Showing posts with label salad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salad. Show all posts
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Stress Relief
I finally got around to planting my latest garden additions today. I don’t remember the name of the red-leafed plant but fortunately the locally-owned garden center had a sign that said to plant it in the shade—otherwise, I would have put it on the sunnier side and wondered why it didn’t do well. This garden center has begun posting full-color printed signs with name and care instructions for various plants. Not only are they helpful but they look neat (in both senses of the word☺)
And the good old cobalt blue lobelia can do reasonably well in part shade or mostly sunny. I feel as though my garden isn’t complete without it. The intensely deep blue flowers cascade over the edges of pots until it gets really hot and then again in the fall. Deadheading the tiny flowers is tedious but when it gets overwhelming you can give them a full haircut. However, once you cut them back, depending upon how hot it is and how far back you cut them, they may or may not come back until fall.
I had to buy a six-pack of lobelias in order to get a couple—I wish that retailers would make 2-packs or even 3-packs. The slightly larger individual plants that sell for almost as much as six of them isn’t all that helpful either since they’re harder to fit into small spaces in container gardens.
It was a beautiful, sunny morning to do my planting. While I was at it I added some organic nasturtium seeds to my salad pots and hyacinth bean vine seeds (not edible) to a hanging basket. We’ve had so much stress, and activity lately, it felt so good to be outdoors working in the garden then sitting in it, enjoying the fruit of my labor.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Quick Response
The lettuce seeds I planted a short time ago have already sprouted! They obviously like the warm weather too; the warmth seems to be bringing everything out early. I really didn’t plant them that close together; apparently my watering and God’s rain washed them together but that’s okay.
Though the mixed lettuce seed packets always show purple leaves, for some reason none ever emerge in my garden. I would really like to have purple leaves.
We enjoy salads for their nutrition, lightness and no-cook preparation yet it’s amazing how labor-intensive salad-making is in washing so many leaves. It’s worth it though to get really fresh and colorful food and for keeping heat out of the kitchen.
Friday, December 16, 2011
True Purpose
It feels so good outdoors today, I didn’t want to come back in. I made the most of the occasion by sweeping up the balcony a bit—any excuse to be out there will do since I’m getting cabin fever with all the Christmas preparations; this is always an exacting task since the “floorboards” have space between and I don’t want to send any potting soil below. The pineapple sage and leftover basil stalks are still fragrant as I brush against them.
Inspired by Gayla Trail’s Grow Great Grub Organic Food from Small Spaces, in which she insists that “grub” (food) can be grown in the smallest of spaces—even a windowsill, I eyed my set of flower-decorated garden pots. I’ve lovingly carried these pots around since I was given them as a parting gift by my co-workers at my first “real” job; I was moving on to greater things. The pots however, have become a place to collect odd things that need recycling but I don’t know where to put them back into the cycle (light bulbs?).
I read a lot about “re-purposing” these days and I enjoy giving things additional purposes (often to keep them out of the landfill) but there’s nothing like getting back to an object’s (or a person’s!) original and true purpose. So I read the list of food plants that will grow in a “slightly shady” window, matching it with my supply of lettuce (two kinds), parsley and chives seeds. I emptied the pots, washed them thoroughly and added a thin layer of gravel for drainage, added soil then seeds, watered them and set them on the window sill. I’ll have to remember to water and drain them in the sink since the hole plugs are long gone and the holder doesn’t allow for saucers (I could put the whole thing in a saucer but it wouldn’t look as good). The “rooster plant” that reigns in this window has to move over; I’ll have to move them all out of the window at night to make way for the blinds. The seeds take about two weeks to sprout; I’ll keep you posted.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15,16 NIV
Labels:
garden books,
herbs,
Lettuce,
pots,
Rooster Plant,
salad,
seeds,
weather
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Fresh Salad
Salad doesn’t get any fresher than picking it from your own garden! In fact, container gardens are usually even closer to the kitchen door than a conventional garden, making salad fresher still.
Lettuce is usually thought of as a cool weather crop but mine has continued to produce right through the sweltering heat. Watering, of course, is key, along with keeping the leaves from coming in contact with the edge of the pot—they incinerate.
Since “baby greens” have become fashionably gourmet, it doesn’t take long to get leaves big enough to add to a small salad (later, you can get enough leaves for a whole serving or more). Packets of seeds with a mixture of varieties are easy to find; though they often advertise purple varieties in the mix, I have yet to sprout any colorful ones.
Even in an average-sized pot you can grow quite a bit of leaf lettuce, especially if you continually reseed. Of course, my pot of lettuce isn’t this full after making the salad but if I keep reseeding, it’ll soon fill again.
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