Published September 1, 2005

Iffy news for all of us, except maybe Claudia Ranniker: She has closed her Claudia's Perennials Nursery across from Vella's Cheese on Second Street East and bordering the bike path.

Claudia decided to retire and enjoy her other good life of making crafts and decorations for sale. Lifting fifty and hundred pound bags of dirt and other garden stuff can get to one's body parts, such as the back, shoulders, and even our brains, possibly!
Claudia's retirement was not just a “sell off all the plants and think about it” move. She and husband Roger Ranniker, who is a cheesemaker across the street at Vella's, have taken down all the plant shelters, potting tables, cabanas, and even broken up the cement and watering troughs. Now that is a statement!

Through your support of Claudia's plant sale, in which she donated 100 percent of proceeds to Pets Lifeline, you helped contribute $2,400.50 to the organization to save animals in Sonoma Valley. Great job, everyone!

Kudos to a few businesses around town that have invested in pretty flowers to enhance Sonoma's appearance! Francoise Guerra Hodges has added planter dividers full of multi-colored impatiens on the sides of her sidewalk café tables on First Street West – a great addition. The Corner Store and Mayo Family Winery tasting counter have perked up the corner of First Street East and East Napa Street with loads of flowers in a newish planter against the store's windows. All of this is a welcomed warm-up to next year's Flower Count, sponsored by the Sonoma Valley Sun, El Sol de Sonoma, and KSVY 91.3 FM Radio and other organizations. Let's hope the flower boxes removed last week from the Cucina Viansa corner opposite Mission San Francisco Solano return after painting, loaded with colorful spider geraniums and impatien – or anything!

If you notice any new colorful plantings at a business you frequent or just pass by, let the Jolly Green Goddess know at hilltopub@aol.com and I will let the world know what a great contribution to Sonoma's beauty they are making.

Devotees of the San Francisco Flower Mart on Sixth Street near Brannan better make a bee-line for the place, and fast. Apparently the nursery co-op members are being asked to vote to allow Virginia developers, Avalon Bay Communities, to purchase the property for condos.

Jolly Green Goddess was there a week ago with my talented cousin, scouting flowers for my daughter Erin's upcoming wedding, and we were surprised to find only one wholesaler remaining who would sell retail. Passanissi of Penngrove, which grows and retails right here in Sonoma County, seemed to be alive and thriving. But otherwise the place seemed deserted, compared to the past several decades, when people panted to get into the place to buy plants and flowers. In July Silver Terrace Nurseries of Pescadero closed its Flower Mart operation, which was the largest wholesale and retail vendor in the complex. Silver Terrace owner Robert Ruggeri has joined with Dave Smith, formerly of Smith & Hawken, and Marin entrepreneur Gerald Prolman in an already successful organic flower growing operation, Organic Bouquet.

Another glorious institution bites the dust in favor of development.
Back here in real life Sonoma, we viewed the terrific documentary, “The Future of Food,” last Thursday. The film makes an excellent case for making sure you know exactly where your vegetable plants and seeds come from, how they were produced, and whether they are genetically engineered. If you rent the video, you will learn how some companies, especially Monsanto, which produces Round-Up, has developed vegetable and legume (bean) seeds that resist Round-up and do not produce new seeds themselves. Hence growers will have to buy all their seeds for the following year from…drum roll…Monsanto. Check it out!

Sonoma County Master Gardeners will have its first workshop at the Sonoma Valley Public Library on Saturday morning, September 17. Master Gardener Al Derrick will outline what local gardeners should be doing for the next few months, including what flowers to plant for spring blooming next year, what to do with tulip bulbs, and what seeds to get for next year. Jolly Green Goddess will also be passing along information from a variety of sources. I learned from Master Gardener Barbara Kirbach that the Master Gardeners program is part of University of California at Berkeley's Extension program, and all Master Gardeners take rigorous training and must pass tests to prove their expertise.

Sonoma Master Gardeners show up at our Farmers' Markets with loads of free and good advice, and are offering additional workshops as follows: September 24, “Seeds for Your Next Year's Garden” with Electra de Peyster; October 15, “The Well-Tended Perennial Garden” with Loyce Haran; October 22, Wylie Hartman, MD, presents “Composting;” and November 5, “Olive Trees: Varieties and Culture for Sonoma County,” presented by

Sonoma County Farm advisor Paul Vossen. All workshops run from 10:00 a.m.-12 noon at the Library at 755 West Napa Street and are free. For more info call (707) 938-0127.
Anyone interested in becoming a Master Gardener might investigate new training opportunities by calling the Sonoma U.C. Cooperative Extension office at 938-0127. September 30 is the deadline for applications, so call soon.

Garden Tips: Got the itch to plant Fall veggies and flowers? We should probably hold off for a couple of weeks in case we have our usual late heat wave. Then we can plant seedlings or transplants of calendula, primroses, stock and sweet peas, ornamental cabbage and kale, cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower to eat. I can hardly wait to plant Fall and Winter greens such as collards, chards, arugula, lettuces, spinach, and mustard, which seems to often come up by itself. Eventually you might also try beets, carrots, leeks, onions, and root veggies such as turnips and hard-to-foul-up radishes.

Be sure to pick what tomatoes you have left when they are ready. When the plants poop out, which several people report theirs already are doing, put them in your compost pile if they are healthy. If they are sickies, throw them in the garbage, because if they go into your yard waste can they will just end up in a giant compost pile someplace where the garbage collectors sell it.

Since we had so much garden news this week, Jolly Green Goddess will offer her composting information two weeks from today.

Last week's “Cooking with Love” feature on Irene Morgan inspired her to share a terrific recipe for her “Picalilli,” a great use of those green tomatoes hanging out on vines everywhere. Here it is, courtesy of Irene and her Aunt Lucy.

Ingredients:
8 cups (about 5 lbs.) chopped green tomatoes (Irene uses Roma tomatoes for firmness)
2 cups chopped onions
(Irene uses white)
1/4 cup salt
2 cups white vinegar
3 cups white sugar
3/4 cup pickling spice with cloves.
If no cloves in spice, add a few.

Preparation:
Pour 1/4 cup salt over tomatoes and onions and let stand overnight. Drain off liquid. Add white vinegar and white sugar. Put pickling spices in a cheese cloth and tie, and place in center of kettle with tomatoes and liquids. Boil 35 minutes. Remove spice bag.

Place Picalilli into sterile pint or half-pint canning jars and seal.
Irene serves her Picalilli over Chicago Hot Dogs with chopped onions and tomatoes and celery salt, saying “there is no dog like it. It ruins you for the average dog.”

—Kathleen Hill is co-author of Sonoma Valley-The Secret Wine Country and Napa Valley-Land of Golden Vines. Kathleen and Gerald Hill host two shows at 5 p.m. on KSVY- 91.3 FM Mondays and Thursdays. hilltopub@aol.com.