Cooking with Basil

Recently  we were lucky enough to have Lenore from Mommy Wait. do a Guest Post on the joys of Basil Pesto.

This of course prompted a lively discussion on Twitter (follow me @flconcretegrdnr to get involved) on some of the other culinary uses of Basil. Some people for example told me they use it as a natural remedy to sooth headaches, others pair it with stews, soups and especially spaghetti sauce and of course you can't Basil's natural benefits as it has been shown to help lower blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.





With all of that being said, I wanted to take some time and share two recipes that we use at home. One using fresh Basil and another using Dried Basil.

1. Basil wrapped Tilapia

This is perhaps one of my favorite recipes at the moment and works well with almost any light fish.

Take a Baking sheet and lay down Parchment paper. Place freshly washed Basil leaves on the Parchment paper to form a base for the fillet(s). Place the fillet(s) on top of the leaves and lightly season (my preference is some lemon juice and a small amount of pepper). Finally cover the top of the fillet(s) with more leaves and place in a pre-heated oven set at 375 degrees. Cook for the required time and then remove and let the fillet (s) rest for a couple of minutes before servicing the fish complete with Basil leaves.

2. Dried Basil Omelet
After washing and drying the leaves, place similar sized leaves between a Paper Towel. You can also use a Dish Cloth in which case only use half of the Dish Cloth so that you can fold the other half over.

Place the Basil laden Towels/Dish Cloth in the Microwave and depending on the size and power of the Microwave run for one to two minutes on a low setting. When the time is up, check the leaves to see if they are dry and crispy. You want the leaves to crumble under slight pressure in your hand. If they are not ready after two minutes, put the Basil back in the Microwave for 15 - 30 seconds and then check again. Keep repeating until they reach the correct consistency.

Important Note: It is important that you do not leave the Microwave unattended at any time while it is running. Heat the Leaves for short periods when almost dry. If there is no moisture left in the leaves, you leave the Microwave is left running and the Towels/Dish Cloth are dry, there is a risk you could burn or even set fire to your Towels/Dish Cloth. 

When the Basil is dry, either crumble into a jar or add directly to a mixing cup. I always Microwave more than I need, so I started a dried Basil Jar.

 

Add the dried Basil, Onion Chives and a small amount of pepper to the Omelet mix. You can salt to taste, but I find the distinct, flavorful tangy flavor of the Basil and Onion Chives eliminates the need for Salt. Make sure you stir thoroughly before putting in the pan. Try and avoid strong fillings so you can appreciate the taste of the Omelet.

Do you have a recipe to share? A use for Basil that I've not covered? Feel free to send me a tweet or e-mail.

Garden Update

With all of my focus on my Basil Mini Series, it feels like its been a while since I gave an update on the rest of the items in the Concrete Garden Bed. With the wave of harvesting that took place over the last month now over, the majority of the garden has settled down into growing mode or is resting ahead of the fall season. The obvious exceptions being the Herbs which have been doing so well that I'm considering adding a small separate Concrete Plot next year just for them. I've moved into a maintenance mode at the moment for those plants we do still have. It's important to keep the plants healthy through the blazing hot days and the almost daily afternoon/evening rainstorms.

 

Here is a great overhead shot of the main garden. 

Firstly we have the previously mentioned herbs consisting of the Basil, Tarragon (below the Basil) and Onion Chives (to the right of the Basil). All of the Herbs are being gently harvested as we need them in the kitchen. 

Then the rest of the garden has a few other plants at various growing stages. At the far bottom we have some freshly transplanted Pumpkin Seedlings which I'm going to try growing for the next month before deciding whether to keep them. On the far left we have two Soy Bean plants that I have growing in the mini garden squares that I have running around the main bed. They did well in these squares as you will recall when they were next to the Cucumbers and I've had them growing there for three weeks. I'm hoping to start seeing some seed pods growing soon. 

Finally in the background we have the Cucumber plants. Here are a couple of close up photos.

