Milk and Cookies
with Kristen
I'm a mother of five, a bargain hunter, a recreational comparison shopper, and always trying to make more time - for me and for you, too. On this blog I'm sharing my favorite tools and finds to help make your work-life juggle a bit easier.
You can find my personal blog at Swistle.blogspot.com.
This is the spider plant that dominates the living room. Back when my oldest child was in preschool, his class went on a field trip to a greenhouse. Each child was given a baby spider plant. I didn’t try real hard not to kill it: I don’t like spider plants. Of course it is thriving, and has thrivened for years, and when I am an incapacitated invalid it will be moved to my hospital bedside because my caretakers will imagine that such an old and healthy plant must be special to me.
I bought a peppermint plant this year for the kitchen. It has two jobs. One: Ant control. I’d read that ants don’t like mint. (Do you see that tiny little black thing on one of the leaves? IT IS AN ANT.) Two: Boozy infusions. I’m hoping to make peppermint-flavored vodka.
I bought a little “Christmas Tree Kit” from Target’s dollar section last Christmas. This is the third pot of them I’ve started, chosen for this photo based on cuteness: the bigger ones are less twee, more tree. I keep them on my kitchen windowsill, not on the outside railing, but the kitchen windowsill had very poor light for a portrait. My plan is to plant all these trees in the yard eventually, for shade and windbreak.
This basil, too, resides on the kitchen windowsill when not posing for its portrait. I started this on a whim, because Paul loves pesto. But…now what? They need to be transplanted, but I’m really more about the “putting seeds into the cute pot” and less about the “weeding and tending.”
I love jade plants; they’re so shiny and pretty, in a way the photo doesn’t do justice. They’re extremely easy to propogate: you just snap off a stem piece just above a two-leaf spread, and stick the stemmy end into the dirt. Or, if you want to be all botanist about it, you can first balance it in a little dish of water until you see roots, and THEN plant it. I had a jade plant in college and I gave away its babies to everyone I knew. Then the jade suffered a dorm-related accident, which shouldn’t have been fatal but was.
ANYWAY, so when I was at the vet’s office and saw they had a large jade, I snapped off a baby and put it into my purse. Then I FORGOT ABOUT IT FOR TWO DAYS. When I remembered about it, I planted it more on a whim than anything else: I’m no botanist, but I know you can’t typically take a cutting and then leave it in a purse for two days. And yet–it rooted and it put out those two littlest leaves you see on the top.
Mrs. Meyer’s lemon verbena scent is my favorite, and it smells a lot like one of my favorite perfumes (L’Eau de L’Artisan). (Forgive me, L’Artisan, for comparing your expensive French perfume to a cleaning product.) So when I saw that a lemon verbena plant could be purchased and brought home, I did so. But…now what? I took a leaf and kind of squished it up and rubbed it on my neck and wrists, and two things happened: (1) I smelled like Lemon Pledge, and (2) I itched. I’m wondering, though, if I could add leaves to a spritz bottle of homemade cleaning fluid, to make it smell a little nicer?
Sunflowers! These are fun to plant because they grow so fast. We’re hoping to harvest the seeds to feed the birds this winter, but we don’t really know how to do that so my guess is that the birds will just eat them now.
What are you growing, and why?
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I started a garden this year. I had dh build me a garden box and I planted tons of seeds. Everything’s coming up, we’ll see what we get.
I keep dishes of violets on my kitchen window sill. Despite killing everything else that is green and enters my house, I am a master violet grower. My grandmother was too. I’ve been told that they’re hard to keep alive. It works for me.
I’d love to have more indoor plants but I fear the killing. Perhaps I’ll try the jade plant baby trick. They seem violet like to me.
Oh and outside, I have a random assortment of flowers in beds near the house. I can grow any rose I plant. I WANT hydrangeas but they are just slowly plodding along.
Amanda | June 17th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I bought those little basil seeds at Target too, with the tiny pot. I’ve already transplated them to a bigger small pot but they seem to have stopped growing. I’m guessing they need to be moved again, but I don’t even know when basil is done, or what it should look like. Should I dry it? Freeze it? I think I see a consultation with google in my near future.
Let’s see, I’m also growing in pots:
strawberries
poppies
zinnias
sunflowers that I recently transplated to the actual ground and I think they died…
In the garden:
3 kinds of squash
2 kinds of lettuce
sweet corn
pumpkins
watermelon
peas
green beans
tomatoes
Devan | June 17th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
We have four plants, and there’s a reason for each of them. An orchid, which replaces the orchid that I had to leave behind when we moved from DC and which subsequently died while in my sister’s care. A “succulent plant” from Ikea that I bought when I graduated college and which is, miraculously, still thriving, despite the fact that I left it in the car in sub-freezing temperatures while on the road trip from DC to CO. An aloe plant, in case either of us burns ourselves. And a hanging blue lobelia on our patio, because there was a hook there and we had to hang SOMETHING on it. Right?
Jess | June 17th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Kristin, have you tried looking for recipes using the lemon verbena? I bed it’d be good in a stuffing for chicken or fish. Also my dad grew sunflowers for the birds, and he showed me how to get the seeds out - cut the head off, let it dry in the sun, then grab a big tub and shake the head against the sides. Then if you sift them onto a flat tray and carefully toss them during a light breeze, the chaff will blow away & voila, you’re left with whole seeds. Or, if you’re lazy like me, you just let the birds pick the seeds out of the heads themselves.
