Excited to start gardening again!

Just like every spring, I was super excited to get my seeds in the mail.  This year I ordered my seeds from Pine Tree Seeds.  I haven't used them before but they had really good reviews and I like that they guarantee their seeds to be GMO free.  The memory of the fluorescent bright colored cucumber seeds I received a couple of years ago is still fresh.  I think starting with good seeds is important and for me and my family that means non GMO.    

And here is proof that I planted the seeds this weekend - well the ones that are good to start inside.  It is always to exciting to get started every year.  My teenage son is obsessed with venus fly traps and received a kit to grow his own last December.  He decided it may not be the right time to start them  in the middle of winter so he started his fly trap seeds and put them under the lights.  I hope they grow - he will be so disappointed if they don't. 

Looking forward to a great growing season for all of us. 

Seedling check -in

 A look at the seedling a month after planting.  Most are up and doing great!  They might be small but they will catch up - they always do. 

 A closer look at one of the tomatoes. 

 None of the broccoli or hot peppers germinated.  When that happens, rather than replant in the dirt, I germinate them first and just plant germinated seed.  I cut paper towel circles to fit in a jar lid - any paper towel will do but I like absorbent ones so they don't dry out. 

I wet the bottom towels (usually 2 layers) and then spread the seeds on and cover with a single layer.  I keep them in the kitchen window where I can keep an eye on them instead of the basement. 

Weekly Check In 3/31/13

 My seedlings are growing big and strong.  They are now very easily recognizable as to what kind of plant they are.  I have not adjusted the lights up higher yet because I don't want them to grow too tall and spindly reaching for the light.  I won't move the lights until they almost touch them.  They are getting tall enough to put a fan on them for short periods of time to strengthen their stems. 

 

The weather has warmed up a bit and you can see a lot of the snow has melted this week.  It is starting to feel like Spring might put in an appearance sometime in April.  Incredible to have this much snow on the last day of March.  

Look at these cucumber seeds - the ones on the left are very florescent in color!  Super bright green.  They have been treated.  The ones on the right are untreated. 

Treated seeds have no place in my organic garden and I am usually very careful when ordering seeds to make sure that I don't order any that have been treated or have been genetically modified (other than normal cross pollinating). 

I was very surprised to receive these treated seeds.  I went back to the catalog and also looked at the online description and the seed company did not state that they were treated.  The seed packet that they came out of did plainly state - CAUTION: TREATED SEED. 

They have been treated with Thiram - which is what most treated seeds have been treated with.  I could call the company and ask for a replacement or a refund, but now I've lost faith in this company and for the small price of a packet of seeds, I am just going to chalk it up to experience - I won't, however, be ordering from them again.

This is why I prefer to start my own plants and not even buy plants from a nursery - you just don't know what the plants or their seeds have been subjected to before you get them. 

Others will argue that there is nothing wrong with treated seeds and that the chemicals will wear off long before they get to your table - that may be true - but where do they go?  Do they end up in the soil affecting other plants or in the water?  And those small amounts of chemicals add up over time.  For more information on Thiram - CLICK HERE.

Weekly Check In - Spring has Sprung!

At least that is what the calendar says.  We are still waiting here in Minnesota for actual spring.  As you can see, my garden is still under quite a bit of snow! Andy is on spring break this week - he was joking around yesterday saying that he hopes the snow is gone by the first day of summer vacation!

Meanwhile, my seedlings are all doing great.  They have all sprouted now - even the peppers.  They are still pretty small, but they have lots of time to grow big and strong.

Weekly Check In - St. Patty's Day

It has been one week since I planted my seeds and most of them are now seedlings.  The peppers are the only ones that haven't sprouted yet.  I only have a heating mat under half of them so I've been rotating them as they sprout.  The peppers haven't been on the heat mat that long yet.  Since they are heat lovers I should have had them on the heat mat first. 

Last year on St. Patty's Day it was 80 degrees and Spring had come early to Minnesota.  Today it is in the 30s, we have lots of snow and are expecting more snow tonight.  March is so unpredictable here.

I am trying to use up the last of last year's veggies.  I have beef stew in the slow cooker for tonight because it is the only way I can get my family to eat parsnips and they are starting to grow a lot of tiny little roots and are looking quite hairy.  I like parsnips but I don't like them enough to eat them all up myself.  I can get the husband to eat them roasted with other root veggies but the kid will pick them out.  Everyone eats them mixed in with beef stew though - of course that is because kiddo doesn't know they are in there.

I also cooked up a few squashes and made some puree that I turned into delightful mini bundt cakes that are disappearing fast.  Kiddo saw me cooking up the squashes (which he thought were pumpkins) and reminded me that he doesn't like pumpkin.  I reminded him that he does when they are made into muffins. 

Mini Squash and Pineapple Bundt Cakes

1 1/2 cups flour (I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour - but you can use any flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup squash puree
1/2 cup coconut oil (or any shortening or butter or margarine)
2 eggs, beaten
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves

Heat oven to 350.  Sift together the flour, salt, sugar and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.  Pour into bowl with dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Pour into greased mini bundt pans (or muffin cups).  Bake 20 minutes or until they test done with a toothpick.  Remove from pan.  Cool. 

Icing is optional.  I used a cream cheese icing (made with Tofutti brand fake cream cheese since we are dairy free). 

Enjoy!

Please leave a comment and let me know how your garden it growing.

The 2013 Growing Season has Begun!

I'm so jealous of my friends down south who have already started their gardens!  I am so over this winter and ready to start gardening.  The weather outside is still very wintery and not spring like at all - although it did rain most of the day today.  Even with the rain melting some of the snow, there is still plenty left.  