 On the left we have a great shot of the plants with a Marigold plant hiding on the far right. There are actually two Marigold plants, one on either side of the plants. I brought them in to help me combat the Aphid invasion that I have been constantly battling for several weeks. I'm glad to say that I'm finally seeing these efforts paying off. I've been using a combination of organic sprays, helpful insects, water jets and aggressive leave removal. The plants have been almost Aphid free for a week or so now and the plants are putting forth new leaves and plenty of female flowers. I've also included a close up of a growing cucumber that I spotted this morning and I'm hoping it will be ready by next weekend. 

Talking of  a crop that I'm hoping will start producing soon, here's a shot of one side of my Argo Tower and the carrots I've been trying to grow in it.

The carrots have proved to be a larger pain to grow that I foresaw. The seeds have been taking a long time to germinate and it seems that wherever I have planted them the weeds have followed. Its been very labor intensive to keep the growing areas weed free, which is important as weeds choke young carrots very easily. The first wave was planted around six weeks ago, so I'm looking at harvesting in the next week or two. 

So all in all,I'm pleased with the progress of the garden and eagerly looking forward to Tomato Season. Talking of which, time to go look at some seeds.

Basil Legacy: Update

It's hard to believe that just last week, I was putting on a brave face as I blogged on the state of the Basil. So it's nice to be able to start this entry with something more positive to talk about.

As you will recall, I was planning on using some supports to prop up the Basil so that I could get the branches off the ground. The original supports I had planned to use worked after a fashion, but I found that they still left the plant leaning precariously. In the end I was able to recycle an old tomato support system which consists of a flexible metal ring connected to three adjustable and movable support. I put the metal ring around the plant and adjusted the three supports to take the weight of the heaviest branches which in turn allowed me to prop up the entire plant. As an added benefit, the ring and it's supports are a pleasant shade of green which helps them blend in with the Basil. I also made sure to remove the few damaged branches and harvest the leaves around the metal ring to ensure that the support it provides is study and not likely to slip. All in all, I'm happy with my quick fix solution.

Also now that I'm paying more attention to the Basil on a daily basis, I've noticed another benefit from being able to keep the plant upright and in its current location. We have four or five bees that are visiting, feeding and pollinating the white flowers that are blooming at the top of the Basil. Normally I would pinch these flowers off to encourage the plant to keep growing, but the benefits that the bee's are bringing to the garden are making it worthwhile allowing the Basil to follow its natural cycle. I hope to be able to harvest and preserve some of the seeds that will be produced by the bee's pollinating the flowers to supplement my Basil Cuttings.

Talking of Basil Cuttings, here is a picture I took this morning.

As you can see, this cutting is developing a healthy root system and should be ready to transplant into a pot in the next day or two.

When you are getting ready to transplant any plant, it's important to consider the current conditions of the plant you are moving. In my case, the cuttings I am going to be moving are used to growing in a water only environment, so it's going to be important that I soak the soil and take great care when putting the plant into the pot. I'll want to made sure I dig out the hole first and then gently place the soil back in the hole once the cutting is in place.


Of course I'm not growing all of this Basil for the look of it, we're busy using the leaves for all sorts of recipes such as our Pesto. I'll talk more about that in another post.

Guest Post: Basil Pesto

If you're a regular follower of this blog, then you'll know that we've been harvesting Basil from our Concrete Garden for over a  month now. In fact the rate the Basil is growing I don't see forsee any shortage of Basil occurring in the near future. Now you might be asking yourselves "What are they doing with all of that Basil?"

Well my readers, I'll happily admit that cooking is not my strong point, but luckily I'm blessed with an amazing cook for a wife, so to answer that question I'm going to turn you over to todays Guest Poster.

Lenore from

Mommy, Wait!. 

For more information on this and other recipes (Can you say Homemade Pesto Pizza!!!), you can follow Lenore on Twitter @LenoreWait

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When Chris asked me to guest post for him with a recipe using the abundant basil he’s grown in his concrete garden, I really couldn’t afford to say no. I have to live with him; he’s my husband, after all. So, I figured I’d start by sharing a recipe for one of the most basic and versatile things that you can make with basil: pesto. Its versatility is really the thing that I love most about basil aside from its intense herbaceous flavor; you can change up the ingredients based on either what you have on hand or on the flavor profile that you want to convey, plus you can use the pesto itself in hundreds of ways, both simple and complex.

