plants-with-benefits

 Recently, thanks to my partner, I was introduced to the life of  orchids. I am amazed at the variety of flowers available. From tiny white flowers to large multi colored pieces of art.  Me and my partner have different views when it comes to plants. Even though we both admire their beauty, my first thought is how can I make a dollar from this. So after a bit of homework we've learnt that there is a way of cloning. Unlike the usual way of taking a cutting and adding a rooting hormone, the clones are grown on the flower stem.                                      Fingers crossed, we get some babies off this wee beauty.  

 Recently we purchased a couple of  mushroom starter kits. One oyster and one button mushroom. Both were reasonably easy to grow and made for some very tasty meals. Fried mushrooms on vogels mmm.  As you can see there's not mushroom inside   You can expect to get at least 3 flushes of fruit. This is our first crop. After taking the 3 bigger mushrooms out to make room for the others, it only took two days for the smaller ones to catch up. You get your first crop at day 60, then again at day 80 and 100.  It may be an expensive way to get your mushroom fix but it's a bit of fun and very educational. Probably a good way to get kids to eat mushrooms instead of McDonalds. The kit gives you information on how to grow your own culture. As well on ways of cloning mushrooms, finding wild mushrooms and recipes. The only drawback is, I need to try and find time for another hobby now.😬              

 I know it's not  the 30th of April, but that is when this post was due, so let's just go with it eh! 👍 FLOWER TIME Finally after 2 1/2 years of growing turmeric, I'm getting somewhere. This is the first crop that has produced the awesome flowers I've been waiting for. In the past I have been able to produce a good amount of turmeric per plant, but one of my main goals was to get the plants through to flowering. If starting from a small rhizome, this can take a few years of growing on while still harvesting the smaller rhizomes (or fingers) for consumption or to replant. The other important factor is they need 10 months of warm soil conditions. I have managed so far to get over this hurdle by starting them off in a glasshouse in early August before transplanting into 10sqm garden boxes. As the temperature drops again they are protected by a polytunnel set up. Next year as the crop expands again, I will be looking at heating the soil through a series of pipes heated by ...