I promised an update and here it is:
We got into the garden today (yay!) turns out the combo really starts with a 1 and the person who sent out the email started it with a 2, just to keep us on our toes apparently. But Garden Buddy and I got in! We planted the last of the tomato seedlings.
Ox hearts are finally in the ground, This is about when I got tomato seedlings in last year so I hope that it gets hot/sunny enough to let them grow enough to produce fruit. I'm really looking forward to these guys and I hope against hope that I get some. I think next year I'm going to do these guys in big pots so I can bring them indoors under a grow light if it gets cold. It's been a weirdly cold summer this year. It took forever to warm up, and I'm still alternating nights between the air conditioner and an extra blanket. But I digress.
We also got in eggplant, broccoli, carrots, and more beans today. Out 3 sisters area is officially all planted, so we'll see how it goes. The corn seems to be happy (two stalks have silk!) and the squash are ENORMOUS. This will clearly be a good year for squash. The tomatoes that had already been in are starting to produce fruit, there was one mature indigo rose tomato there today. I'd show you a picture, but I ate it. The cucumbers also have wee little proto-pickle nubbins!
I also discovered a volunteer! The bird's eye peppers that I'd planted last year and intended to save see from (but didn't) came back! Those hot little numbers were a favorite of Ben's, so I'm really glad they came back. Even if they're at the end of my eggplant row.
As for being fed today? I had to thin out my turnips. I got three bulbs about the size of golf balls and some nice big bunches of greens. I had 2 commercially bought turnips at home, so today's lunch is oven roasted turnips with sauteed greens. I am inordinately pleased with this.
Friday, July 10, 2015
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Mini-Update 'Cause I Said I Would
So garden buddy and I went to Fwigf at 8am. The plan was to plant the last of our seedlings, do a little weeding, squee over the flowers on various veggies, ect. We got there with our seedlings, went to the gate... and the combination didn't work. My community garden has changed the combination on the lock and emailed us the wrong one. They didn't open until 9. So we got no garden time today.
Instead we went to (big box home improvement store) and picked up plant stakes. Tomorrow we're going back in the morning, planting the seedlings, staking what needs to be staked, pulling the worst of the weeds, and squeeing over flowers.
From what I could see through the fence (so close and yet so far *sobs*) we've got a couple ears of corn on the biggest stalks, the little ones are growing just fine, I've got flowers on my squash, green tomatoes, flowers on my cucumbers and Buddy's melons, and everything is nice and strong looking. Hopefully I'll have a better update (and some pictures) tomorrow.
Instead we went to (big box home improvement store) and picked up plant stakes. Tomorrow we're going back in the morning, planting the seedlings, staking what needs to be staked, pulling the worst of the weeds, and squeeing over flowers.
From what I could see through the fence (so close and yet so far *sobs*) we've got a couple ears of corn on the biggest stalks, the little ones are growing just fine, I've got flowers on my squash, green tomatoes, flowers on my cucumbers and Buddy's melons, and everything is nice and strong looking. Hopefully I'll have a better update (and some pictures) tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
2015 Update!
Yup, I am terrible at blogging, lets just accept that now shall we? Good.
Ok so lets start out with what I actively did today. I'm going out to Fwigf tomorrow and so will be able to give a better update about what is going on there after I check it.
Today I made two quarts of refrigerator pickled peas. The vines I had in my backyard had been... lets say neglected... for the last couple of weeks. Which means everything bloomed, and ripened, and I wasn't harvesting. So those two quarts are all I'm getting out of my pea plants this season. They feel they have succeeded in their mission of "reproduce damnit!" and so are now going to die off.
Note: Harvest your food as it becomes ripe. This will keep your plants producing far longer. Learn from my failures.
I also made a small pint jar of what I will now call DEATH SAUCE. Yes the caps are required. What is DEATH SAUCE? DEATH SAUCE is what happens when you take about 20 peppers of a stupidly hot variety (say 80k scu) and pack them into a pint jar with some brine and garlic powder and proceed to ignore it on your counter for two weeks. Added fun? Add in some OTHER stupidly hot peppers as those ripen. Because you hate your GI tract and want your sinuses super clean every time you open the jar.
I also thinned out my carrot pot so hopefully I'll actually get some carrots out of it and not just spindly, twisted, bits of orange sorrow. We'll see.
My front garden is doing lovely. The pumpkin vines are nice and strong. they aren't flowering yet but it's still early for them. The brussel sprout plant is doing ok, it's growing. Something (some kind of beetle) is eating my cabbages, but I'm not sure what.
So yeah. That's home. We'll see what's going on at Fwigf in the morning.
Ok so lets start out with what I actively did today. I'm going out to Fwigf tomorrow and so will be able to give a better update about what is going on there after I check it.
Today I made two quarts of refrigerator pickled peas. The vines I had in my backyard had been... lets say neglected... for the last couple of weeks. Which means everything bloomed, and ripened, and I wasn't harvesting. So those two quarts are all I'm getting out of my pea plants this season. They feel they have succeeded in their mission of "reproduce damnit!" and so are now going to die off.
Note: Harvest your food as it becomes ripe. This will keep your plants producing far longer. Learn from my failures.
I also made a small pint jar of what I will now call DEATH SAUCE. Yes the caps are required. What is DEATH SAUCE? DEATH SAUCE is what happens when you take about 20 peppers of a stupidly hot variety (say 80k scu) and pack them into a pint jar with some brine and garlic powder and proceed to ignore it on your counter for two weeks. Added fun? Add in some OTHER stupidly hot peppers as those ripen. Because you hate your GI tract and want your sinuses super clean every time you open the jar.
