Alice Waters

September Contest: The Best Recipe from Your Garden

Celebrity Garden Judge: Alice Waters

Prize: A full set of tools from OXO that will take you all the way from the garden to the dining room table

When we first conceptualized America’s Oldest Largest Garden Party, the idea was to inspire as many backyard gardeners as we could.  We had know idea that the little monthly contests originating from the kitchen table at The Beekman Farm would reach so many people in so many different places.

Of course, this success was really dependent on two things:  the amazing tips submitted by all of our readers and the white hot star power of our panel of celebrity gardening judges.

As you know, the Garden Party contests have followed the growing season.  The first contest was about getting your seeds started, then getting the plants in the ground, then controlling for weeds and so forth.  It seemed fitting that just as we are making final preparations for our first annual Harvest Feast (click here for ticket information), that the final contest this season was all about the best recipes you’ve created from your own garden.

How excited were we when one of the gardeners (and chefs) who inspires us the most agreed to step up to judge the contest?

One of America’s most influential chefs, Alice Waters created a revolution in 1971 when she introduced local, organic fare at her Berkeley, California restaurant, Chez Panisse. Credited for helping change the food landscape in America, Chez Panisse was named best restaurant in the United States by Gourmet Magazine in 2001. Waters has championed sustainable farms and ranches for more than three decades  (our hero!), and brought her vision to public schools through the Chez Panisse Foundation (www.chezpanissefoundation.org). The Foundation operates The Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, where students plant, harvest, and prepare fresh food as part of the academic curriculum. Waters is the Founder of the Yale Sustainable Food Project, and Vice President of Slow Food International. She is the recipient of the Natural Resources Defense Council Force for Nature Award, 2004 and the Harvard Global Environmental Citizen Award alongside Kofi Annan, in 2008.

Having such a farm-to-table pioneer as a judge meant that we had to make this month’s prize extra special, so we went back to our friends at OXO and look what they provided:

Not only all of this...

...but ALSO all of this!

It’s everything you need to work the garden and whip the harvest into something amazing.

To enter the contest, all you have to do is submit your best original recipe.  Alice won’t be able to prepare each and every recipe (she has a restaurant and foundation to run!), but she’ll base her decision on creativity, originality and the ingredients used.

Submit your recipe in the comments section below and be sure to tell us which ingredients  you grew in your garden.

Good luck!!

After much deliberation (and after we told her there simply couldn’t be a tie), Suzy has chosen the winner of our Month of August contest.

There were many wonderful ideas for giving gifts from the garden (some of which we’ve already used ourselves), but we forced Suzy to choose only one (sometimes we are just sticklers for the rules)

And the winner is…

Laurie!!!

Laurie said:

With an overabundance of tomatoes and bar-b-q season still in full force, I gather up a big batch of tomatoes, de-seed them, remove their skins and slow cook them until they are soft. After cooling them, they get pureed in my blender, with an added bit of sea salt, basil, roasted onions and red bell peppers from the garden. When all is nice and smooth, I bottle up my home made “ketsup” and send the bottles to friends, in a basket, along with some fresh, unhusked corn, a bbq utensil or two and fresh baked goodies like bread rolls. I include a few recipes for burgers, pork and steak. My ketsup goes great on top of bar-b-qed foodstuffs!

Suzy is REALLY hoping that Laurie will share her ketsup recipe (and we are, too!)

Congratulations, Laurie!!!

Suzy Bales

August Contest: The Best Ideas for Giving Gifts from The Garden

Celebrity Garden Judge: Suzy Bales

Prize: Signed copies of Suzy’s last three books!

August is the time of year when all of that work in the garden finally starts to pay off.

If you are anything like us, you always have more than enough to go around after the harvest, even accounting for all the freezing, canning and pickling.

And, if you are anything like us you’ve learned that giving some of what you’ve grown to friends or family (or, in the case of zucchini, perfect strangers) can be equally as thrilling.  Maybe it’s because it makes you feel generous but it also helps you brag a little in a very furtive way:  Look what I did!!

