Dakota Blooms: Your Guide to Midwest Gardening

 Parsley is a vibrant, green herb that we most often use to garnish our dishes. It is packed with flavor and can enhance many meals. Fresh parsley is always my favorite way to use it, and it is simple to grow. Parsley plants do very well in the Midwest and will produce for most of the growing season. Unfortunately, our harsh winters won't allow us to harvest fresh parsley all year round, so dehydration is one way to preserve it for later use. Follow below for simple instructions, pictures, and video on how to harvest and preserve parsley.     Step 1 : Cut parsley stems 1 inch from the bottom. Harvest in the morning at peak freshness.     Step 2 : Wash parsley  thoroughly.     Step 3 : Layer parsley in dehydrator, careful not to overlap. Remove thicker stems to save room.                               Toss   any unwanted, damaged leaves.     Step 4 : Follow manufacturer's instructions on your dehydrator. I put my parsley at 95 degrees for                               20-   24

       Gardening is more than just a hobby or way to beautify our surroundings; it is a valuable tradition that has been handed down through generations. As I weed my garden every morning (okay, maybe not EVERY morning), I am reminded that the seeds of my gardening knowledge have been shared with me by friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. Those knowledge seeds have been watered by their ancestors before them. It is easy to do a quick google search to find the relevant information you are looking for, but the most admirable wisdom comes from those who have endured many years of failures before us. I want to pay a tribute to the wisdom acquired from our ancestors and emphasize the passing down of knowledge to the next generation. Therefore; Here are some tips and tricks I have learned recently: Prune your tomatoes.      This technique is very new to me. After planting your tomato plants and after the initial transplant shock, you should prune all but the main 2-3 stems of the tomat

       Do you see my decoy strawberries? 😂      In life, the simplest things often teach us the most useful lessons. Little did I know that growing my first strawberry would be more than just a delightful gardening experience; it became a transformative journey of personal growth. I wish I could say this particular strawberry plant was the first one to grow and thrive in my first house, but it actually took me 3 years to get it right.     Trial and error, as most gardeners probably know, is what it took to finally get a strawberry plant to thrive in my quaint little backyard garden paradise. The excitement from not only me, but also from my children as they got to pick their very first bright red strawberry, made every struggle from the past 3 years worth it. Growing this strawberry became an embodiment of resilience, reminding me that hurdles are merely stepping stones on the path to personal development. Each day that I spent in my garden came with many obstacles; weeding, watering,

   Have you ever seen a bush that looks like it has poop all over the branches?     Cherry, plum, apricot, and chokecherry are some of the most common shrubs in the Midwest because they grew some of the few types of fruit that survives in this climate.   However, you may have noticed a black yucky-looking substance all over on them at some point. Dibotryon morbosum, also known as "black knot", is a disease that encompasses these certain types of shrubs.     Black knot is caused by the fungal pathogen Apiosporina morbosa and affects primarily trees of the Prunus genus. It appears to have a black, rough texture often resembling 💩 or swollen, elongated knots. Some prevention steps for this disease include pruning, sanitation, and maximizing tree health. In other words, regular inspection of shrubs is crucial to prevent the spread of this disease. To treat black knot, you can cut off the affected branches, and/or spray the shrub with fungicides.  It can injure different shrubs i

  I think it's safe to say most of us would rather use rainwater over city water, just for the mere fact that it's free! Unfortunately, we can't always rely on rain to water our garden throughout the entire season. Unless you have a very large and awesome rain barrel to use the whole growing season, you will eventually have to use the city water. (P.S. Blog article about collecting rain in barrels coming later). Let's talk about the major differences between the two hydration sources. Rainwater: -Free! -Eco-friendly -Hard to collect large amounts (and sometimes illegal depending on where you live) -Large, collected amounts will need its own filtration system -No contaminants City Water: -$$$  -Easy to use and readily accessible -Endless supply -Contains hard minerals that can sometimes build up in plant containers -Not as eco-friendly due to increased energy consumption -Treated for contaminants      You watered your garden with city and/or rainwater, now you're won

      I have a bad habit of buying plants that sound fun or unique, but when it's time to harvest them, I realize I don't know anything about it. Thus, here I am writing to tell you what I have learned about the ever-so-spreading peppermint plant in my backyard. Thankfully, I planted it in a container. I'm sure I had plenty of ideas on how to use the peppermint plant upon purchase, but here I am now wondering what I am going to do with all of these very aromatic leaves. Let's dive in and discover the many uses of the medicinal herb. Starting with my favorite so far: Homemade Peppermint Essential Oil     Although you cannot make "true" essential oil from the peppermint without proper distillation (which requires some equipment if you're wanting to try), you can make a similar variation. Here is the recipe I follow: 1 cup peppermint leaves 1 cup olive oil (or another similar oil such as grapeseed) Directions: 1. Crush the leaves by using a pistil and mortar

      It's that time of the year here already in the Midwest. If you know what I'm talking about, you know that it's time to keep your car doors locked at all times. If you don't, you just might find some zucchini in it. If you're new to gardening, you might not know that zucchini grows almost like a weed here. Everybody and their cousins will try to give it away if you're not careful. But what will you do if you find yourself in an abundance of that ubiquitous green summer squash? Never fret, I have some ideas for you. Here are some of my favorites: Oven baked zucchini pizza bites Grilled Zucchini strips Vegetable soup with cubed zucchini Zucchini bread Banana zucchini chocolate chip muffins Zucchini brownies Zucchini spaghetti boats Breaded zucchini fries Add zucchini to smoothies (practically tasteless) Add zucchini to stir-fry or tacos Pickle them     Don't feel like using them up right away? That's okay, they can keep in the fridge for 1-2 weeks and