I also thinned out my carrot pot so hopefully I'll actually get some carrots out of it and not just spindly, twisted, bits of orange sorrow. We'll see.
My front garden is doing lovely. The pumpkin vines are nice and strong. they aren't flowering yet but it's still early for them. The brussel sprout plant is doing ok, it's growing. Something (some kind of beetle) is eating my cabbages, but I'm not sure what.
So yeah. That's home. We'll see what's going on at Fwigf in the morning.
Monday, May 18, 2015
It's Been Quiet 'Round Here
It's May, which means New York has no idea what season it is. This seems to have been a trend this year, we had eternal winter (I feared Ragnarok was upon us) and then skipped right to summer. Spring? Bah who needs spring?! This does mean that my seedlings got kind of a weird start this year.
I experimented with using a lamp and a lizard light (vitamin A bulb from the reptile section of the petstore) and while it gave proof of concept the light was too far away from the seeds and they ended up leggy and dead. So I had to restart about 2 weeks ago out doors. Yeah, yeah I'm late I get it. But I couldn't get into Fwigf until it was tilled which wasn't until after the spring brunch on May 3 so I'm really not that far behind. Last year I didn't start until June. So I think all will be well.
I've had to scrap the large garden at home, as well as the decent sized one in the front yard. This is just due to time and my physical limitations. Gardening is my thing, it's not fair to ask Husband to do all the back breaking labor of tilling up our yard for me to plant stuff.
BUT! He is out front right now building me a mini-raised bed to grow greens in. This gives me the happiest of wiggles. My greens bed is:
3 ft x 3ft x 6inches tall. Or 1m x 1m x ~12cm for our metric friends. I'm filling it with 2 cu ft of top soil, 1 cu ft of composted cow manure, 1 cu ft of peat hummus and one 5 gallon bucket of composted horse manure (thank you local horse farm for letting me dig in your shit pile!).
In that I intend to plant 1 brussels sprout seedling right in the middle and scatter Amish Deer Tongue lettuce around it and hope it takes. The goal is to have a small, rich, plot that I can just succession plant greens in to have a constant supply for salads and Husband's sandwiches. We'll see how this goes! I may plant some spinach or hardier greens in there next to be able to actually blanch and freeze them. No repeat of the lettuce sourkrout experiment of last year.
Well, time to go fill my mini-bed with dirt and plant it up!
I experimented with using a lamp and a lizard light (vitamin A bulb from the reptile section of the petstore) and while it gave proof of concept the light was too far away from the seeds and they ended up leggy and dead. So I had to restart about 2 weeks ago out doors. Yeah, yeah I'm late I get it. But I couldn't get into Fwigf until it was tilled which wasn't until after the spring brunch on May 3 so I'm really not that far behind. Last year I didn't start until June. So I think all will be well.
I've had to scrap the large garden at home, as well as the decent sized one in the front yard. This is just due to time and my physical limitations. Gardening is my thing, it's not fair to ask Husband to do all the back breaking labor of tilling up our yard for me to plant stuff.
BUT! He is out front right now building me a mini-raised bed to grow greens in. This gives me the happiest of wiggles. My greens bed is:
3 ft x 3ft x 6inches tall. Or 1m x 1m x ~12cm for our metric friends. I'm filling it with 2 cu ft of top soil, 1 cu ft of composted cow manure, 1 cu ft of peat hummus and one 5 gallon bucket of composted horse manure (thank you local horse farm for letting me dig in your shit pile!).
In that I intend to plant 1 brussels sprout seedling right in the middle and scatter Amish Deer Tongue lettuce around it and hope it takes. The goal is to have a small, rich, plot that I can just succession plant greens in to have a constant supply for salads and Husband's sandwiches. We'll see how this goes! I may plant some spinach or hardier greens in there next to be able to actually blanch and freeze them. No repeat of the lettuce sourkrout experiment of last year.
Well, time to go fill my mini-bed with dirt and plant it up!
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Sprouts!
Brussels spouts, peas (both cow and sugar snap), cabbage, broccoli, pretty much everything is sprouting!
Except my ox hearts. They aren't sprouting yet. I'm hoping they start sprouting soon since I'm really excited about those tomatoes. Everything else is tiny so they aren't too far behind. Here's hoping they catch up soon.
The snow has started to melt. The weather has started warming up. It's getting sunnier and warmer. Soon it will be spring! And soon my little spoutlings will be outside and growing me food.
Except my ox hearts. They aren't sprouting yet. I'm hoping they start sprouting soon since I'm really excited about those tomatoes. Everything else is tiny so they aren't too far behind. Here's hoping they catch up soon.
The snow has started to melt. The weather has started warming up. It's getting sunnier and warmer. Soon it will be spring! And soon my little spoutlings will be outside and growing me food.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Fwigg post: Spent Grain to Flour
What the heck is Fwigg? I'm glad I imagined you asking dear. Fwigg is the brand new community garden plot next to Fwigf. It stands for Field Where I Grow Grains and it does what it says on the tin. This year Husband and I are attempting to grow barley for his brewing efforts. We are attempting to make our hobbies intersect so we can both get more excited about what the other does, and reduce both our costs of doing business. Clever, no?
