How to grow plants from seed - Part 2

I am a huge believer of growing plants from seed. To me it is so much more rewarding to plant my plants from seed. It truly is so easy! You just need a little patience and a few tips! If you haven't seen it already, check out Part 1 of this guide on how to grow seeds, cos that will help you with the basics! This part of the guide will give you a little bit more detail and tips that aren't essential, but really help out! So lets get into it!

My first trick or tip when growing seeds is to use a propagator, or an equivalent. This creates a micro-climate for the seeds in which to thrive. This micro-climate helps to keep the plant warm, and retain soil moisture. My Dad bought me an electric propagator, so I use this! It makes such a huge difference! I just put it in a sunny place, adjust the vents and turn it off an on when appropriate. If you wanna get super technical (which I don't bother with) you can use a propagator thermometer so as to get the ideal temperature for the plants to grow. But I just turn it on for a few hours in the cold parts of the day!

If you don't have an electric propagator, don't even worry! You can use things like plastic bags, plastic containers, or even plastic soda bottles with the bottoms cut off. These things all help to create essentially mini glass houses. The plastic soda bottles with no bottoms can also be used to help protect the plants when they go out into the big garden. The bottle lid makes it easy when it is out in the garden for you to water the plant too, as you simply unscrew the lid and water the plant! Talk about repurposing (;

Now I'm going to teach you about a little problem you may have encountered if you grow your seedlings inside. Mold. It is not nice. It starts out like little white fluffy spots on the top of the soil, and can spread across the whole top of you soil. It won't really affect your plants, but its preferable to not have this! This mold is caused from either over-watering or from your plants not having enough air circulation around them.

The great news is that it is super easy to get rid of the mold. You have a few options for treating the mold:

• Sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon on top of the soil (it actually does work)
• Place a fan near your plants to increase circulation
• Or, simply remove the layer of mold and make sure you aren't over-watering your seeds

Mold starting to grow on the soil of a seedling

Now that your plants are starting to grow and you know how to get rid of any mold that may start to sprout, here is an ingenious tip that when I got told about this I thought it was brilliant. Its so simple, but makes so much sense!

When you plant your seeds, no doubt you plant a couple of seeds in each little pot, and if you don't, then start doing it!! What will happen when you start growing these seeds, and the plants germinate and start sprouting, you will have a couple of shoots. Once these shoots have sprouted their true leaves (when your seeds sprout, they will start out with two leaves right opposite each other, as the plant starts to grow and develop, other leaves will start to grow which look more like the leaves that the plants end up with - hence the name, true leaves) you are ready to use this trick!

True leaves - sourced from about.com

Grab your scissors, and cut at the base of the stem of any "extra" plants that you have grown. Choose to keep the ones that look like they are doing really well! I know what you're thinking, because I thought this too "what a waste, I will just plant all the shoots". Well by all means, go for it! However, what changed my mind was the justification behind doing this. When you try to separate the shoots, you can actually damage the roots of both plants, as they will no doubt be connected. Its actually better to sacrifice one plant then lose two! Then once the plant is a little more established you can move your plant out to the garden! It is super important to make sure that once the true leaves have started to grow that your plants are being fed and getting enough nutrients! But I'm sure you already could guess that!

How great were these extra tips?! I know that these tips totally changed my seed growing experience! I hope they help you out! Let me know if you have any sneaky tips that I could use when growing seeds! Sharing is caring :D

Why you should love basil! (and preserving pesto)

I love basil. And I grew a lot of basil over summer. And when I say a lot, I mean I had six huge basil plants growing. I love basil on pizza, in pasta, with sun-dried tomatoes, and I definitely LOVE basil pesto! I love it on crackers, on pasta, with chicken, and in pastry scrolls with cheese. Oh golly. Yes, I love basil.

And you should love basil too. Basil is such a great herb to grow in your garden. Planting it around tomato plants (I did this), called companion planting, helps to give the tomatoes more flavor as they grow. It looks so beautiful as well, if you are planting it in a herb garden, or even in your kitchen garden. Its very simple to grow as well. I bought seedlings and then transferred these to my garden. I dug holes deeper than needed, and then filled these holes with some soil that has special nutrients in it that helps herbs to grow well. I then put the seedling in the hole and covered the roots, and then watered it.

