The Garden - Look What's Growing and Questions!

"As the garden grows, so does the gardener." - Anonymous

It's a chilly and rainy February afternoon in Atlanta. I wanted to give you all a quick update on what's growing in the sunroom. This rosemary plant (above) is actually growing in a pot in front of the koi pond. I have two of these plants and they are some thirsty and hungry fellas! I have to water them every day or they dry out quickly. In fact, I didn't water them once for three days and I lost a small branch on the lower part of one plant. Is anyone growing rosemary and can give me some tips on how to keep them well fed and watered in containers?

Here's my seed starting system under lights. For those who are new to gardening, having a decent seed starting system is very easy to assemble and necessary. The entire thing, including the shelves and light bulbs, cost me around than $50 in 2008. If you don't have this kind of money or space, grab a couple small work lights or bulbs and set your seed tray underneath. Make it work for you.

These are my first plantings of celery and they're doing well. Some of them have even begun sprouting their first true leaves! I wanted to be sure that I planted enough seeds as one time so I planted between 5 - 8 seeds per cell and almost all of them germinated. It's going to be difficult to cut back the less vigorous ones. I want to grow them all, but I know I can't.

These cups have pomegranate seeds I planted almost two weeks ago. Nothing has germinated yet, so I'm keeping them covered. I have to check them everyday because there's a small white fungus-like thing that likes to grow in the surface of the soil. Is anyone out there growing or has grown pomegranate trees from seed? Any tips?

From this angle you can't really see what's growing to the left of the poms, but those are Charleston Belle's and Fish pepper plants that have successfully germinated. I'm pretty excited about my peppers since last year I only got a few small bell peppers off two plants. I love my nightshades!!

In between my celery and red onions are the broccoli sprouts. They're kind of long and that concerns me. When they are ready to transplant I'll see if I can plant them a little deeper to help keep the stalk strong. The onions are doing well also but they're growing slow. I read that it takes about 100 days from transplant to harvest onions. Patience, Kalena...patience. lol

On the right side of the celery the flat-leaf parsley has sprouted. YES!! I did not grow this well last year and I read somewhere that seeds bought the previous year won't do well the next year. See what happens with a little faith? I gave it a shot and it looks like we're going to have a very nice herb garden this year. Maybe I could grow a "Pizza and Pasta Herb" garden this year. Hmmm....ideas...!

Two days ago, I started the third round of seeds:

SPRING GREENS:

- Spinach (Bloomsdale Longstanding)

- Kale

- Arugula

- Collards

- Mustards

LETTUCES:

- Romaine (Parris Island)

- Tom's Thumb Lettuce

- Bibb Lettuce

- Great Lakes Lettuce

- Mesclun Salad Mix (Sweet & Spicy)

WILD STRAWBERRIES and CHIVES

As you all continue to grow your gardens, whether indoors or out, remember that spring isn't that far away. For those who are just getting started or are brand new to this, don't be afraid. Take the plunge! Start today by purchasing good quality seeds from your local garden center or from catalogues like one one from the Seed Savers Exchange, an organization whose purpose is to educate people about rare and nearly extinct edible plants and flowers. Petey, the Valentine's Day bear, endorses them!!

Happy Gardening!!!

The Garden - More Seed Starts

Before the seed there comes the thought of bloom.

- E. B. White

The weather is steadily warming. The days are getting longer minute by minute. I am so excited about what my garden will hold this year. TOO excited I think lol. Last night around 10pm I set up my laptop, turned on a Splendid Table podcast, and pulled out my seed starting materials. Picture above is my sterile seed-starting soil. Following the advice of Dan at Urban Veggie Garden Blog, I sterilized my own seed-starting medium from recycled potting soil and compost. Thanks, Dan!!

It's week three of seed sowing and here's the list of what was planted:

* Flat Leaf Parsley (1st planting)

* Red Creole Onion (2nd planting)

*Longstanding Spinach (1st planting)

*Charleston Belle Pepper (2nd planting)

*Fish Pepper (2nd planting)

* Zwolsche Krul Celery (2nd planting)

* Orange Master Pomegranate (1st planting)

Here they are in their sterile homes all ready to spring forth to life! The first seedlings are coming along. All of the celery is up, only 1 pepper (not sure which one it is...labeling is so very important. I think I had this same problem last year....gotta learn), and 5 onion plants. This time I planted more seeds per cell instead of the light planting I did last time. This way I'll be sure to have more plants come up at one time so I don't have to too many plantings of the same seed every week. I'll update you soon on how things are growing.

Happy Gardening!!

The Kitchen: New Topic & Red Velvet Cupcakes

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. ~Jim Davis

You said it, Jim!

However, since it's the middle of winter and we don't have any of those veggies on hand, we decided to make red velvet cupcakes. Therefore, to kick off the new post topic, The Kitchen, here are a few photos and words about this tasty treat.

My cousin Simone (the one who's 20 and already knows how to cook a 20 lb. turkey and key lime pie to perfection) visited us recently and brought with her some red velvet cupcake ingredients.

Here's her arm reaching for an egg or something when she made her cupcakes over here a couple of weeks ago. Taking those leftover ingredients, Mom put together some cupcakes to celebrate our return from Miami (Lauren and I took a week-long trip to MIA last week for an interview). Mom had so much fun making them, mostly because she was excited that we were back home.

