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Post by pepperhead212 on Nov 12, 2014 22:51:03 GMT -5
I dug up all 6 of my bunches of lemongrass today, since a freeze is coming. I think that even I have more than I can use.
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Post by paulf on Nov 13, 2014 11:24:45 GMT -5
Some of ours came in a couple of weeks ago, the rest just croaked in the cold.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Nov 13, 2014 16:19:21 GMT -5
Nice! That IS a lot of lemongrass.
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Post by daylilydude on Nov 14, 2014 14:14:21 GMT -5
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Post by daylilydude on Nov 14, 2014 14:14:32 GMT -5
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Post by paulf on Nov 14, 2014 20:29:34 GMT -5
Lemongrass is used a lot in Thai food as an herb and flavoring. We just like the smell in the yard.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Nov 14, 2014 23:40:38 GMT -5
@daylilydude When I first started fooling around with Thai food (in the 80's, sometime) I saw a lot of recipes calling for substituting lemon zest for lemongrass, and lime zest for kafir lime leaves. Since I had no source for these ingredients at the time, I tried those, and they were OK, but once I tried the real things, I realized what the craze was about in all the books and magazines - using the substitutes makes dishes that just taste flat. Lemongrass is used in the foods of Thailand, as well as the rest of the countries of SE Asia - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma (Myanmar now, I think?) - and parts of India, as well. Fortunately, lemongrass is available, even in some supermarkets now, since demand for it has increased so much - its use in fusion dishes probably added to this. A friend who moved to VT some years back was amazed when he found it in a local store. I used to send him some, along with lime and curry leaves about this time, so he could freeze them, but he can get the lemongrass now. To grow mine, I just buy a bundle of it at the Asian market, and cut the very ends of the stalks off, and root them, in some water, changing it every few days. 3 weeks is all it takes, as a rule; I always try to root 6, since they don't always all root, but this year they did, so I put the 4 best in the ground. But then two peppers died in the same bed, so I stuck the other two in - the reason I had so much this year! A Filipino guy I work with also uses it in their food, and I always give him a bunch when I have extra, as well as many of the extra peppers.
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swamper
Pro Member
Posts: 208
Joined: March 2011
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Post by swamper on Nov 22, 2014 7:17:46 GMT -5
Gilberties had 2 different lemon grass varieties for sale, one had a wider leaf (common) and the other a finer leaf. I haven't grow them side by side. My cats keep my container of lemon grass pruned.
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indigogirl17
Pro Member
Blazing here again...90's and dry after aq period of 3 weeks of solid rain a few weeks back. .
Posts: 191
Zone:: 5b
Favorite Vegetable:: sweet corn, collards, turnip greens, yellow wax beans, Cherokee purple tomatoes
Joined: March 2011
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Post by indigogirl17 on May 4, 2017 10:15:54 GMT -5
OOOOH! Thank you for this method for growing lemongrass! I'm going to do that this year! Does it return year after year? (I'm in NW Ohio).
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 4, 2017 11:09:19 GMT -5
No, lemongrass is subtropical - it's only hardy in zone 9 and warmer. You could try to keep a clump going in a pot indoors over the winter or buy new plants each year like pepperhead212 does.
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indigogirl17
Pro Member
Blazing here again...90's and dry after aq period of 3 weeks of solid rain a few weeks back. .
Posts: 191
Zone:: 5b
Favorite Vegetable:: sweet corn, collards, turnip greens, yellow wax beans, Cherokee purple tomatoes
Joined: March 2011
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Post by indigogirl17 on May 5, 2017 8:30:55 GMT -5
of cours,e good point! I may try it in my office!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 27, 2021 22:01:18 GMT -5
It's been 4 years since I grew this, as I see from this thread! I still have a little in the freezer - keeps indefinitely in vacuum seal. I'll probably look into some way of using the old as an insect repellent or insecticide! This year I started my lemongrass stalks in some water on 4-14 - I remember I bought it the day before, because I had an appt. that day right up the street, from the Korean market, where I bought it! Now, just a little over 3 months later, here's the 4 plants (actually 3 - one is out of the photo). Those sage and rosemary plants behind are quite large, but these are already dwarfing those, and still have over 3 months, before I have to dig them up! Lemongrass, in front of some large sage and rosemary plants. 7-27 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2021 23:39:02 GMT -5
LOL, looks almost like some Johnson grass !!!