We love to come up with creative ideas for giving gift from the garden and we’re sure you have some great share.

We couldn’t think of a better person to take a look at your ideas than Suzy Bales.

Suzy delights in sharing her garden with friends and family. In her book, Garden Parties she inspires fancifully fun parties that transform outdoor spaces into enchanting playgrounds for the senses—the plants, the décor, and the food intermingle to create truly memorable themes.

Suzy had her own weekly gardening column in Newsday for two years before joining Family Circle as their contributing garden editor for twelve years. She wrote a column for The New York Times for a year before joining Better Homes & Gardens as the Senior Editor for Gardening and Outdoor Living from 2004 until early 2007.  She has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, House Beautiful, Better Homes and Gardens, Horticulture, Beautiful Gardens, and Easy Gardening.

Get inspired for your own garden gifts (and contest entries) by taking a browse through Suzy’s own website.

Submit your ideas for giving gifts from the garden in the comments section below.

Submit any photos to:  beekman1802@beekman1802.com

Win these!!

July's judge: Jerry Baker

THE CONTEST: Tell us your tips for controlling weeds in the garden

THE PRIZE: The OXO Good Grips Gardening Tool Kit

CELEBRITY JUDGE: Jerry Baker

Leave your best tip for controlling weeds in your garden (the all-natural way of course) in the comment section below.  At the end of the month, Jerry will choose his favorite tip.

Last year when a violent wind storm split our cherry-laden tree in half, we knew exactly to whom to turn to save it.

In his younger days, Jerry Baker was an undercover cop in Detroit, Michigan, posing as a gardener, tree trimmer, landscaper, and seed salesman. While recovering from a job-related injury, he decided to turn to the more tranquil pursuit of gardening. Through a lot of hard work, Jerry eventually became America’s #1 expert on lawn, garden, and plant care. Jerry’s folksy humor, practical know-how, and homespun philosophy are in part derived from his Grandma Putnam, a Native American who first taught him to talk to plants. Jerry lived with her for several of his most formative years, and it was she who instilled in him a deep respect for Mother Nature, Mother Earth, and all things green and growing.

Since his days with Grandma Putt, Jerry’s been on a mission to spread the gardening gospel, along with many thousands of tips, tricks, and tonics he’s developed along the way.

Jerry first gained a measure of fame and notoriety with the publication of his runaway bestseller, Plants Are Like People, in 1972. He was also the guy who started the national craze of talking to your plants with the publication of a book by the same title. Since then, Jerry has written more than 50 books, and more than twenty million copies of his books have been sold, including his bestsellers Grandma Putt’s Old-Time Vinegar, Garlic, Baking Soda, and 101 More Problem Solvers; Terrific Garden Tonics; and Oddball Ointments, Powerful Potions, and Fabulous Folk Remedies.

And in the late 1990s, he had his own gardening specials that aired on Public Television stations across the country. These shows featured his timely tips, tricks, and tonics on such topics as lawn, flower, tree, shrub, and evergreen care. They were very successful, and were among the most popular programs on PBS at the time.

Jerry entered the 21st century by going online (www.jerrybaker.com) in February 1998. His website features a Bookstore, Health Store, and Garden Store, as well as “Grandma Putt’s Daily Wisdom,” archived articles that’ll answer your FAQs, and Jerry’s weekly blog. That means he can bring you even more of his great garden tips, tricks, and tonics; household hints; and fast fixes and quick cures at the click of a mouse.

Gardening isn’t what it used to be, but after all of these years, Jerry still longingly looks back to those days he spent with his Grandma Putt, who said that all a fellow (or gal) needs is the good earth, a handful of seeds, a little “grow-how,” and a desire to get back to basics. It was that simple back in her day, and it’s still that simple today.

Win this!

Leave your best tip for controlling weeds in your garden (the all-natural way of course) in the comment section below.  At the end of the month, Jerry will choose his favorite tip.

June's best tip

Our celebrity gardening judge for the Month of June had a hard time choosing the best tip for controlling pests in the garden the all-natural way.  In fact, her exact words were “they’re all winners”!  But we told her we only had one fabulous OXO prize to give away this month, so she had to narrow it down to just one.

