Roar.

How cute are these planters!?

Planters can be pretty much anything!

And these can be purchased here

We Gotta Growth Spurt!

I stopped by the Prospect Park farmer's market this weekend to check out the goods and noticed that their tomato plants were curiously smaller than mine.

Brandywine tomatoes are comprable to Rose tomatoes so I was shocked to see how small they were compared to mine. (iphone photos, don't mind the quality)

Yes, mine are ginormous and they keep growing taller each day. With the recent influx of steadily warmer weather I think they might be ready to go outside. As long as the night temperature doesn't dip below 45 degrees, tomatoes can bask in the spring night air. How exciting!

Mixing Herbs and Flowers

There is this great farm stand in Martha's Vineyard that sells farm fresh flowers in tin cans mixed with farm fresh herbs. The mixing of flowers and herbs creates this very aromatic, textured arrangement that looks so great! I went to the Prospect Park farmer's market today to try and recreate some of the arrangements I've seen in Martha's Vineyard.

Now, Ina Garten aka the Barefoot Contessa, can do no wrong in my book, but there is one piece of advice that she gives that I do not agree with. I don't think that you need to stick to the same flower in the same color to make an elegant bouquet. I feel like using herbs and vegetables in an arrangement already makes it look rustic so mixing colors and flower types stays within the same theme and is totally OK. I was first drawn to these pod looking flowers that had a slight reddish tint to it and then tried to find other flowers with complimentary colors and shapes.

 

I also grabbed some red kale to go with the color theme and some rosemary to go with the texture.

 

There are two tricks to make your cut bouquet last longer. One is to make sure that no leaves are sitting in the vase water. Make sure you trim the leaves off the stem which will prevent them from rotting in the vase water a week later. Also, trim your stems diagonally to maximize water intake.

 

The second trick is to add about one teaspoon of sugar to your vase to feed the cut plants. It is pretty much what is in those little packets that you sometimes get in store-bought bouquets.

 

Here's how my mixture of flowers, kale and rosemary turned out:

 

I love how they turned out! I think the different textures and scales create a more interesting arrangement and the use of veggies and herbs brings the garden indoors. I had a lot of flowers left over so I made another, larger arrangement too.

 

Other great combinations are mint with sunflowers or dahlias for a more summery feel, marigolds and oregano for a small, bright pop of color, as well as lavender and iris for a purple plume. I've also seen asparagus mixed with all types of flowers. Just try mixing your favorite herb scent with your favorite flower color and I'm sure it will turn out beautiful. 

Edible Sprouts Continued

From Thursday to Sunday my mung bean turned from hard beans to fleshy sprouts. Here they are on Friday with the little white sprouts beginning to shoot out:

 

Saturday...

 

and Sunday!

 

They are now the desired length and ready to eat! I rinsed them thoroughly in a pan of water and gently stirred them to release the green seed husks. 

 

You can store your sprouts in a sealed bag or jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. I plan on throwing mine on top of my salads all week long for an extra crunch and extra nutrients.

Edible Sprouts

It's always fun being able to grow your own food. It's cheaper than buying groceries and you get to monitor its growth the entire time. What's even more fun, is being able to grow your own food in a jar on your kitchen counter without the need of sunlight...perfect for apartment living! Here is how to grow your own sprouts which you can put on sandwiches, salads, in stirfry, soups and stews. They are excellent sources of protein, vitamins and minerals and add a nice crunch to pretty much any type of dish. Seeds for sprouting at home are usually available in many health food stores and some grocery stores. The most common type of seeds used for sprouting are alfalfa, mung bean, soybean, lentil, cabbage, radish and rye. Make sure when you buy them that they are organic because some seeds are treated with pesticides and meant to go in the ground only, not directly into your stomach. Check out this chart to decide which sprouting seed you might want to try:

I went with mung bean because I love mung bean sprouts on top of my pad thai. You will also need a clean mason jar and a swatch of cheese cloth.

 

Based on the chart above I measured out 1 cup of my dried mung beans. This measurement might change a bit depending on the size of your jar. You must leave room for water and air to circulate around the seeds in order to get healthy sprouts. You don't want them to ferment and spoil, which they will do if left sitting in water too long.