 Stirred into some hot pasta with a little bit of the starchy pasta water added is probably the simplest way to serve pesto. If you add some grilled chicken and some freshly grated parmesan cheese, you have a perfect meal right there! Or, you can mix in some extra olive oil to make it a drizzle over a fresh mozzarella pizza (you can find my simple version of that pizza here), add it to grilled vegetables, or drizzle it over a tomato and basil salad as an easy party appetizer.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the recipe:

Basil Pesto

Ingredients:

3 cups basil leaves, washed
1-3 cloves garlic, depending on your preference (or, if you don’t have fresh garlic on hand, you can use ½ tbsp. garlic powder)
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup slivered almonds (toasted pine nuts are traditional for pesto, but frankly, they are really expensive, so I substitute the almonds and really love the flavor)
1/3-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1.       Roughly chop the garlic cloves

2.       Put the basil leaves, chopped garlic (or garlic powder), parmesan cheese, and slivered almonds into the bowl of a food processor.

3.       With the power on medium speed, slowly stream the olive oil through the top of the food processor, letting the oil combine with the rest of the ingredients.

4.       Add the oil until the pesto reaches your desired consistency, pulsing towards the end to make sure you don’t add too much.

5.       Serve as you wish or freeze!

As you can see, the directions for making pesto are incredibly simple with a food processor. Plus, the ingredients list is truly just a guideline. You can mix it up in a million ways, including changing up the herbs (try flat leaf parsley or cilantro!) and the nuts (peanuts maybe? Walnuts!) to get all sorts of unique flavors. Plus, pesto freezes beautifully. I usually freeze mine in a single container, but I know an awesome trick is to freeze it in ice cube trays, then pop out the cubes and store them in a large freezer bag. Whenever you want to use pesto, just pop out a couple of cubes, defrost, and you are good to go!

What are your favorite dishes to make using pesto? I’d love to hear about them here or over on my blog, Mommy, Wait! in Orlando, where I’ll be sharing more recipes using our garden’s produce over the next few weeks!



Basil Legacy

If you are a regular follower of me on Twitter (@flconcretegrdnr), you'll remember that on Friday I was tweeting all day about the rain that was due to be rolling through Central Florida this weekend. I can't help myself sometimes, like a lot of natives from England I have a particular passion for discussing the weather. The habit can be traced back to the early 1800's when England was a sea faring nation and the weather was an important topic at any breakfast table. I'm not quite at the borderline obsession point that some of my fellow Brits have reached, but the thought of a good shower rolling through and soaking my plants always makes me a happy gardener.

Yesterday afternoon however turned out to be a weather day I would rather forget. We had a couple of early storms roll through in the afternoon and one of them brought steady torrential rain which lasted for about thirty minutes. The soil in my Concrete Garden got soaked and that appears to have contributed to this happening.

I'll confess, I've been a little worried about the Basil for a few weeks now. It's been growing so well that its been taking over and over shadowing some of the other Herbs. I've been countering that by removing branches from the sides and discouraging further upwards growth . Sadly it looks like my efforts have been in vain and the plant has become too top heavy. The weight was just too much to cope with when the rain loosened up the soil yesterday and over fell a large portion of the plant. 

The news isn't all that bad however. The main branch didn't snap, so the Basil shouldn't die anytime soon and I have some supports I can use to prop it up in the meantime. This means I should still be able to farm the leaves and see if I can help the plant recover once the soil drys a bit. I've also been proactively preparing for the day that the Basil's time is done. I intend to turn the garden into a vast tomato making factory in a month or so when the daytime heat starts to slowly cool and the Basil would have had to have moved on to facilitate that plan anyway.

So in preparation, I've been taking cuttings from the Basil over the last week and starting new plants in a little area I have set aside for seedlings.