I have a full-blown veggie garden with a little of everything - tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans, squash, salad greens, etc etc. plus pots of herbs on the patio - two kinds of basil, cilantro, parsley, and mint - and perennial beds surrounding the house - coneflowers, hydrangeas, poppies, hostas, etc etc. This is my second year with a real garden, and I’m kind of going overboard! Gardening is so therapeutic to me.
jen | June 17th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Ooo, this is fun for me. Here’s a short, non-exhaustive list!
I grow some stuff for food. This year I have Ozark Beauty Strawberries, Juan Flamme and Beefsteak tomatoes, zucchini and yellow crookneck squash, jalapeño peppers for the husband, cantaloupe, basil (for pesto and Italian dishes), cilantro (for salsa), parsley (for everything), and dill (for feeding rabbits so I can call them ‘pickle bunnies…but also sometimes for potato salad.) I think you should put your basil in the ground outside near your sunflowers. It will get big and you can freeze pesto like Catherine Newman. Whee!
I do grow some stuff just for pretties. I have a few different rose bushes, some pink weigela and lilacs. Daylilies, creeping phlox, marigolds, zinnias, and morning glories.
I grow organic food because it is good for the family, good for the environment, and good for my soul. The flowers make me smile every time I pull into the driveway. I feel like it makes my house a home.
Misty | June 17th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
We’re growing chickens this year! That’s because I’m not a great gardener, nor do I have the patience. But I have neighbors who have fabulous produce, and I want to barter my chicken’s eggs for their tomatoes!! (Haven’t figured out the units of barter though…suggestions welcome!)
We are also trying a little herb garden with oregano, parsley, rosemary and basil. We’ll see how that goes. Finally, I’ve got 2 Meyer Lemon trees that haven’t taken off yet.
spacegeek | June 17th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Oh dear, let’s see. In pots: Mother’s Day marigolds, Arbor Day trees, tomatoes, morning glories, parsley, basil.
In the ground: rhubarb, zucchini, watermelon, LOTS of flowers and herbs, and I just planted raspberry and blueberry bushes.
Nowheymama | June 17th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
OK, this is one of those things I always thought I needed to do to make me a complete person. So my kids are 2 and we have planted a few things. Sunflowers, snow peas, and baby carrots. The sunflowers sprouted but didn’t survive transplanting - possibly because of the abuse they suffered at my kids’ hands. The peas were doing great until I gave them a little more space out on the hill, and the deer decided they were tasty. The carrots must be really baby, baby carrots because every time I pull one out, I don’t see anything edible, but maybe I’m not patient enough. All in all, it was a nice lesson for the kids to see how to get green things to grow. Maybe next year we’ll go the next step and actually get to eat the results.
SKL | June 17th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
We plant what grows well and we eat - tomatoes (romas and cherries), seranos and jalapenos. When we have too much we make salsa and freeze it in zip baggies to use (mostly as taco seasoning) throughout the year.
This year hubby is trying his hand at herbs- dill and rosemary.
I have a small mint in the kitchen window that I use in iced tea (so it stays cropped short) and a teeny jade in a teeny pot that my mother gave me that I neglect totally but feel too guilty to throw away.
The best plant I have is a huge gorgeous- everyone comments on it!- hanging spider plant on the back porch. You can see it from the diningroom table. But - it is fake!! There is a family of tiny little birds that nests in it year after year and it is so fun to watch them flit around etc.
Deanna | June 18th, 2009 at 11:26 am
In the garden: beans (5 kinds, 2 green, 2 yellow, 1 black), zucchini, tomatoes (several varieties), peppers (4 varieties), peas, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, lettuce, parsley.
On the deck in a cool herb garden pot: basil, dill, thyme. I couldn’t find rosemary seeds; rosemary grows so well!
Daisy | June 19th, 2009 at 12:34 am
I am growing the world’s saddest basil next to my sink. I’ve snipped off leaves & I think it’s trying to grow new ones, but I don’t know if these remaining stems should be pulled out or snipped or what.
I’m desperately wanting to grow tomatoes and zucchini and cilantro, but I can’t imagine that a couple of months of 115 degrees is conducive. I think I’ll wait until the summer breaks and then plant in pots in October. Can you even get tomato plants in October? Phoenix is so different than North Dakota.
Tessa | June 19th, 2009 at 3:59 am
I like green and started gardening from this year.
Now it’s time to harvest tomatos, egg plants and green peppers. And I plant a lemon tree. I hope I can use the skin of lemon unlike the ones in store.
Next year, I want to try “green curtain”, which are made of morning glories and covered living windows so as to cut the sunshine and get cooler.
Keiko | June 23rd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Well, if it was legal, I’d be growing pot. Because I could make a lot of money off that. LOL.
Robyn | June 24th, 2009 at 4:50 am
Totally randomly, I have basil and squash going outside in pots, from seedlings that someone brought in to my husband’s office. I suspect grasshoppers are munching on the basil. Squash blossoms are very pretty! I have no idea if I’m ever going to get actual veggies, but we’ll see. I also have a carnation plant that my mom gave up on, which is alive but not flowering. Indoors I have a lovely petunia that’s amazingly tough; it’s survived numerous droughts (that is, periods where no one watered it). But what I am most excited about is the avocado pit, which I poked with toothpicks forever ago, because it actually sprouted this week, and has a 6-inch shoot coming out the top. Only 8 years before it flowers!
Jenny | June 24th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Oh, re the lemon verbena, I bet you could make a tincture with the leaves (I think you’d pour boiling water on and let them steep), and then use that when concocting homemade cleaning spray.
Jenny | June 24th, 2009 at 6:29 pm