Tuesday Tip: Grow Your Own Herbs

I love using fresh herbs for cooking.  However, the grocery store REALLY loves fresh herbs (for the most part) and buying them on a weekly basis can get expensive fast.  The solution?  Grow your favorite herbs yourself!  Most require little care--just an occassional watering and full sun.  Don't make excuses about not having enough room!!!  I have an 8 foot by 4 foot balcony that I grow chives, parsley, cilantro, basil, oregano, nasturiums, hot peppers, wheat grass, and jello.  I'll get to the jello in a minute.

{I prefer to start everything from seeds because A) it's cheaper and B) I love to watch things grow!}

My cats love to be on the balcony too.  I call it the Jungle because it will get that way by the end of June.  They just love to lay out there, eat my chives, and bird watch.  Just FYI--cats should NOT eat chives, onions or garlic because it is toxic to them.  However, my oldest, Loki, loves to eat the chives and will demolish them in 10 seconds flat if you don't watch him closely...  DARN CAT!

Anyway...  On to the tour!

{Growing some pansies this year!  Pansies are one of the few edible flowers and can be used as garnish for dishes}

{See how I have to have a wheat grass decoy in front of my chives?  Those chives are regrowing from last year's seeds!  I am so excited!}

{Ari--my second cat and the most scaredy cat EVER!  We have had him almost 4 years, and he still doesn't like our sudden moves, loud noises, picking him up, or coming at him in any way....  If you sit or lay down, he is all over you like white on rice!}

{Ziffi--our youngest and most adventurous cat.  She figured out how to get onto the bathroom shelf and top closet shelf...  Both not easy places to reach!  She constantly has a mischievous look on her face...}

{Cilantro growing!}

{Loki--our oldest, chive-eating monster}

{I believe these are violas--whatever they are is beautiful!}

{Parsley coming up}

Okay--the jello story.  The other side of the planter with parsley in it, I planted some 'seeds'.  Nothing was coming up, and I was starting to get worried.  After a torrential rain last week, I figured that something would surely pop up because everything else was beginning (the peppers, basil, oregano, and nasturiums were too tiny to photograph).  I went over to check and had an inch thick of this jelly-like substance.  Being me, I poked it, touched it, and smelled it.  Nothing.  It looked like unflavored gelatin, and I believe that it was.  Since I got the seeds from my mom, I made fun of her about getting old and such.  Then she said, "I had the same thing happen to me!"  So either this was a Monday morning/Friday afternoon job or my mom is getting old, blind, and senile.  (LOVE YOU MOM YOU ARE THE BEST)

I also have a bird feeder (one of those suet cake ones) for the cats to bird watch.  They've run into the sliding glass door more than once, and it has not decreased it's entertainment value!  Mwahahahahaha

So see!  You CAN grow herbs and plants that you like in as little space as I am.  Even if you only like parsley, then grow parsley in a pot on your windowsill.  And if it produces more than you can use, then preserve them.

Do you grow herbs in your space?  If so, what do you grow?

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In the Jungle

The one part of spring and summer that I love is the fact that I can plant a garden and watch it grow. (My favorite time of year is fall followed by winter--I HATE hot weather!) As I don't have a house and yard (yet!), I have to make do with my 7'x4' balcony that gets FULL SUN especially in the afternoon. Thankfully, the basic herbs don't need much room, and they LOVE full sun! So every April, Ben and I skip/run to the home improvement store and buy seeds and potting soil, and we spend an afternoon planting and the next two months watching it grow. I lovingly call it my Jungle, and my cats love it too! In fact, they beg every morning and night to be let out. They climb the rails, sniff the bird feeder, and try to steal my chives (really--cat breath mixed with onion breath--phewweee!!!)!

**Ari is THE most expressive-faced cat I have ever seen!  He is also camera shy.  Look at those cheeks!  Don't you just want to pinch them?! (Okay so maybe I do...)  Ziffi is her usual hoity-toity self.**

I try to have plants that the cats can eat and not get sick, but I have to have a few (lavendar, petunias, aloe, bamboo, and nasturtiums).  Surprisingly, the only plant they touch are the chives despite a large pot of cat grass sitting right beside the sliding door.  They love wheat grass (especially Ari), and I guess chives look close enough--probably have better flavor than grass hahahaha :o)

The wheat grass is not pictured because it is near dying/dead. The wheat grass cannot handle full sun or heat above 80 degrees which is what the weather was doing, and I forgot to take it inside. Not to worry! I will try to revive it or buy some more.

Having said all of that, everything was grown from seed besides the chives.  The cats got to them this year so I had to buy an actual plant.  Some of the seedlings are starting to pop their head up since the protection of the larger plant appeared.

As a cook/baker, I have to have aloe!  Makes a burn hurt much less!  Bamboo is for luck and serenity.

I know what you are thinking--"What the heck is a nasturtium?"  Well--it's an edible flower!  The flower has a peppery taste, and some even have a bit of heat to them!  Ben loves these flowers so I figure we'd grow them this year and put them in salads!  (Plus, he'll just eat them right off the plant!)