She chose reader Kenn’s tip because it was both “smart and kind”

Kenn wrote:

My biggest issue is rabbits. Cute as they may be, they tend to enjoy the plants I love most. Fencing is ugly, and I’m not about to do anything inhumane.. so I give them something else to munch on.. borders made of lettuce. Throughout the season, I plant a variety of lettuces at the borders edge of my flower garden. They seem to never get further than the border for their feast! They hop off well fed, and I’m happy that there are no destroyed plants.

Congratulations, Kenn!!

Annie also shared with  us some of her own genius tips for controlling pests in the garden.

THE HAND’S ON APPROACH
–Pick bugs off the plant.
–Place paper collars around plant stems.
–Wrap tree trunks in heavy paper such as poster board and then brushwith a sticky substance like honey. The bugs will get stuck.
–Broken eggshells are a deterrent to many bugs who don’t like to walk through them.
–Vacuum bugs off with a vacuum cleaner.

SOAP IT UP

Soap is one of the all-time best folk formulas for a pesticide. It disrupts the insect’s cell membranes, killing the pest through dehydration.

1-2 tablespoons liquid soap
1 gallon water

Combine ingredients in a pan. Transfer 2 cups to a spray bottle. Spray infested areas. Do not use more than 2 tablespoons of soap; too much can kill the leaves.  Note: Detergent will not work, so make sure what you’re using is real soap. Liquid vegetable-oil soap called castile soap sold at health food stores is best.

GARLIC SPRAY

Garlic has amazing pest repellent qualities, keeping many different kinds of insects and other pests that can destroy your favorite plants at bay.

1 head garlic
2 cups boiling water
2 cups room temperature water

Peel and mash the garlic. Place it in a pint mason jar and cover with boiling water. Screw on the lid and let set overnight. Strain. Freeze 1 cup of the infusion to use another time; put the rest in a spray bottle with 1 more cup of water. Spray on infested areas.

Variations
Soapy: Add 2 teaspoons vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon liquid soap to the garlic infusion before dividing the batch in two.
Spicy: Combine any of the following in the garlic infusion — scallions and onions, horseradish root, ginger, rhubarb leaves, cayenne and other hot peppers. Add 1 teaspoon liquid soap.
Oniony: Combine an onion and a few hot peppers with the head of garlic in a blender with enough water to cover. Strain. Freeze what you don’t use.

VEGETABLE OIL SPRAY
This is a popular spray for orchards. The oil suffocates insects.

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon liquid soap
2 quarts water

Combine ingredients in a pail. Transfer 2 cups to a spray bottle. Spray infected areas.

Don’t forget to submit your best tips for managing weeds in the garden in our Month of July contest.  The next winner could be you!

The Judge for June, Annie Bond

Prize: OXO’s fabulous Kitchen Essentials kit

The Contest: The best tip for controlling pests in the garden (the all-natural way, of course!)

Celebrity Judge: Annie B. Bond

It always happens, just as things start to get rolling in the garden, some unwanted party guests show up.    This month we want you tell us about your garden’s worst enemies and the creative way you’ve developed to handle them without turning to pesticides.

We’ve asked green living expert, Annie Bond, to help us choose the best tip this month.  Annie is the author of four books and THOUSANDS of articles and has been called  “the foremost expert on green living” and we’ll be featuring some of her own tips in the Garden Gate blog this month.

The winner this month will receive a wonderful set of kitchen tools from our friends at OXO…just in time for the first harvests from this year’s garden!

Nobody does it better than OXO

To enter the contest enter your best tip in the comments section below (then keep your fingers crossed)

May's best tip

There were SO many wonderful ideas submitted to the Month of May contest.  Who knew we had so many Mensa members lurking around Beekman 1802?!  We are sure glad that it was Margaret Roach doing the judging and not us.

And the winning tip is: Turning apple tree prunings into garden fencing.

