gardening in the boroughs of nyc

Overwintering Plants on the Sun Porch

2012-02-24T04:39:00.000-05:00

I'm lucky to have an enclosed sun porch where I can keep the citrus and tropical plants during the winter. The porch is not heated, so the temperature does drop to the low 40s at times. The porch usually stays about 10 degrees above the outside temperature. Luckily, the citrus plants don't mind when the temperature drops. It's a great place for me to overwinter plants. This is the dwarf lime tree that I have had for 3 years. I have to learn how to fertilize it better. I use Growmore organic citrus fertilizer, but I have yet to see this plant produce one lime! I dream of the day that it will. Right next to the lime tree is my potted spearmint plant.

I bought this spearmint plant last summer as a 4 inch pot. Look how big it is now! I know other gardeners think that mint is an evil plant that will take over the garden. I personally love mint, and I'm tempted to plant it in the ground. Haha, I know, they take over like weeds. For now, they reside in pots. I know mint will survive being outside for the winter and will grow back in the spring, but I do love access to fresh herbs to cook with all winter long. So here it sits soaking up the sun on the porch. The mint plant is thriving, every day it sends out new shoots. Nothing beats fresh herbs! The smell of fresh mint is intoxicating! Now.... if only I had fresh limes from my lime tree! I could make mojitos if I did!

Gutter Planters

2012-02-23T01:07:00.001-05:00

Last week, I wrote about being at The Hort and I saw some cool gutter planters. I really loved this look and want to replicate it at home. I just didn't know how to make this.

Then this week, I saw on the Aha! Home and Garden blog an article on how to make a hanging gutter garden. It was such perfect timing! In the article, there are lots of great photos and it shows you step by step on how to make a hanging gutter planter. I absolutely love the white gutter look. I have to see if my local hardware store carries these types of gutters!

Air Plants - Grow Without Soil

2012-02-22T11:17:00.001-05:00

Earlier this month, I went to Weehawken to meet up with my friends so that we could have lunch together. Isn't this view just of NYC from the Weehawken waterfront just stunning? I can see why she loves living here!

We drove down to Highland Park, NJ to meet up with our other friends. I noticed this neat Air Plant hanging from my friend Mary's house. Mary owns a florist called Redwood Florist, and she sells plants like these in her shop. An Air Plant, also known as Tillandsia, are a type of bromeliad plant that grow without needing soil. All of the nutrients from the plants are gathered from the air, water and sunlight. The roots that they do have cling to surfaces like rocks or trees. These plants are very low maintenance and are great in terrariums or neat containers. They are so neat, I have to get me one! If you want to read more on how to take care of plants like these, there is a great article on Treehugger.com written by Colleen Vanderlinden. She also posted an informative video from Urban Dirt TV, which shows step-by-step on how to setup a terrarium and care for these plants. For folks like me who have a hard time keeping indoor plants alive, this is a perfect option!

Wearable Planters! I Love This!

2012-02-21T13:50:00.003-05:00

Earlier this month, I wrote about Fab.com and their amazing highlight of beautifully designed products. Today, I saw these incredibly cute jewelry pieces. Wearable planters!! It's currently on sale here, but only for another 21 hours. They have necklaces, pins, and bike planters for sale. Can you imagine wearing a necklace with a live plant on it? How adorable!

Photo from Fab.com

These creations are by an Atlanta based designer named Colleen Jordan. She also has an Etsy shop where you can find her entire collection including earrings. Or a wearable lapel pin. I just love these! I want them all!

Urban Beekeeping

2012-02-17T16:33:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I attended a class at The Horticultural Society of New York (The Hort) on Beekeeping. I've never been to The Hort before and was mesmerized by the plant setup they had there. The room in which the lecture was held had the most amazing hanging planters on every window. I'm not exactly sure what these plant holders are made of but it looked like perhaps roof gutters of some sort. This one featured some neat succulents and cacti.

I am so in love with this look! I want to somehow rig one of these for my house. It's such a beautiful way to do vertical gardening!

