Wordless Wednesday: Chives for a Greener Garden

There are plenty of reasons to grow chives in the garden, and the pretty flowers are just one of them. Chives:

1. Taste great—stems and blossoms are edible, and are a great addition to eggs, fish, and salad dressings.
2. The blossoms attract beneficial insects that will feed on insect pests and help pollinate your vegetable garden.
3. Chives prevent scale when planted near fruit trees.
4. Chives add calcium to the soil, which makes them perfect for planting near tomatoes. Additional calcium in the soil means a reduction in the chances that your crop will suffer from blossom-end rot.
5. Chives deter aphids.

All of this from one little plant! Great taste, protection against pests and diseases without chemicals, and beauty, too!

And, yes, I know this wasn’t “wordless” at all—but I can’t help it. Chives rock!

Visit the Wordless Wednesday site for more great photos.

Easy Ways to Preserve the Harvest

Thursday is green:eats day, when we give you tips on how to green your diet.

If you’re a gardener, whether you have a huge garden on several acres or a small balcony garden, chances are that once the end of the gardening season nears, you still have some produce that you haven’t gotten around to eating. We’ve all heard of canning and pickling, but those are activities that take a little more time and some specialized equipment. They can be a lot of fun, but we’ll cover them another time. All you need to preserve some of our favorite crops are ice cube trays, freezer bags, and an oven or stovetop.

To Preserve Garden Herbs:

You can try drying them, either out in the open or in the microwave, but you get a fresher taste from your preserved herbs if you freeze them. Simply chop your herbs (any herb will work) fairly small, and drop about a tablespoon into each section of an ice cube tray. Add water to fill the tray, and pop it into the freezer. Let it freeze overnight, and then pop the herb cubes out and put them in a labeled freezer bag. You’ll have the taste of fresh basil and parsley in the middle of winter!

To Preserve Tomatoes:

There are two easy ways to preserve tomatoes: freezing and drying. You can freeze tomatoes whole to use later in sauces and soups; simply wash them well, pop them in a freezer bag, and use them as needed throughout the winter. Here are instructions for how to oven-dry tomatoes.

To Preserve Dark, Leafy Greens:

For crops like kale, spinach, beet greens, and the like, the easiest way to preserve them is to blanch them for a few seconds in boiling water, then shock them in an ice water bath to halt the cooking process. Place blanched, cooled greens in a freezer bag or plastic container. Don’t worry about drying them–the water will help prevent freezer burn.

To Preserve Green Beans:

Harvest beans when they are thin and tender. Wash, and trim off the stem end. Then, pop them into a freezer bag, and store until you need them.

Who needs overpriced, well-traveled produce? With these tips, you can go to the freezer and relive a bit of summer all winter long.

Make Your Own Organic, Chemical-Free Microwave Popcorn

Thursday is green:eats day, when we give you tips for healthier, more eco-friendly eating.

The past few days have seen leading microwave popcorn producers, such as Reddenbacher, Pop Weaver, and Act II, changing their popcorn recipes to remove the chemical additive diacetyl, which is what gives most microwave popcorn that buttery flavor and aroma. Diacetyl has long been suspected of causing lung disease in factory workers, but the story that a man who ate microwave popcorn every day and developed “popcorn lung” as a result finally spurred the industry to act.

So diacetyl will be gone, but there are still plenty other chemicals in microwave popcorn. Why risk it? Make your own organic, chemical-free popcorn, and it’ll taste better and be healthier for you. You can find organic popping corn at many health food and Whole Foods-type stores. Follow these instructions from Instructables  to make a batch of your own microwave popcorn. You’ll be enjoying your movie in buttery, salty, chemical-free goodness in no time!

Edible Container Gardens: Gourmet, Organic Greens at Your Fingertips

Thursdays are green:eats day, where we offer tips and ideas to help you eat healthier and in a more earth-friendly way.

When the weather starts turning cool, as it soon will for those of us in the northern U.S. and Canada, it’s the perfect time for sowing some greens to enhance your diet. Happily, a wide variety of lettuces and other greens grow happily in a container, so even those of us who don’t have a large vegetable garden can get in on the tasty green action. Any container that is about six to eight inches deep and has adequate drainage (you can always drill holes in the bottom of containers without existing holes) will work for this. Fill your container of choice with either organic potting soil or compost. Here are a few delicious and unique greens to grow in your container:

Arugula: This spicy green, also called “rocket lettuce” is dark green, packed with antioxidants, and is attractive in a container. It can be harvested as baby arugula, which works out perfectly for container gardeners, because you can just sow more seed if the container starts looking sparse. Arugula can be eaten raw, as a simple salad with tomatoes and some red onions, or sauteed in a bit of olive oil and garlic for a tasty side dish.

Kale: This often-overlooked member of the brassicas family is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat. One cup of chopped kale offers a whopping 300% of your daily Vitamin A and 200% of your Vitamin C. It’s also a decent source of calcium, providing around 13% of your daily calcium needs per cup. As with arugula, it can be harvested young–it’s most tender this way–and eaten raw or sauteed. If you let the leaves mature a bit, it may be a good idea to trim the stems off before eating—they can be tough, and don’t contain nearly as much nutrition as the leafy portions.

Swiss Chard: If you’re looking for an edible green that will pack a visual punch as well, try growing chard. Chard sort of resembles celery, except that the leafy parts are dark green, and the stems can come in a variety of colors from dark red, to white, to orange and yellow. The stalks are perfect for tossing into soups or stir-fries, and the leaves are delicious either steamed or sauteed with some garlic or ginger.

Spinach: Everyone knows spinach. Popeye’s fave is a nutritional powerhouse, providing plenty of calcium, potassium, vitamin c, folic acid, and vitamin a. It’s at its best harvested young, when the leaves are tender and mild in taste.

Mesclun/Leaf Lettuce: If a tasty salad is what makes you happy, you’re in luck. Seed can be found for a wide variety of tasty, pretty lettuces, any of which will grow perfectly in containers. As the lettuce grows, keep harvesting the largest leaves, and it will keep producing more.

To grow any of these greens, simply buy/collect organic seed of your choice, sprinkle lightly on the surface of the soil, and cover with a sprinkling of more soil. Water it well, and don’t let your container dry out. A container of greens like this will take you through the first frost, and maybe longer. Kale only gets better after a frost, so it’s a good option for cold climates. And, if you’re not ready to stop growing, you can try bringing your container indoors (if it’s not too large) and growing your greens in a bright window.

Eating fresh isn’t hard. And it’s so rewarding to grow your own greens.