Basil is one of the easiest plants to grow from a cutting. Find a side shoot coming off one of the main branches and use a sharp pair of scissors to cleanly separate the two. It is best if you choose a portion of the plant that hasn't already flowered, this will help encourage growth. Strip any leaves from the lower half of the cutting and then place the cutting carefully in a container with rain water (or unfiltered tap water). Place the container somewhere where the cutting will receive indirect sunlight so that it doesn't overheat. Replace the water every couple of days until roots develop and then move carefully over to soil.

As you can see, I have three cuttings, one of which I have already moved to soil and two which I placed in water today. In a couple of weeks if all goes well I will be able to move my cuttings to a large, sturdy pot I have available and then I hope to be able to continue the wonderful legacy that my first Basil plant has started.

Harvesting the Cucumbers

It's been a busy week in the Garden. A couple of days ago I was out picking Basil and harvesting Corn and today while tending to my cucumber plants, I found these two gems camouflaged near the bottom of the plant.

After finding some female flowers on one of the plants two weeks ago, I have been eagerly watching and hand pollinating more female flowers so I was surprised to find these two mature Cucumbers. Either these two grew overnight or more likely I just need to be more observant. 

Cucumbers can be a challenge when determining ripeness. You can tell they are ready by lightly squeezing and seeing if they are firm and by checking the skin is taunt. Another good indicator is if the skin is medium to dark green in color. In the case of both of these they were just on the cusp of being ready. So why did I pick them?

When a cucumber becomes over ripe, they quickly turn yellow and rapidly become inedible. This can happen very quickly so if you are unsure if they are quite ready, it's better in my opinion to pick them when they are slightly immature, rather than waiting until the last minute. All you experience is a slight loss in flavor, but that's better than losing the cucumber altogether.

With my powers of observation reawakened, I also spotted three more young Cucumbers on the vines packed close together and you can be sure I'll be watching out for these and others in the coming days.

Harvesting the Corn

A couple of weeks ago, I eagerly talked about the progress that our Corn had been making. First the male flower (The Tassel) had grown at the top of each stalk and then a week later the female flower's (The Ear) started to appear. My only real concern at the time was whether I had been a little too ambitious in planting the corn in just one row and as such cause problems with Pollination.

Corn is always best picked first thing in the morning while the air is cool and before the sun has had a chance to sap away some of the vitamins and minerals from the plant. You can also wait until dusk, especially if you plan to eat the Corn that evening but early mornings in my opinion are the way to go. To pick, simply reach down and while firmly holding the husk, gently twist until it comes away cleanly from the plant.

If done correctly, the husk should look similar to this picture. Note the remains of the Ear at the top.

 

 

As it turns out, my concerns around pollination were well justified. Of the six ears that eventually developed full term, five of them ended up suffering from an under developed top. Only the center most Husk (on the far left of the picture below) was fully developed. 

Lesson learned for next time, when I'll make a point of planting at least two rows to see if I can encourage cross pollination and better development.

Overall, I've very pleased with the way the corn came out, especially given that it was my first attempt. I also took the opportunity to pick some more Basil and while most of which is being gifted to some friends, there's going to be enough left over for us to try making Corn and Basil Cakes later on today. I'll let you know how that goes.

Harvesting the Soybeans

If I ever had to pick my favorite day to potter around the garden, I would have to pick Saturday's. The beginning of the weekend always holds such promise and it's great to be able to spend some time without worrying about the heat, finishing in time to get to work or getting carried away with another project.

With the rain we've had every evening here for the last few nights, it's been difficult for me to get outside without getting completely soaked. Those few minutes I have managed in between rain showers have been devoted to checking on the soon to be picked Corn and the ongoing maintenance of the Cucumber plants. As a result I've been neglecting some of the other sturdier plants such as the Soy Beans.

Thankfully with my favorite day of the week finally here, I spent a glorious hour outside at sunrise this morning and to my surprise I found my Soy Bean crop was green, plump and ready to pick. Given that in a moment of poor planning I had planted the seeds right next to the Cucumbers (which subsequently took over the whole area and prevented the Soy plants from really getting into their stride) I was really pleased to see the haul we got from just the four plants that managed to grow.