This is  my first time growing cilantro, and I am excited!  I have come to love cilantro over the years, and I am incorporating it into my cooking more and more especially with Indian and Mexican foods.  The homemade flags were for distinguishing plants before they take their characteristic shapes; plus, Ben is not too herb savvy hahahaha!

I LOVE purple petunias!!!  I always have and have a pot of them!  The color justs makes me smile.  Oh!  Let me introduce you to Moose; he is my garden gnome!  The mint is taking FOREVER to grow (it's my first time with that herb too!), and so I set Moose to watching it to see if it was dead.  Thankfully, it started coming up a few days after I set him to it (maybe I planted them too deep?....)  Moose reminds me of Diddl-Maus from Germany (small mouse bodies with ridiculously large feet like Moose) so I had to take him home with me.

These herbs put off a TON of clippings especially if you keep them trimmed up.  My grandparents have a dehydrator (dried spices anyone?), and I have researched some freezer techniques for keeping these herbs as fresh and flavorful as possible.  Check back later for those tips and hints!

**Ziffi loves to walk on the rail; I have a hard time getting a good picture since she is on the move, but I will one day!  I have seen her 'study' the gutter that runs next to the balcony...  She also 'studies' the glass and screen doors; this cat is EXTREMELY imtelligent.  She might figure out how to get out!  Thankfully, we don't have a tree near the balcony (like the ones on either side of us) because she would have definitely been down that in a heartbeat!**

Have you planted edible plants or a full garden?  What do you grow?

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Those DARN Cats Introduction

As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat. --Ellen Perry Berkeley

Growing up, we had a cat named Garfield. He was a long-haired cat that didn't like many people besides my mom (I guess pulling a cat around by his tail when a toddler is an act to be revenged for the rest of the toddler's life). Then we got a dog when I was about thirteen, and we called him Magic. Magic loved cats; in fact, he would lay down to be cleaned by my grandparents' cat. Since he loved cats, and I wanted a cat I decided to rescue one for him for Christmas in 2008. Unfortunately, fate had other plans, and Magic was killed about three weeks before Christmas. Utterly grieved, I told my best friend supplying the cat that I didn't want it anymore. She said she would just bring it over, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Year by year I have rescued cats, and now I have a glare of cats! No more will be rescued by me, I am afraid. Three cats in one apartment is plenty! Let's meet them! (Yes--I realize that they are all tabbies, and yes, it was a complete accident!)

 Loki came to me as a fuzzy little hellion named Little Devil/Demon (seriously).  Not a name I was fond of; I wanted something easy to say and short.  Someone suggested Thor, and my brain immediately landed on Loki.  He was instrumental in my healing process; I made sure to play with him at least once a day.  Although a mischief maker in his baby years, Loki has turned out to be a very laid-back cat; he is not clingy although he does get VERY jealous when Ben and I sit on the couch together.  He is a very long and lean cat; if he was in Egypt at the height of it's pharaoh-glory, he would have been worshipped.  He is my towel warmer in the morning, and he is the biggest of my cats at about 11 pounds and the alpha.   

Ari was an accidental rescue.  Christmas 2009, I stopped at Petsmart to get Loki a Christmas present (pets should really have presents on their birthday, Christmas, and all other respective holidays).  Being as it was Christmas, many shelters were there for adoptions.  I spotted a little kitten that was so scared and tiny; I held him and fell in love.  The adoption agency had just caught him feral a few days before so I got him for free because they didn't know his temperament.  So instead of getting Loki a toy for Christmas, I got him a kitten.  Ben and I had been discussing getting Loki a companion, and fate just seemed to give us the kick we needed.  Ben named Ari which is Hebrew for "Lion of God".  Ari is very scaredy; he doesn't like loud noises, and even after having him for so many years, he can't take our sudden movements or standing over him.  He does love to be scratched everywhere, even his belly.  He LOVES to play fetch, and he is the most vocal of our cats.  He is not clingy, but if you sit or lay down, he is right there to sit on you.  He loves to chew on anything cloth; I can't bring a new toy into the apartment because as the sun will shine, he will have it destroyed before the hour is up.  He has even eaten through some of our clothes, and he has stolen our dish rags and towels.  We bought him dog chews and learned to put all cloth materials out of his reach!

Ziffi was another rescue although she was on purpose.  She was abandoned in the apartment across from us for at least three days with no food and water.  We got the landlord to open the door, and this poor, starving flea-infested kitten ran out.  She was very sad-looking.  We tried to find her a home, but after a few days, she and Ben strongly bonded.  She didn't necessarily hate me, but she would let Ben pet her and pick her up--just things like that.  We didn't name her, but when we decided to keep her, we had to name her.  Long story short--I saw the name Ziffel, and I immediately came up with Ziffi.   She seemed to like it because she answered to it almost immediately.  She is such an energetic, intelligent cat; she is a born huntress, and we can tell she is very bored being inside.  She climbs anything she can; she gets into any food left out.  We tried to break her of her counter-surfing habits, but short of electrocuting her, we just learned to put everything up.  All of my kitty stories usually involve her in some form  or fashion!  I must admit though, she has snuck into my heart!

So there you have it!  My glare of cats!  Do you have any pets?  What are their names?  How'd you adopt them?  I love pet stories so tell me yours!Pin It