Posts marked with Fwigg will be things having to do with grain production, malting, brewing, or uses for spent grain. If you have no interest in brewing, or don't know a brewer that you can get spent grain from, feel free to skip these posts. Nothing about regular Fwigf will appear here, and I will try to keep Fwigg business out of Fwigf posts. Ok? Ok.
Today we're going to skip to the end of the brewing process (no, not drinking loves.) What the heck to do with spent grain?
Spent grain are the left overs from brewing. Unless the home brewer has a garden, or turns them into flour like I'm about to discuss, they generally get tossed. Pounds of useful grain just discarded. I don't have enough money to let that keep happening in my house. There are really three ways to deal with spent grain.
1. Compost it. Seriously, just toss the whole wet mass onto your compost pile and let it go. Use it as fertilizer later. Your garden will thank you.
2. Feed it to livestock. Chickens, goats, sheep, cows, ect. Spent grain is a tasty treat.
3. Turn it into flour and use it for baking.
Lacking both a compost pile (thanks dogs) and livestock I'm going with method 3.
First thing that needs to happen is you need to dry your grain. When your beloved brewer (this may also be yourself. You should be beloved to yourself, darlings) has finished with the grain it will be a heavy, dense, sopping, mass. Not very useful or appetizing. Unless you have an industrial dryer you're going to need to use your oven. Do NOT put wet grain in pillow cases and put it through your dryer, I don't care how many websites say this is a good idea. That knot WILL come undone and your dryer, lint trap, and vent will be clogged with grain. That will proceed to be impossible to get out an rot. No I didn't need to do this for myself to know this is poor decision theater, don't make me disappointed in you darlings. I know you're smarter than that.
So, set your oven to 350 F. Spread our your grain in an even layer (no more than 1/4 inch thick) on as many baking sheets as you've got. I used two. You will have to do this in batches. This is an all day affair to process 12 pounds (what I'm working with). Roast your grain, stirring it at 15 minute intervals until it's dry and brittle. Mine took about 45 minutes a batch. Make sure your grain is very dry. Do not cut corners, a little damp is not acceptable here. It'll just clump in your grinder. Transfer dry grain into a mixing bowl, spread out more grain and get those trays back into the oven.
Next you need to grind the dried grain into an powder-like consistency. If you're lucky you have a stand mixer with a four mill attachment. If you're like me and you are not so blessed, use a very clean spice grinder. A food processor will work in a pinch but it really won't get the really fine flour we're looking for. You'll end up with a courser flour and that's ok. If you're using a spice grinder or food processor, pour in as much dried grain as it can safely handle, pulse until it's the right texture, then pour your flour into a container that seals.
Repeat until your grain is gone, your container is full, or you can't take this anymore.
Baking with Spent Grain
Your flour is going to be a little more course than commercial flour. That's really not avoidable. This means don't use it for things were fine flour is a must. IE no malted pastry baking. Really this can replace commercial bread flour, not all purpose.
Because beer is made with malted grains your flour is malt flour. In general it'll be sweeter and hardier than standard flour. Beyond that the flavor profile depends on what the grain bill for the beer itself was. Stout flour will be darker and richer than IPA flour for example. I have scotch ale flour. This is light brown, mildly honey flavored, flour. I like it. For the sake of comparison I've made two loaves of bread, exactly the same, except for which flour I used. The commercial flour was King Arthur Bread flour. Below the recipe are mine and Husband's different impressions of the bread.
Basic Bread Dough:
(single small loaf)
1/4 cup warm water
1.5 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 cups flour
1 table spoon olive oil
Proof the yeast in the warm water, add the sugar, it'll make the yeast proof faster. Put everything into a mixing bowl and mix until the dough is a non-sticky lump. You may need more water. Set it in a warm place to rise. Punch down when it's doubled. Form it into a loaf (I like round loaves on the baking sheet) and let rise again. Bake at 375 F until it the loaf sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.
I know, I know, I don't normally measure anything. But to make sure the loaves were the same (except for flour type) I needed to. I did end up having to go about 2/3 spent grain to 1/3 commercial flour in order to get it to form anything resembling dough. I either got a mudpie or a crumbly mass. It didn't rise either, but stayed a small, dark, loaf.
My flavor reaction:
This is a very hearty and coarse bread. Not really good for sandwiches but would be awesome dinner rolls. It's got a bitter molasses/caramelized sugar flavor, but isn't sweet.
Husband's flavor reaction:
Needs soup or honey. I'd want it sweeter and it's too dense to eat by itself.
Posts marked with Fwigg will be things having to do with grain production, malting, brewing, or uses for spent grain. If you have no interest in brewing, or don't know a brewer that you can get spent grain from, feel free to skip these posts. Nothing about regular Fwigf will appear here, and I will try to keep Fwigg business out of Fwigf posts. Ok? Ok.
Today we're going to skip to the end of the brewing process (no, not drinking loves.) What the heck to do with spent grain?
Spent grain are the left overs from brewing. Unless the home brewer has a garden, or turns them into flour like I'm about to discuss, they generally get tossed. Pounds of useful grain just discarded. I don't have enough money to let that keep happening in my house. There are really three ways to deal with spent grain.
1. Compost it. Seriously, just toss the whole wet mass onto your compost pile and let it go. Use it as fertilizer later. Your garden will thank you.
2. Feed it to livestock. Chickens, goats, sheep, cows, ect. Spent grain is a tasty treat.
3. Turn it into flour and use it for baking.
Lacking both a compost pile (thanks dogs) and livestock I'm going with method 3.