I definitely think I'll try some more of these seeds, but this time in a better spot once I get the Corn Harvest picked and we have some more room, but in the meantime can anyone say "Soy Bean Humus" tonight?

More on Cucumber Flowers

It's hard to believe that its been almost eight weeks since I planted my two young Cucumber Plants. In that time both plants have been growing and spreading well, despite adverse weather and a continuing onslaught from one of the worse Aphid invasions I've ever seen.

I've been seeing plenty of flowers blossoming each morning, but until this evening I've only seen male flowers appearing. This isn't unusual in a young Cucumber plant. The plants need to devote all of their energy to growing and spreading so that the plant doesn't get overstressed when the time comes to bear fruit. Typically the male flowers appear early on during this growth, so that the plant can start attracting the visitors it going to need to spread the pollen when the time comes for it to start bearing fruit.

Finally, it appears that time has come.

While trimming back and spraying leaves last night, I came across the first female flowers I've seen. The flowers appear to only be on one plant although with the interweaving vines I couldn't tell you which one. In order to identify a female flower, you need to look for a young cucumber growing behind the flower such as the one in the picture below.

In order to pollinate the female flower so that the young cucumber continues to grow, it is necessary for a pollinating visitor to land on a male flower, pick up its pollen (usually by accident as it feeds) and then spread it to a female flower.

Of course if you want to help nature along you can always spread the pollen yourself. There are two typical ways you can do this. You can use a Q-Tip to spread collect male pollen and then spread that to the female flower, or you can pick a male flower off the vine, strip it of its leaves and then gently brush the male flowers anthers against the female flowers. 

When pollination is successful, the female flower will wither and the Cucumber will start to develop. Here's another flower I found where this has already started to happen.

 Now as long as I keep the Aphids at bay, I should start to see these flowers popping up and with some luck and care, there should be fresh Cucumbers on my table soon.

Basil Harvest

We finally seem to have settled back into our normal weather pattern here in Central Florida this week, which means consistent showers in the afternoon and of course lots of sunshine and humid heat. Some of the plants struggle with it, some thrive in it.

One of the plants that has really thrived is the Basil. Being a warm weather plant, it's really been thriving in all of the heat and we've been picking leaves almost daily. In fact its been thriving so well that its I had to trim one side back today in order to maintain a good supply of sunlight to the other plants nearby. The result of the trim was this huge bowl of leaves.

Of course, we still have a more than ample supply to work with so we'll be been bagging up these leaves tonight and giving them to friends and family.

Here comes the Corn

It's the middle of summer in Central Florida and like most of the East Coast, we've been sweltering and hiding away from the fierce sun. I've been trying to get outside daily to keep up with my Concrete Garden, but found that dawn really is the only pleasant time of day right now. At that point, right after the sun has risen just enough to allow me to see unaided, but not enough to start significantly heating the day I find I potter around for twenty minutes before I have to get ready to go to work. The end of those twenty minutes also makes for great light for photography, so this morning I took the opportunity to snap a couple of photos to show you the rapid developments going on with my corn.

The tassels first started showing up about a week ago and I've been eagerly awaiting the tell tale signs of the Silk Strands

and sure enough, late Friday Afternoon I spotted the first strands appearing. This morning I was able to lean in and snap a photograph of two of the strands. This is after just two days.

It should take about twenty days for the corn to be ready to harvest, we'll find out if my gamble with planting them in a single row to fertile the cobs will pay off, or if the recommendation to plant them in a number of rows was the way to go. For now however its going to be a waiting and pest watching game.

The Tower of Carrots

One of the more unique experiments that I'm trying this summer season is using my spare Argo Tower strawberry slots to grow Carrots. I purchased this easy to assemble set-up last year with the intention of growing Strawberries and if you take a look at the photograph, you can see my test plants on the top layer. I intend to add some irrigation and fill the rest of the slots with more seasons when the season re-opens in September, but with a couple of months spare and some available space, I though I would give the carrot seeds another go.

