Cover 'em up!

Well, Derby Day is the unofficial planting day for summer crops around here; generally it's safe to say our area will be frost-free after the "most exciting two minutes in history." Here we are, though, a week after Derby --- and we have a frost warning issued.

No worries! To keep your plants safe, just cover them up. You can use something simple like sheets, towels, or upside-down pots. Or you can get all sophisticated (ahem, like us) and use special frost cloth to protect your plants. This is sold by the foot and is quite inexpensive. We bought 30 feet of it for around $20. It's reuseable as well, so should last several years.

Tucked in for the night!

Of course the frost warning comes tonight, because we spent all morning getting our beautiful seedlings outside in the raised beds. We've been hardening them off for the past week, and they look amazing. We're so excited to watch their progress!

---Autumn

Dandelions...not your average weed.

They're in fields, your yard, and your neighborhood. You've blown the fluffy white seeds and made a wish. You may have even tried to kill them with chemicals. I'm here to tell you, folks --- embrace the dandelions!!! Have you ever stopped to look at them??? They are really quite beautiful up close. Not to mention dandelions provide numerous health benefits, and have dozens of uses as both food and medicine.

We have an abundance of this lovely flower in our yard. Rather than continue to mow them over, I wanted to find a use for them. A friend pointed me in the direction of a recipe for dandelion jelly --- it seemed like a good way to use some of them up. Now, I'm pretty sure that cooking the petals and adding a bunch of sugar negates their health benefits; but the jelly is very tasty! I'm getting anxious to get into canning season, too, and this satisfied my urge (at least for now). *Update* While the original recipe says to let the jars seal themselves, due to safety reasons it is recommended that you hot water bath the jars for 10 minutes and let seal.

I used the recipe from this website. I didn't add food coloring, as the color was beautiful enough. The finished jelly tastes remarkably like honey. Who knew?!

Basket full of flowers - the kids had a great time helping pick them!

Next step was to remove the yellow petals and place them into a bowl. The original website said to cut them with scissors; but I found the easiest way to do it was to pinch the bottom of the flower and squeeze until the petals fell into the bowl. Beware! This will turn your fingers yellow!

Petals removed and ready to soak

I let my infusion of petals and water soak for nearly 24 hours. I didn't do it on purpose --- life happened and I just didn't have a chance to finish the process.

The finished product!

The recipe actually made five half pint jars. One of them was already opened and in my fridge at the time of this photo. (oops!)

Have you done anything creative with dandelions? I'm thinking dandelion wine should be the next thing we try. :)

Grow, baby, grow!

Have I mentioned how much I love watching our plants grow??? Well, I do. Here are a few photos of the seedlings we've started indoors. Remember what they looked like just 4 days ago? 4 days, folks! Now look at them!

Zucchini!

 Since it was 80 degrees yesterday, they enjoyed some outside time in the sunlight. Our grow lights work well, but nothing is better than the real thing.



Cucumbers!

The seeds are slowly, but surely, emerging from the raised beds outside. We just got a really nice rain, so I expect major growth by the end of the day; especially if the sun decides to come out at all. It's amazing how effective rain water is versus water from the hose. A few weeks ago, we constructed our first rain barrel. We got about a half inch of rain the next day, and the barrel was completely full. We're working now on getting a few more barrels - once we do, I'll share our methods of construction. Stay tuned!

In the words of Tom Petty...

...the waiting is the hardest part! We've done all we can do at this point. The beds are filled with soil, seeds are planted outside, and seeds are started inside. Now? We wait. This is a good time to mention that patience isn't my strongest characteristic. Ugh. But, like most things in life; good things come to those who wait. (I still want it to hurry, though)

The beauty of starting seeds indoors is that we can see the progress of each seedling --- and that is enough to get me through to harvest time. Not only do I water and rotate the plants each day, but I also frequently go check on the wee little seedlings to see what has decided to pop out. And while it may seem excessive to look in on them more than once a day, it only takes an hour sometimes to see new sprouts emerging.

Three days ago, we spotted a lone zucchini breaking through the soil. A few hours later, there were multiple cells that had seedlings emerging. As of yesterday, we have zucchini, cucumbers, kohlrabi, and tomatoes sprouting.

So yes, the waiting really stinks. But I am rewarded daily, if not hourly, by the promise of growth. And that's enough to keep me going.

 

Our first zucchini!

 

 

A tiny kohlrabi, breaking through the soil

 

So, much to my dismay --- there's nothing to do but wait. (and keep our fingers crossed) And for now, I'll keep checking our plants to see what else comes out to greet us!

 

---Autumn 



Seed starting - Grasty style

I mentioned before that this is the first year we've been successful starting seeds indoors. There are a number of reasons for this. In previous years, I've bought those Jiffy peat pot contraptions. They always ended miserably, in mold and plant death, despite following directions. I gave up on it for a few years, but after the potting party I realized my mistake. The key to seed starting success is dirt --- good, quality planting mix. It is worth every penny, so don't skimp and buy the cheapest you can find. This is what we have, and it is glorious.

