More Girls
For the past few months we have been inundated with male cucumber flowers but girl flowers were few and far between. However, the new year brought excitement to our hydroponic garden because suddenly, we have a whole bunch of these:
Gratin Potatoes Eggplant
A nice friend and neighbor brought me a couple of beautiful eggplants. I sliced them thin over the top of my scalloped potatoes, sprinkled chili oil over that, and layered on some cheese. Next I nuked them in an air fryer until the top was crunchy and brown.
Eggplant is related to the potato, so maybe that wasn't awfully different, but it was the first time I made it that way. Usually I slice the eggplant thick, dip the slices in beaten eggs and then in romano cheese and fry them up in butter until soft.
PayPerPost
Participating in the PayPerPost experience has been fun and educational, and by now has also paid for a room with an ocean view and meals at this hotel:
Going to Have Pesto
The blue glass container from a yard sale inspired me to finally get out the Dremel and learn how to drill holes in glass.
Those are hydroton "grow rocks" holding up the basil plant. They are resting inside a drinking glass with drain holes drilled in the bottom. In addition to keeping the basil plant upright, the rocks help oxygenate the plant's roots. The pink pipe-cleaner handle allows me to periodically lift this glass planter up so that the water drains off, going back splash-free into the pretty blue cylinder. My planter (that would be the drinking glass filled with rocks) sits on top of a taller drinking glass that just happened to fit perfectly into the blue cylinder. Basil does not require much nutrition to grow beautifully, but I did add a few drops of General Hydroponics Flora Series liquid nutrients.
Most of my passive hydroponic planters are made from disposable plastic bottles, but there are advantages to using glass instead. It is both prettier and easier to clean.
Three secrets to successfully drilling holes in a glass to make hydroponic planters such as this follow:
1) Wear safety glasses and cover your hands as protection against broken bits and/or glass.
2) Work slowly and back off to let the bit cool from time to time.
3) Keep the contact surface wet. You do NOT want to inhale silicon dust from the glass.
Harbor Freight had a pack of diamond bits appropriate for drilling through glass for $7.99. The drinking glasses were $1.59/pack at WalMart. My beloved two-year old DremelStylus was a gift, but I think it was purchased at Lowe's for $60. The value of looking at this every day and saying "I made it myself?" Priceless.
3rd Generation
The company I bought this Tender Green Edible Amaranth from does not always have the seed available, so I got to experience how easy it is to let the plants go to seed and save them to make new plants:
Amaranth seeds are tiny little things.
They sprout fast, then the seedlings languish for two or three weeks before taking off.
This one is growing in liquid nutrient solution in an AeroGarden planter. As soon as it gets big enough I will cut of the top stems and put them back in the grow hole to root, and move the original plants out to my new raised garden. Then when the cuttings get big enough, I'll do the same thing with them.
That way I will be assured of having enough of them to eat. The leaves are good fresh in a salad, sauteed in butter, or sliced in soup.
More on Moonflowers
Moon Vine (Ipomoea alba), not to be confused with Datura or Brugmansia.
Some gardening articles recommend nicking it with a nail file, but I use a nail clipper instead. How? I just make a little cut in the side of each seed and then soak them in filtered water for a few hours or overnight.
Rather than planting them in dirt, I put the soaked seeds in a heavy cloth bag and immerse it in water a couple times a day, letting it drain the rest of the time. Since Santa Clause brought me a Sproutman's Hemp Sprouting Bag a while back, I use that. Tap water is not a good idea in many places as the chlorine in it might inhibit growth. That is why I use filtered water.
PS: All parts of this plant are potentially toxic and should NOT be eaten.
Spring is Coming
Also called Sword Lily, because the name Gladiolus was derived from the Latin word meaning "sword," glads are wonderfully flamboyant flowers.
My favorite dollar store has the corms on sale, so I bought several colors and put them in pots outdoors, but this little guy gets to stay in my kitchen for the time being, as I want to watch him grow close up and not dirty.
Disappearing Breadsticks
These are kind of funny looking, but I love to snack on my whole-grain breadsticks.
They are made from oatmeal and other flaked wholegrains sold as breakfast cereal. I put the flakes in the grinder cup of my Magic Bullet and turn them into flour, then add spices such as fennel and rosemary and fast-rising yeast, along with enough honey to activate the yeast and warm (115 F) water. My liquid to water ratio is 1:3 and I use one teaspoon of yeast per cup of flour.
I only bake a few at a time, otherwise I would eat them all, but I make the dough ahead and refrigerate it. This is the same recipe I use for pizza crust.
Butterfly Palace
The inside of the palace has a winding staircase that leads up to the double door entrance to the rainforest habitat of the butterflies. The most spectacular ones were giant blue butterflies which flew very low to the ground and were thus very hard to photograph. Many other varieties paused to taste what appeared to be slices of banana covered with orange juice.
Figs Root in Water
When research how to propagate figs from cuttings here online, the suggestions all seemed so complicated and/or time consuming that I was not confident of being able to do it, but my late Uncle's monster fig had so many suckers this spring, that I just pulled some of them up straight and cut the base just below the dirt with pruning shears, then dumped the cuttings in a huge bottle of water, stuck them in a spare room where they got a little indirect light and left them alone and forgotten for several weeks.
The articles warned not to want them to start leafing out as that would take away from their root development. Not! The roots are beautiful and so are the leaves. The only place I may get in trouble is by not hardening them off right. It is much hotter outside and even in partial shade there is much more light. Not to worry, I took many cuttings and kept some of them indoors as controls.
Of course, as the sun passes across the sky, what was once in shade can get very hot and bright very fast, so one that I put out is already wilting a bit.I moved it into a shadier spot and gave it more water.
Tail of a Whale
When I took this picture, all I saw was the steam. Only after loading my photos onto the laptap and blowing them up did I see the whale underneath. Of course we knew s/he was there, as this is how a whale gets water out of its lungs prior to breathing in some air:
Chicory
This is the first flower from my Italian Dandelion experiment. I have raved about the chicory plant before, as I love harvesting the tender young leaves as salad greens or to spice up vegetable tea or float in a broth.
But until now I had not had a chance to let the plants mature and bloom. My goal here, aside from getting to see the pretty flowers, is to grow my own seed to plant and start the cycle again.
The flower stems on this small plant are amazing, because the stalk is easily a foot taller than the foliage. Seeing this, the common name of Blue Sailors begins to make sense, although it is more often known as cornflower or coffeeweed. The botanical name is Cichorium intybus.
In addition to making an interesting coffee substitute, chicory roots contain inulin and are sometimes added to yogurt as a prebiotic. Prebiotics are non-digestible parts of food which stimulate beneficial bacterial activity in the digestive system.
Taken for a Ride
Aside from having to sit next to some bratty kids for part of the ride, I really enjoyed the circle tour.
If the tour guide had ever shut up, I would have enjoyed it a lot more, though. He seemed like a nice enough guy, except that he was such a motor-mouth.
I think the tour line could save a lot of money by just printing some information about the landmarks on a one-page flyer.
