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Monday, November 27, 2017

From Scraps to Plants (part 1)

              Most of us throw away the inedible parts of our fruits and vegetables in the trash or compost bin.  Up until recently, I did the same thing, until I heard Lorena, a garden friend, say that she grows her own pineapples and she never bought seeds.  In fact, she didn’t even buy the pineapple.  She was purchasing a fruit salad from a street vender and she noticed he was setting aside the pineapple leaves with the top part attached.  After chatting it up with him, Lorena asked why he setting aside the pineapples.  He said he grew his own and that he also sold pineapple plants to friends and neighbors.  He explained the process to her and she passes the word to me.  Now, here I am sharing my excitement with you.


                It takes about two years for the first pineapple to emerge, but from that point on, it’s good eats!  I wasn’t as lucky as my friend to get free pineapples; I purchased my fruit from a store.  Fortunately pineapples are in season this November and December and are super sweet and cheap. I also haven’t eaten the fruits of work yet, but I have already grown roots and even planted one.  I didn’t want to wait two years write this blog, instead I wanted to do updates and share the milestones of my pineapples.

Begin with a whole pineapple:

Cut off the top part off with about an inch of the fruit still attached:
There are two ways to do this next part and get the same result. 1. Hold the leaves part and twist the fruit part until they split apart. 2. Or, trim the fruit part off until you get to the core area.

Peel all the lower leave off until you get a base of about 2 inches. Some of the fruit might already have roots.

Place in a jar with water and fill just below the leaves start.  Change the water every few days and watch as the roots begin to emerge.  

Once the roots are formed, some of the leave may turn brown.  You can now plant and water when soil begins to dry.

I'm excited to see how these continue to grow and change in the following months. 

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Jar Plants

Science is was of my most favorite subjects, mostly because it has a lot of opportunities for hands on projects.  I love tossing mentos in Coke a Cola and watching it KABOOSH!!!  But learning all the definitions, vocabulary words and remembering what they mean is challenging for me, unless I see it and can be able to explain it.

Dicot and Monocots is an example of that.  On paper they look almost alike and you can't really see the difference.  So we searched out examples of monocot and dicot seeds. We had them in our kitchen: for monocot we used a popcorn seed (the kind you would toss into a whirly-pop or stove top) and for dicot we used a bean.  In less the a day the seeds swelled up and began to open.  Unfortunately, we added a too much water and they didn't grow. We placed another seed in the jar and by the next day we saw roots.  Within a week we saw leaves and full on seedlings.  We are now condsidering on planting them just to see how they do.

This is such a great experiment because the seed slightly presses against the jar and as the roots and parts; you can really see them, almost like a giant magnifying glass!  Just add a few drops of water if the paper towel begins to dry out.

The supplies:
-Paper towel (slightly damp)
-Clear Jar (glass or plastic)
-bean and popcorn seed

Time duration: 1 Week

The seeds after a few hours in the jar.

The Dicot or Bean Seed begins to sprout leaves.
After a day or two, both seeds have a root system growing.

While both seeds have a root system growing, the seed is in different parts of the seedling.
The leaves and roots sprout differently from each seed.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

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BAJA NEWS: Since 2007: Seeds of Hope thanks to "El Campo en Nuestras Man...:   "I'd rather garden than be the emperor of the world," and while this famous quote comes from the first president of the Unit...

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I can't believe how many years have gone by since I last posted in my gardening blog!  We've undergone several moves and my original garden is now but a distant memory of the blog posts. Luckily I have somewhat started a new garden and will start posting as it begins to develop.  I'm also blogging for Baja News and wanted to share my most current blog post on sustainable gardening.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

So well bee behaved...





