Mystery Vegetable: Fennel

This is one that I'm just really not that familiar with, and was never very aware of. One that never really seemed all that appealing and kind of rare. One that I probably have seen at the store, but never really caught my interest. One that has a kinda furry top, reminiscent of dill. One that is...

Fennel

2 fennel bulbs

These two fennel bulbs were part of my recent CSA box delivery, so it became time to venture into fennel territory! But in which direction?

Fennel, or Foeniculum vulgare (I find it amusing that "vulgar" is in the latin name, makes you wonder...), is also commonly used in seed form in baking and cooking, more so in India and Mediterranean/middle Eastern dishes. Its pretty little yellow flowers make it a nice addition to flowering beds, and its foliage is often used here in Germany in tea form to aid in digestion. The bulb itself is also popularly eaten in salads here in Germany and has a anise or licorice flavor. It is also one of the main 3 herbs used to flavor absinthe, that green alcoholic substance popular in Europe. Didn't know that!

So how to make fennel then? I had a recipe from a friend for fennel soup, which consisted of cooking the sliced bulbs with vegetable bouillon and onion and the pureeing. This was actually really good, in a way reminiscent of potato soup (maybe I haven't had potato soup for a while...).

Besides helping with digestion (to get things flowing and prevent flatulence), fennel also has a bit of Vitamin C, Manganese and Potassium.

So if you're looking for something new to try, give fennel a shot! Love it or leave it!

Window Sill Compost: Did it work?

my window sill compost

That's the question now, did my window sill compost project even work?!

Hard to say! To be honest, this was not an actual compost pile since it was not exposed to insects, heat, and moisture as a "normal" compost pile would be (remember I live in the city), so there was no real degradation that took place, outside of the drying of the ingredients.

Nevertheless, I assume that while it may have had different effects, that it had at least some sort of effect on my plants. What you see pictured above is the end result of the ingredients dried, crushed, and mixed together. I then mixed this in with the soil in each pot. If nothing else, this should have provided my soil with a lot of nitrogen, potassium, calcium, and other trace minerals.

Due to the construction project on my building, my vegetables are less than ideal this year, so it's really hard to say if the compost helped or not, but I like to think it did!

I just stumbled upon this article on Apartment Therapy about making an odorless "true" compost bin for indoors, something to consider for next year.

How about you - have you tried adding food scraps to your planters and had either success or regrets?

Exotic Plants: Grow your own tea!

So I was sitting at work in our canteen on break one evening with some colleagues, drinking the tea I always bring (whole-leaf green tea), and a friend who knew I had a balcony garden asked if my tea came from my balcony too! I at first chuckled, but after digging around on the internet some, I came to the conclusion: WHY THE HECK NOT?!

What I hadn't realized before was that green, white, oolong, and black teas all come from the same plant, that being the Camellia Sinensis! Who would have though! Wow! There are 2 varieties, the var. sinensis and var. assamica, one being broad-leaved and one narrow-leaved. What makes the different kinds/flavors of tea is how the leaves themselves are processed, basically the conditions and amount of time under which the leaves are dried and oxidized. Of course the region on which the plants are grown affects the flavor as well!

my Camellia Sinensis var. sinensis, about 1 foot tall

So after realizing how cool that would be to grow my own tea, I did some snooping around and found a company that ships tea plants. Wasn't sure how that was going to work out, but I figured it was worth a shot - was around 7€ ($10). It came all wrapped up with foliated cardboard and in a big box. All was well!

It's been several months now since it arrived, and it is still doing well! It's gotta lots of new leaves, too. I guess at some point I'm going to have to prune it back - fully grown it can get up to 3 yards tall, too high for my apartment!

some new leaves!

For now I'm keeping it indoors on the windowsill facing my balcony (southwest), which is fairly warm and dry, which it seems to like.

Of course I'm super anxious to make some tea, but I think I'd better just be patient and wait until the plant gets bigger :-)

leaf close-up

In the meantime, The Fragrant Leaf is a nice website that I found on the history of tea, how to best brew tea, tea customs and cultures, types of tea, etc.

At the International Garden Show, which I recently attended, I also bought some tea seeds! They're pretty big, look kinda like a hazelnut. Can't wait to see if I can get them to germinate and prosper as well! 

Mystery Vegetable: The Non-Orange Carrot

So, back to some more vegetable posts!

This week's mystery vegetable is not so much a mystery as just a unique and rare one, one(s) that I've never seen in the store and have never purchased myself, a bit of a novelty if you will, it's...

The Non-Orange Carrot!
Yup! I don't know if it's true, but this site claims that ALL carrots were originally purple until the late 16th century! At this point supposedly Dutch farmers cultivated the orange carrots, mostly derived from the "mutated" golden and white carrots, partially for political reasons and partially due to the sweeter taste.

purple carrots I got in my CSA box this past week

I thought these tasted a lot like orange carrots, but are prettier and a little sweeter - they have an orange center that is very nice!

Supposedly, purple carrots are even healthier than the orange ones, thanks to their coloring. This is given by the pigment anthocyanins, which also colors blueberries and acts as an antioxidant, and can also help memory and vision, prevent heart attacks, promote weight loss, etc etc etc. Hurray for pigmentation!

some white/golden carrots I got a few weeks ago in my CSA box

I thought these carrots tasted a bit milder than a normal carrot, but also with an ever-so-slight, very faint hint of parsnip taste. Maybe it was just my imagination, though. At any rate, I enjoyed the purple ones a little more, if I had to choose.

And don't forget carrots are PACKED full of Vitamin A and beta-carotene! Enjoy raw with a little veggie dip!

Int'l Garden Show Impressions: Patterns, Colors, and More Pics

Patterns are important to any kind of good landscaping, be it how you lay the stones on your walkway, how far apart the bushes are spaced in your yard, or which patches of flowers go where in your garden. There's patterns everywhere in every day life, too - just take a look around!

I often enjoy photographing patterns...I guess it's just soothing in a way to see structure, symmetry and flow of the individual parts and how they look together. It makes whatever it is you are focusing your camera at seem perfect. It can also be quite interesting to center your picture on the one object or part that is different from the rest of the pattern, an unevenness or break in the pattern, so to say.

Patterns in nature are even more fascinating - how these came into being! You gotta love them! And the colors!!

On that note, please enjoy some patterns that caught my eye at the show, a rainbow of pattern glory:

LOVE that flaming red!

just the blooms floating on water

cacti in the continents exhibit

a sort of random pattern

love these blue hydrangeas!

these hydrangeas almost look frosted, wow!

Lots of colors to whet my palette!

Hope you've enjoyed my impressions and highlights of the IGS!

Int'l Garden Show Impressions: Close-ups

As promised, the International Garden Show part 2! This time some close-ups around the grounds. I think it's nice to feature some of the plants up close and personal as a contrast to the masses of flowers seen in the beds from the last post. I'll just let the pictures themselves and their captions do the talking.

Hope you enjoy!

indoor desert exhibit - check out the size of that root!

a floating plant - look at the "bubble"!

a lotus bloom opened up

...and the lotus seed pod

bonsai succulents!

more bonsai succulents!

there was a nice orchid exhibit

love the color and delicacy of this orchid

love the pattern on this one

and the nice blue color of this one!

scary orchid!

a few schools from the area had their plants on display, which also gave the bees something to do!

cool!

some great looking snapdragons

the monorail they built for the park, which I didn't ride due to the hefty price

my favorite color of snapdragon

a nice lily in the African section

Sorry about not having names for all of these pics, but I did at least have a nice time taking pictures and admiring the beautiful flowers, though!

Check back soon for some patterns from the show!