Mom's Garden

Today, since I am recovering from a holiday weekend mini vacation... and since I have been doing laundry and unpacking... and since I have this awesome gardening tutorial from my Mom…

I’m going to have her “guest post” for today. Because she’s cool and gave me permission to do so.

So for today, here is my Mom on Herb Gardening: harvesting and planting edition.

This is the harvesting procedure I used for my cilantro plants' bountiful seeds - the spice coriander (has lots of antioxidants),  native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. Cilantro (the spanish name) leaves are essential for fresh tasting salsas - just chop and add to store bought salsa or to your homemade salsa for rave reviews. Coriander, ahh, dhania in India, has a citrusy lemon flavor that's hard to nail down -it's warm, nutty, orangey spicy. I like it. I toast it in a dry pan on the hob [for those of you who don't speak British, hob is stovetop- Mrs A] and then cool it a bit before tipping it into Grandma Frank's mortar and pestle for a good smash up [My G-ma Frank's mortar and pestle is a fabulous small/medium sized fine grit. If you don't have a grandmothers heirloom or your own nifty version, you can use a small size food chopper-Mrs A]. A pinch added to homemade salad dressing gives them a lift. Marinades benefit, too. And grind some with lemon or orange peel and sugar when making scones - yummy hot out of the oven dripping with butter! Stores best in the whole form. And don't forget to replant some!

After the plants bloomed and formed seeds, I checked them every day to watch for them to start drying. I wanted to know before they started dropping off willy nilly. The flower stalk which had grown quite tall eventually turned yellow and began to lean. There were still many green fruits on it (they are tiny 3-5mm size balls). Nervous nilly that I was I continued to wait. When the fruits lower down the stalk turned tan I couldn't wait anymore. I cut the stalk off at the ground and turned it upside down and hung it on the back porch in front of the fireplace french doors - so I could see them and also to keep them out of the rain. I let them harden off for several weeks. There was no green anywhere now. So it was time to harvest this morning!

See all the little 'balls'?

Here's my basin to catch the bounty.

Here's the hand harvesting part.

Here's the windowed result.

And the next crop is already coming up.

These took only about 10 days to pop up!

It is easy and healthy to grow herbs - good skills to have - and so amazing it all comes out of a teeny tiny seed!

-mom

PS can you identify the other 3 plants are in the last picture?

Thanks Mom, I can't wait to try this with my own!