Friday, May 08, 2009

The Indoor Gardener is back

I'm feeling better and my life is a bit slower so I think I'm on the right track again. To start up a new period I'll give a walkthrough of the gardens.



The Indoor Gardener herself. This is what I look like when my son takes the picture. (Not bad for a four year old, I'd say.)



The herbgarden in the kitchenwindow needs some renovations, hence the plants in the forground. The only herb thriving in the current line-up is the lemonthyme - barely visible behind the chives.



From the right hand side: rosegeranium, lemonbalm and... popcorn? Yupp, this is my sprouted corn (from an ordinary bag of popcorn corn) - turned out to be rather tasty. Tastes like lawngrass, not a big surprise there, but I actually like it. The quinoa at the left is not feeling well. My son watered it before I'd a chance to show him the little watering pipe in the container. Someone's put a curse on my quinoa experiments, they always end in disastrous ways.



The Indoor Hubby complains that we have a shrubbery* in our library, but I'm actually rather proud. As usual I've haven't been able to properly care for my gardens during my illness, and yet they looks like this. The dark cloud is the thrips that have killed some of my plants. On the other hand I'll soon have a record harvest of tomatoes - there are almost more fruits than leaves on the plants in the window.



Chard. It doesn't get much bigger than this when you grow it indoors. These plants needs thinning, though, I was a bit eager when I sowed them. A pitty I didn't have strength to do it earlier, the stalks are probably too fibrous now to be boiled like asparagus (one of my favourite dishes).



Sorrel in a terracotta pot. It belongs to the son, which means I haven't got the heart to pick from it. Looks very much like a classic indoor plant - could be some kind of araceae.



My sallat garden. The sprouting trays contains ruccola and peaplant babies, nasturtium 'Alaska' grows in the terracotta pots. Sprouting / baby leaf trays is a clever idea - one shelving unit with these and our entire need for leaf vegetables would be cared for. If I only can convince the rest that popcorn baby leaves are edible I'd be able to call this experiment a win.

*Ni!

4 comments:

Kenneth Moore said...

Welcome back! I am glad you are feeling better, and I am ecstatic to see your setup.

Insects in the home suck. I just ordered nematodes, and hopefully they'll work. Otherwise, hopefully my carnivorous sundew seeds germinate... in two months.

Either way, I just want the fungus gnats GONE!

Rosengeranium said...

Hear hear! Pesky little creatures! I'll order nematodes as soon as I have money enough.

Outstrider said...

Ever Use any grow lights for any of your plants?

Rosengeranium said...

Yes, they are barely visible, but I have set up grow lights in the 'two story' window (the picture with the shrubbery) and in the kitchen. Right now they aren't really needed since the outdoor sun gives enough light to most of my plants. Later on in the autumn they'll be a lifesaver. I've planed a few more sets too, but we may move in a short while so I'm procrastinating these plans.