Growing onion from sets / Sadnja luka iz lučice

Before I start with today's topic, I have to write few words about catastrophic floods my country Croatia and neighbor ones, Bosnia and Serbia are dealing for the past week. As you probably heard in media, Croatia (eastern part called Slavonia) Bosnia and Serbia needs help. River Sava and some others flooded whole villages and towns and that area looks like huge lake. People lost their homes, some of them lost their loved ones, and lot of people who were farmers lost their animals.  Waters are now beginning to recede, but officials say dangers remain. There is danger of collapsing houses, but also from remain land mines we’ve been dealing with since 1990’s. Water moved them and also moved warning marks. Since the last week, in Croatia is more than 11 000 people evacuated, in Serbia and Bosnia that number is around 30 000 and there is lot of those  affected with floods but not evacuated. Now you can imagine how those people feel. They lost everything they owned in just a few minutes. Many reputable organizations have opened accounts for this purpose, including the Red Cross and some other foundations. If you want to help, please visit http://www.hck.hr/en/page/emergency-appeal-for-flood-affected-people-in-bosnia-and-herzegovina-and-serbia-414  and contribute what you can, or at least - help spread the word.

Now, something about today’s topic. Onions are a good thing to have in your garden. It’s used in so many recopies so it’s useful to grow your own, and speaking about growing – it’s really easy to grow. You can grow onions from sets (I used this method this year) or using onion seeds. You can plant your onions outdoors from the end of March or beginning of April. Since we had such a poor weather during April I didn’t manage to plant it in April so I did it in beginning of May. Now, some 15 days after I planted my onion sets you can see some first seedlings. If you decided to grow onion in your garden you’ll probably hear about long and short day onions. Wonder what’s that? We’ll I did too when I first heard about it. Long day onions are types that begin sprouting when days have 14-16 hours of daylight and short day onions begin sprouting when days have 10-12 hours of daylight. Because of that, long day onions are mostly grown in northern countries while short day onions are best of southern countries.

 Also, you can choose onions by color - yellow, white and red. Yellow onions are most common onions we use in cuisine. It’s the one that have golden/brownish paperly skin on and it’s all purpose onion. White onions as the name say for itself, are white (outside and inside) and have milder taste than yellow ones and are great for salads. Red onions (maybe my most favorite onion type) have nice purple/red color and have even milder taste than white onions. That’s why it’s mostly used in fresh food and is great if you don’t prefer onion taste.  Now you know that, we can get back on planting. When you choose what type of onion is best for you, choose a spot in your garden. You should select place with lot of sun and allow onions to have enough space since they can grow pretty large if they have enough space. More space – bigger onions. Now you should dig the holes. Don’t make them too deep (just a few centimeters) and place one bulb into each hole. When planting onions from sets you can follow same advice as for garlic. 

So, when planting onions, be sure you place them with pointy/green part pointing up. After that place some addition soil around bulb, but don’t cover it too much.  Water it well, onions need enough of water to grow. You will be able to harvest young onions few weeks after planting them, because it takes only some 60 days from planting to harvesting onions from sets. If you don’t have much space, you can still grow your own onions. You can grow them in a pot and you can even grow them inside on a sunny window. Keep in mind they don’t like too much weed around, so take care of your onions. For you who like companion planting you can plant your onions near tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, collards, kale, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, sweet peppers, spinach and lettuce. 

