Garlic Chives (Kutchay)

Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)

As of yesterday, this is how my garlic chives looked like.  They were planted maybe three or four years ago still in the same pot.  They are ready to be divided but I have been delinquent.  Anyway, it looks very good at the moment.  

Garlic chives are different from the common chives (Allium schoenoprasum) by appearance and flavor.  Sometimes they are referred to as Chinese chives or flat chives but in Ilocano (my dialect) they are called Kutchay.   Unlike the chives, kutchay has a strong garlicky flavor which is an important material in my partly-Asian kitchen.  It is good in fried rice, omelets, soups, meats, and noodles.  The leaves as well as the young flowers make a good substitute for leeks, green onions, and sometimes cooked by it self.

Garlic chive is a perennial plant that is easy to grow.  I prefer to start with seedlings purchased local nurseries. Once established, it will continue to spread and comes back year after year.  In fact it is a self-seeding plant thus can become a weed if flowers are not cut off before the seeds get dispersed naturally.  I like to harvest them as needed starting from one end of the row or one side of the pot and moving on.  This way there will always be new leaves to use in the kitchen since regular cutting or harvesting encourages new growth and even spreading.  To harvest, cut the leaves 1-2 inches from the base. 

Annual application of compost early in spring will provide the needed nutrients.  When grown in pots, apply complete or nitrogen fertilizer at a very low rate to replace the nutrients that get washed off during watering. 

Divide and replant when the plants get to crowded (maybe every three to five years). 

Important definition:

Self-seeding plants. (n.) plants with seeds that spread their seeds naturally and without special attention given, the seeds will grow.

Start a kitchen garden...plant herbs.

Mint in the Garden

Peppermint (Mentha pepireta)

Mint must be one of the easiest herbs to grow.  As a perennial plant, mint does not have to be replaced every season.  In fact depending on your location it remains green throughout the year.  I grow mint for adding to drinks, making cucumber sandwiches, yogurt sauce for Moroccan Lamb Kabobs, and garnishing.  

Some Common Mint species:
Peppermint (Mentha piperita) has dark green leaves with a reddish stem and lavender flowers.

Chocolate Mint is a peppermint cultivar which had bronze-green leaves. 

Spearmint (Mentha spicata) has lighter green, pointy leaves and pink flowers.
Apple Mint (Mentha suaveolens) has light green foliage.
Pineapple Mint (Mentha suaveolens 'Variegata’) has green leaves that are banded with white.

It has been my observation that mint undergoes two distinct growth phases in a given year. Understanding the events that happen during these phases helps a gardener grow mint the proper way.

1.  The first phase is the above-ground vegetative growth which happens in early spring (see above picture). The stems will then prepare to flower in the summer.  Frequent cutting will encourage branching and delay flowering. As the plant flowers, the vegetative growth comes to a halt to give way to reproductive development.

2.  After flowering, stolons, which are modified stems, begin to grow laterally underground covering a lot of distance in a very short period of time.  Eventually, these stolons will emerge from the ground and start to grow the next set of stems covering a much larger area.  This is the reason why mint need to be contained.  It is invasive and can become a weed.

Clone your mint
Dig into the soil at the base of your mint plant and look for stolons.   Pull it out and cut into short sections making sure that there are at least three nodes in each section.  I prefer the nodes that already have little buds and roots on them.  Then plant the sections horizontally and cover with soil.  Keep it watered but not too wet.  In no time you will see new green leaves emerge. 

Important definitions:

Propagate  (v.) to clone or grow a new plant from a vegetative part of an existing plant.

Stolon  (n.) a modified stem growing underground.  Distinguishable from the roots by the following: larger in diameter; white color; presence of nodes.

In the Rain

I've always liked the way plants look when they are wet.  Yesterday's weather made everything in the garden look wet.  Although it did not really rain that much, it was misty throughout the day.  After coming back from picking up my daughter from school I took my camera and captured some pictures.  This is one of the rare occasions when the flowers and rain show up at the same time without the threat of a storm.  

Chanticleer Ornamental Pear (Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’)

The ornamental pear tree is one of the first trees that bloom early in spring.  It is an excellent shade tree which offers beautiful autumn foliage.  

 

Santa Rosa Plum (Prunus domestica 'Santa Rosa')

The Santa Rosa plum is great for eating and making plum sauce, which we like on pancakes.  I have observed that although it blooms every year, we only get fruits every other year.  Its blooming schedule coincides with strong rains and winds once every two years. 

