BAlejandro Gardner

BAlejandro Gardner “A space for everyone. We bring together inspiring stories, helpful tips, fun entertainment, and everyday content that keeps life interesting.”

10/05/2025

How to make pumpkin seeds! 🎃

10/05/2025

Pumpkin seed recipe

10/05/2025

Have leftover seeds from pumpkin carving? Roast them for a tasty snack!

10/05/2025

‼️Don’t throw out those butternut squash seeds! If prepared properly, they taste EVEN BETTER than roasted pumpkin seeds! More crunchy and less chewy!

The soaking action is KEY 💫. All seeds contain phytates, which can inhibit the absorption of nutrients like iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium. Soaking disables their action and unlocks these nutrients. Don’t rush it by skipping this step!

Why dehydrate instead of roast in the oven? When we soak the seeds, it activates enzymes, which helps us digest the seeds properly (another benefit of soaking🙌🏼). However, if the seeds are subjected to high temps, these enzymes are destroyed.

Dehydrating at low temps preserves these enzymes, making them even more digestible. Our ancestors used to soak nuts, seeds, grains, and beans regularly. Unfortunately, in our modern world of convenience, this practice has nearly been forgotten.

Recipe⬇️
1) Rinse the seeds so they’re free from the pulp
2) Soak for 12-24h in a brine (1.5 tsp salt in 2 cups water)
3) Drain, but don’t rinse
4) Spread the seeds on a towel to air dry
5) Toss with olive oil, salt, and spices (we like smoked paprika, cumin, garlic, and chili powder) - just eyeball it!
6) Dehydrate at 115F for 12-24 hours, then enjoy!
*Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months, but BTH these never even make it into the jar at our house because we scarf them all down 😆

10/05/2025

How to manually polinate pumkins / watermellons

10/05/2025

The first step to growing some of your own food is as simple as picking up a few things from the supermarket.

You can start all of these this month and full details of all the projects are in my book ‘Give it a Grow’ which includes recipes for the flatbreads and the lentil green Dhal. You can find a copy via the link in the bio, online and in bookshops and I hope to finally have a US release date very soon!

These 5 projects are all either quick and easy, produce repeatedly, for a long time or give you something with multiple uses. So give it a grow!

10/05/2025

Herbs are probably THE BEST thing you could possibly grow in a small garden and one of the easiest and most bountiful is Parsley. Planting out my parsley means I’ve harvested - I’m not even kidding - about 100 times more parsley than if I’d just used that little potted plant. It is hardy and grows big meaning you can pick it all year round. Growing your own food doesn’t always save you money but when it comes to parsley this is a great money saving plant to grow. It also means you get super fresh herbs and no more sad dead half used packets at the back of the fridge. ☺️

For this and more tips on growing herbs - as well as loads of other garden projects check out my new book ‘Give it a Grow’ which is out now and available via the link in my bio.

10/05/2025

I actually have 15 fruits growing in my garden, can you guess the other 5? Some will hopefully be fruiting for the first time this year.

1. Chilean Guava
2. strawberry
3. Pears
4.Mini Kiwi
5. Feijoa / Pineapple Guava
6. Pinkberry
7. Lemon
8. Apple
9. Physalis / Cape Gooseberry
10. calamansi

If you want to grow your own fruit loads of these are projects in my book ‘Give It a Grow’ which you can order via the link in my bio ☺️

10/05/2025

My favourite projects are ones that as many people as possible - regardless of space - can do. This windowbox is definitely one of those and I think my new favourite houseplant too.

When it comes to growing - getting the right plant for the right job is key, so when I had this idea I sought out varieties that would produce whilst taking up as little space as possible.

The standout success has been the tomato - I sowed 5 seeds of a variety called ‘House Tomato’ from this heirloom tomato has been especially bred for growing on a windowsill and was developed in Russia in the 19th Century. All 5 seeds grew extremely well, I have 2 on the windowsill, one under a grow light in the living room and 2 in windowboxes in the garden. All are covered in fruit. But the windowsill ones are the first to ripen.

The aubergine is a new mini variety called ‘Baby Jack’ which out performed many other varieties I sowed from seed this year to produce super strong bushy little plants. I’m also testing this out in the garden.

Finally the chilli is just starting to flower and is a favourite of mine I’ve been growing for years - Zimbabwe black. A delicate very pretty little chillie plant with dark foliage, pretty little purple flowers and tiny black chillies that ripen to red.

If you want to have a go at this the best time to start your seeds is in late winter/ early spring. So around March in the Northern Hemisphere and about Sept in the Southern.

This ridiculously delicious sandwich was the perfect way to celebrate my harvest and there are plenty more tomatoes, chillies and hopefully some aubergines on the way!

10/05/2025

I’m always looking for ways to reduce plastic use in my garden and these soil balls are a very cute way to do it. Keeping them in a wooden box and covering with baking paper helps reduce water loss which is the main thing to keep an eye on as they can easily dry out.

There’s loads more info about growing dwarf and climbing French beans in my book ‘Give it A Grow’ and now is the perfect time to get sowing to have them on tap this summer. I love growing them in a range of different colours.

My book is also now available as an audio book! Read by me, check out the link in my bio ☺️

So far this year (fingers crossed!) the slugs and snails haven’t been nearly as bad as last year and my beans are fairing fine without protection. But some wool pellets around the plants will help keep slugs and snails at bay without harming other wildlife in the garden.

10/05/2025

Our pear trees are loaded this year , what is your favorite pear ? We appreciate y’all

10/05/2025

I just love growing Chinese cabbage! 🥬

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California (CA)
Los Angeles, CA
42096

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