I recieved an email from a bee guy name Bao indicating he need to find new locations for his bee boxes. As many of my fellow friends now, I have been wanting to do the "bee thing" for a few years; but never got around to actually doing it until today... Bao will contine taking care of his bees and the bees in turn will pollinate my edibles and in turn I can slowly learn about bees and how to care for them. Bao took my bee box to help catch me a hive so that in the future, I can have my own bees. To learn more about bees check out the OC Bees Beekeepers. The bees seem very calm and friendly.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Kinder-Garden, an Edible Garden!




The boys enjoy eating radishes, peas, and boysenberries from the garden. I found a tiny empty spot on their school that has know transformed into an edible oasis. Whenever I work on the garden, kids approach me and say, "Max-n-Eli's mom, that looks like a brocolli flower." I reply with, "Yes, that's how brocolli grows before you eat it." The radish and turnip seeds came from a company called Sprout Robot. The company sends me emails of when to plant and what to plant. On April 22nd, the kids from the school will be celebrating Earth Day by have a salad grown from the garden. This spring the 4x12 foot plot grows: peas, beans, grapes, celery, tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, rosemary, basil, lettuce, onions, radish, carrots, a blueberry bush and a Peach Tree! ...and that's not counting the flowers and weeds and the worm compost bin...

Monday, April 4, 2011

Thinking inside the box...





When we moved into our home, we knew we wanted to grow veggies, but what we didn't realize how back-breakingly difficult it was going to be. I've always seem to grow more vigorous produce in containers, so when I came across the book "Square Foot Gardener", I knew that would be perfect for me! We started by making a salsa theme garden in front of Ed's Taco Shack. And now we have about 10 theme boxes. The Asian Theme box is the most bountiful right now with a pound of sugar snap peas every other day. The daicon radishes are beginning to bolt. The second box isn't really a theme, it's just cilantro and it's amazing! Other themes: Movie Night Snacks (strawberry popcorn, corn, and edamames), salad bar box, root vegie box, and our salsa box.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Cool Friends and Fresh Ideas!









I'm always looking for ways to get others interested in growing edibles and that doesn't mean they need a garden or lots of space. A few posts back, I grew strawberries, chives, herbs, peas, and radishes in rain gutters. So when I read an article that potatoes were so easy to grow, you can even plant them in a basket, I did just that.


My basket, imported from Mexico designed to transfer strawberries from the fields to factor as they awaited their fate. My grandmother saw brought me this basket on a six-hour flight from Mexico to LAX, then it was squeezed into a van and slowly made it's way to Los Angeles during evening traffic on the 405 fwy. This basket has served many purposes in my home, from laundry, hide-n-seek location, and toy bin. After a decade (yes, this basket saw US presidents enter and exit the White house from our bedroom room TV), it finally began to unravel from the bottom. As I read about potatoes and all the possible ways of growing them in unusual containers like tires and baskets... So the there it is, the basket that keeps on working!




I also came across this spectacular pail display at the Pomona Fair Grounds. These pail hold strawberry plants. Immediately my mind and camera went into action. Who could use this idea in their yard... what else can I plant in it... will it be easy to build... where can i put this in my yard...



The best way to get people that love to eat into growing what they love to eat is by inviting them to a farm-to-table dinner. These events usually bring extreme creativity by the chef because his meals need to be made with what is available in the garden and then paired with the drinks being served by the sponsor. This month's event local sponsor, Dale Bros Brewery, located in the Chino Area it's the 2nd smallest brewery in California. For a menu description click here, the picture above is the "Jidori chicken, roasted beets, “Dale Bros. Pomona queen” beurre monte Dale Bros. Pomona Queen". While the chef at Farm to table dinners are pressured into cooking and having dinner served at a timely manner to 20-30 hungry guest, at home it is more relaxing and easier.


Begin by growing a Salad garden: loose leaf lettuce, radishes, chives, finger-size carrots, strawberries, peas, and grape-size tomatoes. Grill up some chicken, pick your season salad, for dessert serve up purchased pound cake slice strawberries from you garden with whip cream and voila- your very own farm to table dinner!