New Year's Day - Plant Potatoes!

Dear Folks,

My New Year's Day tradition is to plant potatoes, below is a collage of how we set this up in a raised bed.


This is the easiest way to plant potatoes for easy harvesting. Some folks have also used chicken wire tubes or old tires. Any of these concepts work okay.

You can try your hand at potato growing with store bought potatoes which are trying to sprout or have 'eyes' projecting out. Cut the potato into sections with 2-3 eyes per section, let dry on the counter for a couple of days and plant on January 1st. (In the picture you are seeing the 'seed potatoes' I save in my crisper drawer from the prior season growing.)

The most important thing to understand is that the growing potatoes must be covered at all times. Solanine is a toxic chemical reaction to sun light turning the skin of potatoes green and it CANNOT be cooked out.

Continue covering the potatoes as they grow to the depth of the raised container. Plan on harvesting in late Spring.

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

Achieve greater success with edible landscaping in the desert with my reminder subscription service - just $21/year gives you very detailed planting, harvesting and using tips several times a month, including more information about planting potatoes as above and other edibles.

My Ginger Project

Dear Folks,

I love using ginger and several times I've tried to grow it, and failed - another of my trowel and error experiments from which I hope to benefit and pass the lessons learned on to you.

Exactly one month ago I planted ginger in 3 places in the garden. Pictured here is one of the plants coming up -- I took the picture this morning.

As a tropical herb, ginger root is actually the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale. (The botanical plate here is from Kohler's Medicinal Plants, published in 1887 by Franz Eugen Köhler. (Tumeric and cardamon and galangal are also members of the zingiberaceae family.)

I have tried several times to grow ginger and I did not pay enough attention to what it needed to germinate from the rhizome "roots" - they need warm soil to germinate. Next year I'm going to get the ginger pieces in the ground in August, to ensure enough warm soil growth because I am not sure at this point that the current plants will have enough root growth on them to get them through the winter cooler soil and air temps -- but we will see.

As with my garlic experiment I would like to have my own local supply of ginger rather than purchasing the chain-store Asian imported varieties. According to the general growing information on ginger it requires an even longer growing season than garlic - about 10 months, so I figure that my best possible harvesting time will be in June or July.

Ginger is an amazing food plant with many health benefits on top of the great taste. Growing up my mother "dosed" us with ginger ale or mint tea any time we had tummy aches. True ginger ale sold commercially (many are artificially flavored) still is good for tummy problems for most people. Ginger tea or ginger added to chicken broth is also good for sore throats and respiratory-related ills like colds and allergies. And some folks like candied ginger for headaches.

I adapted a recipe from Ming Tsai for making my own candied ginger and resulting ginger syrup to make home made ginger ale.

You need equal parts of peeled and sliced ginger, granulated sugar and water - example 1 cup of peeled and sliced ginger - make slices the same size 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick - choose firm unblemished ginger, 1 cup each sugar and water. In a pot heat to dissolve sugar in water (I like to use an organic granulated sugar*) add ginger and simmer until the syrup is reduced by about 1/3 to 1/2 - thicker syrup is much stronger.

Have a plate on which you have sprinkled more sugar. Using tongs, take the ginger pieces out, drain over the pot and lay on the sugar, single layer. Turn the syrup off. Turn the ginger slices to coat the other side. Ready a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and preheat oven to 225. Dry candied ginger in the oven for 2-3 hours until they are leathery, but not brittle.

Shake off excess sugar into the syrup pot, and store candied ginger in glass jar - does not have to be refrigerated. Add a bit more water to the syrup pot and bring back to a boil (I like to capture every drop of the ginger/sugar). Remove from heat and pour into a sterile bottle. Cap and refrigerate - will last about a month.

To make ginger ale, mix 1/4 cup of syrup with 3/4 cup of cold sparkling water of choice (seltzer, club soda, Perrier etc.) Optional slice of lemon and/or a sprig of mint completes a very refreshing drink which just happens to be good for you too.