The planters were being held up by these metal bars attached to the wall. And each planter was drilled into the metal bars.

Here's a closeup of some of the succulents. They seemed to love the window placement. All the plants looked so healthy.

I also loved this lush large rubber plant and palm on casters. I totally have to invest in rolling casters for my large plants. What a great idea to be able to easily wheel these plants around.

The Urban Beekeeping lecture was given by Andrew Coté. He is a 4th generation beekeeper and owner of Silvermine Apiaries in Connecticut. I didn't get a good photo of him speaking since he was going through slides on a Powerpoint and the lights were dimmed. In his lecture, Andrew discussed the history of beekeeping, the process of beekeeping and his own adventures as an urban beekeeper. He discussed how since 2010, beekeeping in New York City (and boroughs) is now legal and many beehives are in community gardens, backyards and even on city rooftops. He told us how his next installation will be on the top of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. So. Very. Cool.

He is also the founder of a bee-based international development nonprofit, Bees Without Borders. From The Hort website describing the work of Bees Without Borders, "Andrew and a group of dedicated apiarists teach beekeeping skills to groups of people in economically depressed areas of the globe as a means of poverty alleviation. This involves developing culturally appropriate training programs and materials for local beekeepers to increase honey yield and providing them with the opportunity to learn about and create new markets for their products." It's amazing that this non-profit goes to these developing countries to teach them how to raise honey. Training them with a skill that they can use to make a living and become self sufficient. He brought back organic honey from his recent trip to Mwingi, Kenya, where he and other beekeepers from Bees Without Borders taught beekeeping skills. After the talk, we all tasted the honey. It is delicious!

All of the jars of honey were for sale and all of the proceeds from the sale of the honey goes back to the apiary in Mwingi. The funds will go towards the cost of building a fence around an apiary in Kenya to protect the hives from honey badgers. I bought a jar of the honey to support this noble cause!

After the talk, I was so inspired that I ended up signing up for a 4-week beekeeping course with the New York City Beekeeper's Association a beekeeping organization that Andrew is a core member of. In the 4 week course, it will "teach you everything you need to know to safely start and maintain a beehive." I don't know if I'll end up having beehives in my backyard here in Staten Island, but I do want learn more about it and maybe one day raise honeybees. I love the idea of making my own local honey. The class starts in 3-weeks, I can't wait!

Horses in Brooklyn?

2012-02-16T00:56:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, I was in Prospect Park with a friend and off in the distance I saw horses! What a cool surprise! I think I literally squealed in delight. I've never seen horses in Brooklyn before, not even those mounted police. They are usually in Manhattan only. My friend said that you can take horse riding lessons in Prospect Park.

I had to get a closer look! How beautiful is this horse! I have to find out how to get lessons. I totally want to do this! It's so wonderful to know that even in this metropolis, we get access to this. I hope that never changes.

Handmade Fun - 2012 Pay it Forward Challenge

2012-02-11T00:10:00.000-05:00

In the last few years, I've been really into anything DIY and homemade. In the last year, I've learned how to can food, bake bread from scratch, brew beer, and crochet. It started out as a hobby, and now it's a full blown obsession. I'm always looking around my house thinking, can I make that? Haha, a sickness I know! The homemade food and drink grew out of my desire to control what goes into the food I consume. Knowing that I organically grew the berries, beans and cucumbers that I pickle and jam gives me peace of mind that there are no weird preservatives or toxic pesticide in my jarred food. My new goal this year is to try to learn how to take my crochet skills to the next level. Maybe there will be socks or knit hats in my future... we shall see.

Last month, I saw on My Freezer is Full's website a fun handmade Pay-it-Forward Challenge. Essentially, the goal is to make some fun handmade items that you send to your blog readers. Hopefully, it will encourage others to go handmade as well.

