Rooting Rosemary

1 Oct 2017
Trying to root rosemary plants.
Bought a packet of rosemary from Mustafa's for $2. It was a huge packet. I gave about a third of the pack to a friend, made some rosemary chicken fillet and still had all these stalks left for rooting. Even the bottom leaves (that were removed to avoid the water) formed a nice pile for drying.

Tips garnered from Facebook group "Urban Farmers".

The rosemary plants should be suspended above the water for rooting. The bottom tips should touch the water but just a little bit. As a rough gauge, not more than 1 cm. This way, the stem will not rot.

10 Oct 2017: No roots yet. Some people said that their plants rooted after 1-2 weeks. Or even longer. Planting needs patience but the rewards are really satisfying there is success.
16 Oct 2017: No roots. So, trimmed most of the leaves except a few at the top. Cut off stems that had browned. Wait again.

17 Oct 2017: Hope these will root!

23 Oct 2017: All gone except for one last hope.

Last attempt - last good stalk.

30 Oct 2017: So, this round of rosemary rooting has been a total failure. Even the last hope has died.

Comments

Farfalle

Made some farfalle - I was intrigued by the prettiness of the shape. It's hard work though, all for the sake of the jagged edges. I cleaned out my old craft scissors to do the cutting. Now I realised that the commercial pasta only has jagged edges on the ends of the 'bows'. Not the other side! Well, I may not make this again. The middle of the bow is thick, as expected. So, there's more 'bite' there! But the lemon sauce with cheese, spring onions, cherry tomatoes and lemon zest - that was really refreshing. Uneven sizes and thickness but they still look pretty. Simple lemon, olive oil sauce with some cheese.

The old writers

I first noticed these words in a novel. Only the first three lines as the writer was describing a fear and restlessness but not a seeking of the divine. I looked for them later and there they were, in the Service Book in church. Part of the Evening Prayer, it may seem out of sorts for us city dwellers with lights everywhere, all the time. But, the night is still there, darkness still in us. These writers of old, they write so well. Or maybe they just knew their God better. in your mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night

Okinawan Spinach

A friend gave me a cutting of Okinawan Spinach. Yay, new vegetable to try planting. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynura_bicolor Gynura bicolor, hongfeng cai 紅鳳菜, okinawan spinach or edible gynura, is a member of the chrysanthemum family (Asteraceae). It is native to China, Thailand, and Myanmar but grown in many other places as a vegetable and as a medicinal herb. Since most of the leaves needed to be removed for the rooting, I made a salad. This was a 'Global' Salad with Okinawan Spinach, Mexican Asparagus, Malaysian cucumber and cherry tomatoes, Argentinian blue berries and NZ salad dressing! In future, if I grow this vegetable successfully, I will stir fry it with sesame oil and ginger. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynura_bicolor According to Chinese food grouping, Gynura bicolor is a 'cool' food, so the leaves are stir-fried with sesame oil and ginger (both 'hotter' foods) to achieve a balance. After m...

mycookerygarden

Search This Blog