Date: 22 July 2018. Scallions -
Second Life.
© janice142
I enjoy the
crunch and flavor scallions add to my simple meals. Growing
scallions aboard Seaweed helps keep my food costs low. This trick I
read about quite some time ago on
Pinterest. There are a couple of caveats for those of us in
tropical areas. Here's how I have successfully kept the same bunch
of scallions alive and producing for a couple of months.
Scallions ↑ growing
in a bowl above my dinette.
I start out with the fattest scallions I can find at the grocery
store:
These are the supplies,
including ↑ scallions, used in the
Fancy Egg Salad
article.
As I am
using the scallions I cut them down from the top. Finally when I am
about 1" from the base I stop.
Everything
has a second life aboard Seaweed.
As you may remember from previous articles my old shirts are cut
into work rags. Holiday dish towels later become work rags.
I am "old
school" in that everything is used up rather than thrown out. Unless
it is clutter that is! Clutter creates chaos. That has to be
eliminated rapidly. Otherwise I get VERY grumpy.
This is chaos. ↓
You can imagine how unhappy I was during the project. It is cleared
now, thank goodness!
But I digress...
It is necessary to get the scallion roots growing a bit before
transferring the plant to soil. The problem is that scallions are
skinny. Simply dropping them in a cup will not work. They fall over.
While
thrift store shopping with my friend Cheryl I found some cute little
containers. Initially I intended to put a wild flower in each, using
them as bud vases.
My
small vases work perfectly to hold the scallions upright→ |
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I enjoy having
pretty things aboard Seaweed.
Cheryl is fun. She and I visit
thrift stores often making a day of it. We even stop for lunch
which is always nice.
I found three miniature vases
over two different thrift store outings with Cheryl:
I put about a 1/4 inch of water in the bottom of the containers. The roots
need to be kept wet. For the first two or three days
change/replace the water morning and night. The roots will grow a
bit longer. It is then time to plant in dirt.
Side Note:
When it is cooler the need to transplant quickly is not so critical.
During the summertime my roots get mushy if I do not transplant fast
enough.
Scallions grow in my clay flowerpot during the
summertime.
The planter
is kept in the front window or in the cockpit. A couple years back I
also grew basil.
I bought a package of basil
seeds at the store. The spice grew in a pot with my scallions.
Basil is not a spice flavor I grew up eating. I discovered after growing
it that my taste buds were not impressed. I passed along a basil
plant to my friend Lori on Anja. You met her in the
(Joshua Slocum's) Spray replica Anja
article.
Years later
I still have the rock Lori painted for me when she shared a lemon
scented plant. That plant is gone
(I loved it too!!) however I still think of her when I water my
moss. The rock is tucked into the moss garden.
This is my ↑ moss garden. A
baby scallion is in the rose bud vase.
In answer
to a question I have received more than once: Yes, I grow moss
aboard Seaweed. This is your standard "grows on the north side of a
tree trunk" moss. I like it.
Maybe
because I now like growing things I seem to meet a lot of women who
share the same interest.
Spray replica Anja was coming up to visit one day.
↑ Lori (of Anja) and I swapped plants while chatting.
This is the plant Lori gifted me. ↓
It smells like lemons.
One of my regrets is that I allowed this plant to
die. If I knew what it was I'd buy another.
Ladies and gents: The plant
had tiny round leaves and smelled like fresh lemons. If you know
what the name of this plant is, please tell me. Thank you. My email
is:
janice@janice142.com
The lemon scent from Lori's plant was wonderful. What was odd though
were the leaves. When they brushed under the oil lantern they made a
tinkling sound like bells in the distance. For months I searched for
the origination of the sound. Finally I located it. The leaves made
the noise!
Then shortly thereafter the plant
died. I would LOVE to have another plant just like it.
For me,
sharing plants is a way of continuing lines of friendship.
When I shop for scallions I look for the package with the fattest
ones. Aboard Seaweed I do not simply use them and then toss the roots
into the garbage. Everything has a second life.
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To begin,
get the largest scallions you can find at the
grocery store.
Scallions get smaller with each re-growth. |
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They grow out
from the center, so are skinnier with each new stalk. |
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Growing plants aboard boats is
not a new thing. Just like Kim (you know her from the
Sharing Plants
article), Kim's friend Kelly also is a plant-a-holic.
On Kelly Shea's
sailboat her iguana poked it's head in the portlight by her
galley
garden. Kelly grows chives, basil and lemongrass. How cool is
that?!?
I have also tried re-growing
celery and romaine lettuce. Those two are frequently mentioned along
with scallions as being easy to re-grow. Aboard Seaweed I have not
had success however.
The celery comes out leafy. It tastes bitter.
As for the Romaine lettuce, that went icky before roots formed.
For my
galley, I will stick with scallions. They are easy to grow and taste
delicious too. Having a bit of fresh greens takes an ordinary meal
up a notch. It is more flavorful.
I have
developed a real fondness for texture in
my food. Scallions have become a favorite of late.
Fresh cut scallions are a welcome addition to egg
salad.
When I shop for scallions I look for the package with the fattest
ones. With the larger diameter scallions I can get at least a couple
more crops out of each stalk.
Years ago I
bought some Vidalia onions and tried the same method. It worked
well.
This is the second ↑
growth from my Vidalia onions.
Simply place the onions in
water. They grow. As the stalks get taller, cut off the tops.
Growing onions
from those available at the
grocery
store is a great way of extending my food budget.
During the wintertime you do not have to transplant into dirt.
Scallions will continue to grow in a water glass. The roots grow
too. My roots have grown to over an inch deep at the bottom of the
glass.
The roots have a stronger flavor. I use them in stews and chili.
Speaking of
chili, I have still not recovered from the chili pepper episode.
Details for those that are curious can be found in the *Rat Traps (securing mouse traps too)
article. Suffice it to say, that particular chili innovation was not
one of my better efforts.
*Regarding
Rat Traps...
I do wander off topic occasionally. I promise you an article about
rodents can contain chili information too.
That is life from beautiful, breezy St. Petersburg, FL.
Thank you for reading.
Addendum: The consensus
seems to be Golden Lemon Thyme or Lemon Thyme. Although I have
not yet located any, I hope to find some for the garden aboard
Seaweed. It surprises me how much pleasure I derive from the
few plants I grow.
Thank you to Pam, Gary and Cap'n Kim for
your replies. I appreciate the info. |
Do you grow vegetables aboard your boat?
What are you growing?
COMMENTS:
© 2018, 2023
Categories:
Boats,
Characters, Galley,
Locations,
Money,
Wild Things,
Storing the Power (battery charts)
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