Cilantro/Coriander

Cilantro and coriander are the same thing, sort of. Here in North America, when you cook with coriander, you are using the seeds from the cilantro plant. Other cultures call the leaves coriander, as well as the seeds. 
About two months ago, I planted some cilantro seeds directly in the soil outside on my back patio.  The seeds are mustard color and the size of that colored ball on the end of a push pin. Two of the seeds sprouted and are now tiny little plants.   They have taken, what seems to be, a long time to grow.  They are about 3 inches tall and pretty bushy.  Despite planting about 5 seeds, only two sprouted. 

I have done a bit a research and learned that cilantro likes a cool sunny environment.  If the soil reaches over 75 degrees the plant will "bolt," meaning send up a flower and die.  It is short-lived, the best plants only live 8-10 weeks.  As a result, it is suggested that you plant new seeds every 3-6 weeks.  (I guess I need to push a few more seeds into that pot.)  I am a bit unnerved about this since San Diego summer whether is often warmer than 75 degrees.  Perhaps I am engaged in a losing battle.  I need to mulch it and place it under another tree so that it gets more filtered light.

Fun Facts About Cilantro:

• Coriander seeds can be briefly roasted on a dry pan to enhance flavor. Has any one ever done this?
• Coriander roots are also edible (the whole darn plant is edible) and are stronger than the leaves. They are apparently used in many Thai dishes.
• There is a website called www.ihatecilantro.com dedicated to people who dislike cilantro.  Really people, aren't there better ways to spend your time.  
• Coriander is referenced in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in Exodus.
• Cilantro is one of the few herbs used in Chinese cooking (also called Chinese Parsley)
• My favorite Cheeseboard Pizza is the Corn Cilantro pizza- YUM!
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Common English Thyme (Thymus Vulgaris)

To further my quest for a superb herb garden, tomorrow, I will plant thyme. I bought a seed packet from Henry's last week for $2.69 (packet says its organic). The flowers and leaves are edible in this plant, though I am not sure that I have ever tasted the flowers. I would love to hear from anyone who has tasted thyme flowers. This packet has a wealth of information typed in very light gray print on the inside of the seed packet. Really? On the inside of a packet with 75 or so teeny tiny seeds. It is completely bothersome to have to empty the seeds out (because I am certainly not planting all 75) to be able to read exactly how to plant them, and in the process, destroy the seed packet because I have to cut it open.
Thinning, huh?
Here is my problem, I don't know that much about gardening. When the darn packet tells me to space the seeds 4 to 5 seeds per inch, I honestly don't really know what that means. Since I am potting in a container that is round, how do I calculate this. Hold on, it gets worse. The next instructions tells me to plant in groups. Okay....do they mean the 4 to 5 seed group per inch? And for the icing on this cake, it then tells me to thin to 1" when the plant emerges and then when it is 1" I thin to 10."
It cannot possibly want me to be handling seedlings so frequently. It sounds as though I am supposed to plant 5 seeds, then when I detect something emerge I am supposed to then dig the mini guy out an inch away. How odd. Wouldn't I completely disturb the other seeds that may just need a few more days to emerge? But following the thinning guidelines, if I just want one plant that will live in a 10" round pot, I should only plant a single 1" seedling in the pot.
The packet should really come with some pictures or something to translate. Or maybe I am just a dim wit and the instructions are completely self explanatory.

Thyme and Tomatoes
According to the seed packet, I should companion plant thyme with tomatoes in order to discourage white flies and worms. Sounds fabulous to me. The only question now is whether I attempt to put the seeds directly in my tomato plant container, or just keep a separate pot near the tomato. I am leaning toward the separate pot scenario to ensure the tomato doesn't block out the sun for the thyme.

Just A Few Fun Facts:

• Thyme and lavender are members of the same family
• It is drought resistant
• Ancient Egyptians used it for embalming
• Ancient Greeks believed that it brought courage
• It retains much of its flavor upon drying
• Common thyme essential oil consists of 20-50% of thymol, which is an antisceptic and the main ingredient in Listerine
• You can gargle water infused with thyme (boiled with thyme and cooled) to reduce throat swelling associated with bronchitis or sore throat. Think antiseptic! -- i am totally trying this if i have thyme for my next flu!

