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Gardening inspiration from the pantry
April 1, 2009 | 31 Comments
There are many herbs and greens that can be grown from seeds and spices in our pantry. Dried peas and legumes are good candidates.
Soak whole dried green peas (vatana/batani) for 24 hours in water and drain, cover and let them sit for another 24 hours. If they start sprouting a bit, they are fit to be grown. Some commercially sold dried peas and legumes have been treated with chemicals to prevent sprouting. We want to make sure they sprout before we plant them. You can also buy seeds from your local nursery.
Black-eyed peas may be worth trying too.
When the sprouts grow to about half inch length (another 24 hours or so), put them about an inch deep in soil in a pot indoors, or directly sow them in your yard with an inch of moist soil above. When they emerge above the ground, thin them out to keep a few inches of space between each sapling.
TWO WEEKS LATER
Lima bean saplings
Green pea shoots
Other candidates:
Fenugreek seeds
Mustard Seeds
Coriander seeds
Fennel seeds
Dried Chilli Seeds
Enjoy springtime gardening.
- Jai
Filed Under: GARDENING, Lima Bean, Peas
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31 Comments
mmm can we grow peas too? I shall give a try in Chennai weather
I feel so proud when I prepare something with just a few curry leaves, grown by me. And when I’m using my own produce, I am far more judicious and careful to pluck only as much as required and not let it go waste.
Also for stuff that I make rarely, like Italian dishes, if I buy a whole bunch of fresh oregano leaves or other herb that I use rarely, a large part of the bunch goes waste. I am now leaning towards growing these herbs myself, so there won’t be any wastage.
One question guys – how do we plant things like mustard and fenugreek? Do they need to be soaked/sprouted?
http://jugalbandi.info/2007/03/its-time-to-grow-beautiful-things/
Nice shots! I love the first picture…
cheers,
Rosa
What a great idea — and such fun to do with kids, too, because they can watch the growth! I’m definitely going to try the chili seeds.
You already grew something! Cool!
We are cleaning, add some top soil and fertilize this weekend,it will be 70F. Probably too soon to seed outside now but I will throw some Fennel seeds and see, others will come later. I saw plenty of Tomato plants, will choose a Plum, Cheery and Pear tomatoes. I love Bird chillies too. Indian seeds need to wait for one more month!
I just did this with dried red chili, methi, cilantro, & moong:-) gave the kids the responsibility to water & grow them:-)
Are these from this year? Just wondering if it’s time already to start the sprouting. I wanted to do it last year and by the time I realized it was quite late and then lazinesss took over me. This year I’m determined to grow something in my back yard (keeping my fingers crossed).
yeah, this year.
Who knew! But then you are probably the type of people who can grow anything while I am the type who can kill anything. Oh I wish I had a green thumb.
I know i know what do you guys mean here….just last month,my son had this project in his school ,wherein they have to SOW the seeds of either mustard,moong or methi and after 7 days ,bring the saplings to school,and they were actually given marks on these.
Worried about the outcome,i sowed all three of them(ofcourse in different containers) and i really loved it,when my kid observed and watered the seeds everyday.His increasing curiosity with the everyday visible changes,made him more interested in other plants in our balcony too.Unfortunately Methi plant didn’t survived,but moong plant is really growing well,and so is mustard.Don’t know what i will get from it,but the involvement of my son in these greens, is enough to make me happy
Do you think I might have this kind of success with my coriander seeds?
Ugh! Never mind I just saw your other post from March 2007 and got my answer. Thanks!
I tried the dry red chillies with sucess last year, but the peas or legume would be a great idea!
Cool. I find coriander seeds are high maintenance. Fenugreek seeds are a breeze.Thanks for the inspiration.
hey this is interesting! I might try fenugreek. I can buy it easily but it would be cool, wouldn’t it?
I used to grow coriander and fenugreek in africa, here in the US, im in a flat
, but im thinking I can try and plant some methi in a small pot on the window sill….
I have some methi seeds sprouting. Plan to pot them today. Got some basil plants from Whole foods. thyme, coriander, mint and rosemary are the other herbs I have in mind. Need to find curry leaf saplings. I have a couple of pots from last year, and a few yogurt containers. The baking sheet idea from your prev post sounds great. You think they would be deep enough for methi/coriander ?
Put the seeds directly in a pot and thin them out as they grow.