 

As you will recall, I attempted to grown carrots in my Concrete Garden Bed and before the wrath of Debby the carrots were growing well, even if they were a little slow to start, so I've planted two seeds in each of the six slots giving me the potential for twenty four carrots once I thin out any extras. Each bowl is deep enough to allow the carrots to grown and each side gets some full sun each day.

Hopefully soon, I'll be munching on some carrots.  

After the Storm - TLC

WOW, what a wild week of weather we've had. Last week started with an unwelcome visit from Tropical Storm Debby. Highlights of Debby's visit included 5 inches of rain being dropped in a 36 hour period here in Central Florida, along with large gusts of wind that blew debris all over the place.

 After Debby moved offshore, a heat-wave settled in taking temperatures into the mid to high 90's with no cloud cover to protect my recovering plants, small wonder that my Concrete Garden is in need of a little TLC.

While most of the plants survived the weather, sadly we had to bid farewell to the Onion Chives, Carrots and Winter Squash. My experimental Gutter Guard worked well, but wasn't built to withstand that much water being delivered in that short a time. A redesign is in order.

Not everything suffered however, the Basil loved all of the rain and has really got into its stride. We've starting picking leaves to make fresh Pesto with.

Another plant that seems to be doing well is the Sweet Corn. Of the eight seeds I planted last month, seven produced plants and we're waiting eagerly to see the cob starting to form.

 

The Cucumber continues to grow well, although the Aphid infestation is taking its toll. The natural remedies I've tried do seem to have had some effect and I've seen a few beneficial insects arriving, but unless I see a dramatic improvement in the next 48 hours, I'm going to have to resort to a spray of some sort to save the crop.

 Finally the rest of the Herbs and the Lettuce are recovering well and my rabbit is happily chewing on his first test leave as I type.

So with the bed weeded, the remains of the Carrots, Onion Chives and Winter Squash removed and everything freshly watered, I'm going to duck back inside before the sun starts getting too hot and work out what I'm going to plant in the empty spaces.

Key Lime Tree - Picking the Crop

It's been a month or so since I lasted talked about my Key Lime Tree. In fact the last time was just before I introduced the Concrete Garden Bed, wow time fly's.

Well back then I was hoping to harvest some Key Limes towards the end of May, but the monsoon weather we've been having over the last few weeks and the lack of sun put (excuse the pun) a dampener on that plan.

 However the sun has been out and this morning I was finally able to harvest this years first crop.

I also took some time to prune, fertilze and generally give the tree a bit of tender loving care. With luck, the tree will take a rest and start to bud in the next week or so, just about the time I'll have all this fruit juiced, peeled and in cupcakes and pies.

Concrete Garden: Building

As I mentioned in yesterdays Blog, there were a number of potential problems that I needed to address before I could realistically set about building a Raised Garden Bed on my Concrete Slab. The primary problem I had to solve was of course space. Obviously I wanted to make sure that I had enough room to make a Raised Garden Bed worthwhile and I also wanted to make sure that I was going to be able to work on it from all four sides.

So I set about removing all of the items that were currently sat on the Slab before getting out my trusty measuring tape. As you can see from the picture below, the right-hand side of my Concrete Slab receives the majority of the sunlight, while the left-hand side is normally shaded throughout most of the day. With the sunlight as a guide, I worked out that I could build a Raised Garden Bed and allow myself a narrow walkway within a 48 by 80 inch area.

The next problem I had to grapple with was the type of enclosure that I wanted to use. I had already determined that I didn’t want to use a pre-fabricated enclosure. Not only would doing so restrict me from maximizing my available space, but the cost of buying such an enclosure would stretch my budget without giving me any real benefit for the added cost.

So I took a long look at the cost and strength of various Plastic and Wood Panels compared the various techniques for building an enclosure and got a little discouraged, that is until I hit upon a simple, durable and cost effective solution.

Concrete Blocks.  