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Prije nego što počnem s današnjom temom , moram napisati nekoliko riječi o katastrofalnim poplavama s kojima se Hrvatska i susjedne nam zemlje, Bosna i Srbija, bore proteklih tjedan dana. Kao što ste vjerojatno čuli u medijima , Hrvatska Bosna i Srbija trebaju pomoć. Rijeka Sava i neke druge potopile su cijela sela i gradove i cijelo područje sada izgleda kao ogromno jezero. Ljudi su izgubili svoje domove, neki od njih su izgubili svoje najmilije, a puno ljudi koji su bili poljoprivrednici izgubili svoje životinje. Voda sada počinje padati, no odgovorni upozoravaju da opasnost ostaje. Postoji opasnost od urušavanja kuća, a probleme stvaraju i mine zaostale još iz '90tih. Voda ih je preselila, a preselila je i oznake upozorenja. Od prošlog tjedna, u Hrvatskoj je evakuirano više od 11 000 ljudi evakuirano, u Srbiji i Bosni taj broj iznosi oko 30 000, a tu je i puno onih koji su pogođeni s poplavama ali nisu evakuirani. Možete samo zamisliti kako se ti ljudi osjećaju. Oni su, u samo nekoliko trenutaka izgubili sve što su imali. Mnoge organizacije otvorile su račune za tu svrhu , uključujući Crveni križ i neke druge fondacije. Ako želite pomoći , posjetite http://www.hck.hr/en/page/emergency-appeal-for-flood-affected-people-in-bosnia-and-herzegovina-and-serbia-414  i pokušajte pomoći koliko možete, ili barem proširite dalje.

Sada, nešto o današnjoj temi. Luk je dobro imati u svom vrtu. Koristi se u mnogim jelima pa je korisno uzgojiti domaći, a govoreći o uzgoju – luk stvarno lako raste. Luk možete uzgojiti iz lučica (za tu sam se metodu odlučila ove godine) ili koristeći sjeme luka. Na otvorenome, luk možete posaditi krajem ožujka ili početkom travnja. Budući da smo tijekom travnja imali tako loše vrijeme luk nisam uspjela posaditi u travnju, pa sam to učinila na početku svibnja . Sada, 15-ak dana nakon što sam zasadila lučice možete vidjeti prve izboje . Ako ste se odlučili na sadnju luka , vjerojatno ćete čuti o ljetnom i zimskom luku. Pitate se što je to? I ja sam se pitala kad sam prvi puta čula te izraze. Ljetni luk počinje nicati kada ima 14-16 sati dnevnog svjetla, a zimskom je dovoljno između 10-12 sati dnevnog svjetla . Zbog toga , ljetni se luk uglavnom uzgaja u sjevernim zemljama , a zimski je najbolji za južna područja.  Također , luk možete odabrati po boji - žutoj , bijeloj i crvenoj. Žuti luk najčešći je luk koji koristimo u kuhinji . To je onaj koji ima zlatnosmeđu  ljusku i to je luk za sve namjene. Bijeli luk (srebrenac) kao što ime kaže za sebe , je bijele boje (izvana i iznutra) i ima blaži okus od žutog, a dobar je za salate. Ljubičasti luk (možda moja najdraža vrsta luka) imaju lijepu ljubičasto/crvenu boju i ima čak i blaži okus od srebrenca. Zato se uglavnom koristi u svježoj hrani, a izvrstan je ako ne vole previše okus luka. Sada kada to znate, možemo se vratiti na sadnju. 

Kada odlučite koja vrsta luk je najbolja za vas , izaberite mjesto u vašem vrtu. Trebate odabrati mjesto s puno sunca i dati luku dovoljno prostora, jer on može narasti prilično velik, ako ima dovoljno prostora . Više prostora - veći luk. Sada trebate iskopati rupe. Nemojte ih napraviti preduboke (svega nekoliko centimetara) i stavite po jednu lučicu u svaku rupu. Kada sadite luk iz lučica, možete slijediti iste savjete kao i za češnjak. 

Dakle, tijekom sadnje, budite sigurni lučice stavljate sa zašiljenim/zelenim dijelom okrenutim prema gore. Nakon toga, zatrpajte lučice zemljom, ali ih nemojte previše prekriti.  Dobro zalijte, jer je luku za rast potrebno dovoljno vode.

U mladom luku moći ćete uživati nekoliko tjedana nakon sadnje, jer vrijeme potrebno od sadnje do branja luka iz lučica traje samo 60-a dana. Ako nemate puno prostora unatoč tome možete uzgojiti vlastiti luk. Možete ga posaditi i u tegli, a luk može rasti čak i u zatvorenom prostoru, na sunčanom prozoru. Imajte na umu da luk ne voli korov,pa se brinite o njemu. Svi vi koji volite zajedničku sadnju luk možete posaditi u blizini rajčica, kupusa, brokule, kelja, korabe, prokulica, paprike, špinata i zelene salate.

