Porch Garden June 26, 2013

Been a while since I've posted pictures of my porch garden.  This is what it looks like today.

These are the plants I got at Grace's.  Thinking of using them in a plant tower which I'm experimenting with in my Plot 2 space at Temple Terrace Community Garden.

Plant nursery far left side

Plant Nursery middle

Plant nursery right

Don't know what I'm going to do with these- might see what space is left at my plot or get some more containers

Dill, oregano, and Mexican oregano ready to go somewhere

This is the active kitchen portion of my garden

Left to right rear: oregano, geranium(mostly hidden), winter savory, and scented geranium.  Front left to right is rosemary and sage.  Looks like we're seeing some of the lettuce box on the bottom

This is the lettuce box- off to the left is rosemary.  As you can see- if it is sufficiently young, kept cropped, shaded and watered, you CAN grow lettuce in Florida in June.

Mint in front- just coming back after nearing dying.  I cut back everything before it left- then it came back like gangbusters- maybe it just needed a trim!  On the right is my lavendar which is a little worse for the summer heat- need to cut off the dead parts there too.

These are plants from my 'under the table' nursery getting lots of shade and not a lot of water

 

 

 

 

My poinsettas growing happily under my picnic table.  They don't like a lot of water- only water them when the soil is dry.

Aloe growing happily under the table- don't water this at all- it gets water when the porch is flooded or when the poinsettas drain.

These are my table top pots- one on the right has seen better days

Homemade Cream Cheese!

Friday I bought milk but found out that I had a quart left- and if we didn't find a recipe to use it- that milk would go bad...  My son suggested that we make cream cheese- after all, you can make cream cheese from yogurt and yogurt from cream cheese- so why not make cream cheese?  So yesterday, I bought a small container of plain yogurt and this is the result! 

How did I do it?  I took a quart of milk and gently heated in the microwave until it was just barely lukewarm - just heated it 30 seconds at a time until it stopped feeling cold.  Then I added 3 tablespoons of the plain yogurt and simply put it out on my porch (hot day) for about 7 hours in a covered container.  It made a yummy creamy yogurt!  Then I brought it inside, lined a strainer with cheese cloth (you want a nice thickness), placed it over a bowl, and covered it.  Before I went to bed, I drained the liquid to make sure that the yogurt wouldn't be sitting in whey overnight. After about 3 hours- had over a cup of whey sitting in the bowl.  Left it sitting overnight.  Knew it was done because there was no more dripping liquid- and voila- some creamy cream cheese!  It isn't a block like regular cream cheese- but this is just yummy! So next time, you have a little extra milk- don't let it go bad- make cream cheese!  This is really easy!