I came up with a different way to display a spider plant – the aerial way!

This past May 2022 I came up with a different way to display the typical spider plant with babies! Instead of letting it hang like a typical hanging plant, I used a couple of plant supports previously used for orchids. The stems of the new babies are quite thick and with some clips I gathered up all the hanging stems and created a more aerial display. From afar it may look like air plants. You can see from the image in May compared to the one I took in August that the baby spider plant doesn’t grow as big. I keep it trimmed to keep from weighing down.

I love this display as it doesn’t look too messy and it has an architectural touch to it. I searched online looking for any reference or image of this kind of display for spider plant and I could not find any! Is it possible that I came up with an original idea?? Would you display your spider plant this way? If you do, please let me know and share images!

Spider plant with babies displayed the aerial way. Photo credit: Marilou Strait. Taken May 2022

Updated photo of the same spider plant aerial display. Photo credit: Marilou Strait. Photo taken August 2022

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Container edible garden in the city

This is the way we garden for edibles in the city, by using containers! Luckily our condo tower has an accessible rooftop where we can garden on containers and raised beds with a useful composting bins nearby. We have totally eliminated putting organic (fruits, vegetables and eggshells) from the landfill and proud to say that we have been doing it for close to 8 years now.  Between the “greens” and “browns” from the other gardeners in the building, we manage to keep the composting bins in order. Here’s a sampling of our garden harvest this year.

Yes, you can grow lettuce in these small containers! These planters are usually used as balcony planters but we found better use for them for growing our organic leaf lettuce. Tip: Stagger planting the lettuce from seed to ensure you have a continuous supply through the growing  months.

Our raised cedar planter with tomatoes and cucumbers. If you have not tried fresh cucumber still warm from the garden, it is sweet, crunchy with tons of flavour!

DIY hack for missing popsicle handles – Substitute plastic spoons

Popsicle mould with handles substituted with plastic spoons.

How many times have you bought popsicle moulds only to have the handle break off or have gone missing? In a pinch, I used plastic spoons inserted into the mould. Voila! You can make use of the whole popsicle mould again! It is best to use sturdy plastic spoons or the little spoons you get when you try some ice cream.

This popsicle recipe is full of fruit goodness. This recipe is not exact which makes it easy to adjust to whatever you have on hand. This recipe can be used as a smoothie (almost like a mango lassi) and is great to make into sugar-free popsicles.

• mango pulp (from really ripe mango)
• fruit juice (approximately 1 cup)
• 2 dollops of vanilla yogurt
• banana (for extra creaminess) – choose very ripe bananas for extra sweetness

Blend until the mango fibres are blended together. It will have a thick consistency. Pour or spoon into popsicle moulds. If you have extra, add ice and make it into a refreshing smoothie! Enjoy!

Substitute plastic spoons as popsicle handles.

Naturally dyed Easter eggs

This year we dyed our Easter eggs the natural way using vegetables and things we found in the kitchen. It was my first time to make it so it was as like a fun science experiment which you can get your young kids involved in.

We used Omega-3 hard-boiled eggs and approximately 1 tablespoon of vinegar for every 2 cups of liquid.

Suggested materials:

• red cabbage – cut into pieces and boiled in two cups of water. Add vinegar
• 1 medium beets – cut into chunks and boiled in 2 cups of water. Add vinegar
• paprika
• turmeric
• white vinegar
• rubber band
• glass jars

Here’s the result:

Yellow – used paprika and a pinch of turmeric. Add boiling water and approximately one  teaspoon of vinegar. I used a small jam glass jar good to fit one egg.

Light blue – red cabbage after 4 hours

Deeper light blue – red cabbage after overnight

Light lavender – mixed equal parts red cabbage and beets dye bath after overnight soak

Molten blue – white egg rolled in the boiled red cabbage pieces from the dye bath

Molten blue with white streaks – We experimented with wrapping rubber band on white egg then soaking it in the red cabbage dye bath for 4 hours then rolled it in the boiled red cabbage pieces.

Dark Red Brown – I was expecting this to be deep red but instead we got a deep red-brown from using red beets. Next time, I will use glass jars for all the dye baths, since we used a clear plastic container for this one.