Dwarf Periwinkle (Vinca minor) growing in between rocks.

 A long time ago I planted some dwarf periwinkle in my yard as ground cover.  Over the years, I've replaced them with some other plants.  These are some of the remnants from the original plants.  No matter how I try to remove them, there's always a vegetative part that gets left in the ground, hence new plants arise.  They are beautiful under control but my yard is too small for an invasive plant as this one. 

Stroll in your garden even in the rain; there are beautiful things to see there.

Travellers Palm

Traveller's Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis)

Looking like a giant fan, this Ravenala madagascariensis, commonly known as the travellers palm, waves at every visitor, like me, at the Belize International Airport.  When I saw it, I had to take its picture.  According to a guy we met in Belize, who eventually became our tour guide to Xunantunich the plant holds rain water in the folds of the leaf base and the flower bracts.  Since the leaves are huge, they can hold up to a quart of water per leaf.  Back in those days when bottled water was not invented, the travellers palm was a natural source of water for thirsty travellers.  That is the story behind its name.  I am assuming, however, that they were source of emergency water when they are still small plants.  It would be very inconvenient to chop down a huge tree just to get a drink. 

Traveller's Palm Flowers

In spite of its name, the travellers palm is not a true palm.  It is actually related to the birds of paradise (Strelitzia reginae) being in the family Strelitziaceae.  It is unique that it is considered monotypic, meaning it is the only species in its genus.  It is the only one in the genus Ravenala.  The species name, madagascariensis, denotes that the plant originated from Madagascar.  However, because of its unique characteristics and majestic form, people love it and so it has spread further away from where it all started.

I saw this Travellers Palm at the Chaa Creek 

Sometimes pictures cannot explain the real experience, but these should be enough to tickle your imagination and provide information so that when you see one you'll recognize it.  

Hort Art - New Hypertufa Recipe

This pot is made from a "green" version of the traditional hypertufa.   Hypertufa is an artificial rock made from a combination of natural aggregates (such as sand or Perlite) and peat moss mixed with Portland cement.  My hypertufa recipe is unique in that it includes coffee grounds, portland cement, and water.   The coffee material can be acquired free from Starbucks.  It makes the mixture darker and a lot lighter (in weight) compared to sand.

I was motivated to make small and unusual pots for my new collection of succulents.  The rustic look of hypertufa would make an interesting contrast against their varying shades and shapes of the plants.  

I will continue to experiment on different coffee:cement ratio until I come up with a desirable combination.  My first try was not quite successful as I skimped on the cement. 

Sometimes, the inspiration to create can be found in a garbage bag like the coffee grounds I used in this project.   For as long as you can imagine then the possibility remains.  After all, horticulture is not only a science but also an art. 

Lost Name

Cymbidium California 'Sun Acres', HCC/AOS

California = Cymbidium Blue Smoke X Cymbidium Alexanderi

Sometimes flower varieties are not always indicated on their labels.  For example, this orchid just came with the label "Cymbidium".  In as much as I am planning to grow some more cymbidium this year, I did some research on the one that I already have.  My closest guess based on flower appearance would be Cymbidium California 'Sun Acres'.   So until proven wrong, I will assume that this is the variety I have.

This orchid displays nice tall spikes of vibrant yellow-green flowers with lips that are ringed with burgundy markings.  It is blooming now (February).

Beating the Weather

I got new titanium pruners

We were spoiled by great weather this week with full sunshine and temperatures in the 60s (F).  Today was different (cloudy and windy); it is supposed to rain soon but in as much as there are a lot of activities that I had planned to accomplish I enlisted Tim and Brahms to help me. 

Recent activities in the garden:
1.  Dividing and planting hydrangea (Hydrangea mycrophylla 'Endless Summer')
2.  Mowed the lawn
3.  Planting bareroot Thompson Seedless grape
4.  Making hypertufa
5.  Watering potted plants
6.  Installing brick border
7.  Digging out roses from the vegetable garden
8.  Pruning trees (we're not done yet)

These bricks were installed along an old pathway for the purpose of controlling erosion.  

The plum and peach trees are beginning to bloom. I'm hoping that the rain will come much later so that pollination will not be adversely affected. 

Sometimes the weather is an encouragement for gardeners to go work...sometimes it is a discouragement.