One of my favorite things to do is to use ingredients from my own garden, or from the local farmers markets whenever possible when I cook, so I was totally excited to check out this book.

What I really like about this cookbook are the beautiful photos. There are over 100 photos to go with the recipes. I’m a foodie, so I love to see great food photos.

Keith Snow also educates people on the health and environmental benefits of eating local seasonal foods at his website HarvestEating.com. Which is in itself a wonderful resource for information about seasonal cooking and sustainable foods for people around the world.

The Harvest Eating Cookbook has fresh, healthy recipes from appetizers, sides and breakfasts, to desserts and main courses.

You can find more information about this cookbook at the Harvest Eating website, or buy it online at Amazon, and other major book stores.

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Rosemary is wonderful for the holiday season. The scent reminds me of the smell of fresh evergreens. It definitely has that woodsy smell that I crave this time of year.

Rosemary makes a great houseplant if you can successfully transition it from the outdoors in, or if you start with indoor grown plant.s

Rosemary plants trained as a topiary, or trained in the shape of a small Christmas tree make great holiday gifts. If you’re a rosemary fan, watch for discounted rosemary trees after the holidays. Sometimes you can purchase leftovers for pennies on the dollar, and have fresh rosemary all winter long.

Dried rosemary can be added to potpourri, made into wreaths, or dried floral arrangements. They add a fresh scent to whatever you use them in.

Image istockphoto.com

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The 2010 Garden Show will be held February 27 – March 7, 2010 at the Ohio Expo Center on the Ohio State Fairgrounds in Columbus Ohio. The theme of the show will be “Art in Bloom” and the display will include living landscapes inspired by masterpiece works of art, and feature stunning sculptures, paintings and other pieces within the gardens.

There will be fourteen full-sized gardens on display for visitors to enjoy, and experts will be on hand to talk with guests about how they can achieve the same looks.

With more than 400 exhibits and attractions, the 54th Central Ohio Home and Garden Show promises to be one of North America’s most exciting and interactive home and garden shows. I’m excited because it’s almost in my back yard. Well, at least it’s closer than most events I’d love to attend. I live a couple hours from Columbus, but I think I’ll have to make the trip to see this years Garden Show.

Tracy Disabato-Aust

Check out the line up:

Acclaimed garden writer Tracy DiSabato-Aust will be featured at the show on February 27, 2010 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Author of three books including The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, The Well-Designed Mixed Garden and High Impact, Low Care Garden Plants: Tough But Beautiful Plants Anyone Can Grow, this Ohio State University graduate is well-known and knowledgeable in the garden scene. She also serves as the contributing editor of Fine Gardening magazine, and has written articles in Midwest Living and Real Simple.

Shane Tallant

Another exciting guest featured at the 2010 Central Ohio Home & Garden Show is Shane Tallant, host of HGTV’s Designed To Sell. Guests can improve their chances of selling their homes when Tallant takes the Home Idea Center Stage at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on February 27, 2010. His show, Designed To Sell, gives home sellers help from experts and a $2,000 budget to transform their home from drab and ordinary to one capable of retrieving top dollar in less than a week. Tallant will talk about his experiences hosting the popular program, as well as offer tips and ideas on interior design and home improvement. Tallant will also answer audience questions and sign autographs at the show.

The 2010 Central Ohio Home & Garden Show will open on Saturday, February 27 and run through Sunday March 7. The show will be closed on Monday, but will reopen and run Tuesday and Thursday from 3 p.m.- 9 p.m. and Wednesday and Friday from noon – 9 p.m. Tickets are only $10 for adults and children ages 12 and under are free. More information can be found at DispatchEvents.com.

Images: The Columbus Dispatch

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Tractor Planter $119.99 — This one is my favorite! You’re sure to appreciate the rustic charm of this vintage tractor planter. It has working wheels and comes with two planters and rings for holding planters. The planter features metal, with a brown painted finish and goldtone accents.

Scrolled Planter Trolley $34.99 — This cute little planter will bring some old-world charm into your garden setting with this decorative planter trolley reminiscent of the flower carts used by street vendors of Victorian times. The metal planter is detailed with elegant scroll work and has two nonoperative wheels.

Rustic Wall Planter $82.99 — This charming wall planter with a “window pane” back has 3 drawers for storing seed packets, gardening gloves, and other gardening items. This planter will work great on a narrow porch, balcony, or up against a barn or wall.

Woven Basket Planter $39.99 — A staircase of woven platforms lets you display more of your beautiful flowers, in a small space. This planter would be fabulous for a smaller deck or balcony. A large basket below makes room for a beautiful arrangement, and the pots above are great for individual plants.

