Sweet Summer Basil Lemonade!

Greetings garden lovers!

Today I wanted to share my new favorite summer lemonade recipe with you! It uses stevia instead of sugar, and basil from the backyard garden!

Just for fun, I served them in tiny mason jars... I figure that since 'mini desserts' have been quite the trend, why not make tiny drinks? They are fun to photograph, and even to sip from!

I was also thinking this might be a fun way to serve an 'adult' lemonade drink, by topping it off with a little vodka.

Talk about relaxing in the garden... ;)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup lemon juice (5-6 lemons)
• 5 cups water
• 30 drops liquid stevia (or 1/2 cup sugar, if you like)
• handful of basil leaves
• optional: 1 lemon, sliced, for garnish

Directions:

Juice the lemons. In a large pitcher, mix water with the stevia drops and lemon juice. Stir in a few basil leaves. Garnish with lemon slices and remaining basil leaves. 

*note: If using real sugar, it's best to first heat the 5 cups of water in a saucepan, and then stir in the sugar... before finally adding in the lemon juice and basil leaves.

Enjoy!

xoxo,

Ashley

Garden Tomatoes Galore!

Greetings garden lovers! I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Hopefully you have lots of delicious garden gems to enjoy! ♥

Back in April, we picked up a few tomato seedlings at a Tomatomania sale at Descanso Gardens:

• Sungold
• Cherokee Purple
• Mario's Roma

They were supposed to be the best varieties to handle extreme desert heat... and they are growing like I have never seen tomato plants grow before! Last year, my best tomato plant had maybe 6 tomatoes total... for the entire growing season!

But these varieties are amazing! There have been so many tomatoes... I have not been able to keep count!

'Sungold' variety

They are so delicious... wayyyyyy better than grocery store tomatoes any day!

'Cherokee Purple'

'Mario's Roma'

Does anyone know of any other tomato varieties that thrive in extreme heat?

Bright Summer Zinnias!

Greetings!

I apologize for not posting a garden update in a while. In addition to starting my health coaching business & staying on top of my coursework for Integrative Nutrition, I also just got a full-time job for 6 weeks!

In what seemed like a blink of an eye, it is already the middle of July! The plants in the garden have tripled in size! All of the sudden, we have patty pan squashes, ripe roma tomatoes, and a baby cucumber!

But today's post is about zinnias! They are so bright & beautiful! ♥

According to Wikipedia:

Zinnia is a genus of 20 species of annual and perennial plants of family Asteraceae, originally from scrub and dry grassland in an area stretching from the American Southwest to South America, but primarily Mexico, and notable for their solitary long-stemmed flowers that come in a variety of bright colors.

Zinnia leaves are opposite and usually stalkless, with a shape ranging from linear to ovate, and pale to middle green in color. The flowers have a range of appearances, from a single row of petals, to a dome shape, with the colors white, chartreuse, yellow, orange, red, purple, and lilac.

Zinnias are popular garden flowers, usually grown from seed, and preferably in fertile, humus-rich, and well-drained soil, in an area with full sun. They will reseed themselves each year. Over 100 cultivars have been produced since selective breeding started in the 19th century.

Sunflowers and Squash Blossoms!

Greetings fellow garden lovers! ♥

This week has been very warm, high 80s - low 90s. But that is nothing compared to how hot it will get! But the garden loves it! 

My plants are growing like crazy! I've been harvesting garlic, strawberries, lemon balm, figs, basil, and oregano. And very soon... TOMATOES!

Here's a photo update: Sunflowers & 'Peter Pan' Squash 
(They were both grown from seed!) ♥

'Hello!'

What's thriving in your garden this week?