There are many benefits to the sun shining hot and bright all year round. It makes you feel better, you can have an all year tan, you could use renewable energy (don't think we haven't started saving our pennies for solar panels) and it makes your garden grow.
In January of last year Mark and Lisa were in Saigon (Vietnam) for a Holiday and taking a boat tour of the Mekong Delta (wish we had pictures but our camera got stolen while we were there :-(). The guide kept pointing out the abundance of Lemon Grass plants. Lisa was very jealous. We cook a lot of Vietnamese and Thai food in this house and we can't tell you how much money Whole Foods has in their pockets from our Lemon Grass budget. It is an expensive herb - does it count as an herb? Anyway, Lisa remembers thinking about how much money we could save if only the Northern Virginia weather would cooperate.
Fast forward to the Bahamas and (surprise, surprise) Lemon Grass isn't expensive... it doesn't exist!!! Fresh herbs are almost impossible to find here unless you are willing to drive to the far side of the island and visit "Snooty Rich Farm" (not their real name) where they charge you $5.50 for a cup of drip coffee and $5 for a bag of wilted parsley the size of a quarter. Epiphany time... we have the same climate as Vietnam. Lisa promptly jumped on the internet and read up on planting lemon grass. According to sources you can just take an ordinary stalk of Lemon Grass put it in a glass of water and within a week or two it will grow roots. Mark scoffed. Lisa crossed her fingers and paid a visit to "Whole Paycheck" when back in VA for the WATCH Awards.
Ta-da!!! It worked! Feeling inspired Lisa also brought home seeds for all of the other herbs we miss.
They have only been planted for a week but the Lemon Grass is still growing. You can see it in the big pot in the photo - it will supposedly become a full plant. The second picture is baby cilantro (yay!) which was the other herb we were desparate for. We would tell you what is in all the other pots but only Emily remembers and she's not here.
Any tips on the do's and don'ts of herb growing are greatly appreciated.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Benefits of Year Round Sunshine
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
HA. I'd be the very last person you should come to for gardening advice! I hope you'll be able to enjoy fresh herbs and spices soon!!
How cool is THAT! Your own supply. Hey, you could go into business selling herbs...get yourself an Aerogarden...it's great!
We bought 2 AeroGardens...one for my Grandma and my mom for Christmas..they have more herbs than they know what to do with now...growing like weeds! It is now on my list of "must-haves". So to answer your question...YES, it works!
Good thinking Lisa! Fresh herbs are the best. Good luck with your growing. Let me know if you need me to mail you any new seeds :-) A new business idea for the Bahamas perhaps?
What a great idea!! I'm looking forward to some of your Vietnamese cooking when we get there! I actually was thinking about growing some herbs, as here in Buford, as you know, fresh herbs other than parsley are hard to find. Maybe I'll take thopgood's suggestion and look into the AeroGarden...
Way to grow, Lisa! I adore fresh herbs.
I've never had much of a green thumb, but I took a foray into herb growing last spring and got pretty good results. In fact, I had a hard time using them fast enough. I did start mine from starter plants, but the easiest to grow and keep alive turned out to be basil (my favorite), cilantro, dill and chives. The chives actually lasting outdoors into the early part of winter. Parsley was the hardest--it didn't grow well and didn't last long. If you decide to do parsley, I'd suggest putting them in a spot where they get shade for some of the day. That's what I've read, anyway. We'll see how it goes this year!
Makes you realize the things that were easy to get in the US compared to trying to get them in the Bahamas... I am sure... take care
Post a Comment