Organic Gardening And Fresh Tomato Salsa

Planting a small container garden is an economical and fun way to have fresh herbs and chili peppers in my fridge. However, I will never be able to hold a candle to my mom's green thumb as the gardener extraordinaire. Mother experimented with growing many fresh vegetables in her garden over the years, but the majority of her crop is usually devoted to tomatoes because these tend to do very well in the alkaline rich soil of the San Bernardino Mountains. One thing she did to enrich the soil was by using fish emulsion as opposed to Miracle-Gro. The one summer my mom was too busy with work I decided to help her with the garden, but my dad stunted the growth of all the plants by pouring Miracle-Gro on their roots every single day. Miracle-Gro works well when a person follows the directions, but in this case, we ended up having several hundred lilliputian tomato plants that produced approximately one bowl of tiny tomatoes. Also, I am not big on the use of miracle grow because I prefer the organic approach, and having a compost pile is one way to enrich the soil without resorting to using soil enhancers

Overuse of miracle grow can produce tiny tomatoes, and it completely turned me off the stuff. The tomatoes we grew one summer looked more like the cherry variety and tasted pretty good, but this is was minuscule harvest considering the number of plants in the garden. After that summer my mom decided she would stay up until the wee hours of the night and take care of the garden herself as to prevent future Miracle-Gro sprees. Thankfully my dad is a superb electrician and rigged a lighting system that allows them to garden after sunset. These days my dad sticks to watering, whereas my mom is in charge of gardening and picking the tomato plants. Since I do not have a green thumb I prefer to cut these tomatoes up into lovely salads, make organic salsa, or just eat them as God intended, straight off the vine and into the mouth. Since I am not much of a gardener I decided to make the majority of this hub about how one can create a lovely organic tomato salsa. This is a simple recipe of my own creation and can be tailored to your culinary needs.

Growing up my mom always used organic methods for gardening because she wanted to ensure the quality and safety of the vegetables we ate. She read every book available in the eighties on the subject of organic gardening, of which there were not as many as there are now. People were skeptical of those who used organic gardening methods and some magazines even wrote about how vegetables grown with pesticides looked better. Ironically, by the 1990s many of the same publications that had wrote articles decrying organic gardening began to advocate these methods are healthy and safer. Organic gardening has become widespread and far more accepted, and even Sylvia Brown recommended a farmer on the Montel Williams Show should consider getting in on this trend. I never thought I would see the day when Sylvia Brown would be giving out gardening/farming advice!

Too busy to plant your own garden? If you are wealthy enough you can even hire someone to plant a garden in your own backyard. However, I must say even though I tend to be a lazy gardener I could not imagine going this route. I really want to get into having a little planter box garden as I did a few years ago. In my planter box garden I grew tomatoes and lettuce, which are both hardy plants that do not require much tending. Tomatoes are high in potassium, magnesium, vitamin C, and many other nutrients, so what is not to love about the tomato? Also, homegrown tomatoes have a much bolder flavor than the store bought variety, even the organic ones tend to taste mass produced. I still cannot put my finger on it, but a homegrown tomato just tastes like love and caring. Also, growing loose leaf lettuce in conjunction with tomatoes is the great way to always have the makings of a salad always on hand.

Another thing I like to make with homegrown tomatoes is fresh salsa. If I do not have homegrown tomatoes on hand I use organic store bought ones, but homemade is the best. Today I am showing you how I make a basic and simple salsa, but unfortunately I did not have homemade tomatoes for this tutorial. However, I can guarantee this recipe would taste much better with the homegrown variety of tomatoes.

The way I make salsa is simple and easy. I love to use organic homegrown vegetables when possible, but today I had to settle for store bought organic. Follow the steps below to make a simple salsa Sweetiepie style. Salsa and salad have taught me that even though I lack a green thumb that learning to become a better gardener is essential.

Salsa is one of my garden favorites, but do not forget to check out my suggestions on how to make a simple salad. I hope you enjoy your next meal or snack with homegrown crops, or at least organic crops as the building blocks