Autumn Herbs and Arugula

Autumn is my favorite season!  Not only is the weather nicer and the leaves are changing, but farmers markets and supermarkets are packed with apples, squash, pears, potatoes and all sorts of goodies!

This is what our balcony garden has dwindled down to: herbs and arugula!

I can't wait to eat our baby arugula soon!

Looks to be growing deliciously!

Aloe Harvest

My favorite Mama Aloe has been with me since I lived in Chapel Hill and she's a breeder.  Almost every plant lover that's been to my place has adopted at least one of Mama Aloe's babies.

This year she had a pretty easy delivery... no repotting and just a little digging and gentle wiggling.

After the quintuplets' delivery, we just topped her up with fresh potting soil and brought her inside to warm up since the weather's been getting chillier.  I miss the summer planting season but I can't wait for the autumn leaves, crisp air, and scarf-wearing weather!

Let me know if you're in the market to adopt one of these cuties and happy official end of summer!

Autumn Arugula

I rarely start from seed but Michael convinced me to try an autumn lettuce from seed this year.  I picked arugula since it's my favorite right now, sprinkled it into my container on Saturday, and waited.

The package said I had to wait 12-15 days.

But look what I saw this morning!?!?

Can't wait until harvest time!

Balcony Garden Update

Michael and I are so proud of our little flourishing garden this year!  As you can see above, our herb table is doing fantastic and even attracting some hummingbirds and butterflies!

The other side of the balcony is doing equally as good!  One big accomplishment this year has been our basil.  I read online that you should plant your basil with your tomatoes because they compliment each other.  At first I was worried that they would crowd one another and the basil would lose out on water and sunshine once the tomatoes got bigger... but au contraire... they are both growing SPLENDIDLY!

The sweet basil in the foreground is growing as tall as I've ever seen it... and we've even made 2 batches of pesto already!  We also planted globe basil and Thai basil and they are flourishing as well.  And the tomatoes are popping out too!

If you recall, my "experiment" plant this year was Chinese eggplant.  I planted it with the hot pepper plants (something I also read online) and they all seem to be doing well.  The eggplant's got half a dozen beautiful purple flowers and a glimpse of a baby eggplant already!

Our nasturtium is doing well, but I've only gotten one flower.  I moved it to a less sunny spot so I hope that gives me some more flowers as the season progresses.  The foliage is gorgeous and I can't wait to use it in a salad soon.

We haven't gotten any strawberries yet, but the dill and parsley have been put to good use in some of Michael's fish recipes lately.  

And I'm also happy to say that we've spotted our first raspberry too!

So with our flourishing garden, I will soon post some recipes that utilize our harvest!  Fortunately for my tummy (but unfortunately for my blogging), Michael has been in LOVE with the cookbook For Cod and Country and has been making the most delicious meals but I cannot just cut-and-paste the recipes since they aren't posted online.  But don't worry, I'll write them out so stay tuned... Recipes to come!

And one more thing... I need to brag that the African Violet that I propagated from a single leaf last year has finally flowered.  The little things just make me so happy!

Spring Garden... FINALLY!

This year, our herb table includes chives, rosemary, sage, lavender, tarragon, savory, nasturtium, thyme, oregano, and mint.

For the bigger plants, we decided to make the recycled-material self-irrigating planter (SIP) since it worked so well last year!

And Michael helped me finish up our balcony garden while I was out of town this past weekend... isn't he thoughtful!?!

Strawberries, flat-leaf parsley, dill, and oregano.

Raspberries.

Yellow pear tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and two types of basil.

Early girl tomatoes and more basil.

Chinese eggplant, hot peppers, and thyme.

And out bay leaf survived the winter and has started to sprout again!  Yay!

I love spring!

How to Fold a Fitted Sheet

Definitely doing this. Thanks apartmenttherapy.com!  I wish I knew how to do this 10 years ago.

Can you tell it's been a slow day at work?

Wine Glasses

Just read this post in Apartment Therapy on the best wine glasses of 2010 and thought it was worth a post.  Our friends Roger and Martha work at the Australian Embassy and get AMAZING deals on wine and wine glasses.  They got us 12 fabulous Reidel red wine glasses last year for our wedding and it's been a pleasure sipping from them.  Unfortunately, we only had three champagne glasses and desperately needed a new set since sipping champagne from a red wine glass is like drinking malt liquor from a brown paper bag!

