Wednesday 27 February 2013

Food plants as decor

Throughout our house we have food growing. There's garlic, carrots, onions, potato's, lettuce....you name it we have it in a planter somewhere in our home.
I use to have my home filled with decorative plants. I was the plant junky living in a jungle of greenery. As I became more conscious of the food I was eating, I realised that I was wasting so much soil and space on plants that served little purpose and were not indigenous to the area. So I gave them all away and replanted all my pots with veggies. What I have found is that vegetable plants are beautiful. I think part of their beauty lies in their purpose. They nourish me and my family and occasionally one of dogs or cats, but that's a tale that I will save for the Veggie Dogs and Cats series!
Its not only easy to grow veggies indoors but most of what we grow comes from our compost pile.
In the beginning when I would buy veggies or fruit I would get organic and local when possible, then I'd use the seeds to grow our own. Now I collect my own seeds for continuous growing.
Here are some tips on growing from waste.
Regrow celery from the base. Cut the entire base off of the celery stalks about an inch long. Place the base, root side down, in a saucer of water and place in a sunny window. Change the water every couple of days. In about 6 or 7 days you will see new leaves beginning to show. When that happens transfer the celery into a pot with good soil and bury it until you can only see the new growth leaves showing above the soil. Water generously but not til the soil is soggy and watch your food grow! Trim off any of the smaller stalks to allow the others to grow bigger. You can continue to trim off what you need for food and allow the plant to continue producing stalks.
More compost food growing to come!
Hope you're having an amazing wonder filled day.

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