Friday Favorite: Terracotta
You may have noticed that I love terra-cotta. I’m not a big fan of plastic or foam pots, I don’t feel like they have the warmth that real terra-cotta does. There’s just something so classic about a terra-cotta pot spilling over with flowers. One of the things I also love about terra-cotta is the way it ages, with such grace. They never look old, they just look like they belong.
I’ve been collecting terra-cotta pots for quite a while, buying them here and there. My sister gets them for me at garage sales, people give them to me. I have teeny tiny ones only a few inches high and huge heavy one that I can barely lift, I have short ones, tall ones, thin ones, fat ones and even a few square ones. One of the benefits of terra-cotta is that they’re fairly inexpensive as well, much cheaper than glazed ceramic containers. I also like that I can find them made in the USA or in Italy, most of the glazed pots are from China.
One of the drawbacks of terra-cotta is that you have to overwinter them where they won’t be exposed to the harsh elements. I empty mine out in the fall, dry them, and stack them on shelves in the garage. A few plants are overwintered in them in the basement or garage and they do quite well this way. This pot of chives was overwintered in the garage and put out in the spring, it’s covered in a late spring snow so it’s safe from the hard freezing and thawing that it would be subject to if I left it out all winter.
My ultimate favorite terra-cotta item is a cloche and coming in second is a nice rhubarb forcing pot. I don’t own either and most likely never will, but one can dream! If I ever travel to England I’ll try to find a way to bring back a rhubarb forcing pot, HMM… wonder if that will fit in the overhead bin? I may look into having a local potter make me some cloches for the garden, they won’t be terra-cotta but perhaps a glazed ceramic or clay instead.
Do you have a favorite kind of container in the garden?
Share this:
Planning My 2011 Edible Garden
I received most of my favorite seed catalogs before Christmas, but I didn’t look through them. I set them aside for the new year. This past weekend I realized it’s getting close to the time to start my onions and celery already so I figured I should start looking through the catalogs to decide what interesting things I may want to grow this year.
First I had to get out my seeds and sort through them. I’ll get rid of varieties that didn’t do well or I didn’t like, I’ll sort out old seeds to do germination tests, and I’ll see if there are any gaps that need filling. I’m pretty sure I’ll need pea seeds, popcorn, and a few other things I want to try new this year.
I really want to try to grow some broom corn this year, how fun would it be to make a broom. I’m pretty sure my nieces would love to come over and have a Little House on the Prairie party to make brooms.
I’m also looking for a new variety of popcorn to grow this year. We grew Strawberry Popcorn two years ago and we loved it, but I want something that produces larger kernels and has a higher yield for the space.
Are you going to grow anything new and interesting this year? Do you have a great variety of heirloom popcorn that you’d recommend?
Share this:
Learning More About Wild Food
“People simply fall in love with wild foods. Lord knows these wild things swept me away. Folks want to be seduced by their mystery, their freedom from the bonds of agriculture. Our human civilization, based on agriculture, has struggled for millennia to no longer depend on foraging in the wild. But here at the start of the twenty-first century, the old hunter-gatherer luring in all of us just won’t let go.”
Connie Green
(The Wild Table: Seasonal Foraged Food and Recipes)
I’m really enjoying reading through this book right now. Every year I try to learn a little more about wild edible food that I can forage for, they’re delicious and super healthy (and free).
We hunt for morels every spring and enjoy those thoroughly, I’d love to learn about more edible mushrooms in my area. I also harvest wild plants like plantain for salves along with dandelions, garlic mustard and wild violets for salads. We have a plentiful supply of wild blackberries close by that we freeze and enjoy all winter long.
Winter time is when I focus on learning about more wild foods that I can find in the woods around our home. I haven’t decided what new wild foods I’m going to be searching for this year, any suggestions?
Do you eat any wild foods? Where do you learn about them?
Share this:
Lucky Me – Free Plants
Remember those beautiful ‘White Crane’ flowering kale I was waxing on and on about last fall? I thought they might sprout roots if I left them in water after they faded, so I put them down in the basement under the grow lights when they were past prime.
I noticed a few weeks ago that they had sprouted roots – HURRAH! I have 5 plants that I potted up and will planting them in the garden this spring. If I get lucky they’ll set seed and I’ll be able to save seed from them and end up with even more of them (if they do I’ll be sure to have a giveaway).
Next on the plant propagation list: blue sweet potatoes. I bought some blue sweet potatoes at the farmer’s market and I’ll try my hand at propagation soon, I’ll be posting more about my efforts in a few weeks. Propagating plants from sources like this is really the best way to get new plants for your garden, then you have a story to go along with them (not to mention they’re FREE).
Have you ever propagated plants “accidentally”?
Share this:
Is It Time Yet?
It seems like just about everyone around here has already taken down their Christmas decorations. Perhaps they were taking advantage of the 50 degree days we had on New Year’s, but it seems like everyone did it a little earlier than normal. My Christmas decor is still up, I usually don’t take it down until mid January.
One of the things I’m particularly enjoying is the card garland on my stairway. I’m sure a few of you will recognize your lovely cards on there! I’m not in a hurry to take these down as I usually am with my Christmas cards.
I’ll probably take all of my indoor and outdoor Christmas decorations down some day next week. I’m never in a rush because I enjoy it so much, not to mention you spend all that time decorating why not enjoy it for more than a few weeks! That’s one nice thing about having natural holiday decor, it’s more wintery than Christmasy so you can leave it up a little longer. I’m really hoping the days get a little warmer so I don’t freeze my fingers off while taking down all that outdoor garland. I’ll be giving those Ethel insulated gloves another go at winter work. I will be sad as I always think things look really bare when all the lights and garland are gone.
When do you take down your Christmas decorations?