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Elder flower marmalade / Marmelada od cvjetova bazge

Making homemade jelly’s and marmalade is cool thing you can do. Even if you're not so great in kitchen and don’t like cooking. Maybe, you can remember your grandma making lot of marmalade and you want to go her steps or maybe you just prefer homemade stuff than those you can buy in store. In the past few years I made homemade marmalade from pears and oranges since my grandma and my boyfriend’s mom and grandma makes plum, apricot and strawberry marmalades. But this year I wanted to try something new. Something I never tried making or tasting. This year I made elder flower jelly/marmalade, and I have to tell you – if you like elder juice you’ll like elder jelly too. Process of making elderflower marmalade is not complicated. What you need is 40 elder flowers (same as one you need in making elder flower juice and you can read my advice on picking flowers here http://dailysustainable.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-make-homemade-elder-juice.html) 1 liter of water, juice from 2 lemons, 500-700 grams of sugar (depending on how sweet you want it) and 1 bag (25grams) of gelatin. When you pick your flowers, clean them from dirt and bugs (as I already said, same process as for making juice), put them in a pot and cover it with 1 liter of water. Leave it for 24 hours. Next day take your water with elder flowers, strain it and put it in a pot. Cook it until boiling then mix gelatin with 3 tablespoons of sugar and put it in.

Now you can add rest of your sugar. Allow your jelly to boil, stir it the whole time and try to remove foam that will be on top. Do it for next 3 minutes. Now you only need to pour it into sterilized jars and store in a cool and dark place.  Don’t panic if it’s liquid for next few hours, it will become jelly like when it’s totally cooled down. 

As I said, you should put your marmalade into sterilized jars. I sterilized them in oven, and it’s quite simple to do, but you still have to be careful. Best thing to have in mind is that you don’t add cold food to hot jars or hot food to cold jars. If you do that, jars will shatter and that is dangerous. When sterilizing jars keep in mind you have to sterilize lids too. So, how to do it? As I said I did it in oven (and everybody I know do it that way so it’s most preferred method for me) so I’ll teach you that way. First wash your jars and lids. Use hot water and dish soap and be sure you cleaned it good. Heat the oven to 110°C/gas ovens on 1, and don’t heat it any higher because your jars might be breaking. Put jars and lids in, making sure they don’t touch each other and leave them for 20-30 min. It’s best to do while you’re making your marmalade or jelly because, as I said, you should pour your marmalade into hot jar. After 20-30 min, remove each jar but be sure to use thick oven mitts because your jars will be pretty hot. 

Now you have sterilized jars and you can put your marmalade in them. Also, you can sterilize jars in microwave, dishwasher or on stove, but since I never tried those methods I can’t tell you more about them. For the end one good tip I got from my grandma when I first started making homemade marmalades few years ago. She told me to only make them when I’m in the good mood for making it, because if you want your marmalade to end up good and tasty you should be in right mood (have will to make it and not be forced to make it) and enjoy ritual of making homemade marmalade.

For the end of this post, I'll show you what's new in my garden after a week of rain 

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Izrada domaćih džemova ili marmelada jedna je od onih super stvari koje možete učiniti. Čak i ako niste veliki ljubitelj kuhanja ili niste pretjerano iskusni u tome. Možda se sjećate svoje bake koja je redovno radila marmelade i želite slijediti njezine korake, ili možda samo više volite domaće od kupovnih stvari. U posljednjih nekoliko godina radila sam pekmez od kruške i naranče, jer i moja baka, ali i buduća mi svekrva kao I dečkova baka, rade one od šljiva, marelica i jagoda. No, ove godine željela sam probati nešto potpuno novo. Nešto što nikada nisam niti radila niti probala. Odlučila sam napraviti marmeladu/žele od cvjetova bazge, i moram vam reći – ako volite sok od bazge voljet ćete i žele. Proces izrade marmelade od cvjetova bazge nije kompliciran. Potrebno vam je 40 bazge (isto kao i u izradi soka bazge cvijet , a moje savjete za branje cvjetova bazge možete pročitati ovdje http://dailysustainable.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-make-homemade-elder-juice.html ), 1 litra vode , sok od 2 limuna , 500-700 grama šećera ( ovisno o tome koliko slatko volite i želite) i 1 vrećica ( 25grama ) želatine. Kada uberete cvijeće, očistite ga od prljavštine i buba (kao što sam već rekla, isti postupak kao i za izradu soka), stavite ih u posudu i prelijte s 1 litrom vode. Ostavite da stoji 24 sata. Sljedeći dan uzmite vodu s bazgom, procijedite i stavite u lonac. Kuhajte do vrenja, a zatim pomiješajte želatinu s 3 žlice šećera i dodajte u vodu. Dodajte i ostatak šećera. Pustite da vrije, miješajte cijelo vrijeme i pokušajte ukloniti pjenu s vrha. Kuhajte 3 minute. Sada samo trebate uliti svoju marmeladu u sterilizirane staklenke i ostaviti ih na hladnom i tamnom mjestu.