Here's the challenge info that I pulled from My Freezer is Full.
I will send a handmade (by me!) gift to each of the first 5 commenters on this post. This can be something large or small, my choice. But, there is a catch... of course, you knew there would be a catch! The catch is that each recipient of my gift must also pass it on and give 5 gifts themselves... and so on and so forth for all eternity... or until people get burned out.There is a year to get your gifts sent out, so I'll have a year to concoct something- until December 2012. Who knows what you may receive from me: pot holders, socks, pickles, bottled beer, a jar of jam... there are so many possibilities.So, anybody out there want to play along?? Let's hear it for the 2012 Handmade Pay it Forward Challenge!

Easy No-Bake Peanut Butter "Cookies"

2012-02-10T02:16:00.002-05:00

I have a sweet tooth, I won't lie. Here's the thing, I am no baker, I am the first to admit that. Even though I will follow a recipe exactly, somehow my cookies always turn out not as good as I hoped. So when my brother-in-law told me about a no-bake peanut butter cookie recipe that his grandma makes, I totally had to make it. A cookie that doesn't require baking? Sold! It is so easy and boy are they sinfully good! There are only 5 ingredients in this "cookie". Sugar, Corn Syrup, Peanut Butter, Butter, and the key ingredient.... Cornflakes! The cornflakes hold up to the syrupy mix and stays completely crunchy! I found two pretty good recipes onlinehere and here. Try it, you won't be sorry!

A Fun Experiment

2012-02-09T03:32:00.001-05:00

My cousin Kathy told me about this fun experiment that she's been doing in her kitchen. When she uses scallions, she throws the bottom white parts of the scallions into a cup of water.

Over a week later, the scallions regrow the green tops! How incredibly cool is that? I've never tried this before, but from now on, every time I buy scallions from the supermarket, I will try this! And to think, all this time, I've been throwing the white ends into the compost. From this day forward, I'll try to regrow them! Sustainable scallions, how cool is that?

Photos taken by Kathy

A Staggering Number

2012-02-08T15:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I told many of my friends about my recycled toothbrush and how excited I was to find a low-impact product that I could use everyday. I felt like some of them didn't quite understand my excitement. I sense that many people feel like I'm just the nerd that always talks about "saving the environment." Last week, I wrote about how I was in disbelief that the temperature rose to a balmy 62F, and here we are in the beginning of February. Walking around the city streets I actually saw people wearing short sleeves! Short sleeves, you would have thought we were in Miami rather than New York City. Then I came across this giant billboard near Penn Station. Whenever I see a digital clock, I always think it's a national debt counter. However, on closer inspection, this counter shows the current metric tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The billboard definitely does it's job, I was shocked at this large number. I stood there staring at it, and those words, "We're getting warmer."

Here's the more shocking part, the billboard belongs to Deutsche Bank, as in "one of the world's leading financial service providers." W O W. I am so proud of a corporate company bringing this global warming issue to light in such a public forum, however I couldn't help but feel a little skeptical about why such a corporate entity would bring awareness to such a debatable topic. A part of me feels that perhaps Deutsche Bank has interests in investments toward alternative energy like wind, solar etc. and that bringing attention to Global Warming may bring them future investors in these energy stocks. However, I'm all for that strategy if that's what it is, since I'm all for greener energy! More info on the billboard can be found here. There has been such debate about global warming and whether it exists. In fact, I've gotten into many arguments with close friends and family debating this exact issue. Is the Earth getting warmer, is there such a thing as global warming? I'm no scientist, but I do think that all the man made inventions and human activity on this Earth that produce emissions must definitely be impacting the atmosphere harmfully is some way. One just has to look no further than the smog in Los Angeles to see that this is not normal. And it's not just automobile emissions, the Energy Industry or the Manufacturing Industry that we should worry about, it also Agriculture. In an article in The Independent, by Geoffrey Lean, A "United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs...Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together. Burning fuel to produce fertiliser to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it - and clearing vegetation for grazing - produces 9 per cent of all emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. And their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide. Livestock also produces more than 100 other polluting gases, including more than two-thirds of the world's emissions of ammonia, one of the main causes of acid rain."

