Watering Your Fern

We love ferns here at the Greenhouse! Their full, lush fronds can be beautiful options for hanging plants or for planting in shady areas of your garden. In addition to lots of shade and indirect sunlight, ferns needs tons of moisture. Here are a few ways you can keep your fern’s conditions moist.

Double Potting
Select a second pot slightly larger than the container your fern is potted in. Fill the larger container with water-soaked moss and place your second pot inside. Cover the fern-filled pot’s soil and rim with wet moss. Add water to the moss every few days.

Water Tray
To create a humid environment for your fern, fill a tray with pebbles and add water until the water is just below the top of the pebbles. Place your potted fern in the tray. As the water in the tray evaporates, it will add moisture to the air around your fern.

Humidifier
Another easy way to keep your fern happy is to place a humidifier by your plant. Simple!

We also recommending misting your fern with room-temperature water on a regular basis. For better results, spray the area above your fern and let the mist settle onto the leaves.

Visit our blog for more great gardening tips!

Grow A Grill Garden

The weather is warm and the sun is out! It’s grillin’ time, folks! Whether you’re grilling shish kabobs or burgers, herbs are key to adding a punch of delicious flavor to your meals. Plant a grill garden and enjoy mouthwatering dishes all summer long. Start with these flavorful herbs!

Thyme is the most versatile herb when it comes to grilling and works great with fish, poultry, and veggies. To successfully grow thyme, plant the herb in well-drained soil in an area that gets a lot of sunlight. Thyme can be planted with our next favorite herb, rosemary.

Rosemary is particularly tasty with chicken. The stalks can be used as tasty skewers for shish kabobs. Just like thyme, rosemary likes well-draining soil and oodles of sunshine. Be sure to give your plants room to grow as rosemary can grow up to four feet high and four feet wide.

Italian oregano is absolutely perfection when paired with veggies! Oregano loves well-draining soil and sunshine. For bushier plants, let your oregano grow to about four inches tall and then pinch or trim them. Regular trimming will increase branching and reduce legginess. When it comes to watering, water thoroughly and less often. If you’re container planting, water until it comes out of the bottom of your planter.

We have a great selection of herbs here at the Greenhouse. Stop by to pick up a few and visit us on Pinterest to try out a few delicious recipes!

Fattoush! What’s that?

This is the most amazing salad! It can be a whole lunch in a bowl, It’s truly wonderful with a glass of white wine and a bowl of olives. Let’s get started:

The Salad
Start with a bed of greens (Romaine or red-leaf lettuce). Add any variation of the following: Cucumber, radish, green onions and/or purple onion. Coarsely chop and add these herbs: Parsley, basil and mint. (Be generous with them). Add chunked (not sliced, but chunked) tomatoes of any variety or size. Sprinkle this mixture with the seasoning sumac (ground sumac berries).

The Dressing
Any light vinaigrette will do, or you can drizzle the salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You can add the dressing about 10 minutes prior to serving.

The Bread
Yum! The best part of fattoush! We like to break up a French baguette into bite sized pieces and lightly toast them. Option: If you have olive oil in a spritzer bottle, you can spritz the bread lightly and dust with garlic powder prior to toasting. Just before serving, mix the bread into the salad. Add a little more dressing to taste.

This is a Lebanese or Middle Eastern “peasant” dish, so we’re told. And meant to be a useful way to use up stale bread. Who would have known!? It’s amazing!

Chocolate Mint Smoothie

We love Chocolate Mint here at the Greenhouse. Deep green with rich shades of brown, Chocolate Mint is great for desserts, teas, etc. Try this smoothie recipe for a quick morning boost!

You’ll need:

2 cups spinach
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or your milk of choice)
1 cup water
½ of an avocado
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
¼ cup fresh Chocolate Mint
1 tablespoon dark chocolate chips
Stevia to taste (or sweetener of choice)
Ice (optional)

To make:

Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Tomato Tart

Summertime means tomato time! We love cooking with fresh tomatoes when they’re at their peak. A simple Tomato Tart is one of the easiest meals (brunch, lunch or a late night supper) you can prepare. You don’t really have to measure out ingredients, and you can change the recipe up each time you make it.

This is a good place to start:
Dash a bit of olive oil in a skillet and start some finely sliced onions to caramelize on medium heat. OK, so maybe add a dash of balsamic vinegar? Lay out a round of purchased pie crust (shhh!) on a cookie sheet or pizza pan. Slice up enough fresh tomatoes (any kind, all sizes) to cover your crust — but don’t put them on yet!

When the onions are done, cool them slightly and then spread them on the pastry. Add crumbles of bacon (optional). Lightly cover the mixture with shredded cheese (not too much or it will get soggy!) — a bit of mozzarella mixed with Gruyere is good. Now layer on all of the tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and fresh herbs (we like fresh thyme or oregano).

You can pull the edges of the crust up over the edge slightly (or not). It’s nice to brush the edges of the crust with an egg yolk glaze, too. Bake at 375° for about 45 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned.

Just before serving, you can top with fresh basil. Yum!