Harvest 12-29-13

Pic of today's harvest which became part of our lunch of sauteed Swiss chard, kale and mushrooms with roasted spaghetti squash topped with olive oil, butter and Parmesan cheese.  Forgot to take a picture of the lunch however, my husband and I ate it too fast!  You might notice the snails got a bite of that one chard leaf and some of the kale, but as my dad says (after finding a bug on his produce): "well, they don't eat much".

Weekend Project: Railing Planters "Strawberry Patch"

Taking advantage of the weekend and holiday time off, I decided to finally increase my strawberry plant count by adding some space-saving railing planters.  These will serve as my "strawberry patch" until we move to a house with a yard and more room.  They were a simple and fast project to complete and can easily be taken down if needed.  I just picked up some 33" cedar wood planter boxes at Home Depot, drilled some holes just under the lip of the boxes, and used black plastic zip ties to attach the boxes to the railing on the porch.  If you want to save money or want a custom size you could always build the boxes yourself, but these were pre-assembled and about the right size and I opted for the easier route. I went to Orange County Farm Supply to get some high quality organic soil to use (I like their selection better than what I've found at other stores) as well as some soil amendments I have been wanting to try (seaweed fertilizer, granulated rock dust, and earth worm castings).  Remember the health of your plants depends on the health of your soil, and from the research I've done it is best to avoid chemical fertilizers not only for your own health and because they are made from fossil fuels and are polluting to the environment, but they also kill the healthy organisms living in the soil that benefit your plants.  Yet another reason to do things the organic way.  Also plants resist pests and produce better if they are getting the nutrients they need.  I picked up a variety of strawberry plants at Armstrong Nursery which carries a great selection of plant starts including organic, heirloom varieties, and locally grown.  I opted for getting a few of each type since different varieties produce fruit at different times, and I also just love variety - I ended up with Sequoia, Mignonette, Tristan, Berri Basket White, and Loran.  I also salvaged and transplanted the couple plants I already had which had survived from the previous season. I'm Interested to see which varieties do best and the difference in flavor.  Here are some pics:

left planter

right planter

I think they look pretty nice!

here you can see how they are held on to the railing

The Tristan strawberries have cute little red flowers

the Sequoia have classic white and are also quite tall

fruits developing

and of course William had to help supervise!

Happy Holidays!

Garden Update 12-25-13

We celebrated Christmas last night with the family so today just taking it easy with the hubby - and had some free time to take some pics of the garden.  Also re-potted some kale seedlings and planted more peas.

the last jalapeno.

Also noticed some new leaf growth after most of the summer leaves fell off - I did a little research and found out that in warmer climates peppers can be grown as perennial and often the second year has better production than the first!  Excited to find out if this is true... got about 15 peppers off this plant this year I think.

Parsley has a certain beauty in my opinion, and it really is delicious!  I chop and sprinkle it over potato, meat, and egg dishes, and sometimes just eat a few sprigs straight from the garden.  Its high in vitamins and antioxidants and tastes fresh, flavorful and somewhat salty.  I think this is more true with home grown parsley than the kind you would find as a garnish on your plate eating out or purchase from the grocery store - kind of like the difference between homegrown and store bought tomatoes.  I never use the dried stuff either, the fresher the better, all the more reason to grow your own.

Yummy Genovese Basil - one of my favorite herbs.

Curly kale with a leaf of red winter kale and a young Lucinato kale plant photobombing.

the peas are getting taller...

Closeup of one of my herb pots - basils, mint and parsley coexisting.

Another view of the same container.

...and another...

And William enjoying the sunshine!

