Merry Christmas - 2011

I am spending the Christmas buying plants from Burpee. So far, I am loving Burpee. Burpee's seeds are indeed guaranteed to grow; at least, that has been my experience so far. They also seem to be pretty cheap. So, I browsed through their 2012 catalog today and ordered two grape plants, a black chokerberry plant and six Delphinium plants. Now, I have to wait patiently for their arrival in March/April and enjoy the time growing my winter plants. Here are some plants - coriander, parsley, mint, lettuce, fenugreek, cactus, aloe-vera, basil and various house-plants - that are growing in our mud-room.

Radish and Leafy Greens

Radish (on the left) and celery, chinese cabbage and other leafy greens (right image), freshly picked from the garden. The radishes were grown using Burpee's Organic Radish Seed. The packet says that the radish will be ready within 22 days. It is true. The seeds are tiny. But, just scatter them around and within next day, seedlings emerge, and start growing fast. Strangely, the seedlings emerge and grow even if there is not enough light, and the outside is freezing (22 degree Fahrenheit). However, I left these radishes in the ground for more than 22 days as I had other things to eat. I have heard people saying old radishes taste bad, bitter, hot, are stringy and what not. But, I did not notice any such thing with these radishes though they were growing in the ground for more than two months. Very nice tasting radish.

We (Indians) also eat the green leaves of the radish plants. I usually saute all these green leaves using garlic, pepper flakes (or a big jalapeno) and sometimes mushroom. Absolutely yuuuuuummmmmmmyyyyyyyyy...Thats' what I did this morning and had it for breakfast :-). Whenever I pick green leaves (for cooking), I usually pick the leaves those are closer to the ground or those that have lots of holes, chewing mark, etc (art work of slugs, snails, aphids and other insects). I leave the healthy, fresh looking leaves for the plants. In that way, the plants survive and keep on providing me with food; I also get to eat fresh organic vegetables and leaves :-).