Images: Montgomery Ward

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Starting this month, K-8 teachers are able to enter to win one of 100 Harvest Grants through the Scholastic website: scholastic.com/harvest.

Entries are judged by the experts at the National Gardening Association. The panel will select two schools in every state to receive a Welch’s Harvest Grant: Welch’s will award 100 garden packages, together valued at $35,000, to the winning schools.

Five schools will receive $1,000 packages; 25 schools will receive $500 packages; and 70 schools will receive $250 packages. Each package will contain a variety of tools, seeds, and educational materials to help students connect with nature and better understand the origins of their food supply.

Deadline for submission is February 6, 2010. If your school would like to enter this contest you can find complete details and the official rules at the scholastic.com/harvest website.

Good luck!

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I still have a few mum blooms peaking out from the leaves, and some green leaves here and there.

There are also just a few Black-Eyed-Susans blooms growing right up against the house. I think it stays a little warmer there, and it’s sheltered by the large eves and the bricks on the house keep things a little warmer there until the weather really gets cold.

I’ve also got some geraniums happily blooming indoors in the kitchen and in the laundry room, this pink one is my favorite right now.

I’ve also started some Amaryllis for their cheery blooms later this winter. They don’t look like much yet, but I’m sure they’ll be fabulous in January.

Images (c) L Gerlach

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Fresh herbs can also be delightful on a package, you can use rosemary or lavender and you’ll get a wonderful scent to go with your dressed up look. Just wait until right before you’re ready to deliver the package before you attach the fresh herbs. Both of these herbs hold their own as they’re drying, so they won’t look wilty or sad on the package. Even if they do start to dry out before the package is opened.

The gift recipient will be able to use the herb bundles later as air fresheners, decorations on their Christmas tree, or to put in drawers to keep things smelling fresh.

Image istockphoto.com

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If you grew some lavender in your garden this summer you can make your own lavender gifts, if you didn’t I also have a few gift ideas you can buy.

One of my favorite lavender gifts is lavender bath bags, they’re easy to make with some dried lavender blooms and oatmeal, you can check out this lavender bath bag recipe if you’d like to make your own.

Lavender bottles are another cute and simple lavender gift idea. Just take some old glass medicine bottles, or some other kind of tall slender bottle. Place a bundle of lavender in the bottle, cut them so the heads can peek out the top of the bottle. Or you can give the lavender bundles themselves as the gift.

Lavender soap is another wonderful gift idea, if you’d like to make your own try this recipe for lavender mint soap.

You can also purchase or make a handmade lavender wreath. I love this square lavender leaf from Elegantholidays at Etsy.

What’s your favorite lavender gift idea?

Image 1: istockphoto.com

Image 2: ElegantHolidays Etsy Shop

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I also like to add elements from my garden to the Christmas tree, from tiny dried flower filled baskets, to dried flowers in glass bulbs, and painted or scented pine cones, I always enjoy bringing the outdoors in when I decorate for the holidays.

I’ve also included babies breath on the tree branches, and little lavender tussie mussies or bundles of herbs tied to the tree branches before. They leave off a wonderful scent, that just adds to the aroma of the holidays.

I’ve also used grapevine to twine around the tree as a garland, to give it that wild, woodsy feel. Gardening and nature are definitely two themes you can see every year in my Christmas tree.

Do you decorate your Christmas tree with elements from your garden?

Image (c) L Gerlach

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• I always think of Christmas greens and think of the evergreens like spruce, pine, and firs. I’m always snipping of branches where no one will notice on my evergreens around Christmas time. I bring in the sprigs and use them to decorate.
• Holly is another Christmas favorite. I love to pluck off sprigs of Holly to decorate wreaths and my fireplace mantel.
• Mistletoe is another holiday favorite, just don’t get caught standing under it unless you’re feeling romantic.
• Poinsettias are my absolute favorite Christmas plant! I have to buy at least one every year, and I usually end up with two or three. I just threw out last years Poinsettia the other day, it survived the summer, but didn’t handle transitioning back into the house well.
• Christmas Cactus is another one of my favorite plants this time of year. I haven’t had one for several years, but this time of year I always think about buying a new one.
• Lately the Rosemary grown to look like a Christmas tree have been popular. The scent is wonderful for this time of year. I usually look for these at the end of the holiday season on clearance, then I have fresh Rosemary through the winter months for just a few dollars.

What plants remind you of Christmas?

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