The embassy got a Reidel shipment in a few weeks ago and so Roger picked us up a case of champagne flutes (Ouverture, I think) AND a case of white whine glasses too!  How proper are we?!?!  Now, we're not sure where to actually store all these wine glasses but we'll work those details out after we get back from Europe.  I'm just excited that we have the proper wine glasses for our dinner parties... I feel so grown up!

Cheers!

New Favorite Floss

Kind of random but I love our new dental floss!  I feel like I can use less than the regular ol' waxed floss and I feel like it's not as tough on my gums.  Who knew I would have a floss preference?  Ok, just thought I'd share.

R.I.P. Curly

One of of our black skirt tetras, Curly, was found unresponsive on Tuesday night under his favorite plastic fake plant after he did not come up to the top of the tank to eat his flakes.  He could not be revived.  His brothers Moe and Larry, and his tankmate Bud, a zebra danio, were questioned.  His sudden and untimely death remain a mystery but no foul play is suspected.

A brief service was performed last night and his tank has been decommissioned.  Moe, Larry, and Bud have been transferred into Mary Kate and Ashley's tank (also zebra danios).  All parties seem to be getting along and the move has helped the boys cope with the loss.



R.I.P. Curly... we'll miss you... at least for a little bit.

And just because we're doing pet updates, Skeletor is doing quite well and is happy that he just got his tank cleaned!

The Last Harvest

It's a beautiful day with gorgeous autumn weather and the last "harvest" of our balcony garden.

Goodbye garden... see you next spring!

New TV and Couch

We picked up our couch a couple weeks ago and we got our new TV delivered last Thursday.  It doesn't look like much but, trust me, it's such a huge upgrade!  Here is how our life has changed:

• We don't need to get up to turn the TV on and off
• We don't need to get up to turn the volume up and down
• We can actually tell if a channel is in HD
• The middle cushion of our couch doesn't bottom out and scratch the wood floor
• Our overnight guests don't need to sleep on the aerobed anymore!

And to make it even better, we gave the old couch to our resident starving student Steve who is in law school right now, and we're giving our old TV to one of the youth rugby kids! 

Life is good.

Bugs Bite

It's the time of year again... and I'm a mosquito magnet.  Well, I'm actually an equal opportunity bug bite magnet... if there's an insect that bites, it will be on my body.

So it's not surprising that I'm always looking for remedies to fight the itch!  This article in apartment therapy claims bar soap works!  Hmmm... who knew?  But the comments are a treasure trove of good suggestions!  Nail polish, ice, and vitamin B... I've heard of those remedies and they haven't worked well for me, but I'm interested to try onions, wilted cabbage or ammonia!

Our Balcony Garden: June Update

It's been about a month since we started our little balcony garden so I thought it was time for a little update!  The big experiment was the homemade, all-recycled materials self-irrigated planters for the tomatoes.  

BEFORE

AFTER

WOW!  Yes, I would call that a success!  The great thing about these DIY planters is that they don't dry out in between waterings.  The real test is the taste test... so I hope these babies spit out some delicious tomatoes.

Unfortunately, we lost our cucumber plant.  I was a little over zealous in my homemade organic aphid spray and killed the plant faster than the aphids did.  Oh well.  The zuchinni is doing fabulous and we even have a little baby squash popping out!

Another first time plant was the malabar spinach.  As you can see, it's doing really well ever since the summer heat started.  The vine grows a couple inches each day.  It's amazing!

We got our first batch of rasberries this week!  Delicious with vanilla ice cream... mmmmm...

Our herb jar is doing surprisingly well too!  The only thing struggling is the tarragon and we LOVE the eucalyptus herb.

Just look at the beautiful color in the leaves and the wonderful eucalyptus fragrance... one of my new favorites!

The lavender did better this year than last year and we've already seen lots of honey bees and hummingbirds take advantage of the pretty purple blossoms!

The strawberries are doing ok.  I think it may be too early to tell - this is another first-year experiment plant.  At least they're flowering - that's good, right?

And last but not least, our Big Mama aloe has been moved outside and has been re-potted.  She gave us five baby aloes this spring so let's hope for a few more baby aloes by the end of fall.

And that's it for now.  Let's hope the next garden update post is the taste test!