 Nemojte paničariti ako je marmelada tekuća sljedećih nekoliko sati, kada se potpuno ohladi više neće biti tekuća.

Kao što sam rekla, marmeladu bi trebali spremiti u sterilizirane staklenke. Ja sam svoje sterilizirala u pećnici , i to je prilično jednostavno, ali morate biti oprezni. Trebali bi imati na umu da ne stavljate hladno u vruće staklenke ili toplo u hladne staklenke. Ako to napravite, staklenke bi mogle puknuti, a to je opasno. Kad sterilizirate staklenke, imajte na umu da sterilizirati trebate i poklopce. Dakle , kako sterilizirati staklenke? Kao što sam rekla, ja ih steriliziram na u pećnici pa ću vas naučiti kako ih sterilizirati na upravo taj način (sve koje znam tako ih steriliziraju, tako da je to najbolji način i za mene). Prvo operite staklenke i poklopce . Koristite toplu vodu i deterdžent za pranje posuđa i budite sigurni da ste staklenke dobro očistili . Zagrijte pećnicu na 110 ° C / plinsku na broj 1, i nemojte povećavati temperaturu, jer bi staklo moglo prsnuti. Stavite staklenke i poklopce u pećnicu, pazeći da se ne dodiruju i ostaviti ih za 20-30 min. Najbolje ih je sterilizirati za vrijeme dok radite marmeladu ili žele, jer kao što sam već rekla, marmeladu trebate spremiti u vruće staklenke. Nakon 20-30 minuta , izvadite staklenke, a pri tome koristite debele rukavice za pećnicu, jer će staklenke biti prilično vruće . Kada su sterilizirane, možete spremiti marmeladu u njih. Također , staklenke možete sterilizirati u mikrovalnoj pećnici, perilici posuđa ili na štednjaku , ali budući da nikad nisam iskušala te metode ne mogu vam reći više o njima.

Za kraj jedan dobar savjet sam dobila od bake, kada sam prvi puta, prije nekoliko godina, počela izrađivati domaće marmelade. Ona mi je rekla da ih radim samo onda kada sam dobro raspoložena za izradu istih, jer ako želite da vaša marmelada bude dobra i ukusna, trebate ju raditi samo kada imate volju za to, a ne kada ste prisiljeni, i uživajte u ritualu izrade domaće marmelade .

Na kraju današnjeg posta pokazt ću vam što je novo u mom vrtu, nakon tjedan dana kiše

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Lettuce planting / Sadnja zelene salate

There’s nothing better than making your own salad bowl with lettuce from your own garden. Good thing is lettuce is so easy to grow. Last few years I’ve been growing lettuce from seeds and also from seedling which I get from my grandma every year. Since it grows fast it’s one of my favorite to grow (it takes some 45-80 days, depending on type, to grow from seeds to salad) and you have lot of different varieties to choose from. Most common type of lettuces are head, leaf and romaine/cos lettuce and you have few main cultivar (romaine, crisphead, butterhead, summercrisp, leaf) in which you can find many varieties.  I'll just quickly introduce you with some of them. Romaine lettuce you can usually find in salads and sandwiches, leaf is also commonly used in salads and crisphead (you may know it by name iceberg) is most popular in USA. Butterhead is one of my favorite since it have tender texture and sweet taste and summercrisp is lettuce type that is between leaf and crisphead types. Leaf lettuce comes in red and green color.

