Romantic Bouquets

Romantic Bouquets
Valentine's Day is Coming!

Indoor Gardening, Part 2

-
OK. Today we will cover indoor temperatures, air circulation and humidity. It is important to keep in mind that indoor temperatures vary from season to season and that the temperature just inside a window may be quite different from that of the rest of the room. For example, during the winter, when the outside air is freezing, the temperature of the inside air near the window may also drop considerably, causing the plants that are kept there to suffer cold damage. Therefore, leave only hardy plants near the windows and move the others. Conversely, high window temperatures may also be a problem. South facing windows in summer and late afternoon sun in a westerly facing window, even in the winter, may cause excessively high temperatures. As for air circulation, drafts that occur due to the mixing of cold and warm air temperatures increase what is called transpiration, or the evaporation of water from the surface of the plant. Combined with chilling, this can be very detrimental to many plants. In addition, placing plants near hot, dry air circulating from a heating duct, will also place considerable stress on your plants. Air circulation also affects humidity levels. Relative humidity, is the ratio of water vapor present to the maximum amount potentially present at a given temperature. Indoor humidity is similar to outdoor humidity, unless you are running the heat in the winter or air conditioner in summer. In those cases, the humidity levels drop and the air becomes dry, so that it may be necessary to run a humidifier, not only for the plants, but for your own comfort as well. Other ideas to raise the humidity levels in your home: mass plants together, mist plant surfaces daily with water, set out pots of water among the plants or set the potted plants on a tray filled with pebbles and water (looks pretty too, ladies!) It may be necessary to move highy sensitive plants to another location, such as the bathroom. That's all for today....don't worry, it's not as difficult to keep plants indoors as it may sound. Just a little common sense. If you are not comfortable indoors, then your plants probably are not either. We'll cover more tomorrow, including Chuck's favorite: don't kill your plants with kindness.....see you then! Remember to write and tell us how you like everything so far!

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comment! We appreciate them all and will publish your comment shortly. Thanks for visiting!

Popular posts from this blog

Blanching Vegetables

-
Image
One of our customers had asked how to blanch Swiss Chard for a special diet she is on. Blanching is a critical step for all vegetables being stored for more than one month, with one exception: those vegetables being used solely for their flavor, such as green onions, herbs and hot peppers, do not need to be blanched. Blanching is necessary in order to cleanse the produce of any remaining dirt and to kill any microorganisms. It also brightens the color, helps retain vitamins and reduces the action of enzymes that can destroy the fresh flavor of the produce when frozen for longer than the first month. As you can see, blanching is a most important step in freezing vegetables and must be done very carefully, but that does not mean it is difficult to do. On the contrary, it is actually very simple. First, wash, drain and prepare vegetables as you would normally for cooking, such as trimming ends and chopping into the size you would use in your recipes. I would recommend using 1 gal
Read more

Italian Pods of Goodness

-
Image
Romano Beans....Italian  Flat Beans....These beans are flat, broad and string-less and have a bit more flavor than regular green beans.  We grow them on the farm mostly for our family, but lately they've been a big hit at the farmers' markets we attend.  When giving customers a chance to sample, about 90% will pick the Romano bean to purchase over the other.  We've been harvesting them by hand for about two weeks now, and I finally had a chance to fix some for dinner tonight. You can steam or saute them with garlic, or add them to salads if you like.  They are tender and cook quickly when picked at the right stage.  If you are growing them in your own garden, you should harvest them regularly, at least every other day, at about 4 or 5" in length and when the bean seeds inside the pod are just starting to show some definition.  If you let them get too large where the seeds are really bulging, they can be tough. Tonight I sauteed them with garlic and onions and ad
Read more

Have Your Cake....

-
Image
We went to my in-laws' home for Super Bowl Sunday.  It was my job to bring dessert.  After roaming the aisles of the grocery store yesterday and not seeing anything I liked, I decided I was going to attempt to make a cake.  I remembered at home I had a Hershey's Cookbook.  This was no ordinary cookbook.
Read more