#Gardeningallyearlong

As we've been saying all along, one of the nicest things about container gardening in Puerto Rico is being able to garden all year long. Even as the temperatures dip into the 70s (yes, that's a dip for Puerto Rico) we're still able to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other warm weather crops. This has inspired me to create a new motto for this little blog, #gardeningallyearlong. So follow us on Twitter @ContnrgardenPR where we'll be using this tag when we tweet about gardening activities over the winter.

It's the Season... for Herbal Vinegars

The Holidays are here and we already feel the spirit. We just want to party, have some days off, eat the season's treats... but we also want to share with family and friends and give away nice reminders of love and care. (Editor's note: #spreadthelove) As a gardener you have lots to share. Today we'll talk about one of the many great gift ideas for the season: herbal vinegars. 


We previously talked about basil vinegar in our Yucky-Yummy post. The process to prepare any herbal vinegar is basically the same. Take snippings or leaves of your favorite herb, stuff them loosely into a glass jar with a fitting lid, and pour enough vinegar to cover all foliage. White wine and red wine vinegar are the best kind to combined with herbs. Wait about a week, strain off and discard the leaves (This is an important part since the leaves will rot in your vinegar. Yuck). There are numerous recipes that use herbal vinegar. Remember they make excellent salad dressings but can also be added to pot roasts, stews, sauces for chicken and fish or steamed vegetables. 

If you enjoy herbal fragrances, another delightful use for these vinegars is hydrotherapy. The process is simple: add about a cup of herbal vinegar to the bathwater, slip in and enjoy. Alternatively you can just add half a cup to use it as a hair rinse. Don't worry, the vinegary smell dissipates quickly and you’re left with a gentle herbal fragrance on your hair. Many herbs are good for your skin and so is the vinegar itself. Vinegar cleanses the pore, restores skin and hair pH to the proper level, it's also good for your scalp, and helps reduce dandruff.

Each herb provides different benefits to your body or hair: 

• Chamomile is considered soothing and relaxing and it is excellent for dry skin. 
• Bay, oregano and sage are good for sore muscles. 
• Basil, bay, fennel, lavender, mint, rosemary, sage and thyme stimulate blood circulation, so they are both invigorating and relaxing. 
• Calendula and spearmint are also soothing to tough or damaged skin. 
• The foliage and flowers of bay, nasturtiums, rosemary, and sage have astringent properties which will tighten the pores of the skin. 
• Calendula and chamomile lighten hair color, blonds get blonder and auburn and redheads get brighter.
• Sage darkens hair color.
• Calendula, parsley, rosemary and sage add shine and body to the hair, and help control dandruff.
• Chamomile makes hair softer.
• Calendula, lavender, mint and rosemary are good conditioners for oily hair.
• Parsley and sage are good for dry hair.

Safety precautions: Not everyone reacts favorably to herbs, beware of allergies. Test vinegars on your skin before using any new herb. Dab some on with a cotton ball and wait and hour or so for any reaction. Discontinue use if redness or itchiness appear.

Nice bottles with a few touches will make your gift extra-special

Once you are familiar with the pleasures and benefits of the different herbal vinegars, you will surely want to share the experience. Bottles of herbal vinegar make very nice gifts. Use the following hints to make them extra-special: 

• Use pretty bottles, the kind with removable stoppers are the best. 
• Strain the finished vinegar to remove all particles. Although a spring in the bottle does look nice, the fact is that it degrades too fast, creating unpleasant layers of sludge. If you really want to include a spring or some leaves attach them to the outside of the bottle.
• Create a gift tag describing ways to use the vinegar, both in cooking and cosmetically or add a recipe card.
• Add crafts or labels with floral or herbal designs, either to the bottles or the tags.

Send us your comments about your herbal vinegars or other gardening gifts this season. We bet everyone will be delighted. Happy Holidays!

Getting back on the horse

After two weeks sightseeing in India we're back (and better than ever?)! Time to get back on the horse and do some gardening.

Even with a garden-sitter some of our plants suffered while we were on vacation since our friends went away for Thanksgiving. This left our plants without water for 3-4 days. As a result we lost our cucumbers (which were already struggling), a cherry tomato (which was already struggling), our bell peppers (which were already struggling due to an aphid infestation) and a few seedlings. I hope you saw a pattern there. Basically, all plants which were already weak or young were lost. Every other healthy plant was spared although some (such as our miniature and our new cubanelle pepper) were weakened and attacked by aphids (Damn you aphids. Why won't you go away! Mental note: Write a post about aphids). But alas not all is bad news. Our arugula looks gorgeous and the small leaf oregano has spread considerably. Also, some basil seedlings have matured and the payasitos are starting to bloom and multiply.

With all that being said we're ready to get back on the horse (Didn't we say that already?). Yesterday we planted some cucumber and bell pepper seeds to replace the ones lost. We previously had 3 cherry tomato plants which produced more tomatoes than we can consume (and gift to friends). Therefore, we're looking into what we can plant to substitute the cherry tomato plant. Maybe a plum tomato, some heirlooms tomatoes, a few lettuces, some flowering plants, who knows. That's one of the great things about container gardening. There are hundreds of possibilities to choose from; a little something for everyone. Keep tuned for more information and for updates on our little container garden.