Late Spring Planting

I originally had big plans this weekend, but due to half a dozen unforseen circumstances, all of my original and backup plans were cancelled. So I've been making the best of my time at home. Despite rain, I woke up early with an irrepressible urge to get outside, and took advantage of that feeling. As Tom Waits said, "A little rain never hurt no one."

First I went to the Burke Farmer's Market. I didn't see many veggies that I was interested in today, so I picked up a couple of herbs that were missing from my outdoor herb container garden: mint and sage. I planted the rosemary we got at the farm market last week in the container as well.



After the farm market, I went to my local plant nursery, Burke Garden Center, and bought some plants to spruce up the front yard. In 2011, we collaborated with our neighbors and planted a few creeping jenny plants between our doorsteps, which has since spread and become an absolutely lovely carpet of bright yellow-green.


Forget grass. This stuff could take over the whole yard and I wouldn't complain.

We've talked about doing the same thing on the other side of the doorstep since then, and as of this morning, it's planted for real. Gardening in the rain, wheeee! :)

First Day of Spring Onions

Yesterday was the long-awaited Vernal Equinox, so I wanted to post something in celebration of my favorite season, Spring.



The following tip is worth passing on: If you buy spring onions from the store, you can regrow them just by placing the roots in water. We started these in a ramekin with shallow water, then when they started growing we transferred them to an empty peanut butter jar. They're thriving with little effort; we typically change the water every other day, but that's about it. The jar also makes another welcome pop of green on the kitchen counter.

Herb and Mushroom Update

I'm really busy with art today, but here's a tiny gardening update:



I've finally needed to cut back the basil in the Aerogarden because it's outgrowing everything else. The cilantro and dill are a little puny (probably because the basil was stealing their light) but everything seems healthy overall.



I also had a really nice mushroom harvest this morning! Five big caps that will be making an appearance in a lot of meals this week.

Growing Mushrooms

Yesterday I mentioned that the mushroom I used in my vegetarian stuffed red peppers was the freshest I'd ever eaten, and that's because I grew it myself, and picked it an hour before dinnertime!



It started as a Christmas present from my parents. They joked that "Santa was out of stockings full of coal so he brought a box of dirt instead," haha. But this box of dirt was also filled with lots and lots of tiny spores which, if cared for properly, would grow into big tasty portabella mushrooms.

The kit, created by Pulpit Rock Mushrooms, could not possibly be easier to use- the spores are already embedded in the sterile media (dirt), and all you have to do is moisten the top soil casing with 3 cups of water and spread it evenly in the box. Then you close the plastic so the moisture doesn't escape, store the box in a cool dark place, and wait. We started ours right around New Years.

After just one week of soaking and laying down the casing material, you begin to see a white fur start to grow, which is called mycelium. After two weeks, little white buttons the size of pencil erasers start to poke out.


2 weeks: Caps begin to form.

I wish I'd gotten a picture during week 3 when one of the buttons started to grow bigger, but the growth happened more rapidly than I anticipated, and I missed the between-stages from that to THIS:


First prize at the county fair?

I was delighted to find our first big mushroom cap had grown up right as I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner last night. We ate half of it in the stuffed peppers and I'm saving the other half for tonight...

**UPDATE: A friend mentioned that they sell these kits at MOM's Organic grocery stores for much cheaper than you can purchase them online, and obviously minus the shipping cost. So if you're interested in growing your own, you might want to check a local specialty health food store before dropping the dollars online. Good to know. :)

Growing Herbs 2.0

My husband and I made our first attempt at growing herbs in our kitchen in 2010 using an Aerogarden. A gimmicky product? Yeah, a bit. And a lot more expensive to use than growing herbs from seed in recycled planters, (which I'm going to try again very soon). At the time we thought the Aerogarden would be good for us. We wanted fresh herbs in the kitchen, but wanted to avoid what my husband lovingly calls WitherTouch™. I think you can guess what that is.

The Aerogarden was great. Despite its gimmicky-ness, it works very well at keeping plants alive and healthy. Eventually each herb died off anyway, and we didn't refill the planter until now.

About two weeks ago I started some new thyme, globe basil, dill, cilantro, sage, marjoram, and oregano, all of which have sprouted and seem to be thriving. I'd like to grow some herbs from seed and see if there's much difference in the taste or quality of the soil-grown plants vs. the hydroponic Aerogarden, or if I'm able to keep them alive for long.


Aww, I love you too, Cilantro.

That's all for today. More recipes soon.