* If you want to try making the candied ginger with honey or agave nectar reduce the proportion from 1 cup of sugar to 3/4 cup of honey or agave nectar.

. . .

I added a gift subscription option to the reminder gardening service. Click here for information.

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

Greening -- Practical Ecnomy - The Home Garden

Dear Folks,

"Practical Economy" is the term I like to apply to growing your own edibles either by yourself or in conjunction with neighbors for your own "neighborhood community garden."

Who does not need 'practical economy' now - if you do not know someone who was downsized, reduced to a restricted income, or struggling to raise a family on low wages, you are very, very lucky.

I just learned about the extent of the food and nutrition program or Nutrition Assistance (formerly called food stamps) for those who qualify for the EBT card version (this is a debit-type card) of the food purchasing supplement. For those who qualify (can include seniors, working 'poor', disabled, unemployed, and other limited/low-income folks) the EBT - where accepted can be used to purchase not only food, but also seeds and plants to grow your own food at your home! How neat is that! See the government site here for information and what is covered by the EBT.

So what retailers will accept the EBT card? Well that is an interesting question posed to me by a reader, a single mother raising children on her limited salary. So I went searching and asking questions of not only the Mesa Farmers Market where I sell plants, cuttings and seeds, but I also started to inquire around the valley.

Here is the basic information. If your local farmers market and/or the individual farmers and food producers accept the EBT then you can purchase food plants and seeds for food plants from them.

Click here to find markets in Arizona and look for the words "foods stamps" under the Market Name. Currently the ability to purchase plants and seeds is NOT available to those receiving only WIC supplements - I understand that is supposed to be reviewed by the government sometime in the future.

How about plant nurseries?

Jay Harper at Harper Nurseries and Landscaping - one of the valley's oldest family-owned (3 generations), locally run nurseries, told me no one has asked as of yet, but he is pretty sure their systems will accept the EBT card for food plant and food seed purchases. Since each retailer or group (like the farmers markets) have to apply to be able to accept EBT, not everyone who sells plants and seeds may be able to take the EBT card. Check with your neighborhood retailer.

I am getting this information out in hopes that all local retailers of food plants and seed for food plants will consider becoming qualified to accept EBT. Instead of grass-roots we can call this a "food-roots" effort. Even if you personally do not need EBT, nor know anyone who does, this is about helping as many people as possible grow some of their own food -- Practical Economy for now and in the future.

I am working on seeking out other possible sources for those wishing to use some of their EBT supplement to garden with - the potential bounty and food savings of a cared-for-food garden far exceeds the cost of seeds and some plants, a huge potential that should be considered by any one, but particularly by those living on fixed or limited incomes.

Kimber Lanning the founder and president of LocalFirstAZ is excited about this idea and is going to get the word out to members. Click here to go to LFA for information on any product or service you need (not just food sources), and support your local community businesses and neighbors.

You CANNOT use the EBT card to purchase food through the Internet - another reason to find close-by local producers and another win/win situation supporting local producers of not only food, but food plants and food plant seeds.

For Arizona residents click here to learn how someone you know may qualify for the program.

For more general information and frequently asked questions see here - one common misconception is that this program is "welfare" - it is not - no longer called welfare, the "Cash Assistance" recipients may also qualify for the nutrition assistance program but the two programs are different, separately managed and have different qualification criteria.

One last note about growing some of your own food - in her book Animal Vegetable Miracle, Barbara Kinsolver comments about their trip through Italy and how every single home in the areas they visited had some form of vegetable garden, no matter how small, nor location -- it is simply the way it is done there and has always been. Modern times have given us many benefits, but let's go backwards to the time our grandparents always had a kitchen garden, it was the way it was done, and then came TV dinners -- if you want TV dinners you can make your some from your own backyard! Now that is a real benefit.

And, just so you know, I may sell a couple more packages of seeds or a few more plants, but this really about my basic passion and mission - I want YOU, who ever you are, to garden successfully and enjoy the thrill and taste of food from your own backyard.

Have a great day in the garden, (early morning and evening of course, right now),


-- Catherine, The Herb Lady