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| image via Inhabitat |
Gardening For A Healthier Cat: Cat Grass, Valerian, and More
By JULIE - 5:50:00 PM
| Mr Cat loves the wheat grass (which is cat grass) I buy from the grocery store too. |
How to Cover Your Plants On the Fly: What I Tried With Last Nights Frost
By JULIE - 2:09:00 PM
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| Our attempt to save our garden |
As I said in my last post we were suppose to have a freeze last night which is the day of the first known frost in MN ever. Needless to say I was not prepared for this at all. when I first heard of this on the news I figured it was probably up north they were talking about not the twin cities area (Minneapolis), so I wasn't that concerned. Until I watched the weather for a few days it finally sunk in. Well I was busy all day long yesterday! I harvested any warm weathered vegetables I could (30 lbs of tomatoes, 2lb beans, tons of catnip, soybeans, etc). And of course had to come up with on the fly ways to cover our garden. I always feel like a thief in the night when I am frantically harvesting by our house in the dark with a hoodie on and the street lights are on and the neighborhood is quiet. Not many people garden at night.....
We have very limited space with sun in our backyard that has two huge trees canopying it. One of the few spots that we have sun is our asphalt covered back driveway. I figured we could fit up to 7 of these 3'x10.5"x 2' cedar boxes that I made if we want. I made it just deep enough according to Mel Bartholomew (the creator of the sq ft gardening method). He said raised beds only need to be 6" deep, so I made them 9" deep just to be safe. We put pea gravel on the bottom and then mixed equal part compost to peat moss. We then raised the beds with bricks to drain better (we plan to add 4 more than pictured) and to make them easier to use without using more wood than necessary (to keep costs down) I am just starting with one for fall crops (We planted arugula), and we will make more for spring.
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| Mint Plant 2010 |
- Anything in the Mint Family (Cat mint or cat nip, mint, spearmint, and peppermint) Grow in containers because they are invasive like weeds, and grow easily in containers, even in low light.
- Dandelions (just pick the leaves off some in your lawn)
- German Chamomile (make pretty flowers for your yard too)
- rosehips (the seed head of a rose)
- lemon balm or lemon mint (in a container, can be invasive and is hardy to zone 5)
- Stevia a natural sweetener (in a container outside in the summer, inside before the temp drops below 40 degrees)
- Dried berries and their leaves (Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, etc)
- fennel
- violets
- organic orange, lime, and lemon peels (dehydrated)
- cinnamon
- ginger
How Do You Turn These Plants Into Tea?
I use a dehydrator. It takes like a half an hour to dehydrate herbs. So it's really easy. Then just place the herbs into a metal tea strainer and seep in hot water for 4-6 min.
What Plants We Plan To Grow To Make Tea
The only plant I have grown so far that I use for tea is mint. The picture above is the mint plant I planted in spring of 2010. It did quite nice in it's container outside. I learned it is an invasive plant so it is best to not grow in your garden. I brought it in for the winter and placed it in our utility sink downstairs because I didn't know where to put it. I rarely water it and pretty much forgot about it. At the end of the season when I brought it in it was half dead. Our mint plant has survived quite well despite the neglect, just a bit leggy due to the low light of the basement and winter. So mint is an excellent plant to grow for tea. I am planning on dehydrating raspberries (I tried last season and just crumbled so this is the only reason I would dehydrate raspberries) and their leaves this season when our raspberries start growing and mixing them with mint tea. I think that will be sooo good.
I use a dehydrator. It takes like a half an hour to dehydrate herbs. So it's really easy. Then just place the herbs into a metal tea strainer and seep in hot water for 4-6 min.
What Plants We Plan To Grow To Make Tea
The only plant I have grown so far that I use for tea is mint. The picture above is the mint plant I planted in spring of 2010. It did quite nice in it's container outside. I learned it is an invasive plant so it is best to not grow in your garden. I brought it in for the winter and placed it in our utility sink downstairs because I didn't know where to put it. I rarely water it and pretty much forgot about it. At the end of the season when I brought it in it was half dead. Our mint plant has survived quite well despite the neglect, just a bit leggy due to the low light of the basement and winter. So mint is an excellent plant to grow for tea. I am planning on dehydrating raspberries (I tried last season and just crumbled so this is the only reason I would dehydrate raspberries) and their leaves this season when our raspberries start growing and mixing them with mint tea. I think that will be sooo good.
I plan to hold off on growing roses, tried it already with bad luck. Too much work for me. I'd rather devote my limited garden space to fruits and vegetables with less maintenance, but who knows maybe I'll change my mind later down the road and give it another try. I have grown German chamomile before and it did quite nice, had pretty little flowers, and even self seeded a little the next year. I never got around to harvesting it for tea. I plan to grow some this season for sure. I have not tried fennel in tea before, but I am planning on growing it again this season (didn't grow last year, but did well the season before), because I like it. I do however love Aveda's tea which is only peppermint and licorice root. And fennel is in the same licorice family, so I am curious to try peppermint and fennel. I bought a Stevia plant and plan to keep it outside in a container and inside after it gets close to 40 degrees for a low.
Have you ever grown your own tea? If so what did you grow?
Have you ever grown your own tea? If so what did you grow?
Don’t forget to “like” us on Facebook. Let’s be friends on Pinterest and we can follow each other on instagram. And check out my other blog OhYou Crafty Gal.
©Minneapolis Homestead www.theurbanhomestaed.blogspot.com All rights reserved. Photos and content cannot be reproduced
Live Green and Use Recycled Containers For Seed Starting Indoors: Save Money and The Planet
By JULIE - 3:27:00 PM
Why spend a lot of money buying new containers for your plants? Live green and instead of buying planters, start saving your recycling to start seedlings in, you'll thank yourself (and your wallet) later. Here's what I'm saving:
Recycled Seed starting container ideas:
- yogurt cups, big tubs or small single size
- sour cream containers
- cottage cheese containers
- egg cartons - and their lids (even half-egg shells for that matter)
- Plastic milk or juice containers (cut the top off and use the bottom - the top you could use as a cloche)
- Paper, plastic, or Styrofoam cups
- paper 1/2 gallon OJ containers and half and half containers with the top cut off
- Those tiny, snack-sized Ben & Jerry ice cream containers
- oatmeal containers
Or anything else you can think of. Be sure you wash the containers out thoroughly and don't forget your drainage holes, and good seed starting mix.
Don’t forget to “like” us on Facebook. Let’s be friends on Pinterest and we can follow each other on Twitter and Google Plus. And check out my other blog OhYou Crafty Gal.
©Minneapolis Homestead www.theurbanhomestaed.blogspot.com All rights reserved. Photos and content cannot be reproduced
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