Are the Stems of Cilantro Edible?

Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is an annual herb that provides you a big return to the garden space you invest. Every portion of the plant, from its own distinctively flavored leaves to its origins, is creamy. The dried seeds of this plant are the spice, coriander. When many cooks strip the leaves of the carrot-family plant to chop into their salsa or other dish, for example, stem doesn’t alter the herb’s fresh, sharp flavor.

Freshen Up

Cilantro loses its flavor fast. Harvest 6 inches or so of stem in addition to the leaves and put the cilantro sprigs in fresh water. Keep them in the fridge for maximum flavor when it is time to prepare your own meal. If you decide not to utilize the thin, slightly fibrous stems with the leaves, reserve them to be used in almost any recipe that calls for the slightly mellower flavor of cilantro roots. The roots are often called for in Thai cooking.

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Artificial Gourds & Pumpkins

Gourds (Cucurbita pepo) have been used for thousands of years since containers, eating utensils and decorations. Pumpkins (Cucurbita maxima) belong to the same family as gourds, but have been increased mainly as a food supply. Currently pumpkins are increased as autumn decorations as well. You may substitute artificial gourds and pumpkins as decorations, but not for any other purpose.

Natural Gourds

The fruits — gourds — develop on vigorous vines around 15 feet long. The gourds may be as small as an orange or as large as the birdhouse gourd that’s 14 inches long and 12 inches wide at the widest part. Many have a crook or narrow section leading to the wider round section. The gourd isn’t typically eaten by men and women, but used as decorations. Pick the gourds when they’re fully formed and coloured. Colors include light green, dark green, yellow, orange, cream, brown and gold, often on precisely the same gourd. The texture of the skin may be smooth or include warts or bumps; in any event it will be hard. No treatment is essential to carry on the gourds for one season. If totally dried out they may last another year.

Luffa

The luffa (Luffa cylindrica) you see in the bathroom section of the drug store is just a natural gourd treated to remove everything but the abrasive fiber network of the interior. Sometimes in case you look closely you’ll see a seed or two left at the fiber. The gourds are left on the vine until the skin becomes somewhat brittle. The skin is removed and the interior fiber washed with a powerful blast of water, then left to dry.

Artificial Gourds

Since natural gourds take up a good amount of space in the garden to get an inedible and sprawling plant, the gardener may not need to devote space for this particular plant. Artificial gourds resemble actual gourds, particularly when the natural gourds have been shellacked or sprayed with another preservative to make them shiny. The artificial gourd may be manufactured out of plastic, papier-mâché or alternative materials. Use as you would natural gourds in autumn decorations with the exception that the artificial gourd may not be rain proof.

Natural Pumpkins

Think of autumn, Thanksgiving and Halloween and you think of pumpkins. Pumpkins vary from the size of a baseball to huge fruits over 36 inches in diameter. The biggest pumpkin ever weighed over 1 ton — 2,009 pounds to be exact. Most are orange. However, pumpkins also develop in yellow, green and cream blushed with pink and white. When choosing pumpkins to your garden, remember what you’ll use them to get. Pumpkins for pie are smaller and thicker than varieties grown for decoration.

Artificial Pumpkins

During autumn holidays you’ll find artificial pumpkins that look real, outrageously synthetic or decorated and lighted as Jack’ O lanterns. You’ll also find them made of ceramic for use as soup or dessert bowls in the table. Artificial pumpkins are created as candle holders in addition to candles. Even though you may not consider a chocolate cake shaped and frosted to resemble a pumpkin as artificial, you’ll see them in the grocers.

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Facts About Gourds

Gourds may be one of the oldest cultivated plants, initially grown to make storage containers and utensils. Though some varieties are edible when the fruit is young, most men and women grow them for their ornamental qualities. Gourds are members of the Cucurbit family, which includes cucumbers, squash and melons. The long vines make attractive garden plants which easily climb fences, trellises and arbors.

Types of Gourds

The three most frequent forms of gourds are cucurbita, lagenaria and luffa gourds. Cucurbita gourds (cucurbita spp.) Are indigenous American gourds come in a range of shapes and fall colours. Many have warts, ridges, stripes and patterns which add character to drop decorations. All these gourds usually only last a single season. Members of this lagenaria group come in shapes ready-made for making utensils, like spoons and dippers, along with other helpful things like storage containers, dishes, bowls and birdhouses. When properly dried they continue for several years. Their durability makes them popular for use in crafts. Mature luffa gourds are used to make bath sponges. Young, tender fruit can be cooked like squash. You can also use immature fruit in salads as you’d cucumbers.

Growing Requirements

Gourds need full sunlight and a growing season with 100 to 180 days of warm temperatures, preferably between 70 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Well-drained, light, sandy soil is best, however you are able to grow gourds in deep soil if you operate in a lot of organic matter initially. Grow gourds on a trellis or fence to keep the fruit off the ground since it ripens and dries. The vines of some varieties grow very long and supply appealing coverage for trellises and arbors.

Shaping Gourds

You can gently shape your gourds while they’re young to make interesting designer pornography. Tie soft twine or fasten rubber bands around the fruit to bend it or kind constrictions. Gourds take the shape of a glass jar when you place them within the bottle while they’re modest. Gently break and remove the bottle later, being careful to prevent scrapes on the fruit.

Harvesting and Curing

Gourds are fully ripe when the stem which attaches them into your vine dries and turns brown. Leave them on the vine to dry as long as you can, but harvest them before the first frost. Harvest luffa gourds when the skin turns brown. After cutting the gourds in the vine, wash them in soapy water and pat them dry. Put them outside in a warm, dry area with good air flow for a month or two to dry. Direct sunlight may fade the colours.

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The way to Construct Sweet Pea Seeds

The magical, old-fashioned sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) has graced even the very formal gardens for centuries. Endowed with the heady scent of orange honey and flowers, this pretty annual displays one of the very extensive flower color ranges among all plants. Long-lasting early spring blooms display solids, streaks, flakes and bi-colors in vivid reds, pinks, blues, lavenders and white whites like bulb flowers fade. Anyone in North America can readily grow sweet peas. The seeds are large and simple to collect when summertime heat chases the plants in the garden to the season.

Deadhead sweet pea plants to extend the blooming season. Snip off blossoms after they fade to maintain vines looking tidy. This may encourage the plant to direct its energies toward continued flowering rather than seed production. Deadheading will also remove excessive numbers of seed pods. This plant reseeds itself prolifically.

Leave a few dead flowers on each and every vine for seed collection. When the sweet pea blossom falls its petals, a seed pod begins to form. The green pods will begin to turn brown as they mature.

Monitor seed pods daily once they turn brown. Squeeze a pod. It’ll feel brittle and begin to break when the seeds are older and ready for harvest. Should you wait any longer, the forks will burst open and scatter the seeds. Pick the pod and drop it into a brown paper bag. Close the bag tightly.

Establish the closed paper bag on a warm windowsill. Pick it up and shake it vigorously each day till the sweet pea seeds explode out of the pod.

Pick the seeds out of the debris. Seal them in a paper envelope, and label it with the date and variety. Store the envelope in the refrigerator crisper drawer till you are ready to plant.

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