Small Gift or Favors Idea - Succulents

Every year around this time small gifts start to appear on my desk... treat bags filled with chocolates or cookies, cocoa mix, scented candles, etc.  These are all great ideas, cute, easy and often yummy, and I usually give something similar myself.  However this year I was inspired to do something a bit out of the ordinary - succulents!  I have a few planters on my patio overflowing with different varieties of succulents and they were overdue for a trim anyhow, so I decided to give cuttings planted in tiny pots that I decorated myself. Here is a quick rundown of the materials and process for making them, and some pictures of them finished. They turned out really cute and were a hit with my coworkers too!  You could also use these as favors for a wedding or party as well.  Another great idea would be to use culinary herbs, especially since I love promoting growing edible plants, but I was a bit short on time and would probably have wanted to start them from seed and get them to a good size before gifting them, and they would need bigger of pots for their root structures too. Also succulents are a lot more forgiving than herbs to take care of so even if I give one to someone who has a brown thumb it would be really hard for them to kill, or at least take a while to die so they have longer to enjoy it at least, ha ha!

MATERIALS (available at most craft stores):
mini terracotta pots
outdoor acrylic paint (white)
paintbrush
colored permanent markers in multiple colors
colored string (or natural twine, or bakers twine)
gift tags (you could cut up some scrap paper instead of buying tags too)
stamps (I used present stamps but snowflakes, stars, birds, or anything festive will work)
stamp ink in multiple colors
gel pens in multiple colors (or a pencil or colored pencils)
potting soil
succulent cuttings

DIRECTIONS:
1)  Paint all the pots with the white paint (or whatever color you prefer), covering the entire outside and at least halfway down on the inside.  I found that if I painted the bottom halves first, let those dry, and then did the top half/rim and insides next then I got a lot less paint on my fingers!  Let these dry for at least 1 day before decorating, also I would wait a few days to let the paint cure before planting them too.

2)  Decorate the top/rim of the pots using the permanent markers.  I drew geometric patterns and outlined them in a coordinating color, which looked pretty cool.

3)  Once the paint is thoroughly dry and cured for a few days fill the pots with slightly moistened soil and plant the cuttings from your succulents, watching out to keep the outside of the pots as clean as possible in the process.  It might be good to root the succulents beforehand, but I didn't and they seemed to do fine. Give them a little drink of water after planting.

4)  Stamp one side of your gift tags and once dry flip them over and write your message on the back using the gel pens or a pencil.  I also colored in some of the stamps with the gel pens. Don't use the permanent marker on the tags as they will bleed through the paper and show on the other side.

5)  Punch a hole in your gift tags if they don't already have one. Tie a length of the colored string or twine around the top of the pots, tie a double knot, then loop the string through the hole in the gift tag and tie a bow.  

6)  Now you're done!  Be sure to transport the plants carefully in the car - I set them close together in a box lid and used towels to fill any extra space on the sides and prevent them from tipping over.

PICTURES:

Garden Update 12-14-2013

Thought a garden update would be a good excuse to use my new camera - here's some pics from today plus some gardening tips, enjoy!

The peas seem to be doing well (after surviving a snail attack when they were first starting to sprout - I hate snails!).  Peas like cool weather as I found out before I started paying attention to which plants are cool season and warm season.  Peas do best in the spring and fall, or in the winter here in southern California and other mild climates.  Stagger plantings to extend the harvest.

More peas sprouting up among the White Alyssum - I planted these a couple of weeks after the ones above.  The White Alyssum is left over from summertime when I planted it at the base of my tomatoes to attract bees and other pollinators.  It smells like honey!

Look at the beautiful yellow stems on this colorful Chard!  My chard seems to like both cool weather and warm, its one of the few leafy greens that doesn't get bitter or seem to want to go to bolt as soon as it gets hot outside.  Red Russian Kale also seems to be fairly heat tolerant (and cold tolerant!) as well, staying tender and tasty when other kales seem to get bitter and tough.

Speaking of Red Russian Kale, here are some new ones just sprouting!

The curly leaf kale is enjoying the cool weather as well, I love seeing the new growth at the center!  Love this kale for sauteing for a dinner side as well as fresh in a salad, or blended up in a green smoothie.  My Lucinato kale isn't doing so well, though has stopped being bitter now that it is almost winter, but the leaves are just so tiny!  I think all my kale would benefit from more room for their roots, these ones I grow on my porch are nothing compared to the ones in my friend's raised bed garden that I help her with from time to time - they grow large and lush with more room to spread out rather than cramped in containers.  But I still love having fresh kale just outside my door - just pick a leaf or two from each plant whenever I need it.