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Post by paquebot on Jul 28, 2021 9:40:37 GMT -5
I kept some growing for a few years by cutting a clump into individual plants and put them in water over winter. I got the starts from a Hmong gardener who kept hers going the same way.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2021 15:51:58 GMT -5
I think I have lemon grass seed to start this next year, but if it is unreliable or ?? I will try rooting it as you described pepperhead. Is there a use for the upper leaves as well as the bottoms of the stalks?
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 28, 2021 17:28:17 GMT -5
I have grown lemongrass from seed once, but it is a different species, and was much smaller. Also, I started it in late January (!), and it was still only a scant 1/4", by the end of the season. I went back to starting by rooting stalks!
When you have fresh lemongrass, you can use the greens to make a drink - what I call lemongrassaide! Just put 2 c roughly chopped greens in the blender with 4 c water, and blend until totally ground up. Strain through a fine strainer, and sweeten - 1/4-1/3 c sugar, or an equivalent of stevia. Then serve over ice. I freeze the greens in Foodsaver bags - they flatten out, and don't waste much space.
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Post by paquebot on Jul 28, 2021 22:06:40 GMT -5
I was going to say the same thing pepperhead did but less words. My friend's variety did not make seeds and she had never seen seeds in Vietnam. Seeds which are available apparently are different than what we grew.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 10, 2021 21:43:14 GMT -5
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 30, 2021 18:50:52 GMT -5
Today, I finally harvested all of my lemongrass - got 95 stalks, and only a very few small ones! I was surprised, for sure, as in the past it seemed that half the mass was small stalks, but you can see how few there were, even on the smallest clusters. As I've done before, I trim these now, so when I thaw them, nothing is thrown away - it's already been done! Well, not really - all those trimmings (other than those greens I saved) are in the garden, as mulch! I took photos showing the woody centers in the stalks, and the first one trimmed to the purple rings in the center. Some I only had to cut a small amount from, while the ones in the center (the oldest stalks) I sometimes had to cut up to 3" from. Good thing is, I won't need to do this again for quite a while! I still have a few from 4 seasons ago, from 3 stalks - I couldn't find anyone that wanted my 4th rooting, so I planted it! All 4 lemongrass clusters, showing the size difference. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Here's the largest cluster, with the stalks cut through, with a cleaver, showing the outer ones already with the purple rings in the centers, but most needed some trimming. Largest cluster, stalks cut off, showing the woody center of most of the the stalks, which will need to be cut off. by pepperhead212, on Flickr The smallest cluster still had few small stalks, and had more of the ones that didn't need trimming at that end. Smallest cluster, still with few small stalks. by pepperhead212, on Flickr I didn't save all of the greens - only half. These will be cut more, then Foodsavered, and the volume will decrease greatly. Lemongrass greens, from 2 largest clusters, about 46 oz., filled a plastic bag from a store. by pepperhead212, on Flickr And the 95 stalks I got from the 4 clusters: 95 stalks saved, and rinsed, draining, before vacuum sealing them, in the Foodsaver. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 30, 2021 21:12:12 GMT -5
And here's that lemongrass 5 days before I harvested it. And a photo of the huge sage and rosemary plants, that didn't look like much, behind the lemongrass. 4 lemongrass clusters, next to a large sage and rosemary plants. Ready to be harvested soon, 10-25 by pepperhead212, on Flickr Sage, 4 ft across, and rosemary, almost 4 ft tall, that were dwarfed by that lemongrass! 10-30 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 31, 2021 21:50:45 GMT -5
Here's how I stored all that lemongrass, using the Foodsaver. I first cut a bunch of strips from a 6" wide roll, sealing it twice, and cutting down the center. That roll ran out, so I cut some strips from an 8" wide roll, cutting it into thirds. I was only 1 strip short, by the time I finished, which wasn't a bad estimate! A 6 in wide Foodsaver strip, with 3 sealed strips, ready to cut up the center, to make 2 strips. by pepperhead212, on Flickr An 8 in Foodsaver strip, sectioned into 3 narrower strips, ready to slice into strips. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Some lemongrass in packs of 3, some in packs of 4. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Here's the stack of sealed lemongrass strips. 5 of them went in the upstairs freezer, but the rest went into a 2 gal ziploc, and into the downstairs freezer. Finished stack of Foodsavered lemongrass. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Nov 1, 2021 8:32:07 GMT -5
That is a lot of lemongrass. Very nice sage and rosemary plants, too.
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