First thing that needs to happen is you need to dry your grain. When your beloved brewer (this may also be yourself. You should be beloved to yourself, darlings) has finished with the grain it will be a heavy, dense, sopping, mass. Not very useful or appetizing. Unless you have an industrial dryer you're going to need to use your oven. Do NOT put wet grain in pillow cases and put it through your dryer, I don't care how many websites say this is a good idea. That knot WILL come undone and your dryer, lint trap, and vent will be clogged with grain. That will proceed to be impossible to get out an rot. No I didn't need to do this for myself to know this is poor decision theater, don't make me disappointed in you darlings. I know you're smarter than that.
So, set your oven to 350 F. Spread our your grain in an even layer (no more than 1/4 inch thick) on as many baking sheets as you've got. I used two. You will have to do this in batches. This is an all day affair to process 12 pounds (what I'm working with). Roast your grain, stirring it at 15 minute intervals until it's dry and brittle. Mine took about 45 minutes a batch. Make sure your grain is very dry. Do not cut corners, a little damp is not acceptable here. It'll just clump in your grinder. Transfer dry grain into a mixing bowl, spread out more grain and get those trays back into the oven.
Next you need to grind the dried grain into an powder-like consistency. If you're lucky you have a stand mixer with a four mill attachment. If you're like me and you are not so blessed, use a very clean spice grinder. A food processor will work in a pinch but it really won't get the really fine flour we're looking for. You'll end up with a courser flour and that's ok. If you're using a spice grinder or food processor, pour in as much dried grain as it can safely handle, pulse until it's the right texture, then pour your flour into a container that seals.
Repeat until your grain is gone, your container is full, or you can't take this anymore.
Baking with Spent Grain
Your flour is going to be a little more course than commercial flour. That's really not avoidable. This means don't use it for things were fine flour is a must. IE no malted pastry baking. Really this can replace commercial bread flour, not all purpose.
Because beer is made with malted grains your flour is malt flour. In general it'll be sweeter and hardier than standard flour. Beyond that the flavor profile depends on what the grain bill for the beer itself was. Stout flour will be darker and richer than IPA flour for example. I have scotch ale flour. This is light brown, mildly honey flavored, flour. I like it. For the sake of comparison I've made two loaves of bread, exactly the same, except for which flour I used. The commercial flour was King Arthur Bread flour. Below the recipe are mine and Husband's different impressions of the bread.
Basic Bread Dough:
(single small loaf)
1/4 cup warm water
1.5 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 cups flour
1 table spoon olive oil
Proof the yeast in the warm water, add the sugar, it'll make the yeast proof faster. Put everything into a mixing bowl and mix until the dough is a non-sticky lump. You may need more water. Set it in a warm place to rise. Punch down when it's doubled. Form it into a loaf (I like round loaves on the baking sheet) and let rise again. Bake at 375 F until it the loaf sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.
I know, I know, I don't normally measure anything. But to make sure the loaves were the same (except for flour type) I needed to. I did end up having to go about 2/3 spent grain to 1/3 commercial flour in order to get it to form anything resembling dough. I either got a mudpie or a crumbly mass. It didn't rise either, but stayed a small, dark, loaf.
My flavor reaction:
This is a very hearty and coarse bread. Not really good for sandwiches but would be awesome dinner rolls. It's got a bitter molasses/caramelized sugar flavor, but isn't sweet.
Husband's flavor reaction:
Needs soup or honey. I'd want it sweeter and it's too dense to eat by itself.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Fwigf begins in 2015!
Today is the day my loves! Today I have started some seed (in a covered tray, with the cover taped on, so my asscat won't treat my seedlings like her own personal salad bar.)
No picture today, since they're just wet plugs of peat with some seed on top, and that's not exciting to anyone but me. Consulting the Old Farmer's Almanac (you did save that link last post didn't you dears?) I saw that this week is the week to start broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, peas, peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes.
Going back to my garden plan I counted how many of each I need, realized I only have 75 small plugs and 12 big ones, and promptly started hoping I'd have space for these to go in time to start the next batch of stuff.
It's starting! I couldn't be more excited about this guys, I mean it! I'm going to have food that I grew again! That aren't PICKLES!
UPDATE:
Here's what actually in the trays (numbers and all)
Large plugs (16)
8 Oxheart tomato seeds (I need 5, if all 8 sprout well I will offer the other three around to see if anyone else wants to give them a shot)
4 Brussels Sprouts
4 Snap peas
Small plugs (72)
5 Cowpeas
7 anaheim hot peppers
10 peacock broccoli
5 eggplant
7 marconi sweet peppers
16 snow peas
8 Copenhagan market cabbage
8 Calabrese broccoli
6 waltham broccoli
I do have a second type of cabbage (dutch flat leaf) but that's a late season so I'm going to sow that when the market cabbage is gone. And I do have a bunch of other things that are either getting direct sown (corn, beans, squash, turnips, carrots) or I'm not sure how and when to plant yet (kholrabi). The cherry tomatoes should get started but those can wait until the second round of plugs since they're just going into the front yard.
No picture today, since they're just wet plugs of peat with some seed on top, and that's not exciting to anyone but me. Consulting the Old Farmer's Almanac (you did save that link last post didn't you dears?) I saw that this week is the week to start broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, peas, peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes.
Going back to my garden plan I counted how many of each I need, realized I only have 75 small plugs and 12 big ones, and promptly started hoping I'd have space for these to go in time to start the next batch of stuff.