As basil grows, it does have the tendency to grow up rather than fill out, and the ideal basil plant, is not tall with sparing leaves, but rather any height and full of leaves. This can be done by pruning the plant! It sounds scary, and don't stop reading now, cos this is beyond simple. All you need to do to get big, luscious plants is to:

1. Find the main stem of the basil plant (the one that goes down into the ground)

2. Find the spot where there are two smaller branches out of this main stem that are opposite one another

3. Pinch off the stem above these leaves

The two minor branches that you found, will now turn into main stems, and encourage more growth outwards rather than upwards. You can continue to do this as you feel your plant is getting too tall.

At the end of summer, I had a lot of basil that I hadn't used, and I was getting my garden ready for the new seasons planting, I decided to pull the basil out of the garden. I had a lot. And so I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat it all by scattering a few leaves here and then. So pesto was my best option for savoring my basil. And I knew that I would have to preserve some of it, and I don't like the idea of putting it in jars. And then it hit me, I could freeze individual pesto servings!

This actually turned out to be a thing already, and I found that many people had had problems where they were thawing their pesto, and the basil turned brown. The solution: blanch the basil first! Blanching is where you emerge a vegetable into boiling hot water for a short amount of time (in this case, for the basil, like 5 seconds, or until it wilts slightly). I used a sieve to help me do this, because it is only in the water for a short time, it is easier than fishing around with a slotted spoon, but use that if you need to! And very importantly, do it in batches, as this means the cooking is more even! 

After putting it in the boiling water, the basil is quickly transferred to ice cold water. Doing this almost brightens the green color of the basil, and helps to lock it in. I found that it intensified the basil flavor too!

After blanching the basil, I removed it from the ice cold water, and gently patted the leaves dry. I put these in a blender, and then added a little bit of oil. As the blender combined the basil and the oil, I added oil slowly so that it became more of a paste, than slightly oily little basil leaves. This is such a simple recipe, that you don't need measurements. Just add oil, until the pesto looks like it is starting to come along. After I had the right consistency, I poured it (very messily) into ice cube trays and then put these in the freezer.

After spending the night in the freezer I removed the pesto cubes from the ice tray and put them in an air tight container which I keep in the freezer. This is so handy because whenever I need a little bit of pesto, I just take out a cube, and let it thaw. Because it is just basil and oil, you can add your own seasonings depending on what meal you are having. Some delicious flavors to add are garlic or parmesan! Yum yum yum!

I love this pesto with pasta! Its such an easy quick meal! Just cook the pasta, and then drain the water, saving a little of the water. Put the pasta back in the pot, add the pesto cubes, and add a little bit of water, and heat through! Add lots of pepper and lots of parmesan! So good!

Kale - Your new best friend

Yes. Kale. YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE. No jokes.

Let me tell you why.

1. Its super good for you

2. Its easy to grow

3. Its yummy

Are you sold?!

Well let me tell you a bit more about kale, as you will have a long and happy relationship with this beautiful plant if you listen to what I have to say!

So what is Kale?!

Photo from Walmart.com

I like to think of Kale as a combination of broccoli, swiss chard (silver beet), and spinach! It is actually from the same plant family as broccoli and brussels sprouts! And Kale... wait for it... IS ONE OF THE HEALTHIEST VEGETABLES IN THE WORLD! AHHH!!

And in easy to understand terms, Kale has a lot of fibre in it (good thing), is low in calories (good thing), high levels of Vitamin A, C and K (very good things which keep you healthy!), and kale helps to lower cholesterol levels and keep your heart healthy! This is the super plant!

So how do you grow the "Queen of Greens"?!

So just like with all plants, get your seeds and plant them in some really good quality soil. However, with kale, you want to plant it when the weather is cooler, although you can plant kale all year round, so long as it doesn't get too much hot sun. So where ever you plant your seedlings (if in summer), make sure its a place that gets just morning sun, as this tends to be cooler. But generally, planting the seeds in spring is ideal!