Carrots Come In Many Colors

Just bought carrot seeds. The little itty bitty carrots, not the long ones. I am anxious to plant the seeds, but the packet tells me that I have to wait until the fall. Perhaps it is too warm right now to plant carrot seeds. What if I put them out on the back patio where the morning sun is not as hot as the afternoon? Any advice?
I really like carrots and prefer to eat them cooked in butter (but who doesn't love food that is cooked in butter) until they are nice and sweet. I have also been all but obsessed with carrot ginger soup. Sadly, I have never loved raw carrots-I like them, just don't love them. And I really am not a fan of the baby carrots that the stores sell. Is it just me, or do they taste bland and horrid? I hope that home grown mini carrots will make me love raw carrots.
Carrot Memories
I don't have too many memories of by Grandpa Earl-my maternal grandfather. I lived in Rhode Island for about 9 short months when I was only four years old. After that, despite my yearly visits, I just cannot remember that much about him. Though, I do remember a few things- his little garden in particular. My gramps was all about growing his own veggies! And composting (I took a look in that old compost trash can a few years ago--yucky. Full of sand-like stuff and loads of spiders)! I distinctly remember him growing carrots, the full sized ones. Strangely, I don't recall ever eating these carrots, so I can only wonder whether my visions are of real life or a mere memory of a photograph of my grandpa with carrots. Either way, when I think of growing carrots, I think of Grampa Earl (sometimes called Earl the Pearl-- he couldn't have appreciated that nick name). I know many stories about him; but, by the time I was a teenager, he was already quite aged. I don't mean to say that he was very old, but he was certainly aged. Alcohol took a toll on his life and, sadly, shortened it. So I am left with the notion that my grandfather was a fisherman (those who have seen his basement in RI might remember the serious array of fishing supplies and various homemade fishing gadgets), a gardener, and a melodic whistler. This journey down memory lane reminds me that I have delayed in asking my grandma about which veggies my grampa used to grow. I wonder if she recalls the taste and variety. My granny is my only living grandparent, so I really need to absorb all the memories from her because time is the enemy now.
Since I have not yet planted any carrots, I have no picture to show for it. Perhaps I will try to find that picture that, may or may not exist, of Grandpa Earl and the carrots. I'll have to ask KD and my mom if they remember.


Because You Know You Want It: Some Fun Facts About Carrots!


There is a website called www.carrotmuseum.com --- Hmm. This website goes far into the history of carrots and carrot eating. I make no promises about the veracity of this website, but it sure is detailed. It reports that the carrot as we know it did not really emerge until the 1500s, though it reveals numerous documentations of earlier historical pictures of carrots (even orange carrots). It is referred to as the modern carrot, in contrast to the wild carrot. The wild carrot is from present-day Afghanistan and has a woody rough bitter spindly root. At some point in history, the modern carrot emerged and became domesticated. Bizarre, that the first domesticated carrots were not orange, but purple! Back in the day, the wild carrot seeds were considered medicinal. I can't possibly cover all the detail of this root


The Super Carrot Revealed! Don't know where you stand on GMOs but: Scientists in Texas have released a super carrot that helps people to absorb more calcium. It is still in the trial phase, but a carrot with 41% more calcium is pretty crazy. Check it out here
Or here.


Oh yeah, and eating carrots to improve nighttime vision is a myth... sorry.

Dwarf Pomegranate

I love pomegranates. I'll never forget the day Samin threw a small dinner party and served a small bowl of pomegranate seeds for dessert. She took the pains of separating the seeds from the rind and presented them in a lovely bowl for each guest to easily sample without worry of getting red juice stains on their clothes. Naturally, I went in for some fruit, gently nibbled the fruit and juice from the seed and then spit out the hard nut-like interior. Well, that sure did put Samin in a tizzy. She refused to believe that anyone but my family and I would go to the trouble to spit out the seeds. Thus began the pomegranate seed controversy. If I remember correctly, it ended in a truce: some chew the nuts, some spit the nuts. Ah, but the sweet look on her face when she saw me spit out the seeds was priceless. Why anyone would ruin the sweet, tart smooth flavor of the pomegranate by chomping on the nasty seed, I don't know. Apparently, some people believe it is too much work to gently nibble the fruit from the seed.