Concrete Blocks would blend nicely with the underlying Concrete Slab, are durable, cheap and unlikely to be blown, flooded or moved out of place during some of the more extreme weather that we can get here in Central Florida. They are easy to fit together, don’t require any assembly and the two large holes in each block allowed me the flexibility to plant compact flowers and crops. Finally at 8 inches wide, 8 inches deep and 16 inches long, the blocks fit perfectly into my designated available space.

With my available space assigned and the Concrete Blocks assembled, the final problem I was concerned about was drainage. Unlike a conventional Raised Garden Bed which can rely on excess water draining through it and into the underlying soil, my Raised Garden Bed is going to sit on a non-porous, flat, Concrete Slab. After some research and closer examination of the Concrete Blocks, I realized that if I had a small gap underneath each Concrete Block, I could rely on gravity pushing out any excess water and the plants to drink anything that was left. In the end I decided to line the bottom of my Raised Garden Bed and its Concrete Blocks with a product called Weed Block. This relatively cheap product is in essence a fine mesh that is designed to stop weeds from pushing in to a soil based Raised Garden Bed, while allowing water to seep out. In my case, the Weed Block will lift the Concrete Blocks just enough to allow water to seep out underneath them while stopping soil from escaping and staining my Concrete Slab.  

With my building materials purchased, I measured out the Weed Block and cut it to size. I had purchased the smaller of the two rolls that were available in order to save on cost, so I measured and cut out two 26 by 80 inch strips which allowed for a little overlap when laid next to each other. I placed one strip down, aligned and flattened it out until it was in the place that I had marked out and then started weighing it down with Concrete Blocks as I made final adjustments. Finally I had one whole side assembled.

Important Note:   Each Concrete Block has a small channel on the bottom. Be sure to lay the Block down so that this channel is facing down, this channel will assist with any drainage that is needed.

Once I was happy with the layout and appearance of my initial work, I laid down the other strip of Weed Block and placed the remaining Concrete Blocks down on top of it. I then checked each block to make sure that it was snug against its neighbors and that the Weed Block covered all available space.

Once I was happy that everything was laid out correctly, I checked that the Weed Block was fulfilling its primary role by soaking the entire enclosure with water. As I watched, the water seeped out in the manner that I intended and it became clear that short of a monsoon, drainage would not be a problem.

With everything in place, the final building task for the day was to fill the main growing space and small side growing spaces with soil. While I would normally prefer to use generic soil and control the amount of fertilizer going into the garden, I ended up taking advantage of a special offer and purchased six bags of Miracle Gro which I poured in and racked. I also treated myself to a trellis with the savings and placed it with respect to the normal movement of the sun on the northern end of the garden. 

 

The last step I preformed today was to soak the soil and leave it overnight. While I was sure the Weed Block would do its work and retain the soil, I wanted to be entirely sure before doing any planting, I also wanted to let the soil breath some before planting. 

Talking of planting, check back tomorrow and see what we decide to put in our new Concrete Garden Bed

Concrete Garden Bed: Preview

In my Blog Post this morning, I mentioned that I was going to stop by the plant nursery at my local Home Depot today and see if anything jumped out and inspired me.

When I got there, I idly walked the aisles, checked out some herbs plants with an idea of making a small indoor herb garden and I also picked up this leaflet. When I got home this evening I ideally glanced at the leaflet, remembered why it had caught my eye before taking a closer look.

The picture in the leaflet is that of a wooden Raised Garden Bed with some herbs and a tomato plant growing inside it. Now I’ve never used, seen or built a Raised Garden Bed so I was curious. I took to the internet to look at prices and sizes of pre-fabricated enclosures. After some more research I started to get really interested. A Raised Garden Bed would allow me to build a small herb garden as well as add some summer vegetables, all without the need to pot each plant. Of course the big problem I had was the normal one. Where would I put such a Raised Garden Bed without pulling up Concrete slabs or planting outside my property?

I don’t know where the actual idea ultimately came from, but once it occurred, the details slowly formed in my mind until I had a working blueprint.

The question that lead to my idea was ‘What was actually stopping me from building a Raised Garden Bed on my existing Concrete Slab?’