Wow, it really makes me rethink beef consumption, milk drinking, and wearing leather. After I told my friend Jason yesterday, about my 2012 goal of lessening my carbon footprint on the world, he said, "Mimi, you must first change your own mind, habits, ways of being, intentions. Vision the world you want to create." So in essence, changing the world, is done one person at a time, and it starts with YOU. Change your lifestyle first, and "be the change." Well said!

A Toothbrush Made out of Recycled Yogurt Cups

2012-02-07T02:58:00.001-05:00

I went food shopping at Trader Joe's yesterday and this package caught my eye. A toothbrush made out of recycled yogurt containers! How cool is that? I needed a new toothbrush so I picked one up. I love supporting companies that make products that are eco-friendly. It is produced by a company called Preserve and on their website they state that the handle of the toothbrush is made 100% entirely out of recycled #5 plastic. Preserve also encourages you to help with the recycling efforts, they have in participating Wholefoods stores a recycling bin where you can bring your empty #5 yogurt containers (They will also collect Brita filters). They will collect the yogurt containers and recycle them into these toothbrushes. I wish they had recycling bins at our local Trader Joe's. I would love to bring my yogurt cups there.

What do most people do with their old worn out toothbrushes? They throw them out. Not these bad boys. On the back of the toothpaste package, is a return mailer envelope. After 3 months of using the toothbrush, you simply put the toothbrush back into the package and mail it back to the company where they will recycle the plastic handle and make a new toothbrush. You don't even have to pay for postage, postage is free! If you don't have a store that sells the toothbrushes, you can also buy the toothbrushes online. I recommend doing a year subscription plan, for $15, they will send you 4 toothbrushes, one every 3 months!

When I opened the package, I saw that the design of the toothbrush has an ergonomic curved handle. The curved handle gives it a comfortable grip and it makes it easier to reach the back of your teeth. Beautifully designed and good for the environment... I LOVE IT. If you like their toothbrushes, they also sell razors, tableware, and kitchen tools all made from yogurt cups. You might be able to find some of their kitchenwares at your local Target. Just look for the Preserve label!

(Disclaimer: I did NOT get any type of compensation from Preserve for endorsing or reviewing this product. I just like the toothbrush and proud to endorse it!)

Gardeners are the Best!

2012-02-06T02:36:00.001-05:00

Last week, I wrote about how I was interested in doing a seed swap with other gardeners. Since I made a pact with myself to try to be good with not buying every seed I come across in those seed catalogs. I am so excited, I received a few emails from other garden bloggers who are willing to swap! Awesome! I love sharing my extra seeds and I especially love getting seeds of different varieties of edibles that I haven't tried yet. What's great about a seed swap is that you can try out something new without committing to buying a whole packet of seeds. The worst is when you buy a whole packet of seeds, and then end up hating what grows. (ahem, Cosmos....I'm talking about you.) Trading with other gardeners is a great way to sample and try out different varieties of plants without breaking the bank. So when I received an email from Annie's Granny stating that she could send me some of her seeds to try out, I was so happy! I asked Annie's Granny if I could return the favor and send her some of my seeds, but she said she had enough seeds for the season since she's a member of a seed of the month club. She sent me a nice selection of seeds, I am so excited to grow Chinese Cabbage, Cubanelle Peppers, Cilantro and Summer Savory. I haven't grown any of these before so it will be fun! I've never eaten Summer Savory before, does anyone know what it tastes like? I looked it up and it's a savory herb, I wonder if it tastes like Rosemary, it looks a little like it. Thanks again Annie's Granny, I'll put the seeds to good use!

Do you Fab?

2012-02-04T14:25:00.000-05:00

It's no secret. I love a good deal. One thing I've been addicted to are all those online discounted deals on Groupon, Living Social, Bloomspot, etc. And now my new obsession is Fab.com. Fab.com marries my two loves, design & discounts. The team at Fab hand selects beautifully designed products and offers them on sale up to 70% off. The items are on sale for a limited time, 3 days, or until they are sold out. Today I bought 3 gorgeous Greenmarket prints by the Brooklyn based Illustrator Claudia Pearson. These prints are 30% off retail and can be purchased now at Fab until Monday 2/6. I just love this herb print, isn't it just beautiful?