6 weeks after planting the seeds, transfer them to where you want to plant them. When planting, ensure that there is around 2 feet, or 60 cm spacing between the plants, as these beauties can grow large! And like all plants, make sure that they are watered adequately. Also using an organic plant food is a good idea, as this helps to get all the right nutrients to the plant so that it grows really well. As it is a leafy plant and you eat the leaves, putting the organic plant food just at the base of the plant, rather than on the leaves is a good idea, and still will be just as effective, if not more.

I personally, am growing my kale in my kitchen garden, as it does grow well in pots as well! This is good for me, and I can move the pots to get out of the sun! And its easy for me to harvest it!

BONUS: Because this plant does best in cooler temperatures, if it frosts while the plant is at least 6 weeks old, the frost is actually beneficial for the plant, as it makes the leaves a bit sweeter! 

Outer leaves can be harvested as you go, so if you need a few kale leaves, just pull a few off! The great thing about kale is that it has many uses, and I will definitely be posting about these in the future. But as a general rule, the outer leaves, which are older, are better for cooking, and the small tender inner leaves, are perfect for salads.

So please give kale a try! You will love it!

Refreshing Mint Ice-cubes

Theres nothing like a nice, refreshing drink on a hot, sunny afternoon. A lemon ice tea with mint. Mmmm.

For those of you that grow mint, you will know that once it starts to get going, there is so much that you don't even know what to do with it all! Here is a nice way to preserve some of that mint, in a way that you will most definitely use!

So to start, pick your mint, and wash the leaves well. Get your ice tray.

Pull off the leaves, and if they are quite large, give them a quick chop. Then put the leaves into the ice tray. 

Fill it up as much as you like! Then fill the trays up with water and put them in the freezer!

Delicious!!!! Add these to amazing Homemade Lemon Ice Tea (recipe coming soon for all you lemon growers!), or even to cocktails, or just to water!

Another great combination is mint and lemon. So add some finely grated lemon zest to the mint before adding the water! AMAZING!!

And if you really wanna go crazy! Chopped strawberries and mint in ice-cubes! Super yummy! So go crazy with your not boring old ice recipes! :D

What is on my leaves?! Powdery Mildew! Yuck!

Yucky, yucky, yucky. Powdery mildew.

Yucky.

What is it you ask? Its a fungal disease, that no plant is immune to. So bearing that in mind, its useful to know how to treat it! As even the best gardener may have a powdery mildew attack.

How do you know if you have powdery mildew? Well your plants will basically look like the above photos. The surface of the leaves, or underneath, or steams even, will be covered in a silvery, grey powder. It is quite matte, and makes it look like your plants have died when you look from afar which often causes gardeners to have panic attacks until they get closer and notice that it is powdery mildew.

Its important to stop powdery mildew from spreading as quickly as possible, as it can potentially stop a plant from fruiting.

As you can see in the above photos, the powdery mildew spread between my courgette plant to my squash plant while I was away for the weekend. Powdery mildew is very common when there is hot humid weather, but watering the leaves of plants actually helps to spread this disease. So in humid weather especially, make sure you are just watering the base of the plants. Dry plants, crowded planting, or poor air circulation also helps to spread this nasty, so ensure that your plants have enough room when you are planting them and that you are watering them well in the hot summer months, as this acts as a preventative measure!

So now you know the important things about powdery mildew, what exactly are you supposed to do??

If just a few of the leaves are affected, pull those out quickly and dispose of them. This helps to remove the fungus, but can also improve air circulation as the plant is getting slightly pruned. If the powdery mildew has spread to most of the plant (as what happened to my babies), using a baking soda spray (an inexpensive, and not dangerous fungicide) is something that really helps. It can also be made organically!

The basic "recipe" for this is

1 Tbsp baking soda

1/2 tsp liquid soap (not detergent)

3.8 litres of water (1 gallon)

Spray this onto leaves of the affected plant when the plant is in shade (in the evening is ideal). Also ensure that the plant has been watered the day before as well, so that the plant isn't too thirsty. This can be repeated every one or two weeks, depending on how your plant is going. Make sure that you don't store the unused mixture though as it is more effective when used straight away!

And hey presto! Your powdery mildew should start to disappear and your beautiful plants will become happy once more!