Recycling pruning remnants

Linda writes:

We decided to figure out how to turn our apple tree prunings into nice hoops like those expensive bamboo ones you can buy. So we made a wooden template that you thread the prunings through, so they dry into a curved shape that is the same for all. We cut the uneven ends off when we stick them into the ground.

You can see more details about this project at Linda’s website.

Does this inspire you?  Then get ready for the Month of June contest.  What’s your best tip for controlling pests in your garden in an environmentally friendly way?  Green expert Annie B Bond steps up to the bench as our guest judge.

Margaret in May

Clear out the tool shed!

Prize: Oxo 10-piece Garden Tool Kit

Celebrity Judge: Margaret Roach

Margaret Roach  joins our Garden Party this month to help us judge your most inventive, most ingenious homemade gardening tools.   Margaret worked at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for 15 years,  first as garden editor of Living and then as editorial director.  She originated the show Home Grown on Sirius satellite radio and now has one of the most read gardening blogs around called A Way To Garden (yeah, we are jealous).

Have you tilled the soil with a spork?  Used a pencil as a stake?  Made a mountain out of a mole hill?

Margaret’s going to help us judge the best “homemade garden tool” tip this month, and give away an incredible OXO 10-piece Gardening Tool Kit, featuring OXO Garden tools. (Why, oh why can’t we be eligible for our own prizes?!?)

Enter your “invention” in the comment section below.  If you can, submit a photo (click here). At the end of April we’ll announce which Margaret chose as the most unique and helpful, and send the winner the OXO 10-piece Garden Tool Kit. (Be sure to include your email address so that we know how to reach you.)

April's best tip

There were so many wonderful tips, we tried several of them ourselves and look forward to seeing the fruits vegetables of our labor.

Our gardening guru of the month, Rebecca Kolls has chosen the most useful tip for getting seeds started.

And the winner is…

CanCan (Mom Most Traveled) who used toilet paper rolls as “self-contained mini pots”.

Rebecca says:  This is a great idea for various reasons.  I love the recycling/reusing element..but this idea cuts down on time and becomes part of the soil over time.

Being the gardening genius that she is, she adds:  open the bottom of the “pot” before planting and push the seedling 1 inch below, you’ll create a collar around the top of the plant which would protect it from cutworm!

Make sure to submit your best tip in next month’s contest.

Rebecca Kolls, April's Celebrity Gardening Judge

Send us your best seedling planting tips!!

Prize: Oxo 10-piece Garden Tool Kit

Celebrity Judge: Rebecca Kolls

Rebecca Kolls joins our Garden Party this month to help us judge your best seedling transplanting tips. Gardeners around the country know Rebecca from her many years as the gardening contributor to Good Morning America, and as host of her own syndicated television show: “Rebecca’s Garden.” Gardeners can now get Rebecca’s tips delivered straight to their home with her new magazine: “Rebecca Koll’s Seasons”

Rebecca’s going to help us judge the best seedling transplanting tip this month, and give away an incredible OXO 10-piece Gardening Tool Kit, featuring OXO Garden tools. (Why, oh why can’t we be eligible for our own prizes?!?)

OXO 10-Piece Garden Tool Kit

Being so far north, and at a higher altitude to boot, we wind up starting a lot of seeds indoors for the Beekman 1802 Heirloom Vegetable Garden. Otherwise our growing season would be, like, 2 weeks long.

Each different variety of seedling, however, seems to need it’s own TLC when being transplanted to the garden. For instance, we learned last year (the hard way) that we need to cover our cucumber, squash, and melon seedlings with floating row cover fabric to avoid having them decimated by the dreaded neon striped cucumber beetles. (We wound up squashing them by hand each morning. Not that appetizing before breakfast.)

Tender seedlings travel a tough road in their early days out of the greenhouse or coldframe. Many pests and plagues threaten new plantings…rot, cutworms, wind.  What are your tips for hardening-off and avoiding other problems?

Enter your favorite tips (with pictures if you got ‘em) in the comment section below. At the end of April we’ll announce which Rebecca chose as the most unique and helpful, and send the winner the OXO 10-piece Garden Tool Kit. (Be sure to include your email address so that we know how to reach you.)