Mom is all about making things look nice, even if the recipe directions say to just fill the cups 3/4 full, she had to make sure that the batter was even all the way around the cup. lol

Once they were in the oven, she whipped up a cream cheese frosting. I mean...who doesn't love a soft fluffy cream cheese icing?! If you don't, I'll pray for your taste buds. It's good stuff. When they cooled she topped them all with gobs of this stuff. For as elegant as these cupcakes are, they're super easy to make. Try some in your neck of the woods!

Haiti: I Stopped and Thought.

What comes to mind when you look at this picture?

To be honest, the first thing that I thought about when I saw this young man eating a bag of Doritos was, "At least he's enjoying his food." How ignorant was I for that thought. I considered this photo again. Then I read the caption that the Boston Globe typed beneath this picture. Apparently this young man was trying to eat this bag of chips as quickly as he could after raiding the destroyed store beneath him. He was trying to survive on what little he could salvage.

Then I stopped and thought.

How many times have I personally gorged on bags of chips bigger than this for trivial reasons other than hunger? How often have I thrown food away because it didn't look "appetizing"? How many times have I complained about not having enough good food for one occasion or another? At the same time I was asking myself these questions I was running down a list of solutions. One solution stood out to me: consume less; give more. This doesn't just pertain to food. I'm talking about a lifestyle of giving. I can give something as simple as a hug, a listening ear, a tomato plant, a recipe, or as complex as the list goes on. I'm going to start giving more of myself everyday to someone who is in need. How about you?

The Garden - Garden Gifts Big and Small

"Friends are flowers in life's garden." - Anonymous

When I started gardening, I did not realize that the seeds I was planting were the seeds of camaraderie; that the gardening community not only supports their own families but supports all of those who earnestly seek to make the earth a better place, one tomato plant at a time (smile). Meet Lazar, my garden helper frog! His name means "My God has helped". This beautiful gift, from Ribbit at The Corner Yard, came in a pay-it-forward package along with a t-shirt from the Mayfield Dairy Plant, these awesome garden gloves (already being put to good use),

two packets of seeds (yay),

and some yummy homemade apple pie syrup (which we used this week for buckwheat pancakes...yum).

I also will be sending someone a pay-it-forward package. I didn't save many seeds nor did I preserve any food that I grew last year, but I will send one to whomever wants to receive. Just leave a comment and I will do a name drawing in a couple of weeks.

Good friends and neighbors, those near and far, are things to be treasured. I think that's what I have come to enjoy most about gardening. Not only am I able to cultivate friendships with people, I get to cultivate ones with my little greens friends, like these little Red Creole onions that just poked through the soil yesterday. Welcome to the 2010 garden you two!!

Happy Gardening!

The Garden - Frozen Solid..but Alive!

Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours." ~Robert Byrne

I never understood why gardeners would write about how much they couldn't wait for warmer weather; how they would speak of spring as if it was their chance to be themselves again. Now that I'm about to start my second gardening season I too have fallen into a quiet longing for spring. So it was just some sort of gardening instinct that took over me when I learned that the weather was going to reach the 50s (F) today. I rushed to the backyard as soon as I could to see my garden looking sad, cold, and lonely. When I thought about what it looked like last July I rushed to grab my garden fork. "Don't worry little garden! I'm coming!!"

I plunged it into one of the beds and I felt this huge boulder-like thing right beneath the mulch. I pushed back the leaf mulch...

and I discovered that the ground WAS actually frozen!! If you're a nerd like me you read all the gardening articles, blogs and books that talk about planting "when the soil can be worked". Well I certainly can't work a ground full of compost glaciers!! (Le sigh...)

So I decided to just push back the extra mulch I threw over the garlic plants to see what was what. And what was what was (yeah, I said it) that my garlic looked dead! (Le GASP!)

My first instinct was to start pulling them up while sobbing loudly but I took a second look and though they were wilted they were still bright green. In my Book 'O Gardenin', GREEN=LIFE. I decided to just clip off very few leaves that I felt couldn't be saved and I'll wait for another week. If we don't get another hard frost like we had last week, I think they will survive. At least from a slug's-eye view these garlic are looking rather tasty.

Happy Gardening (if the ground isn't frozen)!!

Travel - Chateau Elan in Brasselton, GA

A couple of days before NYE 2009, my friends and I took another day trip. The first one we went on took us to Helen, GA. This time we went to Chateau Elan in Brasselton, GA. This town, which is about 45 minutes north of Atlanta, and where my fellow gardener and blogger Ribbit (The Corner Yard) calls home, has a 3500 acre vineyard that grows traditional wine grapes and specializes in muscadine wines. There is so much one can do here: wine tasting, cooking demonstrations, golf, spa, hotel, meetings, events, etc. That day, we decided to take a tour of their winery to see the winemaking process. The best part was that it was only $5/person! I say that's a bargain for taking a great tour and tasting five-six wines.

Our tour guide was Graham, the youngest 78-year-old I've ever met in my life. He was really awesome and he taught us very valuable things about growing wine grapes in the South, the fermentation process, wine-food pairings, and how to select a valuable and good-tasting wine without having to have the extensive knowledge and pallet of a sommelier (I'm using the word "wine" too much...ehh...wadyuh gonna do). Here are some shots of us on the tour:

At the end of the tour, Graham told us that wines are always meant to be shared, especially with the special and close friends in your life. I'll keep that in mind.

Happy Traveling!