 

Next, measure and cut a piece of cheesecloth to fit on top of the mason jar and secure the screw-top ring. This is how you are going to drain the water from your jar each day so make sure it is on tightly.

 

Next, rinse the seeds with cold water through your cheesecloth screen and drain well. Then fill the jar with lukewarm water (the volume of water should be twice the volume of the seeds) and let sit for 12-24 hours in a dark place.

 

24-hours later, your seeds are going to have swelled with water and look like this!

 

Drain the water from the jar through the cheesecloth screen and rinse the seeds once more with lukewarm water. Drain the lukewarm water out as well and let the seeds sit without water until the next day. Be sure to keep your jar out of direct sunlight. Continue to rinse and drain the seeds thoroughly twice-a-day for about three days and then sprouts should appear and be ready to eat! I'll post an update on how mine are doing in the coming days.

The chart comes from H.C. Harrison's Growing Edible Sprouts at Home.

Progress

My tomato plants are HUGE. They are almost two months old and this is what they look like:

 

21 tomato plants are growing on my desk behind my computer at work...seems to be working and no one has really noticed!

House Plants

I recently heard that a reader (hi Alex!) is having some problems with her house plants and it inspired me to share some of my experiences. The most common problem with house plants usually is the wrong plant in the wrong spot; a sun-loving plant in a dark corner or a shade-tolerant plant in direct sunlight is going to try really hard to do well, but will eventually give up and look sad. Recently, one of my teachers from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was on The Martha Stewart Show and gave some suggestions for hardy indoor plants. Check out a link to the video below:

The Martha Stewart Show - Growing Indoor Plants

Although some of those shade-loving house plants he suggests are hardy enough to withstand major neglect, they look pretty prehistoric to me. Large, waxy leaves aren't my thing. When buying a house plant I prefer for it to look inviting which is probably why my cat Hello eats all of them! My collection of house plants have been in three Brooklyn apartments: one with medium light, one with direct sunlight, and, my current one, with very little morning light since it faces north. They have all adapted to the moves so I suggest them as good examples: Begonia, Spider Plant, Coleus, Mexican Mint, and two unknowns from the Union Square Farmers Market.

One other reason that house plants might not be doing well is they are being over watered. Just like most people, most plants do not like to be damp and need to be watered only once a week. Next time you go to water your house plant feel the soil and if it is even slightly moist, hold off. Wait until the soil is completely dry and make sure that the water comes out the bottom of the container. This means the soil was dry enough to need water and you have good drainage. It's also good practice to water your plants in the morning.

One more idea for purchasing a plant that will do well in a low light situation is see what is at your grocery store. I know in my local Key Food and Associated Super Market there isn't much light and I'm sure those plants aren't receiving enough attention so if they look like they are surviving the super market conditions, I'm sure they could survive your New York City apartment.

The Cutest Watering Can

I recently stumbled across this adorable elephant-shaped watering can at Sprout Home in Williamsburg and didn't get a chance to scoop it up after my terrarium making class. After a quick google I found it!

I also found these!

What better way to make watering more fun then to have a cute elephant-shaped watering can?

They can be found here and here

Succulents

There is a warehouse in Gowanus, Brooklyn where you can buy cast-off props from wrapped movies, television shows, broadway plays, and music videos called Film Biz Prop Shop. My boyfriend ended up scoring a large, canoe-shaped, metal container and wanted to create a succulent garden in it. He enlisted my help and this is what we came up with!

 

Just like starting a terrarium, because there were no holes in the container we added a layer of rocks for drainage and then a layer of Espoma Organic Cactus Mix.

 

Next, we laid out the goods to see what arrangement we liked best.

 

When buying plants sometimes you get more than what you're paying for. One of our succulents ended up being six different little plants.

 

This little surprise made our succulent scape even better.

 

When creating a succulent landscape remember to pay attention to the type of soil each plant needs.

 

Check out Film Biz Prop Shop in Gowanus Brooklyn for interesting gardening containers and home wares.

Thanks for photo help Simon!