Turn those early apples into an almost-fall treat
This creamy dessert won’t heat up the kitchen like most fruit pies.
Melon-avocado salad with lemon vinaigrette
Fragrant fruit melds well with peppers, cilantro
P.A.T. Chutney combines plums (or pluots), apricots and tomatoes
Tender corn and fresh tomatoes star in a no-sweat dish
White Linen cocktail with fresh cucumber and lemon
Summer treat makes use of frozen puff pastry
Pluot-spinach salad with fig balsamic vinaigrette
Shredded squash adds texture, moistness
Tutti frutti clafoutis uses mix of plums, apricots, blueberries
Use very ripe fruit in this dish for best flavor
French toast gets a flavorful fruit topping
Green beans, simple dressing keep salad light
Fava bean succotash features fresh corn
Berries are topped with corn-infused biscuits
Pancakes extra-special with homegrown blueberries
Sweet early fruit is paired with blanched almonds
Turkey-carrot loaf delicious served warm or cold
Treat Mom or yourself to an easy spring dish
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 5
Take advantage of this break between storm systems to give your garden some much-needed TLC.
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees soon after a rain to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranuculous and gladiolus for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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