Some Genovese Basil peaking out from behind another chard plant.  The snails think my basil is as tasty as I do, unfortunately.

My Greek Basil isn't doing as well as I would like, but its holding its own.  It is more bushy and has very small leaves compared to the Genovese, but I love having variety and like the spicy flavor.

Love these purple flowers on the Thai Basil!

Another purple herb, variegated white and purple sage. This is another plant that would do much better planted in a raised bed or in the ground rather than a pot, but I work with what I've got.  So beautiful!

Strawberry plant recovering from the summer heat - I should be getting some berries in the spring hopefully.  I only have 4 plants right now, I originally had 6 but 2 did not survive.  I think this weekend I will get a whole bunch more and maybe some over the railing containers to plant them in - I have heard that 6 to 10 plants per person is around the amount you need to grow and between my husband and I we don't have nearly enough right now.  If you have room to grow your own strawberry plants I strongly recommend it - you not only get fresh berries ripened on the plant so they are quite delicious, but you can skip the awful pesticides that are used to grow conventional strawberries.  Strawberries are on the "dirty dozen" list of the most contaminated foods, so buy organic or grow your own!

More new beginnings - the spinach looks more like grass right now, but soon they will be getting true leaves, I can't wait til they are ready to start harvesting!  You can see from this photo that I believe in mulching - it is essential here in southern California where it is practically a desert.  I use pine needles from the tree that overhangs my porch, often using scissors to chop it up a bit so the needles aren't so long.  It seems to do a good job of holding moisture in and keeping the soil & plants healthy.

Not everything I grow is edible!  I do have a fondness for succulents, they are so easy to grow and have such variety!  I love the different colors and textures - that blueish one that looks like a flower is actually fuzzy!

And this one looks like a sea anemone!

I'm also quite partial to orchids - I have 7 right now, living on the sill of the north facing window in our bathroom.  I barely even take care of them - just the steam from the shower and a watering or a good soak from time to time, but they seem to love it and keep on sending out long roots, new leaves, and fresh blooms.  I had someone try to tell me once that orchids die after they bloom... well I don't know where they heard that but mine bloom every couple of months and I've had some of them for over 5 years.  I just cut off the flower stalk once the flowers wilt or fall off, and it sends out a new one a few months later.

Easy Garden Fresh Pasta Recipe

So this is hardly a "recipe" as its so simple and easy, but its a great idea for dinner or lunch and super adaptable to whatever you have on hand.  I use Pasta Joy brand gluten free rice pasta, available from most health food stores as well as some conventional grocery stores or online.  For this dish I used their spinach spaghetti noodles and fresh herbs and veggies from the garden:

Ingredients:

Cooked Pasta (preferably gluten free)

Grilled Chicken Breast (preferably organic), cut into bite sized pieces

Grape or Cherry Tomatoes, sliced in half

Fresh Basil, cut in ribbons

Kalamata Olives, pits removed and cut in half

Pine Nuts (missing from the photo because I ran out, but I normally use them in this recipe)

Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated

Olive Oil

Avocado Oil, Lemon Flavor (from Pacifica Culinaria), optional

Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper

Directions:

Grill the chicken on a grill or in a frying pan, then cut it into bite sized pieces, meanwhile cook the pasta, then drain it, and mix in the oil(s), salt & pepper, then serve the desired amount of noodles on the plate and add all your toppings, finishing with the herbs and cheese last... done!  

You can of course switch out the toppings or add others like grilled sliced zucchini, summer squash, red peppers, mushrooms, swap salmon for the chicken or leave it out for a veggie option, parsley instead or in addition to the basil, add sauteed garlic, etc.  I like the flavor profiles of these together, but feel free to adjust according to what you prefer, what is in your fridge, or what is ready to be picked from the garden!

New Camera

Better photos from here on out - just got an awesome early xmas present from my hubby - a nice new cannon EOS Rebel T3i!  Heres a sample...

some thyme from my window herb garden in the kitchen

and William of course, with his silly furry toes!