Avocado Culture

With so much to talk about this week, and only one weekly submission, I decided to pack this week’s email tip full of stuff, instead of honing in on one topic.

We start with the links to the Avocado Culture Tip Sheet, that we have cut-and-pasted to so many email requesters over the past few weeks. So, this week we put it in the email tip form and next week, it will be posted to our permanent website tip sheets. This is in both Word format and well as PDF depending on what you can access on your computer. And, giving credit where credit is due, this is the great Cultural Practices write up from Angela Chandler, the Master Gardener Guru from Harris County Precinct 2.

• Word Document
• PDF File

Super Bowl Recipes

Speaking of Cutting-and-Pasting Email tips, this past Super Bowl Sunday edition of GardenLine got into a discussion of sharing fruit/fruit and nut and vegetable-specific recipes for the big Super Sunday parties. I chose to share an amazing recipe that included lots of fruits and nuts and brie cheese. Many people requested it, and many others introduced their fruit or veggie recipe that made the logical connection between GardenLine and the Super Bowl. Here are the best 5 recipes that were discussed.

Nutty and Fruity Brie (from Randy Lemmon)

13.2 oz round of brie (look in specialty cheese section of store)
7 oz pkg mixed dried fruit (raisins, peaches, pears, apricots, cranberries, etc.)
2 green onions, chopped
2.5 oz bag chopped walnuts or almonds
4 tbsp honey

Remove white rind from brie; discard rind.
Place brie in the center of a microwaveable plate.
Empty fruit, green onions, nuts and honey into a small saucepan.
Cook over medium heat 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour fruit mixture over top of brie and microwave until brie begins to melt and spread.
Remove, cool and serve with crackers.

Strawberry Grand Marnier Cheesecake Dip Recipe (from Tommy Auffarber)

1 pint strawberries (reserve 1 large whole strawberry for garnishing), washed, dried, trimmed, and chopped, divided use
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup Grand Marnier liqueur
8 ounces (1 large block) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped, divided use

Combine chopped strawberries, brown sugar, and Grand Marnier liqueur in a small bowl.
Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Beat cream cheese and sour cream until well-combined.
Add half of the strawberry mixture and beat again.
Fold in remaining strawberries and 3 tablespoons of the walnuts.

Pour into a serving dish.
Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon of walnuts over the top.
Thinly slice strawberry up to, but not through, the stem.
Spread the slices into a fan shape and place in the center of the cheesecake dip.
Cover the dip with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Let sit 15 minutes at room temperature before serving.
Serve with cookie and fruit dippers.

The 4 P’s Salad (from Texas Seth)

1 Fresh pineapple
4 Bosc Pears
2 Pomegranates
1/3 Cup Pecan Halves
1-1/2oz Wild Turkey Liqueur
1/3 Cup Honey

Peel, core and chunk the pineapple into bite size pieces
Hull the pomegranates and get the berries out
Core and slice the Bosc pears into bite size pieces, peel if you like
Mix the honey and the liqueur and pour over the fruits
after mixing the fruits up
Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before time to eat and then put the pecan halves over the top before serving.
That keeps the juices from dampening the pecans.
Make sure it is the sweeter Wild Turkey Liqueur and not the Wild Turkey Bourbon!!

Mandarin Salad (from Joe Valdez)

6 green apples cut in small pieces
5 cups of celery cut in small pieces,
1 cup of walnuts or your favorite nuts,
7 mandarines peeled and cut in small pieces,
1 1/2 cup lemon juice,
1 cup cr sour cream,
3 table spoons of honey,
pinch of salt & pepper.

Directions: Pour half lemon juice on apples let sit.
Grind nuts to small pieces, mix with mandarines and celery.
Mix the sour cream with remaining lemon juice, salt pepper and honey.
Pour sour creams mix over all the ingredients and mix well.

Easy Jalapenos (from Marti Peddicord)

Easy! A huge hit using jalapenos and 2 ingredients.
And they weren't hot - my guests were asking for more.
Stuffed jalapenos (not like the fried ones)
* Cream cheese - 1 pkg.
* Dry ranch dressing- 1 pkg
Mix these together place in baggie, cut small hole in corner to squeeze (like a cake decorator tool).
* 10-15 Jalapenos
Cut top off, use carrot peeler to scoop out seeds, squeeze cream cheese mixture into each.

We grilled ours and even the "nay sayers" were coming back for more.

Get Back on "The Schedule"

Finally, if you haven’t thought about what needs to be done in the landscape now that we in the month of February, let me tell you what you need to be thinking about.
For starters, there’s plenty of Fertilization Schedule related activities that need to be done. It starts with the all-important Pre-Emergent Herbicide to block the later-emerging weeds of spring. The link to the schedule is here, but don’t forget too about the late-February Early Green Up; The Need for Aeration and the possibility of scalping towards the end of February as well.

Roses & Chocolate Seminar at Teas

If you listened to the radio program the last two weekends, you may have already heard about this. If not, don't forget about the Chocolate and Roses Seminar at Teas Nursery just in time for Valentine's Day. The seminar is this Saturday, February 9th. TODAY IS THE DEADLINE FOR REGISTERING FOR THIS FREE CLASS 713-295-5100.

Our long-time GardenLine Rose Expert, Baxter Williams, will be conducting the rose class. If you need more infomation, please log on to www.teasnursery.com or call the number above.