It's starting! I couldn't be more excited about this guys, I mean it! I'm going to have food that I grew again! That aren't PICKLES!
UPDATE:
Here's what actually in the trays (numbers and all)
Large plugs (16)
8 Oxheart tomato seeds (I need 5, if all 8 sprout well I will offer the other three around to see if anyone else wants to give them a shot)
4 Brussels Sprouts
4 Snap peas
Small plugs (72)
5 Cowpeas
7 anaheim hot peppers
10 peacock broccoli
5 eggplant
7 marconi sweet peppers
16 snow peas
8 Copenhagan market cabbage
8 Calabrese broccoli
6 waltham broccoli
I do have a second type of cabbage (dutch flat leaf) but that's a late season so I'm going to sow that when the market cabbage is gone. And I do have a bunch of other things that are either getting direct sown (corn, beans, squash, turnips, carrots) or I'm not sure how and when to plant yet (kholrabi). The cherry tomatoes should get started but those can wait until the second round of plugs since they're just going into the front yard.
Monday, March 2, 2015
The timing of seeds
Welcome back my darlings!
It is kinda-sorta-almost spring if you squint here in the lovely Northeastern US. It will be spring some day drat it. I have eternal hope. Even if it is March and snowing. Anyhow, moving along. Today we're going to look at starting seed indoors.
First off, why on earth would anyone want to start seeds indoors, then transplant the baby plants? Why not just stick the seeds in the ground and have done with it? I'm so glad I imagined you asking.
The benefits here are two fold:
1. A longer growing season. You're planting seedlings outdoors, which means they've already got a head start. When you have a shortened growing season (I mentioned I live in the Northeastern US right?) you need all the time you can wring out.
2. Your seedlings are less vulnerable. Those tiny tender shoots that happen when the seed first breaks the earth are easily shaded out or eaten. Planting something a bit larger and established makes it less likely to die off because a dandelion decided to take up residence right next to it.
Seed starting is easy. First thing you need is to know when it's safe to get your seeds into substrate. May I suggest the Old Farmer's Almanac? They have this awesome free planting guide, you put in your location (city an state) and they automatically generate a listing of planting indoors, outdoors, and harvest times for a whole range of plants. Here's what mine looked like:
http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-dates/NY/Schenectady
(copy and paste that, I couldn't get the picture to work).
Timing is important. If you're anything like me your natural inclination is to toss everything in at once, do a little garden dance of glee, then wonder how come your peas aren't doing so hot (hint, it's because it's too hot). If you plant too early then your seedlings can (and more than likely will) end up root bound. This makes it far more difficult to get the nutrients they need from the soil and it'll stunt their growth. If you start too late you end up not getting the benefits of starting indoors, only now you've got the added challenge of transplanting wimpy seedlings. So follow that link, input your own location, and check your starting dates.
Next thing you need is something for your seeds to grow in, and the seeds themselves. Personally I just buy the jiffy seed trays that come with the compressed peat moss pellets. They are stupid simple, add water to the tray until the pellets inflate, add seed to the moist peat moss, put the lid on it, set it in a place with ample light, and ignore until the seedlings start pushing on the lid. These do have limits (they're small, you can end up with root bound seedlings if you let them get too big in there, ect) but they're good basic starters.
Another option is to visit a hydroponic store (hydroponics - not just for growing weed anymore!) an pic up some of their starter plugs. They'll function roughly the same, you still need a tray to keep them safe in, and a light source, but they're a heck of a lot cheaper than peat moss pellets, and the person at the hydroponics store will more than likely be perfectly happy to talk your ear off about the various benefits to using them. I'll be using them next year, I'd already bought the peat moss pellets this year. Next year though... next year I am all over a whole tray full of plugs for the cost of one frickin' pellet.
Speaking of hydroponics, actually, no. Hydroponics will be its own post, keep an eye out for it.
It is kinda-sorta-almost spring if you squint here in the lovely Northeastern US. It will be spring some day drat it. I have eternal hope. Even if it is March and snowing. Anyhow, moving along. Today we're going to look at starting seed indoors.
First off, why on earth would anyone want to start seeds indoors, then transplant the baby plants? Why not just stick the seeds in the ground and have done with it? I'm so glad I imagined you asking.
The benefits here are two fold:
1. A longer growing season. You're planting seedlings outdoors, which means they've already got a head start. When you have a shortened growing season (I mentioned I live in the Northeastern US right?) you need all the time you can wring out.
2. Your seedlings are less vulnerable. Those tiny tender shoots that happen when the seed first breaks the earth are easily shaded out or eaten. Planting something a bit larger and established makes it less likely to die off because a dandelion decided to take up residence right next to it.
Seed starting is easy. First thing you need is to know when it's safe to get your seeds into substrate. May I suggest the Old Farmer's Almanac? They have this awesome free planting guide, you put in your location (city an state) and they automatically generate a listing of planting indoors, outdoors, and harvest times for a whole range of plants. Here's what mine looked like:
http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-dates/NY/Schenectady
(copy and paste that, I couldn't get the picture to work).
Timing is important. If you're anything like me your natural inclination is to toss everything in at once, do a little garden dance of glee, then wonder how come your peas aren't doing so hot (hint, it's because it's too hot). If you plant too early then your seedlings can (and more than likely will) end up root bound. This makes it far more difficult to get the nutrients they need from the soil and it'll stunt their growth. If you start too late you end up not getting the benefits of starting indoors, only now you've got the added challenge of transplanting wimpy seedlings. So follow that link, input your own location, and check your starting dates.