I had a pomegranate tree in my back yard one year when my family lived in Spring Valley, CA. I tried intently to squeeze the seeds to release just the juice. I was rarely successful, but it was loads of fun. I remember that I always had to do my juicing experiments in the garage because the juice was so dark and stainy. The trick is to open the pomegranate under water, the rind floats and the seeds sink and no squirting, voila!



Pomegranates are a very old fruit. They are harvested in fall here in the Northern hemisphere and is grown over, particularly in Mediterranean climates. The fruit has long been recognized and documented. It makes an appearance in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible (hence its appearance in my Fruits of the Bible debacle), and in Greek Mythology (Poor Persephone!). Wikipedia has a fabulous entry on the pomegranate and discusses the many other cultures, ancient and present that use the pomegranate as a symbol.

Needless to say, about 6 months ago I sucked it up and bought a dwarf pomegranate tree from Gurneys. The picture here is the tree. It has a lot of growing to do and I don't expect to see any fruit growing for at least

another year or two. But I am excited for when it does. I seems to have adapted will to my front patio and the little leaves appear healthy. It is not growing quite as fast as the fig grew when

it got to San Diego, but I am patient. So stay tuned for more news on this young plant as the months go on.

Black Rose

This succulent is called a Black Rose (also called Aeonium Arboreum Zwartkop).  I see this is many front yards and borders in my neighborhood.  It is a very hardy plant and requires minimum attention.  It grows quite tall  with large rosettes that vary from greenish to a deep dark purple atop long stalks.  Reminds me of something out of a Dr. Seuss book. 

Because of its height, it is prone to tipping over.  When I first got the Black Rose (a story that really should not be told on the Internet, sad indeed), it was recovering from a pretty brutal fall: Al had kept it perched on a high ledge on her patio where it toppled over and cracked in half. With its tall skinny stalks and large head, it tends to be delicate in high winds.  Though, this plight can be avoided as long as the plant is housed in a sturdy and heavy pot.  Since I replanted the Black Rose in a terracotta planter it has not toppled.  

Those of you who are detail-oriented may have noticed that my plant is staked.  I was very concerned that it was so top heavy.  It began ripping itself out of the soil. So I staked it.  I supposed I probably should have pruned it, but I have trouble cutting of any of this gorgeous plant.

You Can Have One Too

I have read that propagating this plant is rather simple: you just snip off a rosette and stick it in cactus soil.  According to my research, the time to propagate is early summer, so I should buy some cactus mix and snip away.  I will keep you all updated on my progress.  I read that its dormant period is Summer and Fall, so I guess you are supposed to propagate before the dormant period.

It Blooms?

Supposedly, this plant has yellow flowers.  I have had the plant for about two years now and have not seen a single flower.   I am unconvinced.  One website reports that once a flower forms in the summer, the branch will shrivel up and die! I would mind this, but I really don't have that many stalks to afford to lose one to shrivel.  I cross my fingers that this plant does not flower for a very long time!

Here are some links for those of you that want to learn more:

http://www.finegardening.com/plantguide/aeonium-arboreum-zwartkop-black-rose.aspx

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Crassulaceae/Aeonium_Zwartkop.html

Easter Cactus

This lovely Easter Cactus was a gift from Al for my graduation from Loyola.  It is so easy to care for and forgiving.  I have already had to chop it up and give parts away because it grows so rapidly.  

I took this picture two weeks ago when it was in full bloom.  Now the flowers have mostly all fallen off.  I will be cutting it apart again soon and giving some of the plants away because it is once again two big for its pot.

Anyone interested in having a piece of this cactus?

Chocolate Mint Tea- Yum