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"Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad!"
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 Earlier this spring, I saw a video on social media about turning table scraps into an edible garden. So far, I have tried six kinds of scraps... All successful so far. Here you will see ginger in the orange container, pineapple planted in the back center container and rooting in the two glasses up front, orange bell peppers in the terra-cotta container, green onions in the back right and an avocado tree in the lime green container. I keep the onions in the house and cook with them all the time! Can't tell you how many green onions I have bought that rotted in the refrigerator! By growing them in dirt, I have reduced my food ( and $) waste. I started these onions by cutting off and using the greens. You then put the white ends in water until roots grew. When they have roots, plant in dirt and keep them watered. You will now have green onions any time you want! If you use a lot at one time, don't worry, more will grow! A couple of weeks ago I planted my first pineapple top that I rooted in a glass of water inside the house. Have two more growing roots now. One will be ready to plant and move outside soon. The orange peppers are the scrap seeds of a pepper I I bought and used for cooking. Going to be planting red and yellow peppers soon as well! Plant pepper seeds directly in the dirt and keep watered. The ginger is also plant directly into the soil. Not pictured here is the garlic I have growing in my yard. Take a garlic pod, break it apart and plant the cloves directly in the ground after peeling off the outer dry skins. Root (round) side down. The avocado plant is the pit of an avocado we ate. I can't take full credit for getting this tree to grow... I have tried to sprout avocado seeds in the past to no avail. This seed I just threw in my worm been with other food scraps. When feeding the worms a few weeks ago, I found this pit with roots and a sprout. Of course I planted it! It has since grown and sprouted leaves. For more specific details on how to plant grocery scraps, there are plenty of videos out there! You will be surprised at all the other foods you can grow! I know I'm looking forward to trying several other kinds as well. The goal is to grow edible food and not just pretty plants. Though pretty plants have their place too. Some of the other plants you can grow from table scraps include: Lettuce Tomatoes Herbs Potatoes Celery Citrus Trees Mushrooms Carrots Bok Choy Cabbage Kiwi The benefits include eating lots of fresh produce, a fund way to garden and free food that keeps producing! Happy gardening Took the back roads to get horse feed this morning. Beautiful and peaceful drive. Love going to this small town grain and hardware store. It's been around since 1938. Though it's a small town store, it's big on service and inventory. They have a complete supply of grain and hardware products. Also have building materials and supplies for home and ranch projects. (Prices are good too.) Headed back home after making my purchase to begin the workday out  in my office. Couldn't help noticing these purple wildflowers along the roadside fence lines. Of course I had to stop and take a picture of the beautiful countryside near my home to share with you. Don't get too busy to notice the flowers along this journey we call life my friends!   Bountiful is such a relative term. In my youthful days, based on the size of the gardens my Dad would plant, I defined bountiful produce by the bushel. When one went out to the garden to pick the beans, a half bushel to a whole bushel was considered a bountiful harvest. Now when I go out to my small garden, I consider it a bounty when I have enough for my next meal and maybe some extra for another meal or two. Of course, this depends on the type of vegetable being harvested. My little garden has kept me in steady supply of collard greens this spring. My onions have done well as I have dehydrated several batches for use all year. I have also had my biggest blackberry harvest ever this year. To date I have eaten several berries right off the bushes and made two blackberry cobblers. If I am able to harvest all the berries that are currently red, I should be able to put some in the freezer for this winter. My broccoli has just started producing. I thank God for all the fresh whole food salads I have sat down to this week. One just feels blessed when they are able to make a hardy salad from kale, collard greens, onions and broccoli right out of their backyard. When you add spinach, carrots, tomatoes, bacon bits and cheese from the store, it doesn't get much better! Hopefully my gardening skills will continue to improve and my entire salad will come from my backyard some day! After years of planting directly into the ground, I have decided it will be better to plant some in container gardens for multiple reasons. The two biggest reasons being rabbits and drought or flood waters. My tomato plants have been struggling this year with all the rain. And once again, my pepper plants fell prey to rabbits. I've been watching my cabbage as it continues to grow, being thankful each day I go out and see no sign of Peter Rabbit nibbles. For anyone out there that has ever considered planting a garden of any type, DO IT! You will love the produce you harvest. The taste is so much better than any you get from a store! Happy Gardening! |
A Mattingly
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