Plant Based Studios

Organic horticulturist & herbalism student

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Taking in these autumnal tones as the last few days of summer roll by. I love this transition into equinox.

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Very happy to be sharing my abundance of parsley with these beautiful butterflies-to-be

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Poblanos & Serranos, lots of basil for pesto, gherkins for salad, and oregano for drying

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Poblano 🌶

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Cotton candy hues of borage flowers

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Finally gave the tulsi a harvest haircut! I leave so much in my garden to flower for pollinators, and I finally got around to harvesting some herbs for tea.

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Female cannabis buds emerging

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Helianthus bud 🌻

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Female pumpkin flower anatomy. Hoping for more success in pollination from our friendly bee helpers who have been out flying today during the break in today’s rainstorm.

An unfertilized baby pumpkin which grows below a female flower is considered an ovary until pollination. Mature pollen from a male flower must be transferred to an open female flower, otherwise as the flower closes and dies the fruit will along with it.

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Long Island Cheese Pumpkin 🎃 seed started by my 5 year old in her kindergarten classroom.

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Backyard bouquet and my new coffee table read 📚 💐

You can also vaguely see in the background a pot of snap peas which we let climb up the screen on our porch... not as prolific as those out in the garden, but still beginning to produce some beautiful purple pea pods :)

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“By becoming a gardener, I accidentally— blessedly— landed myself in a fusion of science lab and Buddhist retreat, a place of nonstop learning and contemplation, where there is life buzzing to my maximum and also the deepest stillness... This gardening stuff is not just a hobby, like building model airplanes or stamp-collecting. The medium is alive, and always changing, and no, you are never really in charge for a second, no matter how straight your rows nor sturdy your staking. Something larger is always at work, something no mere hand of a gardener can control.”

A Way To Garden, Margaret Roach

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Tonight’s dinner haul featuring our first harvest of cilantro & toscano kale!

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My happy place

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Chickpea stew and salad for dinner last night featuring 6 things from the garden... spinach, parsley, thyme, arugula, watermelon radish, & mesclun greens :)

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My first time growing these beauties 😍

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I built these raised beds in April, 2 weeks after moving into our new house. I was eager to have a thriving garden despite our awkward spring move in date, so I immediately threw in a bunch of seed and since then have transplanted a few herbs in as well. We have wild arugula, Toscano kale, mesclun greens, basil, dill, thyme and oregano. I also seeded in some marigolds and my next round of mesclun in between. This is all in one 4x4 bed. We have 4 beds total, 3 with veggies and one with medicinal annual herbs and flowers. We’ve been harvesting salads for about 3 weeks from the bed pictured and it grows back within a week. Very reliable and fast growing seed mix which is perfect for novice veg gardeners.

PS I planted these seeds with my 5 year old. There are barely any uniform rows and I’ve tucked things into bare gaps of soil as I see them appear. Kale and arugula seeds fell in random places and I’m keeping them to mature cuz I always want to end up with as much harvest as we can get for our family and neighbors! I’m hoping that successions flow nicely and as crops come up like radish, carrots, peas and the spinach that is beginning to bolt that the things I’ve transplanted or sown in between or in its place come up in time to take up the space. How else do others work with succession planting and veg gardens for multiple seasons? I’m trying to grow food all fall and then winter under row covers :)