Thyme

Our little thyme bush.
We've harvested leaves a few times already

Thyme is a perennial herb belonging to the Thymus genus in the Lamiaceae family (aka the mint family). A large variety of species and cultivars are available ranging from woody shrubs to trailing plants. Not all species are used for culinary purposes though as some are used as ground cover or ornamental plants. The most common species (Thymus vulgaris) is the one mainly used in flavoring meats, soups, stews, and even breads (If you ask nicely Jessica might even share the thyme bread recipe on a later post).

If you want to grow thyme you have three options: seeds, cuttings or nursery plants. If you are interested in one of the cultivars such as lemon thyme you will need to obtain cuttings from a fellow gardener or buy plants at the nursery since no seeds are available. For common thyme all three options available to you. Obviously, we chose seeds (If you follow this blog you should know that we love growing plants from seed. If not, what are you waiting for? Follow us...and bring cookies).

We've found thyme extremely easy to grow from seed. The only challenge is getting from the seedling stage to the transplant stage. Since the seeds are very small we planted quite a few (As a rule of thumb the smaller the seed the lower the germination rate). When they sprouted we had to thin quite a few to make it manageable. We ended up with three or four plants in a relatively small container (see picture). After that it's smooth sailing. Being native to the dry Mediterranean thyme requires little care and attention. Similar to other herbs thyme does best in well-draining potting soil on a full sun (6+ hours of sunlight) location. Only water when the soil is dry and apply a balanced fertilizer every other week for optimum growth. To harvest just cut the desired sprigs and remove the leaves from the stems before cooking.

Due to its versatility in the kitchen and its low maintenance requirements we recommend thyme for even the laziest of gardeners. And if you have lemon or orange or lavender or any other crazy cultivar give us a shout. We would love to add one to our garden.

Roses are red...

Our polyantha rose in full bloom.

..., violets are blue,... Well, our roses are pink but I guess they come in red too. Roses are one of the most popular flowering plants in the world. They comprise the Rosa genus in the Rosaceae family. Roses come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. Hundreds of books have been written about roses and hundreds more will probably be written in the future. (Unless the world really ends on Dec 21, 2012) We're by no means rose experts. Our intention here is to give you a brief introduction to roses and help you make an informed selection if you plan on growing one (or two, or three). If you need detailed information on roses by all means pick up a book at your local bookstore (reading is always recommended by Container Garden PR) or check out the American Rose Society webpage (http://www.ars.org/).

If you look at a catalog or browse an online store you may be overwhelmed by the large selection of roses. So which one should you choose for your container garden? In order to answer this question we need to talk a bit about rose classifications. We'll keep this as simple as possible (Boy scout promise. Editor's note: Joel was never a boy scout so take this promise with a grain of salt) because if you ask 10 people you can expect 10 different classifications for roses. I'll use the American Rose Society (ARS) classification because it's the most widely used in North America (and because I'm lazy and it was the first one I found online). The ARS classifies roses into old garden, species, and modern roses. Old garden roses refers to any pre-1867 variants, modern roses are any variant after 1867, while species roses are what we might call "wild" roses or any rose that occurs naturally in nature.

That's how the plant looked like when
I bought it for Jessica.

So back to the original question what rose should you choose for your container garden. In my opinion, old garden and species roses are unfit for containers. Others might disagree but I have my reasons. Species and old gardens are large specimens which, in my opinion, are better suited for people with yards or botanical gardens since they require a lot of space either above or below ground. For container gardeners space is usually a premium so who wants to have a 2 feet deep pot in their balcony or small yard? That leaves us with modern roses. Modern roses care broken down into several sub-categories but again I won't complicate matters. Without hesitation we can recommend miniature and patio roses. With some proper planning and careful selection floribunda and polyanthas can also be grown in containers. Miniature roses are just that, a plant that produces a miniature rose bloom. Patios are small shrubs that grow up to 2 feet tall. They bloom continuously which makes them great to give your garden some color all the way to winter. Polyanthas are small (just how we like 'em) shrubs that produce tiny flowers in large clusters at the end of the stems. Floribundas are related to polyanthas in that they bloom prolifically but come in a wider variety of colors. Of the four recommended varieties floribundas require the most consideration since most have a sprawling tendency.

Now which rose variety do we have? We have no idea (I told you rose classifications are confusing and complicated). I bought our rose from the nursery as a gift to Jessica for her birthday because a rose is forever as is as our love (awww...how romantic). Typical to their style the nursery didn't have any identification so we are left to guess from pictures found on the internet. We believe it's some type of polyantha (possibly pink pet) even though we originally believed it to be a miniature. Hey, we never claimed to be experts.

A new rose plant grown from a cutting.

