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Move lemon grass to warm quarters for winter Vern Nelson/Special to The Oregonian Many readers tell me they love lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) for its intense lemon flavor and light fragrance. Now they're worried about how to overwinter these frost-tender plants. The good news: Overwintering lemon grass is easy. The bad: You'll want to continue harvesting, and there won't be much to harvest unless you have a greenhouse or a warm, brightly lit room with full-spectrum grow lights. I started one of my lemon grass plants this spring from unrooted pieces I bought at an Asian market. Vern Nelson/Special to The OregonianTrim leaves to about 6 inches tall. • Round up some black plastic pots and fill them half full of fresh potting soil to save time later. • Lemon grass needs more watering than most plants in winter. • Whether your plants are in the ground or pots, they'll need a haircut: Trim the leaves to about 6 inches tall. Vern Nelson/Special to The OregonianSlice the crown into clumps for replanting.

Slashdot Stories (10) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Overwintering Stevia Plants It’s getting cold here in the —time to bring in the stevia plants before our first hard freeze. As far north as USDA plant hardiness zone 8, stevia plants can usually survive winter in the field. The tops might die back, but the roots can survive as long as the ground does not freeze. Mulch can help prevent frozen ground. I harvested my stevia plants more than a month ago, in September, leaving stubs of 4 to 5 inches in length. The plants might survive in a sunny window. It’s also possible to overwinter stevia roots by packing them in moist soil or peat moss and placing them in a basement or root cellar where it stays cool, but not below freezing.

World’s Largest Data Center: 350 E. Cermak « Data Center Knowledge {*style:<i>By: Rich Miller April 13th, 2010 </i>*} in Share And the number one entry in our list of the world’s largest data centers … An aerial view of 350 East Cermak, the 1.1 million square foot data center facility in Chicago. The industrial strength infrastructure includes four fiber vaults and three electric power feeds, which provide the building with more than 100 megawatts of power. 350 East Cermak is currently the second-largest power customer for Commonwealth Edison, trailing only Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. One of the most distinctive features of the facility is its cooling system, which is supported by an 8.5 million gallon tank of a refrigerated brine-like liquid (seen at left in the top photo). For more information, see . This hallway provides a glimpse of the Gothic architecture that provides a sense of atmosphere not seen at most data center buildings. The building may have its exterior flourishes, but underneath it's industrial-strength ifnrastructure.

English Russia Vegan & Gluten Free Christmas 2011 A while back we received an email from one of the editors at Bon Appétit Magazine, asking if we wanted to create a vegan and gluten-free Christmas menu for them, as a special web feature. We usually aren’t strictly vegan or gluten-free, but were so flattered by the offer that we didn’t have to think more than 2 seconds before answering them that we would happily take it on as a challenge (while dancing a silly dance and singing “We are working with BA, we are working with BA…”). We came up with five different recipes; Cinnamon roasted root vegetables, Mustard kale salad, Spiced spinach tarts, Christmas falafels and a Pomegranate cheesecake. It is always fun to cook at Christmas since you get to use holiday flavors like saffron, clove, cinnamon, mustard and lemon. The whole thing has been up on the Bon Appétit web for about a week now, and apparently it is on their top list of most popular articles (we’re dancing that silly dance again!). special equipment: Six small tartlet pans

2leep.com: Connecting Bloggers 101 Gardening Secrets The Experts Never Tell You I like to use natural top soil to start my garden seedlings in. I usually don't use potting soil because it generally does not produce the results I want. I usually fill a large, deep baking pan I have with top soil and bake it for thirty minutes at 350 degrees. This sanitizes the soil and makes sure that no weeds or grass come up in your soil. I usually start on this project in the winter and I fill up a couple of large plastic barrels with lids with the sanitized soil. I fill my trays up with my potting soil and then I plant my seeds. I cover each seedling with a clear plastic cup that I wash and reuse. If you want to root a plant or cutting in water, add a aspirin or two to the water. If you plant your seeds outdoors sprinkle flavored powdered gelatin in the soil with the seeds. Transplanting Tomatoes Or Pepper Plants When planting any type of tomato or pepper plant, pinch off all but the top leaves of the plant. Then carefully fill the hole with dirt and pack the dirt down tight. 1.

Shiitake Mushroom Logs | Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm We are finally, finally getting our “Herb and ‘Shroom Garden” going. And when I say finally, I mean FINALLY. I have been working so hard to get the main garden planted (and reading fiction novels which is quite un-characteristic for this non-fiction bookworm) that I have been struggling to get the Herb and ‘Shroom Garden going. But it is my goal over this next week to be all set in finishing up the rest of my oak logs for shiitake mushrooms and to plant an oasis worth of basil, parsley, rosemary, and other herbs to fill up our teeny, tiny side yard. And as part of that goal, I have finished half of the one hundred (yeah… that’s not a typo) inoculated plugs I ordered. Making your own mushroom logs is this easy: Well, one, you need some 4-6″ diameter hardwood logs. Two, you will need some sort of power/electric drill with a 5/16″ drill bit. First, drill holes about 2″ inches deep in a diamond pattern along your log. Next, you will hammer in one dowel per hole. Like this: Like Loading...

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