken up. Remove any leaves from the portion of the stem that will be submerged in water, as they will encourage bacterial action, shortening the life of the arrangement. But speaking of leaves, hosta leaves will keep well in a vase, and can be used to fill up an arrangement, giving it more body and allowing you to use fewer blossoms.

Florists and professional arrangers always are sure to match the vase height with the size of the flowers. The accepted rule of thumb is this: let the top of the arrangement be twice as tall as the vase. An 8-inch vase looks good with 16 inches of flowers rising above it. Cut your stems long in the garden, and trim to size as you arrange.

I like weeding, especially if done in 15 minute increments - and I can pull a lot of weeds in 15 minutes. There is something very satisfying about getting all the weeds out of a patch of lettuce or onions - it's as good as having a clean table or desk. I almost always use my CobraHead weeder (CobraHead) because it helps me to get out the roots of weeds, not just the tops. Many weeds will re-sprout if you leave some of their roots in the ground. The CobraHead is curved like a long finger, and can be used delicately where plants and weeds exist in close quarters.

Ray Magliozzi, one of the Car Talk guys, once told me he likes Japanese beetles because they get him outside and in his garden every day, picking them into soapy water. Attitude is everything.

Henry Homeyer is a garden designer and consultant. He may be reached at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746. His web site is www.Gardening-Guy.com.