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

Loofah, luffa, loofa!

Did you know that the bath sponge, commonly known as a loofah or luffa, is a squash?  Well, it is.  I was in the dark about this fact when, one afternoon, while KD and I were browsing the seeds at Target, KD discovered luffa seeds.   Naturally, I had to buy the seeds and attempt to grow my own cleansing product.  Seriously, how good will life be when I can exfoliate with a gourd I grew on my patio?

This all happened about a month and a half ago.  I planted about five seeds (they resemble pumpkin seeds) in a medium small pot.  One seed sprouted out of the ground and really made a statement.  Two big leaves seemed to arrive overnight.  

The seed packet says the following: "Astonishingly tasty when picked young (2"), soft and light green.  Exquisite nut-like flavor steamed or sauteed.  Or harvest dry for terrific bath sponges"   I thought, great, I can grow this in a container.  No problem.  We'll see about that.

Well, I have not had much experience growing squash--it didn't occur to me that this plant would become enormous.  So, I was very surprised last night when I researched the luffa plant online and learned that this plant is going to become a freakin monster! Apparently, the darn plant can have vines that are 20' long and gourds that are longer than a foot long!  I also learned that it crawls up walls and will actually grow up your gutter and around your house!  Crap!  Perhaps I should name the plant Audrey.

Aside from that, people are extolling the virtues of growing the sponges.  Folks on the net are saying how they use the sponge as a dish scrubber and a bath mat.  Pretty cool.  

I am a bit concerned, though, that I couldn't find a site that discussed the possibility of growing luffa in a container.  So, I clearly will need to transplant this guy into a bigger pot (story of my life).  Then I suppose I will "train" it to vine around my decrepit back patio fencing.  I am scared. 

If you are interested in learning more about this plant, check out the following sites:

Groovy Green

Luffa Info

 This is the infamous dwarf fig. 

Introductions

It began a few years ago when I lived in Venice.  I am not sure what awakened the crazy within me, but I became a plant-person.  My apartment was absurdly close to the beach (spitting distance, practically) and had a north-facing balcony.  The sun hardly shone on my little spot, but I didn't care: I bought several plants and willed myself into believing I could keep them alive.  Despite, constant fussing over the plants, most died.  It did not weaken my resolve to buy more and more plants.  I was successful (though I have no idea why since I got the sun hardly shone on my balcony and the marine layer was constantly blocking the little sun it received) at keeping several cactus alive.  My Easter cactus is lovely and still blooms beautiful fuchsia flowers every spring! 

Then, for my birthday one year, by aunt Lynn bought me one of those mail-order amaryllis bulbs. It comes in a kit with some kind of freeze-dried or space saver soil that you add water to and watch it grow.  Then you stick the bulb in and start watering.  I planted it in November and by December I had a gorgeous red and white amaryllis flower.  (I went home for Christmas and the flower ended up falling over and breaking.  Apparently I needed a heavier pot...I learned that lesson.  I am just happy I wasn't the one to come home and find it all broken on the carpet. I would have certainly shed a tear for the flower--that's how much I loved it).

I was hooked.  I tried growing more bulbs-- failure.  I tried keeping various herbs alive (the one from TJs), that wasn't a total failure, but certainly no success.  

I bought a dwarf lemon tree from Target.  Al and I piled it into her car in LA and brought it to my house.  A neighbor- with a south facing balcony- had a lemon tree that was seemingly always full of fruit.  I swear it was fake.  My lemon tree flowered and teased me with mini green fruits that never made it.  I loved that tree.  I watered it, talked to it, etc.  No luck.  Soon it was a tall pile of branches.  So sad.

Along comes the dwarf fig...

What the heck was I doing shopping the garden section in Amazon - I don't know.  I absolutely abhor shopping online.  Will avoid it like the plague.  Can't inspect the product, have to wait for it to arrive, have to pay shipping-- not for me. But nonetheless, I was on Amazon and found the unbelievably cheap offer for three dwarf fruit trees for 15 bucks.  There was a dwarf pomegranate, dwarf fig, and dwarf olive. I think it was called plants of the bible, or something like that.  I was giddy, couldn't think of any reason not to buy those lovely plants.  Olives! I could cure olives and eat them! Figs-- seriously, excellent.  Pomegranate, beyond words.  So I ordered away completely confident in by purchase. 

I bet you know what happened next.  Behold, no plants.  Then, weeks later, I get a lousy email from Amazon telling me some mumbo jumbo about how the order wasn't available.  Basically, I was p.o.'ed.  Majorly.  But the taste of fig in my mouth did not cease.  I had to have that dwarf fig.  I was obsessed with the fig.  

I searched the local box stores and Anderson's for a fig.  Found nothing but the full blown tree.  That couldn't do. So I sucked it up and went directly to the Gurney's website (where Amazon was supposedly ordering from) and bought that darn dwarf fig ($20 bucks after shipping!).  Then I waited. And waited and waited.  Eight months later I got that email telling me that my order had shipped.  I now understand that even if you order a tree, you must wait until harvest to actually get the order.  

The Fig Arrived.

Now, I was in law school at the time and had told all my friends about the tree.  Actually, most had already known about the heartbreak of losing those "fruits of the bible."  The box came, about the size of a shoe box.  I opened it and found the tiniest of "trees."  I use that word loosely because, what I really got was not a 'tree' it was two mini twigs in a small block of soil.  The mini twigs where about 4 inches tall and had a cumulative of 3 teeny leaves.  I was so disappointed.  The picture of the plant was lush and thick with leaves!  I got twigs! I was monstrously p.o.'ed.  I even wrote a review on the website explaining my disappointment.  The company never published it, rather I got an email back telling me that the plants in the pictures are several years old.  Whoo hoo-- I was supposed to know that apparently.  Well, I didn't; and my feathers were quite ruffled. 

I re-potted the pitiful twigs, like the instructions told me.  A few days later the fig lost its three leaves.  Then I really just had two twigs in dirt.  Months passed.  I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.  It just sat in its mini pot on the balcony.   Finally judgment day arrived for the fig.  I was moving to San Diego to a little apartment that got loads of sun.  I closely inspected my fig-twig. I thought I noticed a few greenish colored areas on the tips of the twigs.  With a whimper of hope, I packed the fig-twig in my car and transported it from LA to SD.  Within a few weeks of putting the fig on my front porch it was growing like crazy! Leaves bigger than my head! It even started growing a few figs last summer (none made it all the way, but that was expected).

So the gardening demon awoke! I went insane buying plants. I actually ate my own tomatoes last summer.  Insane.

This blog is for me to get all my gardening excitement out without completely driving all those people around me nuts.  (I can't expect anyone else to be as excited about my plants! Well, maybe Sandra and Al, but that is all).

So here I go.  Enjoy.  Maybe, if I get good at this urban gardening thing, you can come over some day for a fully apartment grown meal ;)