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Fruit and vegetable washing

Supermarket applesLately,  I’ve noticed more ads for fruit and vegetable washes to get rid of nasties like pesticides and fungicides. I wash produce thoroughly when I get it home from the supermarket (I don’t live out of my garden alone).  And while I’ve generally been satisfied by this,  it may be a good idea to step it up. But, I’m not prepared to buy expensive sprays to do it. Lifehacker, and Re-Nest step in to provide more info for the clean and frugally-minded:

A produce wash has just enough kick to it to more effectively cleanse the surface of the fruit and wash away contamination.

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup distilled white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 20 drops grapefruit seed extract (available at your local health food store or you can substitute lemon juice in a pinch)
  • Combine all ingredients and transfer to a spray bottle with a pump. Spray mixture on produce (avoid using on mushrooms), let sit 5 to 10 minutes and rinse.
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Permaculture worm tower

I love simple, cheap and appropriate ideas that make gardening easier and fun. At the first Seedy Sunday we showed three videos with this philosophy in mind.

My two previous attempts at worm farming had ended badly with the bins being overrun with nasties that killed off the worms. But I so love the simplicity and ease of this idea I’m going to give it another shot. This is a great way to get nutrients straight into your garden.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scUTrypzyY0&hl=en&fs=1]

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Auxins, geotropism & upside down tomatoes

green-tomatoes-stunt-action-upside-down-shotI may be a little obsessive but tomatoes are on my mind again…

Upside-down tomato plant hanging contraptions have been hanging around for years and I’m a bit skeptical. bit skeptical. I’ve heard lots of people marvel over them but I’ve not seen a pic of the plants actually growing in them. The only pics I’ve seen have clearly been taken for advertising purposes when the plants are in full fruit. Do upside down tomato plants work?

My heart always goes “Oooo, that looks nice”. But my head goes, “but what about the auxins?” Auxins are hormones that control aspects of plant growth – things like the flowering, fruiting, bulb formation, dormancy etc.

More on auxins after the jump, along with links to how to test these mad ramblings…

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Willow water helps cuttings to root

Willow branches I’ve just found a great article from an old Soil and Health magazine about willow water, and thought I just had to share. I don’t take a lot of cuttings from plants because quite frankly they’re tricky and they just haven’t worked well for me in the past. I might just have to give this one a try though – especially as it won’t cost me a thing.

Willow water promotes rooting better then than any known substance. This probably comes as little surprise to anyone who has dealt with the invasive roots of a willow before. It also may explain why it’s effective putting an aspirin (originally from the bark of willow) into the water for cut flowers to keep them fresh.

Instructions on how to make your own rooting compound for free with willow, how to use it and some useful links after the jump.
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Basil pesto

basil1I had the sincere joy of of prancing through a huge greenhouse of culinary herbs yesterday. And I picked a shopping bag full of deliciousness – mainly basil. All destined for pesto…

My pesto recipe isn’t a strict one. Basically, I chop a whole lot of basil, a couple of cloves of garlic and pinenuts by hand. I then add shaved parmesan, salt and olive oil. My amounts depend largely on how much I have at hand and what tastes right. It’s not so much the amount of each ingredient, but a really good balance and it will taste absolutely sublime.

I chop everything by hand, which takes more time, but is so worth it. It’s much easier to get quantities and texture just right. I really don’t like pesto made in a food processor. It tends to turn into green goo. Don’t get me wrong, it still tastes mighty fine – but hand-chopped looks better.

It takes about 30 minutes. All that added love, care and attention that goes into each tasty morsel is totally worth it!

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Make Your Own Herbal Multi-Vitamins

Treasure! I’ve just been sorting out some old books and this piece of paper dropped out of it. A recipe for herbal health capsules given to me about 20 years ago.

All the ingredients are pretty easy to get. I have most of them in my garden or cupboard and I’ll sprout some alfalfa especially for it. Watercress and kelp usually aren’t a problem to find in NZ. Considering good quality multi-vitamins cost about NZ$40 a month right now, I’m really keen to give this a go. This should only cost me the gelatine caps, or if I wanted to cut it down even further, use one of my husband’s cigarette papers to wrap it up in to swallow (not half as bad as it sounds).

88888 Disclaimer: I haven’t tried this, I don’t vouch for it. I am not a trained nutritionist, doctor, or herbalist. But since these are all things I would eat anyway, I’m willing to give it ago. 88888

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