In addition to beautiful prints, on the Fab.com sale, there are also some beautiful tea towels that feature gardening in the 4 seasons. These towels are so pretty, I almost don't want to get them dirty! I especially like this Spring garden towel. I was thinking that these would make awesome Valentine's gifts for that gardener in your life. Like, who needs a box of chocolates when you can give something as beautiful as this?

And this Heirloom Tomatoes print, just gorgeous! There are some tomatoes on this print that I haven't grown before and now I'm curious! I must get seeds for Speckled Roman, Purple Russian, White Queen, Aunt Ruby's German Green these look so interesting!

I was so inspired and interested in these prints that I Googled the artist, Claudia Pearson and saw that she had an Etsy shop as well. On her Etsy shop she has a whole selection of illustrated products.

On her Etsy shop, she states that the prints above were created for Greenmarkets/GrowNYC as a fundraiser to help benefit the local farmers who were effected by the destruction of their crops due to last summer's Hurricane Irene. Even more reason to buy this print. Support a local artist, that supports a local farmer's market, that supports local farmers. Love, love, love this!
"In the wake of Hurricane Irene, the full extent of the farmer's damaged crops is still unclear. However, an estimated 80% of Greenmarket farmers have been impacted, with about 10% reporting severe loss—80-100% of their products. Created for Greenmarkets/GrowNYC, this graphic poster illustrates the wonderful variety of tomatoes available in the farmers markets.
When you purchase this poster $5 will be donated to Greenmarket's Hurricane Irene Relief Fund."

I'm a New Member!

2012-02-03T15:24:00.002-05:00

A few minutes ago, my cousin Kathy sent me on Facebook a link for Beekeeping as a Force for Good at the Horticultural Society of New York and said, "You should totally have bees next! Make your own honey!" Little did she know that I've been dreaming about raising honey bees for some time now. Kathy and I are peas from the same pod, we both love gardening and homesteading, it's no wonder we are cousins. Whenever either of us hear about cool gardening related events around the city, we both notify each other to attend. I can not believe that I have not stumbled upon The Horticultural Society of New York until she mentioned it. I looked at their current offerings of lectures and workshops and they are having a whole series of DIY Homegrown workshops from making your own hand salves and lip balms, to hydroponic gardening with Boswyck Farms (where I intern already) to a talk about cultivating mushrooms. OMG, everything sounds so interesting, all topics are things I've always wanted to learn. I immediately signed up for a year membership, which gives you benefits such as discounts and invitations to upcoming events, films, and exhibitions. There are different levels of membership, and the membership fees and donations goes towards funding their current programs. This is something I definitely want to support.

For example, from their website they say,
$65: (the cost of an individual membership) buys ladybugs and magnifying glasses for two New York City public school 3rd grade classes. (the fact that my membership donation goes towards teaching kids about gardening is totally awesome)
$100: provides tools to maintain a public library reading garden in a community with few green spaces.
$250: supports the cost of building a bi-lingual teaching library at the GreenHouse on Rikers Island.
$500: funds a 200-gallon rainwater harvesting cistern that can water an urban garden for an entire planting season.
$1,000: purchases the materials for four vegetable gardening workshops at a seniors’ center, a residence for formerly homeless individuals or families, a rooftop garden for people with mental illnesses or a hospice for a terminally ill adults.

The day after the beekeeping lecture, on February 17th, The Horticultural Society of New York opens it's new exhibition, The Art of the Heirloom. The exhibit "showcases 23 original works commissioned by the Hudson Valley Seed Library for their annual Art Pack collection." They have beautiful artwork on their seed packets and they are setting up a pop up store where the seeds will be on sale. Aren't these seed packets gorgeous? I definitely want to attend the reception where the artists will be in attendance. For more information about the exhibit, check out Hudson Valley Seed Library's website.

62F, What?