Bee
Read this article http://jugalbandi.info/2007/05/manipulation/. What do you do when the covert-aggressor is your MIL and your DH is blind that she is A aggressor. And added he forces you to see how darling his mom is, and wants me to do stuff that MIL wants to do.
Consider this example:
ther is a function to be held in the house. MIL will not open her mouth to me as to what/how its to be done and what not to be done. Then when son-mom have the secret conversation, MIL will point out that the way it should be done. Son will dictate to me and make arrangements on the way mom says its to be done.
the worse thing about this is i will be blissfully ignorant of these plannings and merrily planning it my way only to be confronted in the last minute -
Let me point out – MIL is sugar and honey to me and also says sugar and honey things about me to DH, so DH thinks his mom is such an angel.
But I know the gut feeling – and time and again feel cheated/used up.
I want to know how to exclude son from such situations, deal with her on my own and then set boundaries.
But when she does not even discuss it, confront it with me how to deal it with her.
Should I even make an effort to make DH to see from my point ?
Isn’t she like the monster-in-law movie MIL ??
I would really love to hear some tips from you-
ask son and his mommy to organise the function. if you don’t have an input, you will not organise. maybe you won’t take part either. maybe you’ll go and get a massage and pedicure while the two of them fawn over each other.
if you are organising something, you get the final say. else, you won’t organise.
he wants you to do stuff? tough luck. you won’t. it’s not a dictatorship. what’s he gonna do? you won’t win this tug of war. just don’t play. drop the rope. let son and his mommy do what they want, you do what you want, if they don’t like it, ask them to move out together or you move out. it’s drastic. but really, i don’t believe in pussyfooting around situations that make me uncomfortable. i’d hate to live my life as a non-entity in my own home. you can’t set boundaries with your MIL if your little boy … i mean adult husband won’t stand by you.
oh, “that doesn’t work for me” said to MIL is perfectly acceptable. and your DH is not “blind”. he’s an aggressor too, and has no incentive to change anything.
Great post Jai, Love it and am going to grow some useful useable stuff this year.
Any special tips on getting the dried chilli seeds to sprout. I want to grow my own, and also the thai bird peppers from the seeds I have at home but havent had results in the past.
you have mail, saar.
you have started planting already!! great!! ive just planned my little patio garden…yet to go and get the seeds/bulbs n stuff..
I’m convinced I have a black thumb, but I just might try this. Lovely pics as usual
Oh yum, pea shoots! I saw bags of these at a Chinese grocery today. Alas, the fridge is already too full. I might just try soaking some dried peas tonight
gearing up to plant some herbs soon myself
have to do it solely on the deck because the deer are like a biblical plague
Your gardening samples looks great! We are planting some seeds too: cilantro, parsley, basil and all sorts of other fresh herbs. It’s so much fun to see them grow.
Fun and informative.
I was working in my garden this afternoon, thinning out the beets, rutabagas, and turnips. I found several sprouting sunflowers and had to laugh at myself. When I’d hung the birdfeeder I’d placed it just feet away from a new raised bed. Whoops! Oh well, my birdies will be extra happy.
You have a great herb garden..I tried to grow coriander but no luck with it
May be the climate is not so appropriate here.
This is just what I need. So, can these be grown indoors
*please say yes*
you can grow herbs indoors. not peas or lima beans.
Great tips! Thanks
Yes, that’s what I do too, always trow in what i find in the pantry and try it out!Coriander, mustard seeds and a wide variety of beans and peas. Check out the beans our baby planted on my latest post on kitchenmagick.blogspot.com/
Love your blog, thanks you guys!
Did a little jig now that I can be here Bee … missed click though.
I often sprinkle some mustard seeds just coz I love that burst of yellow.
Hi Bee.
just to make sure, you replied to my post, which really stoked me out, and i did eat sweet potato leaves, but…NOT ALL SWEET POTATO LEAVES ARE EDIBLE. Some are quite toxic actually. But there are edible leaf varieties. We are growing okinawan sweet potatoes, and those leaves are edible.
Hi,
You guys are doing a great job at gardening. I tried fenugreek, pudina and coriander. No luck yet. The fenugreek sprouted fast but it is not growing at all. Its been like 1.5 month now. And the pudina, I tried to grow from the stems all died and coriander is yet to germinate. If you can help me with the pudina and methi, it will be great. thanks
i’m not sure if you can grow mint from stalks. you are probably overwatering the others.