Next thing you need is something for your seeds to grow in, and the seeds themselves. Personally I just buy the jiffy seed trays that come with the compressed peat moss pellets. They are stupid simple, add water to the tray until the pellets inflate, add seed to the moist peat moss, put the lid on it, set it in a place with ample light, and ignore until the seedlings start pushing on the lid. These do have limits (they're small, you can end up with root bound seedlings if you let them get too big in there, ect) but they're good basic starters.
Another option is to visit a hydroponic store (hydroponics - not just for growing weed anymore!) an pic up some of their starter plugs. They'll function roughly the same, you still need a tray to keep them safe in, and a light source, but they're a heck of a lot cheaper than peat moss pellets, and the person at the hydroponics store will more than likely be perfectly happy to talk your ear off about the various benefits to using them. I'll be using them next year, I'd already bought the peat moss pellets this year. Next year though... next year I am all over a whole tray full of plugs for the cost of one frickin' pellet.
Speaking of hydroponics, actually, no. Hydroponics will be its own post, keep an eye out for it.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Nothing Survives first contact
So back in July I made a post about my garden plan for this year. That lasted until my awesome friends decided to do a seed exchange in January. And I decided to expand my back yard garden, and add a front yard garden. And Husband decided to grow grain for beer, which means we have a second garden plot (Fwigg - Field where I grow grains) for growin' barley.
What does all this mean? It means I needed to reconfigure my garden plan. So here's the new plan:
Fwigf:
Yellow corn (6 stalks)
Ashworth sweet corn (6 stalks)
Butternut squash (6)
Acorn squash (6)
Northeast pole beans (24)
Cow Peas (12)
Purple stringless beans (12)
Snap peas (5)
Oxheart tomatoes (5)
Eggplant (10)
Kholrabi (10)
Peacock broccoli (6)
Peppers - mix of sweet and hot (13)
Turnips (20)
Golden midget Watermelon (7)
Bush cucumbers (13)
Again, all that is going into 400 sq ft. A 15x30 plot with 1 foot walkways between each row. Now all of these are things that I don't have to harvest the second they're ripe. I have a day or two wiggle room in each direction. Which is good because I'll be starting a new job next month which means my time to go out will be limited to 2-3 times a week tops. So I need things I can pick the day before they're ready or 1-2 days after without worrying that they're going to taste funny.
Home:
Back yard:
Snow Peas
Brussel Sprouts
Watermelon
Broccoli
Market Cabbage
Loose Cabbage
Roasting peppers
Dwarf corn
Cheese pumpkins
Noodle beans
Carrots
Front yard:
Morning Glories
Borage (it's a flower)
Marigolds
Turnip greens
Carrots
By the sidewalk:
Red cherry tomatoes
Yellow pear cherry tomatoes
The amounts for home haven't been determined yet (depends on space), but I also have two window boxes that I'm using for lettuce. Since it'll be easy to snag greens for work lunch if I have them at home. Which also means they'll get eaten, instead of turn into a really bad science experiment. I'm also planting things at home (see Noodle beans) that need to be picked and eaten (or preserved) before they go starchy and gross. So that's the new plan, we'll see how it works out once it isn't -20 with 3 feet of snow.
I'm only exaggerating by a couple of inches and a few degrees in both directions. It's miserable here right now. I'm counting down 'till spring.
What does all this mean? It means I needed to reconfigure my garden plan. So here's the new plan:
Fwigf:
Yellow corn (6 stalks)
Ashworth sweet corn (6 stalks)
Butternut squash (6)
Acorn squash (6)
Northeast pole beans (24)
Cow Peas (12)
Purple stringless beans (12)
Snap peas (5)
Oxheart tomatoes (5)
Eggplant (10)
Kholrabi (10)
Peacock broccoli (6)
Peppers - mix of sweet and hot (13)
Turnips (20)
Golden midget Watermelon (7)
Bush cucumbers (13)
Again, all that is going into 400 sq ft. A 15x30 plot with 1 foot walkways between each row. Now all of these are things that I don't have to harvest the second they're ripe. I have a day or two wiggle room in each direction. Which is good because I'll be starting a new job next month which means my time to go out will be limited to 2-3 times a week tops. So I need things I can pick the day before they're ready or 1-2 days after without worrying that they're going to taste funny.
Home:
Back yard:
Snow Peas
Brussel Sprouts
Watermelon
Broccoli
Market Cabbage
Loose Cabbage
Roasting peppers
Dwarf corn
Cheese pumpkins
Noodle beans
Carrots
Front yard:
Morning Glories
Borage (it's a flower)
Marigolds
Turnip greens
Carrots
By the sidewalk:
Red cherry tomatoes
Yellow pear cherry tomatoes
The amounts for home haven't been determined yet (depends on space), but I also have two window boxes that I'm using for lettuce. Since it'll be easy to snag greens for work lunch if I have them at home. Which also means they'll get eaten, instead of turn into a really bad science experiment. I'm also planting things at home (see Noodle beans) that need to be picked and eaten (or preserved) before they go starchy and gross. So that's the new plan, we'll see how it works out once it isn't -20 with 3 feet of snow.
I'm only exaggerating by a couple of inches and a few degrees in both directions. It's miserable here right now. I'm counting down 'till spring.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Tiny Gardens
Ok, so remember six months ago or so when I promised resources on container gardens? Yeah I'm finally getting around to making that post. When I say I'm going to do something and you really want to see it? Remind me about it or I'm going to forget for months. Let this be a lesson to you spiceberries.