2012-02-02T04:22:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I went to the farmer's market in Union Square and was so amazed that it was 62F degrees out. Like 62F on February 1st! I don't remember the last time, if ever, it was this warm in NYC in the month of February. Hello, is it winter? Or did we skip winter and go straight to spring. This weather is too weird for me. It's confusing for people and plants. I have bulbs coming up already, I saw leaves growing on the irises and daffodils in my garden, it's too early!! Because the weather was so warm, the Farmer's Market was brimming with activity. One of the cool things I saw was this vendor selling microgreens. I don't know why I've never started a tray of greens like this before, it's so easy, you just sprinkle seeds over a flat of soil. It's literally just lettuce seedlings that are cut and eaten. Super cool idea!

The main reason I went to the Farmer's Market was to pick up my quarts of Ronnybrook Farm milk. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I love to support eating locally and knowing where your food comes from. I especially love to support anything that is produced right here in the state of New York. Ronnybrook, located in Ancramdale, NY, is a 3rd generation family run farm that practices organic and sustainable farming. They allow their cows access to pasture everyday, they are "free range" cows. Also, the farm never uses artificial growth hormones on the cows and the milk is non-homogenized, so that the milk looks like the creamy milk it should be, not that watery looking stuff you buy at the supermarket. Ronnybrook is also committed to recycling, the milk comes in these glass bottles. To encourage recycling, when you purchase the milk, they charge you $1.50 for a bottle deposit. After you consume the milk, you can bring the bottle back to them and they in turn gives back your deposit of $1.50. The milk is bottled right on the farm, and so it cuts out the processing middle man. Therefore when you purchase the bottled milk, the profits go right back to the farm. Another reason to buy local, to keep the local farms in business. I don't bring my bottles back though to get my deposit, I love the design of the bottles, so I re-use them to store juice or sometimes I use the bottles as flower vases. When I got to the farmer's market, they had run out of the Chocolate milk that I love, so I ended up with 2 Quarts of low fat milk. I'll buy some U-bet chocolate syrup to make my own. U-bet is a local chocolate syrup made in Brooklyn. Ooh, maybe I'll make some egg creams. Delicious!

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What else can I make with Sourdough Starter?

2012-01-31T00:26:00.001-05:00

When Aimee over at Red Garden Clogs gave me sourdough starter, she was quick to warn me of one thing... The jars of starter multiply like crazy if you don't use them to make breads. Boy was she not kidding. At one point I had 4 containers of sourdough starter in my fridge, and I didn't want to throw out any of it. I've been obsessed with finding ways to use it. Until one day, I was getting ice out of my freezer when I saw a box of store bought frozen waffles, upon which a "ding" rang off in my head. I can use the sourdough starter to make a ton of waffles that I can just freeze or keep in the fridge for quick breakfasts. Awesome! I found a way to use up some sourdough starter!! These are so great, especially when I am in the rush to go to a client meeting or too lazy to cook breakfast. So this weekend, I made a large batch of Belgian waffles using the waffle maker that I got for Christmas. This is my new go to breakfast! Do you use sourdough? What do you like to make with it?

Trying Wintersowing Again

2012-01-30T00:56:00.000-05:00

Last year, I tried Winter sowing for the first time, and I loved it! I only did a few plants last year, broccoli and cauliflower. The broccoli and cauliflower plants didn't do well in the garden... it was plagued by bugs and mites, and never ended up growing any crowns, so I decided this year that I wasn't going to waste garden space on brassicas at all. Waste of my time in my opinion. But the seedlings from winter sowing were so strong, much more so than seeds started indoors. If you are a non-believer, just look at my seedlings comparison from last year. The brassica seedlings had thicker stems and were larger than the ones I started inside. Last year, I had volunteer tomato plants all over the garden. Dozens and dozens of them. Since there were dozens of volunteer tomato plants, I knew that winter sowing would work well for tomato seeds. I have been saving these plastic juice bottles to use as mini greenhouses to plant in. Here's a great explanation from Dave over at The Home Garden that explains how to winter sow, or check out the Wintersown.org website's article.