Now that you know which varieties are adequate you need to know how to take care of your plant. First, choose the right container. Recommended sizes will vary depending on the variety but a container 12 inches deep is a good bet. A well draining soil is an absolute must since roses, in general, don't like standing water. Next, when selecting a plant from the nursery make sure you select a healthy looking plant with no signs of mildew or blackspot (a common fungus that affects roses). Place your new plant in an area where it will receive full sun (6 hours of sunlight). To establish the plant keep the soil evenly moist. After the plant is established water occasionally when the soil feels dry. Always water at the bottom of the container and avoid getting the leaves wet. This will minimize the probability of developing the fungi we described earlier. For fertilizing we recommend a balanced time-released fertilizer (You remember what a balanced fertilizer is right?, If not go here). Depending on the variety, a fertilizer with high phosphate can be used to maximize blooming. Finally, pruning is a very important process in maintaining a healthy rose. When blooms are spent cutting the dead flowers (called deadheading) will increase blooming. Also, roses need a good pruning at the end of the blooming season; winter in PR (Editor's note: Joel hates pruning. Jessica takes care of this). Cut back dead wood and prune healthy stalks to a desired shape. Don't worry if you think you cut back too much; it will grow back in spring. Another advantage to pruning is that healthy stalks that you cut can be used to reproduce your plant and #spreadthelove by gifting to a friend. We tried this ourselves with great success (see picture on the right) following the method explained in our previous post on propagation by cuttings.

So, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed this introductory course on roses. If you grow roses in containers share your experiences with us in the comments section. Until next time, keep on gardening!

Impossible Seeds

Have you ever wondered why it's impossible to find paprika or curry seeds? Precisely because it is impossible. These commonly used spices do not come straight from a plant. They are, in fact, a mix of other spices. When a certain combination of spices is called for in different recipes it's convenient to blend these ingredients beforehand to eliminate the need for measuring each spice individually. 

One of the most widely-used spice blend is curry powder. Even though curry is commonly associated with Indian food the contemporary English use of the word curry is actually an invention that does not reflect any Indian food. Western curry is a standardized mixture close in flavor to the Indian sambar powder of dried red chiles, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, fenugreek seeds, ground ginger, and ground turmeric.

Paprika is made of ground dried bell peppers or chili peppers, so it can range from mild to hot. Paprika is used as an ingredient in a broad variety of dishes not only to season but also to add color to rices, stews, and soups.

Dry rubs are mixed spices that are rubbed into meat before cooking. There is a wide range of them such as Old Bay, steak and BBQ seasonings, and chili powder (yeap, chili powder is also a spice blend, made of one or more varieties of chili pepper and usually blended with other spices including cumin, oregano, garlic, and salt). Chili powder is sometimes named after the type of pepper used, such as cayenne pepper. Salt is very important on dry rubs as it melts when in comes in contact with meat juices, electrons do their work and the salt, along with the other spices, gets through the meat.

A coffee grinder can be
used to mix spices.

There is a wide variety of other spice mixes such as taco seasoning (chili powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, cumin, salt), apple pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice) and Chinese five-spice powder (star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, fennel seeds). As mentioned before these are made for convenience but they also provides the opportunity to duplicate certain flavors more successfully.

If you have several spices on your garden and you are into doing the mixed spices yourself make sure to get an electric spice grinder. You can get one for about $25. A coffee grinder works too, just remember not to use the same grinder for spices and coffee, as the taste usually stays on the grinder and either your coffee will taste like spices or your spices will taste like coffee. (Editor's note: I'm pretty sure some people wouldn't mind having everything taste like coffee. Neither of us likes coffee very much though.)  

This is how a pepper should  look while
drying, notice it's all wrinkly.

Just for fun we tried making our own paprika and we failed. The first thing you need is some dried peppers. We grew some cubanelle peppers that resulted too hot to use on everyday dishes so we thought it would be a good idea to make paprika instead. Drying must be done in a dry (obviously, we are drying after all), dark place since sunlight bleaches color away and humidity is bad, I mean the enemy! Peppers in high humidity will get mold. Sadly that's what happened to our peppers. (Sniff sniff) We put the peppers in a brown paper bag and stuck them in the oven thinking they would be safe from the humidity. Not! Moldy peppers don't make for a good paprika. Now we are looking for a way to fight humidity in Puerto Rico as it is usually very very high. We've read that it helps if you use thin-walled peppers; thick peppers have too much moisture. We'll look into it and update with hopefully good news.

Go on, create your very own spice or mix and match for a great dry rub. Use your garden as your ally and do some experiments. Who knows, you might have the next chefs' favorite. Let us know about it, we always like good stories.