Right! Moving along! As a bonus you're getting square foot gardening with container gardening. Buckle up this is going to be a bit long. Resources are in the bibliography page as always.
Container Gardening
Ok, container gardening is one of those things I utterly love in concept. The idea of growing veggies in pots when you don't have a yard is really really attractive. I advocate container gardens for urban dwellers and college students trapped in dorms. They're space effective and because you can replace the soil every year you don't have to worry that you're going wear out your soil, and because you can keep them indoors you get a longer growing season.
But let me let you in on a little secret:
I've never had ANY success with them. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but something is going pear shaped without producing pears. So please keep in mind that the rest of this information is coming from a place of wistful longing.
To begin: the first thing you need to consider is your space. Are your containers inside or outside or stay outside in the summer and over winter indoors? Do you have asshole pets that'll get into your pots? That'll determine your pot size which will then determine what you can grow.
Second consideration: What to grow in your space? The most common container veggie? Tomatoes. So for the sake of the rest of this we are going to assume you're growing something else, lets say... kale. Mostly because you can find resources for growing tomatoes in pots almost anywhere and doing what everyone else has done is boring to me.
Kale is a fantastic green to do in a container! Most greens are! Kale is shade tolerant which means you don't need to have a window with direct sun to keep them happy. They are also nutrition bombs that you can eat raw, cooked, dried, or blanch and freeze. So kale in a container.
Third thing: Pot size. In our example you don't need to have a large container. Greens have (comparably) shallow roots so you could grow a couple of them in a standard window box. Kale needs 6 sq inches per plant, so for a 18in long window box you can fit three plants, or do them in individual small traditional style pots.
Forth consideration: Soil Now that you've decided on what you're growing and what size pot you need (in this case kale in window boxes) you need to figure out what kind of soil will make your plant the happiest. Kale is easy, it wants a loamy somewhat loose soil that's pretty close to pH neutral. A standard potting mixture will work just fine. Use compost if you've got it.
That's really it. Container gardens are dead simple if you follow those four considerations. Or should be. One day I'll manage one.
BLOG POST PART TWO: SQUARE FOOT GARDENING!
Still with me loves? Good. Go get a drink and then we'll continue.
Back? Awesome.
Square foot gardening is, at its essence, intensive gardening of a small space. It is a much more effective use of space than traditional row planting, but it is slightly harder to weed and harvest. But if you've only got a postage stamp of a yard? You can still get a solid amount of food.
Square foot gardening is based on the concept of a grid which makes it very new gardener friendly. First measure out your gardening space and develop your grid. 4ft x 4ft is traditional but whatever space you have is great. The lay out in what is important. For this we're assuming you're starting with a 4 x 4 plot.
You have your large square (your whole garden). You divide that by 4 and keep reducing each section by 4 until you have 16 units. The basic rule of thumb is 1 large plant (tomatoes, squash grown up, cucumbers ect) per unit, 4 medium plants (kale, lettuce, other greens) per unit, 9 for medium small plants like spinach, and 16 plants for things like herbs and other small plants. In our case we're doing kale, so 4 kale plants per unit, there's 4 units per square foot which means a total of 16 kale plants per square foot or (if you plant the whole thing with kale) you get 64 kale plants in 4 square feet.
Compare that to how you'd normally plant out kale which is 8 per square foot (two rows of 4) which gets you a total of 32 kale plants in the same space.
This method is also great for diversity in a small space. You have the potential 16 different types of veggies, greens, and herbs in a 4 x 4 plot of land. Tell me that isn't cool as hell?
Right! Moving along! As a bonus you're getting square foot gardening with container gardening. Buckle up this is going to be a bit long. Resources are in the bibliography page as always.
Container Gardening
Ok, container gardening is one of those things I utterly love in concept. The idea of growing veggies in pots when you don't have a yard is really really attractive. I advocate container gardens for urban dwellers and college students trapped in dorms. They're space effective and because you can replace the soil every year you don't have to worry that you're going wear out your soil, and because you can keep them indoors you get a longer growing season.
But let me let you in on a little secret:
I've never had ANY success with them. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but something is going pear shaped without producing pears. So please keep in mind that the rest of this information is coming from a place of wistful longing.
To begin: the first thing you need to consider is your space. Are your containers inside or outside or stay outside in the summer and over winter indoors? Do you have asshole pets that'll get into your pots? That'll determine your pot size which will then determine what you can grow.
Second consideration: What to grow in your space? The most common container veggie? Tomatoes. So for the sake of the rest of this we are going to assume you're growing something else, lets say... kale. Mostly because you can find resources for growing tomatoes in pots almost anywhere and doing what everyone else has done is boring to me.
Kale is a fantastic green to do in a container! Most greens are! Kale is shade tolerant which means you don't need to have a window with direct sun to keep them happy. They are also nutrition bombs that you can eat raw, cooked, dried, or blanch and freeze. So kale in a container.
Third thing: Pot size. In our example you don't need to have a large container. Greens have (comparably) shallow roots so you could grow a couple of them in a standard window box. Kale needs 6 sq inches per plant, so for a 18in long window box you can fit three plants, or do them in individual small traditional style pots.
Forth consideration: Soil Now that you've decided on what you're growing and what size pot you need (in this case kale in window boxes) you need to figure out what kind of soil will make your plant the happiest. Kale is easy, it wants a loamy somewhat loose soil that's pretty close to pH neutral. A standard potting mixture will work just fine. Use compost if you've got it.