Here they are all sowed and outside near the house. I labeled each one using the plant tags that I made out of plastic milk cartons. This is soooo my kind of lazing gardening. Sow and let nature do it's job. Now all I have to do is wait until spring to see if this worked! Fingers crossed.

I'm a Liar.

2012-01-29T14:11:00.002-05:00

Three days ago, I wrote about how I was not going to buy seeds this season. Yeah right. (haha, nervous laugh) Then this morning, I got this email from Urban Farmer saying that they are offering Free Shipping until 2/1/12. #$%@#!!!! Apparently, all it takes is an offer for free shipping for me to cave in and buy more seeds. I am so pathetic! So I bought a packet of Utah Celery Seeds and heirloom Habanero seeds. I seriously need an intervention. For free shipping from Urban Farmer use the Promo code tom21 at checkout valid until Feb. 1, 2012. Note: when you enter the promo code hit the "go" button to see the shipping deducted from your cart. Happy Shopping!

I Lied, I Do Need Seeds!

2012-01-28T03:12:00.001-05:00

I took a look inside one of my seed boxes tonight. Gosh, what a hot mess! I need to organize this pronto! I thought I had all the seeds that I needed for this season, but I forgotten that I don't have any celery seeds. Last season, I grew Utah Celery from seeds given to me by Food Garden Kitchen, and I realized that I really loved growing celery. What I loved about the celery was that the taste was totally amazing and I used the entire thing, especially the leaves in soups. The celery was so flavorful, so much more so than celery you buy at the supermarket. It's also super fresh and fun to just clip a few stems off the plant and let it continue growing. Love that, it's like having a constant replenished supply of celery! Also, it seemed like no bugs liked celery at all, so it wasn't plagued by insect bites. I told myself that I won't buy any more seeds, but that doesn't mean I can't trade for some! Does anyone out there want to swap seeds with me?

Here is a list of what I'm looking for.
1. Celery
2. Any variety of cherry tomatoes, preferably heirloom variety
3. Pepper plants that do well in containers
4. Eggplants that do well in containers
I'm also open to try any new variety of seeds that I haven't tried before, so if you have something unique, I'm willing!

Here's a list of seeds that I have to offer.

1. Jaune Flamme Tomato - (heirloom saved seeds)
2. Persimmon Tomato - (heirloom saved seeds)
3. Rutgers Tomato - (heirloom saved seeds)
4. Yellow Pear Tomato - (heirloom saved seeds)
5. Cherokee Purple Tomato - (heirloom saved seeds)
6. Chioggia Beets - (Sustainable Seed Co. 2011)
7. Alfalfa Sprouts - (Botanical Interests 2011)
8. Cayenne Pepper - (Mike the Gardener 2011)
9. Sweet Banana Pepper - (Sustainable Seed Co. 2011)
10. Purple Plum Radish - (Sustainable Seed Co. 2011)
11. Chocolate Beauty Pepper - (Sustainable Seed Co. 2011)
12. Roma Tomato - (Gurneys 2010)
13. Chinese Mao Qwa squash or hairy gourd - (saved seeds)
14. Jalapeno Pepper - (saved seeds)
15. Buckwheat (cover crop) - (Johnny Seeds 2010)

If you want to do a swap send me an email here!
Thanks!

A Chocolate Craving

2012-01-27T22:13:00.000-05:00

I had a craving for chocolate tonight so I decided to whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are my absolute favorite cookie. My go to cookie recipe is the one posted on Bo's Bowl called Neiman Marcus cookies. I omit the espresso and only use 1 cup of chips, 1 1/2 cups of chips is a bit sweet for my taste. Boy are they good! What I like about this cookie recipe is that the cookie when cooled is not really chewy, it's more of a hard cookie, which I like. It holds up well for dunking in coffee or milk. Try out the recipe! It's a good thing I have a party to attend tomorrow, I'm bringing these cookies with me. I can't imagine all of these being in my house, I would be tempted to eat too many!

New Seeds from a Great Company!

