Monday, March 04, 2013

Plant What You Eat

You've heard the saying, "You are what you eat" and we want to help you take it a step further....

"Plant What You Eat" and "you will be what you plant" sounds a little crazy but if we know where our foods come from and how to prepare them to get the best from them it has been shown that we will feel better.  

Fausto and I snuck away one Sunday to the vineyards in Temecula, after a day of tasting and enjoying the countryside and music we settled into a new hotel for the night. Rising the next morning and going to breakfast the chef was offering a fresh vegetable drink, based on what was available in their gardens or the local market.   That drink was carrots, celery, cucumber and a hint of ginger.



 The sweetness from the carrots blended so well with the cleanliness of the cucumber and I was hooked. I told my kids I wanted a juicer for my birthday.

Well little did I know then how much work really goes into juicing a single glass each morning. The compost worms at work are enjoying the pulp that is left over. Carrots are the main vegetable I blend with cucumbers, apples, celery, kale (not really much juice in kale or other leafy greens), I've added beets and citrus. I will admit I don't do this every morning because of the work involved and you need a lot of vegetables to get a glass full, but when I do I find myself with much more energy.

As we live in a high rise with not much space I will be planting my juicing vegetables at the nursery or shopping the local farmers markets for the freshest ingredients.  

Now is the time to plant your spring/summer edible garden, but first remember your soil.  Without good soil your plants will not perform and with edibles you want the best conditions to get the best results. Begin by amending your soil with E.B.Stone planting compost, we use it in all our installation jobs. If you are planting in raised beds you will use E.B.Stone soil booster and or Edna's Potting Soil. This company has done the research for us, blending the right amendments and they are all organic so you don't need to worry about what your edibles are growing in.  When growing edibles your plants need to be fed so they may in turn feed you and your family. Again E.B. Stone has done all the research and blended a fertilizer just for edibles. Healthy happy edibles are able to fight off insects and diseases easier than unfed ones, similar to us right?

What do you plant now?  Beans from green to soy, cucumbers Armenian, lemon, burpless, English,
corn both yellow and white, eggplants, look at what Celeste grew in her E.B. Stone soil






 peppers from sweet to hot and of course tomatoes. 




What a variety of tomatoes we are bringing in, each week something different including grafted ones. 

What is a grafted tomato?  I will answer that question in my next blog, stay tuned but until turn your soil into a living breathing growing machine.