This year I planted some butterhead, green leaf and crisphead types as they are most common in my kitchen. Good time to start planting your lettuce seeds is early spring (May is ok too) and you can plant them in your garden or in pot. What I did this year, since I'm using raised beds, I took my lettuce seeds and sprinkled them around one part of my garden. I also made that part into some kind of greenhouse so my seeds can grow faster. 

Since lettuce produces shallow roots you don’t need to put your seeds too deep and they should be only lightly covered with soil. Lettuce germinates best with a little light so you can also just leave your seeds on the surface and not cover it with soil. Choose part of your garden with plenty of sun. You can see how my seedling looks after some two weeks since I put them into the ground. When they grow out some more (they need to have two sets of true leaves) I'll have to transplant them to some more spacey part of my garden. At the same time when I planted my lettuce seeds I also transplanted some lettuce seedling I got from my grandma. You can see on photos what that true leaves means (plants need to have some bigger leaves). 

 What I did is, I took seedlings, made holes in the ground and planted seedlings into each hole. After you transplanted them, water it well. One thing you should keep in mind before transplanting lettuce seedlings – soak the area where you want to plant them and give water some 10-15 mins to percolate before transplanting. If you're planing on growing some organic lettuce, like iceberg plant them some 30 cm apart and single leaf lettuce should be some 10 cm apart. Good thing about lettuce is that you can have it throughout the season – just plant some seeds every 2-3 weeks. 

What else should you know about planting lettuce? They like water. Especially during hot weather, so keep that in mind and water your lettuce well. Plant itself will tell you when it needs water – if the leaves are wilting just sprinkle them with water, no matter if its heat of the day. Also, if you are planting few different varieties, you should keep them at least 3 meters apart so you can prevent cross-pollination. When you harvest your lettuce, best time for that would be early in the morning. Good thing about lettuce is that it’s usually, pests free. Snails and slugs like to eat their leaves but you get rid of them using beer traps. Just pour beer into some shallow saucer – it will attract slugs and they will drown it beer. You can also make light permanganate solution and wash your garden tools in it. It will keep slugs away. One more thing is attracted by lettuce – aphids. If you notice them on your lettuce, mix one cup of any type of vegetable oil with 3 cups of warm water and add half a teaspoon of dish washing liquid. Spray mixture on your lettuce and aphids should suffocate. You can also try with garlic solution - crush 6-10 garlic cloves and let them sit in water for a few days, then spray the solution on leaves and other areas of plants that are infected with aphids. Also, good thing is companion planting – plant garlic, onions, chives and mint around your lettuce (same thing is with tomatoes), aphids don’t like those plants so they should keep out of your lettuce too. If you’re companion planting plant your lettuce close to asparagus, beets, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, onions, peas, potatoes, radishes, spinach, strawberries, sunflowers and tomatoes and keep it away of broccoli.

For the end, few photos from my garden from yesterday

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Nema ništa bolje od zelene salate iz vlastitog vrta, a dobra stvar je da ju je jako lako uzgojiti. Zadnjih nekoliko godina uzgajam zelenu salatu iz sjemena, ali i putem presadnica koje redovno dobivam od bake. Budući da raste brzo salata mi je jedna od dražih stvari u vrtu (uzgoj iz sjemena traje nekih 45 do 80 dana , ovisno o vrsti), a za odabir imate puno različitih sorti. Najčešća vrsta salate su kristalka, puterica i rimska salata, a one imaju nekoliko glavnih sorta (rimska,glavatica, puterica , kristalka , list ili hrastov list), a u svakoj sorti možete pronaći brojne vrste. Na brzinu ću vas upoznati s nekima od njih.Rimsku salatu možete naći u salatama i sendvičima, list također, a glavatica (možda ju znate pod imenom iceberg) je jako popularna u SAD-u. Puterica je jedan od mojih favorita, jer ima nježnu teksturu i slatkastog je okusa, kristalka je vrsta između lista i kristalke. Hrastov list dolazi u crvenoj i zelenoj boji. Ove godine zasadila sam putericu, hrastov list i glavaticu, jer se one najčešće nađu u mojoj kuhinji. Dobro vrijeme za početak sadnje sjemena zelene salate je rano proljeće (svibanj je ok također), a možete ju posaditi u vrtu ili posudama. Ja sam, obzirom da ove godine imam podignute gredice, uzela sjeme salate i posula ga po jednom dijelu vrta. Taj sam dio pretvorila u neku vrstu staklenika tako da sjeme može brže rasti. Obzirom da salata ima plitko korijenje, sjeme ne morate staviti preduboko i treba ga samo lagano prekriti zemljom. Kako salata klija najbolje uz prisustvo malo svjetla, možete ga ostaviti na površini, a ne pokriti s tlom. Odaberite dio vrta s puno sunca. 