The next vital ingredient for successful seed starting is light. Our house is shaded by trees and doesn't get sufficient sunlight from windows alone, so we needed to supplement.

Here is how we have our seeds setup inside: We bought a few fluorescent lights (already in casing)from the big box store, and realized that we needed another light to illuminate all our seed trays. So we bought a hanging fluorescent shop light and a grow bulb from a local hardware store. We mounted the original lights on a 2x4 and propped them up with scraps of wood. The shop light was a bit trickier; since we didn't really want to screw hooks into our living room ceiling, we had to improvise. Remember, I said you could just call me MacGyver! We used clamps to attach scrap pieces of 2x4 to our fireplace mantel; then hung the shop light and grow bulb from the wood to hang over our seed trays. Oh, and I should point out that the seed trays are sitting on our children's train table. It's the perfect size for four large trays! Needless to say, it's not the most sophisticated setup --- nor is it the prettiest. But it works, it's out of the way, and we didn't have to spend money on building anything special to house our seeds.

 

Seed starting, Grasty style!

 

We water the seeds daily as needed, and rotate the seed trays every other day or so. The grow light is in the back and the normal fluorescent lights are in the front. At this time, I don't notice much of a difference between the two lights; but I rotate them anyway, just in case. As you can see from the picture, the light from the front bulbs doesn't quite make it all the way to the ends of the trays. Therefore, there are a few cells that are a bit shaded. Rotating ensures that they all get sufficient light.

Next year we will likely build a more sophisticated structure for seeds (and give the kids their train table back!), but we weren't sure we'd be successful this year so we made do with what we had. So far, so good!

---Autumn

I Don’t Like Vegetables! Why would I want a Garden?

My name is Cullen. I am not a vegetable eater. Never have been. I used to eat corn and potatoes and only corn and potatoes. That didn’t change much when I first got married. Once I had children I changed my eating habits slightly. I now eat green beans, peas, broccoli, and more salad --- trying to set a good example and all. That is still about the extent of what I like. I have texture issues with food. Personal demons I want to start trying to exorcise. That’s why I want a garden.

There has been countless research done on the harmful effects of pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed on commercial crops. I have seen all the movies pertaining to the mistreatment of animals and the effects of chemicals on the plants we eat. Still, we buy what we need from the grocery store because it’s cheap. In these current economic times, who doesn’t want to save a dollar or two? I know this guy does. However, as I grow older and hopefully wiser I am starting to see things in a different light. I could stand to lose a few pounds and be in better shape… (Who couldn’t, right???) I know that natural, organic, non-treated plants are great for me. So in an effort to be a healthier person I will try every vegetable that comes out of our garden. That’s why I want a garden.

I love being outside. My kids love being outside. Gardening gets us outside. That’s why I want a garden.

I love my wife and enjoy sharing in her passions. We get to spend time together as adults and gardening gives us something fun to do together. It gives us something to talk about other than the children’s bowel movements and their temper tantrums. That’s why I want a garden.

To be a happier, healthier, closer family. That’s why I want a garden.

The seeds

Once we prepared the beds, it was time to get the seeds in the ground. We spent a good while planning where everything will go, and then plotted it all on a large poster board lest we forgot where we planted everything. It was actually quite fun to sit and color tiny carrots and tomatoes on the plan!

 

The master plan

 

As I mentioned, this is our first year at square foot gardening. As a previous row gardener, I find it nerve-wracking and a little daunting to plant so many plants this close together. The growing season will be interesting, to say the least. For now, we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

 

This is also our first year at planting early crops and seed starting. Until this point, we've waited for the normal planting time in our area --- the day after Derby Day (the Kentucky Derby, for you non-locals). This is traditionally the time when people get warm weather plants in the ground. It's well past the frost date and safe to plant. Because we're novice spring planters, we purchased a very handy slide tool from Fresh Start that tells us everything we need to know, including when to start seeds inside, when to transplant, and when to sow directly outdoors. It cost less than $4, and has proven invaluable to our journey. Along with the slide tool, we also purchased our seeds from our friends at Fresh Start. We bought High Mowing Organic Seeds. There's no room for Monsanto in our yard!

 

 

Look at all those veggies!

 



On Sunday, it was nice enough to get into the garden and plant the direct-sow seeds. These included onions, peas, turnips, leaf lettuce, mustard greens, carrots, and radishes. When we had the unfortunate accident with the seedlings, we lost broccoli, cauliflower, kale, swiss chard, lettuce, and spinach. We plan to replace those seeds by the weekend.

 

Inside, we started the following seeds: squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, kohlrabi, and various herbs. They should be ready for the ground just in time for Derby Day! For now, they're happily sitting under grow lights.

--Autumn