Let It Bolt: Free Seed from Lettuce and Cilantro
Your bolted lettuce and cilantro aren’t garden failures. They’re next year’s free seed. Here’s exactly how to collect and store it before it’s gone.
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Science Fair – Will smaller seeds sprout faster?
This site was practically started because of my oldest daughters science fair project Why Don’t Strawberries Grow in the Wintertime? Now with my youngest in kindergarten she was very excited to have a science fair project of her own, which should be pretty obvious from the picture above. With no influence from me she decided on answering the question if smaller seeds will sprout faster. These days science fairs…
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cilantro | cold season crops | garlic bulbs | onions | peppers | tomato
Earth Day in the garden
I decided to take the day off to catch up on some things at home and as I ended up outside of course I went right to the garden. We have seen a few warm days here in the Northwest and in my area we haven’t dipped under 40 degrees at night so seemed like a good time to plant a few of my tomatoes spending their time this…
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Cost of Hydroponic Nutrients
The first time you walk into a hydroponic store there can be a little sticker shock. At first it doesn’t look too bad, $14 for this bottle…oh wait I have to buy these three as well and you leave the store paying $80 to grow some basil and lettuce. Being cheap I like to know how much I will be spending on a hobby before I start out so…
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cilantro | coriander | harvest | seed saving | seeds
How to save coriander/cilantro seeds from your garden
Cilantro (at least that is what we call the plant in the United States) and the seed coriander as it is know to the rest of the world is the first plant I ever collected seeds from. What I like about cilantro/coriander is that its flowers actually grow great and the bees seem to like them. As an added bonus the collection of seeds really couldn’t be easier. Like…
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giveaway | harvest | seed saving | seeds
Giveaway: $1354.83 worth of fresh produce
Ok there is a little catch, you have to plant the seeds and grow the produce yourself and have perfect weather and unlimited space to do it. Over the past season I have intentionally harvested more seeds than I needed just for the purpose of sharing them so here is your first chance to get some of CVG’s seed stash. This should be a good addition to your current…
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giveaway | seed saving | seeds
Hometown Seeds – variety pack give away
Recently I was approached by Hometown seeds if I would be interested in receiving a variety pack of their top selling seeds, my first instinct was “woohoo free stuff.” Though instead I decided it would offer the seeds to my awesome readers. Well that and with all the seed saving I have been doing this year I have more seeds than I know what to do with. Hometown Seeds…
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Garden Salsa recipe
Big moment this week, I was able to make salsa entirely from ingredients. I normally don’t use cherry/grape tomatoes for salsa but my Early Girls are not that early this year and have not quite turned red. CVG Garden Salsa Recipe 2-3 tomatoes (or 12-15 cherry/grape tomatoes) 2 cloves garlic 1 small onion green onion 5 sprigs of cilantro tablespoon vinegar 1 jalapeno pepper (seeded) sugar Directions: Coarsely chop…
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Mango Salsa Recipe
I am starting to get some cherry tomatoes turning red but not enough to make salsa so yet again so I decided to make some Mango Salsa. It is great to eat on tortilla chips the same you would for regular salsa or black bean corn salsa. One of my favorite things to do with is as a topping to blackened salmon (salmon grilled with dusting of Cajun seasoning)…
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Black Bean and Corn Salsa Recipe
My jalapeños peppers have been growing like crazy and I have had to start harvest to prevent the plants from stop producing. Given my tomatoes are still green I have been itching to do something with them, I decided to make some corn salsa. Given I couldn’t find a recipe that matched the ingredients I had on hand I decided to make my own. CVG Black Bean and Corn…
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cilantro | freezing | herbs | mint | peppermint
How to freeze herbs
One of my goals in my garden is to make salsa entirely from ingredients from my own garden. In the past I have come close only requiring the purchase of a couple jalapeño peppers from the grocery store but this year with much effort and a strangely hot summer for the Pacific Northwest I have all the ingredients growing in my garden. Though unfortunately the ingredient cilantro could be…
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cheap | seed saving | seeds
How to grow seeds in your garden
Because of a strange heat wave we had in June, I seem to be growing more seeds than vegetables this year. Now as they say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. In that spirit I am planning on increasing the number of plants I will allow to completely go to seed this year. I have always saved cilantro seeds, the first time it was almost an accident my…