Have you ever stopped to think how many seeds you run across every day? Seeds are everywhere in our daily lives. Seeds show up in every meal we cook. There are seeds to observe during each walk in our neighborhood. Seeds sometimes look very different from one another. The different sizes of seeds can be …
Tag Archives: vegetables
Grow Your Own Lettuce in a Container
Who else is tired of food recalls? (Raising hand over here) If so, then never fear – you can grow your own lettuce in pots, and rest assured that what you’re eating is tasty and safe to eat. 3 MORE Reasons You Should Grow Lettuce in Pots You can move the planter to a prime …
Green is for Zinnia, Peas and Dill
The color green isn’t just for fans of the Hulk or the Wicked Witch of the West. It’s also a key component of any rainbow garden. Green is good! Zinnia If you’ve followed along so far, then you’ll recognize a theme developing in my rainbow garden. Zinnias! I can’t say enough good things about their …
Yellow is for Zinnia and Bush Beans
In a contest of cheerfully colored flowers, is there anything that conveys happiness more than yellow? Add a pinch of yellow to a garden and you’re guaranteed to maintain a certain level of sunny cheer. Here’s what I chose for my slice of sunshine: Zinnia My yellow zinnias are part of the Hot Crayon Colors …
Orange is for Zinnia, Nasturtium and Calendula
I hold a special place in my heart for orange, because it’s one of the school colors of the University of Illinois. I challenge anyone who is regularly exposed to brilliant construction-orange over several years to not develop a special appreciation for this often overlooked color in gardens. Here are my orange plant picks that …
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Red is for Amaranth and Peppers
R is the first letter in my pal Roy G. Biv’s name, so I’m going to start at the beginning and reveal which pretty and edible plants I’ll grow to highlight one of my favorite colors, red. Amaranth is an ancient grain crop from the New World that can be red, orange or green. A …
How to Reveal a Plant’s Vascular System
Are you looking for a WOW-factor experiment? Then this is the one! For maximum impact, I suggest the next-level option with the highlighter and black light. Plants are more complicated than they appear on the surface. But did you know you can reveal the framework of plant’s physiology in a simple experiment at home? What …
Microgreens for Beginners: Steps for Planting
I subscribe to the notion that tiny versions of things are cute. Microgreens are cute. These sprouts are young plant seedlings of common vegetables and herbs that we eat when they are mature, such as kale, beets, broccoli and radishes. The term microgreen refers to how the sprouts are harvested when they grow their first …
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Making Dye From Natural Materials (Farm to Yarn)
When you pulled a shirt out of your closet this morning, what color shirt was it? Did you wear a vivid red or brilliant blue? The bright colors we have access to today generally weren’t available until the introduction of synthetic (man-made) dyes and the industrial revolution. Before these milestones in chemistry and modern science, …
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Before Cameras Existed
Imagine you see an amazing flower before your eyes, but you don’t have a camera. How could you capture it to tell your friends exactly what it looks like? Would you stare and study it to try and memorize every detail? Gosh, what if you forgot how many petals it had or if the leaf …