Growing Chard in My Windowbox

While I've been delighting in watching this chard growing in my windowboxes for the past few weeks, one day recently, my husband said to me, "Those are ugly flowers growing in the windowboxes"!

Well, guess who doesn't get to have any of this beautiful leafy green?

Since I have limited good gardening space, I'm always looking for creative places to plant edibles, and I think this "Rainbow Chard" with its bright colored stems is just perfect where it's planted, don't you?

Where have you found spots to tuck edible plants?

How to Grow and Use Lemongrass

A new and small lemongrass plant in the back corner

As a gardener with a limited area of prime, sunny gardening space, I'm always looking for open places to add edible plants and herbs.  I have done things like force compatible vegetables to share space by tucking basil in with large planters of tomatoes, have used neglected window boxes to grow tidy rows of chard, and have added beautiful red-veined sorrel to empty spots in my perennial beds in front of my house.

This year, I wanted to claim some space in the big ornamental container by my front door for growing edibles. As someone who is not terribly creative with ornamental container plantings, I tend the stick with the "thriller, filler, spiller" rule of thumb and thought what better “thriller” than the tall statuesque lemongrass.

Lemongrass is a citrusy-flavored herb that gives Thai food its distinctive taste.  It is relatively carefree in a sunny garden in a tropical zone.  In colder zones like mine, lemongrass can be grown in containers and taken in during the winter months, or simply planted outside in the garden and grown as an annual.  Plants can be started by seed (for a far slower start), but it is easy enough to take cuttings from a friend or find fresh green lemongrass stalks from an Asian grocer and root in a glass of water.  Change the water every other day and roots should appear within two weeks.  When roots are a couple inches long, the lemongrass stalks can be planted in a container or into the garden.  In the garden, lemongrass can grow to at least three feet tall and wide.  The lemongrass in my planter has already gotten noticeably larger in the past couple of weeks, but being situated in partial shade, and being confined to a container, it won’t get too big.  Still, I won't be stingy with using the stalks when I need to. And at the end of the season, I will cut all remaining stalks and dry for use throughout the winter.

To use lemongrass, harvest as needed by cutting larger outside stalks at soil level.  The part used in cooking is the light green or yellowish section near the bottom half of the stalk. You can crush the stalk in this section and notice the fresh citrus scent. Tough or bruised outside leaves with no fragrance should be removed before cooking.  There are numerous cooking methods to use depending on the dish.  To flavor soups, cut into 5 inch lengths and twist the entire length of the section or crush with a mallet or rolling pin before adding to the pot.  To add to stir-fries, grate lemongrass or crush and then mince.  For curries, use tender lemongrass sections and cut very thinly.

I love the fragrance of lemongrass and find it very energizing and mood-boosting.  It is also a critical ingredient in making a great Thai tom yum soup like THIS one.  Enjoy!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

I'm so contrived these days, but seems every year, I do some variation of a good, bad, and ugly post.  

The good - finally, a cute little watermelon.  But too little, too late you little watermelon!!!! It's almost October!

The bad - well, bad meaning good... A frickin' plethora of apples on the trees at the u-pick farm, and after a glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug of triple sec and tequila, some jars of strawberry margarita preserves! 

And the ugly - some one has taken a hole-puncher to this foliage.  Either that or some nasty bug has decided to really piss me off.  And then to add insult to injury, this Sassy cat of mine needs to make my planter a kitty bed.  Ah well, she's 11 years old this October.  Maybe I'll just leave her be.  

Kombucha update #3 and repurposing cans

I did not think there would be be a third update on kombucha. In case you missed it, here's the kombucha on day one and here's the daughter SCOBY that was produced a couple weeks later. In my last post, I admitted that I would not be a regular kombucha tea drinker, especially after I used the kombocha as fruit fly bait in a homemade trap of this sort. Well, in my third update, I would like to inform you that it is not necessary to begin with a SCOBY to produce more SCOBYs. Floating at the top of the fruit fly trap, is a SCOBY with four dead (hopefully) fruit flies carefully preserved within. KIINNNDDDAAAA scary. I decided to spare you the photo.

However, I did decide to share a photo of these cute containers (guess they'd be cuter if they were planted) outside El Carbon, a great little Latin American restaurant. Best pupusas. Ever.

random photos...

The little bean plant that could...



Just a pretty and simple container planting in front of a restaurant. Nothing spectacular, but I really like the use of the hosta.

This man has eyes of beets (Chioggia to be exact), but on this day, our 14th anniversary, for this man I have eyes of hearts...