That's really it. Container gardens are dead simple if you follow those four considerations. Or should be. One day I'll manage one.
BLOG POST PART TWO: SQUARE FOOT GARDENING!
Still with me loves? Good. Go get a drink and then we'll continue.
Back? Awesome.
Square foot gardening is, at its essence, intensive gardening of a small space. It is a much more effective use of space than traditional row planting, but it is slightly harder to weed and harvest. But if you've only got a postage stamp of a yard? You can still get a solid amount of food.
Square foot gardening is based on the concept of a grid which makes it very new gardener friendly. First measure out your gardening space and develop your grid. 4ft x 4ft is traditional but whatever space you have is great. The lay out in what is important. For this we're assuming you're starting with a 4 x 4 plot.
You have your large square (your whole garden). You divide that by 4 and keep reducing each section by 4 until you have 16 units. The basic rule of thumb is 1 large plant (tomatoes, squash grown up, cucumbers ect) per unit, 4 medium plants (kale, lettuce, other greens) per unit, 9 for medium small plants like spinach, and 16 plants for things like herbs and other small plants. In our case we're doing kale, so 4 kale plants per unit, there's 4 units per square foot which means a total of 16 kale plants per square foot or (if you plant the whole thing with kale) you get 64 kale plants in 4 square feet.
Compare that to how you'd normally plant out kale which is 8 per square foot (two rows of 4) which gets you a total of 32 kale plants in the same space.
This method is also great for diversity in a small space. You have the potential 16 different types of veggies, greens, and herbs in a 4 x 4 plot of land. Tell me that isn't cool as hell?
Happy New Year!
It's 2015! You know what that means my darling spiceberries?! No seriously, do you? 'Cause I haven't got a clue.
Anyhow, I think I've got the home gardens figured out. The problems I face at home are two fold: the Back Yard is cursed by the fact that it must remain very small. I have a pair of large, curious, dogs who want to "help" when I go play in the dirt. Chicken wire only does so much. The Front Yard is cursed with shade. So anything I plant out there needs to be fairly shade tolerant. Which rules out most veggies.
The front yard is getting the following along the porch:
Red noodle beans (to use the porch as a trellis, and if they don't grow then I'm not out anything since I'm growing them out at Fwigf too), then I'm doing a section of Kale (leafy greens are fairly shade tolerant and n fact growing them in shade can help keep them going in the heat of summer), then in front of that I'm doing as many carrots as I can cram in there (root veggies also like shade).
I also have a small narrow island between my driveway and walkway that I think I'm going to plant up with raspberries, blackberries, and use strawberries to fill in the negative space (at least until the cane plants get big and start baring).
My front yard will be pretty, and edible. Neighbors who complain will get bought off with small baskets of produce. Kill 'em with sarcastic, bless-your-heart, kindness.
I'm debating the pros and cons of doing cherry tomatoes along the sidewalk with a sign that says 'free, pick me!' I live right by a high school (and low income kids) and I like the idea of planting something they can take as incentive to leave the rest of my edible front yard alone. And give them something healthy to nosh on before/after school. We'll see how I feel about that when it comes time to plant.
The Back Yard:
I have a space in my back yard that's roughly 10ft x 3ft (or 3m x 1m for our metric spiceberries). What I'm going to do back there is a row of Jade Blue Dwarf Corn (because I had really good luck with it last year, so I think it'll work in the back yard) with turnip greens along the front of them.
That should (with any luck) keep me in veggies and greens all the way through next winter where all I'll need to buy for produce will be potatoes and onions.
What are your plans for gardens in 2015?
Anyhow, I think I've got the home gardens figured out. The problems I face at home are two fold: the Back Yard is cursed by the fact that it must remain very small. I have a pair of large, curious, dogs who want to "help" when I go play in the dirt. Chicken wire only does so much. The Front Yard is cursed with shade. So anything I plant out there needs to be fairly shade tolerant. Which rules out most veggies.
The front yard is getting the following along the porch:
Red noodle beans (to use the porch as a trellis, and if they don't grow then I'm not out anything since I'm growing them out at Fwigf too), then I'm doing a section of Kale (leafy greens are fairly shade tolerant and n fact growing them in shade can help keep them going in the heat of summer), then in front of that I'm doing as many carrots as I can cram in there (root veggies also like shade).
I also have a small narrow island between my driveway and walkway that I think I'm going to plant up with raspberries, blackberries, and use strawberries to fill in the negative space (at least until the cane plants get big and start baring).
My front yard will be pretty, and edible. Neighbors who complain will get bought off with small baskets of produce. Kill 'em with sarcastic, bless-your-heart, kindness.
I'm debating the pros and cons of doing cherry tomatoes along the sidewalk with a sign that says 'free, pick me!' I live right by a high school (and low income kids) and I like the idea of planting something they can take as incentive to leave the rest of my edible front yard alone. And give them something healthy to nosh on before/after school. We'll see how I feel about that when it comes time to plant.
The Back Yard:
I have a space in my back yard that's roughly 10ft x 3ft (or 3m x 1m for our metric spiceberries). What I'm going to do back there is a row of Jade Blue Dwarf Corn (because I had really good luck with it last year, so I think it'll work in the back yard) with turnip greens along the front of them.
That should (with any luck) keep me in veggies and greens all the way through next winter where all I'll need to buy for produce will be potatoes and onions.
What are your plans for gardens in 2015?
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