Wednesday, January 28, 2009

First things first. It is with great honour and anticipation, I announce the beggings of my new garden blog! Okay, I know I'm making it sound a bit more triumphant than what may come of this, a photo-log of my tomatoes, perhaps? In any-case, I have been diving through archives of garden blogs for awhile now, and have been inspired by some of the greats before me! Most notably You Grow Girl, This Garden Is Illegal and Brooklyn Farms

So, here we go!  Like many other eager gardeners, there is a lot to reflect on during these times of hibernation. It could be as many as 3 months before the snow starts to melt. If you're like me, and live in a frozen tundra, (current temperature in Manitoba, -21C, and that ain't bad!) you have already have sown some seeds in a d.i.y potted garden and your living room slowly turns to a jungle to compensate for the snow.

At this time of year I'm doing a lot of cooking, and I really love to cook. Naturally, I take advantage of Mother Natures flavours--Herbs are my favourite! However my aromatic friends just have not survived the dry, dreary environment that is my window sill.

    
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Fortunately I have tried a different approach this winter. A little hydroponic system that is the Areogarden, and in 7 days, I had created life. You can buy ready-to-grow pods of endless varieties (cherry tomatoes, chilies, flowers, herbs etc). All you have to do it drop them in the water and like any modern technology, you press a button to select that you are growing. 
 
  
 
Today marks the four weeks since I have dropped the seedlings into thier tubes and my mouth is watering to harvest my Basil (Ocimum basilicum) and Dill (Anethum graveolens). At our house, we eat pesto on and Dill like nobodies business! At-least I make sure we do, as I'm the queen of my kitchen.

Pesto is incredibly easy to make. All you need is a food processor, if you don't have one, come to our house. We have 3!

1/2 basil leaves
3 tbsp of pine nuts
3 tbsp of grated parm cheese
1 clove of garlic (I like to add more)
Extra virgin olive oil (not too much)







 

3 comments:

  1. good first post. this is going to be a great blog. I wanted to be the first one to say that!

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  2. Thanks friend. You gotta come over soon!

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  3. This is really great. I am interested by this hydro you're doing! Among the best things on earth is fresh basil in -30 Winters. Glad you've made a garden blog. Keep at 'er.

    herbs.mb.ca/blog is my plants, thanks for reminding me to update!

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