GREEN THUMB

No-Marshmallow Peanut Butter Rice Crisp Treats

Th is recipe is dairy-, gluten- and soy-free and vegetarian. Serves 6–8

¼ cup honey ½ cup creamy peanut butter ¼ teaspoon sea salt ¼ teaspoon arrowroot powder 3 cups brown rice crisps ¼ cup chocolate chips (optional)

Grease an 8- by 8-inch baking dish with olive oil spray or coconut oil.

In a large pot over medium-low heat, combine honey, peanut butter, sea salt and arrowroot powder. Stir until consistency thins and becomes slightly runny.

Pour in brown rice crisps and stir vigorously to coat. Place mixture into baking dish. Use spatula to press it down and smooth it out. Allow to rest for 30 minutes, preferably in the refrigerator.

Serve individually from the pan, or precut and plate to enjoy.

Optional: Melt ¼ cup chocolate chips and use a spatula to drizzle over the squares before serving.

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1–2 garlic clove(s) ¼ cup olive oil ¼ teaspoon black pepper ¼ teaspoon cayenne 3 tablespoons raw cashews 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast ¼ teaspoon sea salt 1 cup fresh basil 1 tablespoon lemon juice ½ medium red onion, thinly sliced 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved Soft tortillas of choice Small handful of sprouts

Drain and rinse chickpeas. Use paper or clean towels to dry them as much as possible so pesto will stick. Place in large bowl. Set aside.

In a food processor, add garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil, pepper, cayenne and cashews. Process until smooth. Add nutritional yeast and salt. Process to combine. Add basil and 2 tablespoons olive oil and process again. Finally, add lemon juice and process one last time. Mix pesto with chickpeas.

Slice red onion and tomatoes and mix with pesto-coated chickpeas.

Spoon chickpea mixture into tortillas. Top with crunchy sprouts. Wrap and enjoy.

Vegan Pesto Chickpea Wraps

Th is recipe is dairy-, gluten- and soy-free. Serves 2–3

Preparing and maintaining your garden soil for successful growing THE DIRT ON GARDENING

BY JO ELLEN MEYERS SHARP, MASTER GARDENER

Grow cucumbers, beans and peas on trellises to conserve space.

Whether you call it dirt or soil, a little TLC in a garden bed goes a long way to ensure healthy plants, tasty vegetables and savory herbs for your table. In summer, the most important thing is to avoid soil compaction. When weeding or harvesting your vegetables, herbs and edible fl owers, don’t step in the garden bed. Walking on the soil compacts it, impeding the development of roots and eliminating or reducing critical pockets of air and moisture.

When fertilizing vegetables this summer, consider using an organic product. Synthetic fertilizers feed plants, but do nothing for the soil. Th roughout the summer, continue to improve the soil by adding a light layer of compost as mulch around your food plants once or twice. Compost is nature’s gift to the gardener. Over time, compost helps cure poor-draining clay soil and fastdraining sandy soil. As it breaks down, compost improves the overall quality and texture of the soil, called tilth. It helps the soil retain adequate moisture while improving drainage. And, it feeds the billions of microorganisms in the soil that enable and nourish good root development, which results in healthy plants, making them better able to withstand environmental challenges, such as drought, insects and disease.

If you are new at growing your own food, it’s not too late to get started. You can also prepare a garden bed in fall for spring planting. Th ere are a couple of tracks you can take. Easy is a raised bed made just the right size for you and your family. Digging a new bed in the ground is harder, but frequently a very satisfying way to grow your own.

The Easier Way

For urban foodies, a raised bed is the way to go. Th at’s because many yards have heavily compacted soil and knotty tree roots, which make digging diffi cult. Also, inside I-465, there may be concerns about lead contamination of the soil, eliminating root crops, such as potatoes and carrots from the menu. Raised beds also work well in suburban gardens.

Raised beds are the equivalent of instant gardens. Although many raised beds are framed with wood, bricks or other material, they don’t have to be. Th ey can be as simple as a mound of soil. You should be able to reach halfway into the bed from one side, so it’s best not to make it wider than about four feet, eight to 10 inches deep.

Th e easy part is no digging. Defi ne the raised bed, take the measurements, then call one of the city’s landscape suppliers and order enough planter’s mix to fi ll or form your raised bed. It’s just that easy.

There are other advantages of a raised bed:

You don’t have to remove the grass. Just plop the raised bed right on top of the turf. It warms up faster in spring, which means you can plant snow peas, carrots, lettuces and other cool-season crops earlier. It drains better. There are few to no weeds in a raised bed. If ground is not available to you, grow vegetables in containers on the patio, deck, balcony or porch. Or participate in a community garden program.

The Harder Way

Th is is for the blood, sweat and tears crowd that likes nothing more than getting dirty for a good cause. Whether you use a rototiller, which you can rent, or a spade, you need to dig the new bed at least 12 inches deep, breaking up clumps of soil as you go. Once the bed is dug, add at least three inches of compost, chopped leaves or rotted manure and work that into the freshly dug bed.