 It was an interesting idea and I tried to think of problems that would need to be addressed if the idea was to work. I made of note of them. Problems such as ‘Did I realistically have the space?’, ‘Would I be able to put soil down on the slab without damaging it?’ and ‘Would I have to use a prefabricated enclosure, or would I need to build something myself?’ were all presented and solved.

So after spending a couple of hours doing research this evening, I think I've come up with a viable, low cost, but efficient way to build a Raised Garden Bed on a Concrete Slab.

Tomorrow, I’m setting out to buy the materials and build it. Check back soon to see my results.

Farewell Tomato's

With the summer heat building here in Central Florida, my tomato plants which until now have been providing us fresh tomato's on an almost daily basis, have been struggling to set fresh fruit. Tomato's love heat, but not too much of it. They generally set fruit best when the temperature holds steady between 70 and 80 degrees which makes them a great Fall and Spring plant, but with temperatures now firmly stuck in the low 90's here in the Orlando area, I think its time to close out my 2011/2012 season.

So with my tomato plants about to meet their demise and the new season at least six months away, it's time to start thinking about what summer crops will work best in my potted plant jungle. I'm due to go to my local Home Depot today, so I think I will swing by and check out the plant nursery and see if I can get a little inspiration.

Introducing the Key Lime Tree

One of the first images that sprang to my mind when I found out I was moving to Central Florida were Citrus trees. More specifically Orange Citrus trees gently swaying in the well tended groves in a gentle breeze.

So it seems natural that one of the first purchases I was determined to make when the gardening bug bit me was a small Citrus Tree, a Key Lime Citrus Tree..

Why a Key Lime Tree you ask? Why not one of the Orange Tree's from your dream image?
The answer was simple, My Wife’s Key Lime Pie.

Like many of my early plants, the tree started off by adorning one of the many display stands at the local Home Depot from down the road. It was a small tree with plenty of leaves, although there was no fruit on it. It looked healthy enough and more importantly at the time, it was small enough to fit in the car. We also purchased a large green fiberglass pot with a removable rubber plug and plenty of soil. The color of the pot was deliberate; one of the challenges of maintain a garden of any kind when living in a townhome (certainly in Florida) is the inevitable HOA (Home Owners Association) and all of the rules they enforce regarding the appearance of the development they rule over. Given that I wanted to put the tree and its container in a nice sunlit spot outside the front of the house, I wanted to do so in a tasteful manner that would allow the tree to blend in.

Thankfully it did blend in and as expected this January the tree started to flower again and before long the tree was covered in little white buds. However misfortune struck, a freak cold front came through unexpectedly in the night and all but a few of my beautiful buds fell to the ground. In the end just one of the few remaining buds left managed to fully flower and produced a fruit. I picked the fruit yesterday, juiced it and in honor of the first fruit of 2012 planted the seeds, I thought it would be interesting to plant the seeds and see if I could grow a tree from scratch.

I took one of my plain, small, pre-soiled plant pots and ensured that the soil was well watered. Then I placed a two seeds in each half of the pot and lightly covered with more soil. Finally I placed the pot in a spot where it is sheltered from any wind and rain but can receive at least six hours sun a day.

Meanwhile I’m glad to say that the parent tree again blossomed again in March and now near the end of May, here we are waiting for the fruit to finish ripening. My taste buds can’t wait…..

An Introduction

'It's hard to appreciate what you have until it's gone.' I'd heard the saying many times, but the lesson only really hit home after I moved from the England in the United Kingdom to the state of Florida in the United States.

From driving on the wrong side of the road, to the change in diet and of course the heat, the endless searing heat, I was bewildered by all of the changes that suddenly occurred, but gradually adapted and even thrived in this strange new environment.

After a couple of years of kicking around apartments, we managed to buy a small townhouse and I looked with some small measure of dismay at the concrete slab in what I would laughingly be calling our garden. Gone I thought was my dream of emulating the rich tillered backyard of my parents vegetable garden back home... At least until now.

Though this blog I will share my thoughts, experiments, failures and successes as I turn my concrete slab into my very own Concrete Vegetable Garden.