2012-01-26T18:32:00.001-05:00

So in my last post, I wrote about how I have been getting a deluge of seed catalogs in my mailbox and I swore to myself that I would not buy any new seeds for the 2012 season. That was the goal at least, until I received a customer appreciation email from Urban Farmer who sent me a $10 gift certificate to use on any of their products on their website. Who can turn down a free $10 and especially from a seed company that I love? I wrote about Urban Farmer's recycling efforts before here, and once sponsored a seed giveaway of their herb seeds here. Urban Farmer also has a safe seed pledge that guarantees that they do not sell any GMO seeds. You can read the seed pledge here on their site. They offer many seeds that are organic and many are also heirlooms. They are serious about their recycling efforts, in fact all of their seed packets are made from recycled magazines. Check out the seeds that I chose, I kinda love that Brooke Shields is on the cover of one of my seed packets. LOL. Maybe my plants will grow as pretty as she is!

So I ordered the following seeds, Lemon Grass, Oregano, Cherokee Purple Tomato, Parsley, Cherry Belle Radish and Sweet Pickle Peppers. I am really excited about the sweet pickle peppers, which is a heirloom plant. They grow short so I can probably grow these in pots! So cool! I hope to pickle these too! Since they gave me $10 as an appreciation for being a good customer, I only had to spend $2.60 plus $3.95 for shipping. I love this seed company for what they stand for and also love a good bargain!

And They Keep Coming

2012-01-25T21:06:00.003-05:00

My mailbox is being clogged by seed catalogs. Seed catalogs are fun to look through, but I don't like getting catalogs from random companies that I don't order from. I find it really annoying because I don't know these companies and how reliable they are. Those catalogs just end up getting recycled. I have to be good about ordering this year. I told myself that I won't be ordering any seeds or bulbs this year because... I went a little overboard last year and still have lots of seeds. I have to force myself to not order anything. I KNOW... that is going to be impossible. LOL.

And Then Came the Dragons

2012-01-23T18:00:00.001-05:00

Today marks the Lunar (Chinese) New Year, the year of the dragon! They say that the year of the dragon is the luckiest of all the zodiac years. It should be a year of good fortune. Traditionally, the family gets together for an end of the year dinner. A feast to bring in the new year. This year's dinner did not disappoint. We ate walnut shrimp, steak with gai lan, steamed flounder, tofu soup, crispy chicken and sweet and sour pork.

For dessert, my sister picked up this yummy fruit cake. It had a Boston cream filling topped with fresh fruit. It was delicious! Gong Hay Fat Choy to all! Bring on the dragon!

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White Wonder

2012-01-22T16:56:00.001-05:00

It snowed yesterday and blanketed the backyard and garden. It looks so white and pristine! We have had a very mild winter with very little snow and temperatures reaching up to 64F at times. Much different than last year's record snowfalls. When I see snow like this, it makes me really anxious for spring's arrival.

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Grow Your Own Organic Tea

2012-01-21T01:21:00.000-05:00

I have a few perennial herb plants that I grow indoors. And then it dawned on me one day that I should make a tea out of them. Here is my spearmint plant. I have been growing this plant for two years. In the summer, the potted plant goes out into the backyard. I am so tempted with planting one in the ground, people say they hate how it takes over the yard, but I would love it! I can't get enough mint, I love the stuff!

This is the pineapple sage plant. It sits on the kitchen counter by the window and does really well here. It's also 2 years old and grows really well indoors surprisingly. When you clip the stems off, it grows back really nicely. I love the smell of pineapple sage. It really does smell like pineapple, and tastes a bit like it too.

I clip the stems and hang them with magnetic clips on the fridge to dry out the leaves.

I finally filled a whole jar full of dried herb leaves. In this jar contains pineapple sage, spearmint, and lemon balm. I am so excited that I made my own organic tea!

I brewed the tea for the first time today. I added a little honey. It's a very light tea, and very refreshing. Yum, it's my new favorite drink! I would like to add more herbs to the mix, like chamomile or lavender. Do you have any suggestions? I can't wait to experiment! I wish my meyer lemon tree actually grew lemons, it would be a nice addition to this tea. If you grow herbs, try making your own tea! You will love it!