Month: January 2017

Mint: A Prolific Herb

Mint is a wonderful herb, lending its aroma and taste to edibles and drinkables. We even use it medicinally to ease stomachs, and open congested noses. Mint comes in many varieties which include varied fruity essences in their minty tastes: pineapple mint, orange mint, even chocolate mint. Catnip is a variety of mint as well, and it’s mellowing qualities can help feline and human alike!

Mint does enjoy full sun and well-drained soil. Less light can result in some leggy growth, so supplementing with grow lights can help. Growing mint indoors has a unique benefit, in that it is in a container.

Mint is invasive and aggressive, meaning that it will spread and shoot up new plant, choking out other plants. Mint plants have been known to take over large amounts of back yards. Very little will stop mint from spreading, so most experienced gardeners will keep mint in containers.

Gardening in Florida, Transplant to Transplant…

Hi all!

I recently transplanted myself to central Florida (Zone 9B), and I brought all of my plants with me (even the 4 foot tall avocados I started from seeds). Since I grew up in a gardening household, I did a lot of research to see what gardening looks like (the answer is: different). The University of Florida has great resources for the gardeners of the state, but what intrigued me most was the calendars.

Summers are HOT, that’s on the list of things I knew. Summers also feature torrential rain, basically every afternoon. This makes for some less than favorable growing. So, we plant for two shorter seasons on either side of the summer, when the weather is more temperate and the rain isn’t as frequent.

Yesterday, I planted my first round of veggies: baby bell peppers and jalapenos. I also put together a mixed herb pot and I transplanted a few of the plants I brought with me when I moved. It’s going to be a learning experience especially since I am 100% container gardening, but it was still awfully tempting to go overboard.

In the coming year, I hope to get some raised beds built so I can have tomatoes, cucumbers, root veggies, sweet potatoes and squashes. Dream big, I know!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my post! I’m including a picture of my gardening yesterday below.

Alma

Why is my plant so “leggy”?

You know one when you see it; a plant that’s gotten “leggy” stands out a little. They may be thin-looking, small-leaved, maybe there needs to be more of them in a pot to make it look full…

How do plants get leggy? There are a few reasons. Plants could have too much nitrogen in the soil, which is difficult to fix. Work on avoiding it instead by following fertilization guidelines (it’s why we include them in our plans). Or, more simply, the plants could be reaching for more sun, but not be getting it (making it hard for them to make more roots and leaves).

How do you fix a leggy plant? That depends on the type of plant. Herbs respond well to light pruning, as it makes the plant force its energy out to the sides. Succulents may respond well to that too, but if it’s gotten out of hand, you may have to cut the top off of the plant and start it rooting as a “new” plant (see picture).

After you’ve taken steps to help your plant’s structure, you still need to address the cause and get your plant some more light. Find a better window, move the plant in front of taller objects, or get a plant light or lamp and supplement the light you can’t get.

Basil: Savory, Simple and Smelling Amazing

Basil comes in a lot of varieties, but the most common one to find is Sweet Basil. All of these varieties are easy to grow and propagate. It’s an entry-level herb that calls many recipes “home” even some desserts and drinks.

Basil, near the back of the pot, sharing space with thyme on the left and dill on the right.

Basil can grow in just about any situation, but it thrives in the sun and with daily, gentle, watering.

Some important things to keep in mind when growing your basil plant involve how you prune the plant (also known as harvesting tasty basil). By pruning back the stems – leaving the large leaves around the base – you are encouraging the plant to grow out two (sometimes more) new stems from below your cut. This leads to a bushier plant. As long as you don’t remove the large leaves at the base, your plant will still have its main sources of solar power.

A second pruning tip is to cut or pinch off any flowering plant tips. Blooming, and seed production takes a lot of energy, and that energy is much better used to make more leaves. Don’t worry, there is still a way to propagate your basil, and it’s really simple. After harvesting a stem of basil, use all of the leaves to make a tasty salad, but keep the top two sets or so on the stem. Place the cutting in a jar or glass of water and wait for roots to start growing (change the water if it starts to get funky or the roots look slimy). Once the roots are an inch or two long, they go where roots go – in to the soil!
Where salt is good, so is basil. –Italian saying