Asian Vegetables in the Garden
Oh yes, I’m in a gardening mood! My tomatoes have been planted out today, finally, and I’m planting my eggplants and peppers tomorrow, and hopefully the herbs too if I have enough time. I’m starting out late, but better late than never, right?
My favorite mode of gardening is Wintersowing (FAQs written by Trudi Davidoff, who popularized winter sowing can be found here.) However, last winter was one of our busiest, and I neglected my seed sowing until late February and March. Finally got some seeds started, but then we took a vacation in April and by the time we got back a lot of them had died on me, including some culantro (Vietnamese coriander) that I was hoping to grow this year. I do have some left that I need to plant out (some squashes and a couple of herbs), but I had to get some help quick! Natural Gardening Company to the rescue! I placed my order 2 weeks ago and they came yesterday. Now I’ve got my Thai peppers and Ping Tung Long eggplant, as well as various organic heirloom tomatoes, etc. The great thing about growing these vegetables yourself is #1, you can control the stuff that goes in them (fertilizer, sprays, etc.), and #2, you save money.
Simply Thrifty has more gardening-while-saving-money-tips for you. See this post on bulb swapping. It works not only for flowering bulbs, but others as well — think garlic! Garlic is really easy to grow, especially if you go with the hardneck varieties. Now’s the time to look for people to swap with so that by October/November, or whenever planting time is in your zone, you’ve got your stash ready and you just have to plant those cloves. If you don’t have a local bulb swap to join, look into online swapping. There are seed and plant exchanges at Gardenweb, and you can also look for them at e-lists like YahooGroups.
Simply Thrifty also has tips on what to do with the water in which you blanch your veggies and how to grow your own veggies without spending a fortune.
Time to dig!