Na fotkama možete vidjeti kako izgledaju moje sadnice, nakon nekih dva tjedna od sjetve. Kada još malo isklijaju (moraju imati dva seta „pravih“ listova), morat ću ih presaditi u prostraniji dio vrta. Istog dana kada sam posijala sjeme salate, zasadila sam i sadnice koje sam dobila od bake. Na fotkama možete vidjeti što su to zapravo „pravi listovi“ (biljke bi morale imati nekoliko većih listova). Ono što sam ja napravila je da sam uzela sadnice, napravila rupe u zemlji i u svaku od njih posadila po jednu sadnicu salate. Nakon što ih je salata presađena, sve treba dobro zaliti. Imajte na umu jednu stvar kada sadite zelenu salatu - područje na kojem ćete ju posaditi dobro natopite vodom i ostavite 10-15 minuta kako bi se voda dobro ocijedila s površine. Ako želite organski uzgajati salatu, imajte na umu razmak – kod glavatica on mora biti 30ak centimetara dok list možete uzgajati i na udaljenosti od 10-ak centimetara. Dobra stvar kod salate je da ju možete imati tijekom cijele sezone - samo posijte sjeme svakih 2 – 3 tjedna . 

Što još trebate znati o sadnji zelene salate? Ona voli vodu. Pogotovo za vrijeme vrućih dana, pa imajte to na umu i dobro ju zalijevajte. Sama biljka reći će vam kada treba vodu - ako se lišće „poklopilo“ slobodno ju pošpricajte s vodom, bez obzira i ako je jako vruće. Isto tako , ako ste se odlučili sadnju nekoliko različitih vrsti, trebali bi ih držati na udaljenosti od najmanje 3 metra, kako bi spriječili unakrsno oprašivanje. Najbolje vrijeme za branje salate je jutro, a dobra stvar je da je ona najčešće slobodna od štetnika. Puževi vole jesti lišće, ali njih se možete riješiti uz pomoć pivskih zamki. Samo ulijte pivo u plitki tanjurić - to će ih privući i puževi će se utopiti u pivu. Također možete napraviti i laganu otopinu hipermangana u kojoj ćete prati svoj vrtni alat. To bi trebalo zadržati puževe podalje od vašeg vrta. Salata privlači još jednog napasnika – lisne uši. Ako ste ih primijetiti na vašoj salati, pomiješajte jednu šalicu bilo koje vrste biljnog ulja s 3 šalice tople vode i dodajte pola žličice tekućine za pranje posuđa. Smjesu raspršite po salati i lisne bi se uši trebale ugušiti. Također možete probati i s otopinom češnjaka - razdrobite 6-10 češnja češnjaka i ostavite ih nekoliko dana u posudi s vodom, a zatim tekućinu raspršite po lišću i drugim zaraženim dijelovima biljke. Također , dobra stvar je i zajednička sadnja - oko salate (isto djeluje i kod rajčice) posadite češnjak, luk, vlasac i metvicu, lisne uši ne vole te biljke i ne bi se trebale zadržavati oko vaše salate. Ako prakticirate zajedničku sadnju, zelenu salatu smjestite blizu šparoga, repe, prokulica, kupusa, mrkve, kukuruza, krastavaca, patlidžana, luka, graška, krumpira , rotkvica, špinata, jagoda, suncokreta i rajčice i držati ju podalje od brokule .

Za kraj, par jučerašnjih slika iz mog vrta

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