So I did what every good northerner will do when they can't get outside and garden yet - I started my seedlings inside!  It doesn't look like it will be an early spring, but I will be ready when spring decides to come.  Last year we had an early spring and things just got away from me and I didn't start my own seeds - I didn't want to repeat that this year so I'm starting a little earlier than I normally do. 

I planted tomatoes, bell peppers (mixed colors), mini bell peppers (first time growing these I hope they do well), brussels sprouts, watermelon (this is actually for Andy - he always grows these and this year he picked out a seedless personal size variety), fennel (another first for me - I never knew I liked fennel until a couple of years ago and now I can't get enough of it), and cucumbers (also for Andy - can you believe the little boy that was a preschooler when I started this blog is now a TEENAGER!).

I will probably start more seeds next week or the week after.  I'm happy for now to be started growing!

I even nicely labeled them.  I have the specific variety on the back of the stakes. 

In previous years I have used yogurt cups, egg cartons and such to start my plants.  I think that was part of my problem in getting behind last year was gathering together planting cups and cutting drainage holes in the bottom.  It was a great idea to use them one more time before recycling but honestly, buying square pots is easier - and I got nice plastic covers that fit on top so nicely so I don't have to mess with sheets of plastic on top. 

Have you started your garden yet?  What are you growing?

The seedlings are growing

The weather might not be cooperating outside but the garden indoors is growing nicely.

We did have some nice warm days last week, but then it decided to get cold again - it even snowed yesterday morning. The nice thing about snow this time of the year is that it never lasts. It is gone already.

Here is a picture of some of the seedlings - they are still small but they are healthy. Some of them are ready for transplanting to bigger pots already. Egg cartons are great for starting them but they are very tiny and the seedlings outgrow them quickly.

When I lift the egg cartons up, you can see they have a ton of roots growing out of the bottom - that is a sign that it is time to find them something bigger to grow in.

Here are my brussels sprouts replanted. I like to reuse containers rather than buy new ones. Yogurt containers are just the right size.

It has been a very long winter!

I can't remember ever wanting winter to be over as much as I have this year. The snow came early, a lot of it came, and it is still with us! I am sick of winter. I am ready to be out in the garden!

Since that is not a possibility for a couple more months, I will console myself with starting my seeds indoors.

The last couple of years I have had a problem with some of my warmer weather seeds germinating in my cold basement. I decided to invest in a heating pad for some of my seeds. If it works, I may buy another one next year.

Starting my seeds in egg cartons last year worked so well that I decided to do the same this year. I just love getting one more use out of thing that I can't recycle (my recycling company does not take any egg cartons). When the seedlings get a little bigger I will transplant them into bigger pots. I used Eggland's Best cartons and poked a hole in the bottom before filling with dirt.

And here are some of the egg cartons filled with dirt. I cut some of them into 2 sections if I wanted to plant 6 of something instead of 12.

I wrote on Popsicle sticks to mark my plants.

After everything was planted, I watered them well and covered them with plastic. I will remove the plastic once the seeds sprout. I lowered the lights down to just above the plants.

I planted Roma and Golden Rave Tomatoes, Sugar Baby Watermelon, Assorted Sweet Bell Peppers, Hot Peppers, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, and Cabbage.

My peas say "Thank You" for the morning rain!

I can't believe I have peas growing already. It is only April 13th! This is Minnesota! I'm not complaining though. I'm loving having an early spring. And my peas are enjoying the rain this morning!

They might be barely out of the ground right now, but it won't be long and we will be enjoying them with our dinner!

Here's a closer shot of the sprouts!

And a fuzzy shot of lettuce and/or radish sprouts - kind of hard to tell which is which when they are this little.

And a couple of pics of the seedlings in the basement - all that are up are doing great!

Another shot from under the lights indoors!

My pepper plants (both the bells and the hot ones) have not sprouted yet - nor have my golden rave tomatoes. I'm thinking I may need to replant those - they should have sprouted my now.

Planting in the Garden in March?

Hard to believe it is still March. It is 72 degrees right now.

I got out in the garden this afternoon and planted sugar snap peas, lettuce and radishes.

It just felt so good to be out there actually digging in the soil. Gardening is the best cure for anything that ails you. I love it.

All of my cabbage family plants inside are doing well 10 days after planting.

And look - a tomato plant is pushing its way up - this is Golden Rave. I'm sure the other tomato varieties will be up soon also.

The peppers aren't showing any signs of germinating yet - but they are always the last to come up.

And here they all are - in my egg carton planters - they will be tall before you know it!

Time to start gardening again!

I finally got around to starting my plants under lights yesterday. This is the latest that I have ever started them. They will do fine and catch up - it's not that late yet. Actually I think that some years I have been chomping at the bit to get gardening and have started my plants too early. Some of my plants have gotten too leggy before the weather outside was warm enough to transplant them so I think we will be fine this year.

Speaking of the weather, Spring has decided to come very early to Minnesota this year. It is so hard to believe that a couple of weeks ago we had tons of snow and now it is all gone and everything is coming to life! I also know though that it is way early and winter could still decide to return. It is still nice to have the warmer weather.

I used old egg cartons to start my seeds in this year. I use Eggland's Best eggs and my recylcing company doesn't take the styrofoam cartons so I decided to get one more use out of them before they become trash. I don't know why I didn't think to use them before - they are just the right size. I cut holes in the bottom for drainage and then I cut them into sections of how ever many I wanted - some (like tomatoes and peppers that I plant a lot of) I kept as a dozen - others are cut into sections of 4 or 6 - very versitale. I wrote on the side with a sharpie what I had planted inside.


Here's to a fantastic gardening season for all gardener's everywhere!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

This is the scene outside this morning. Hard to believe that I had 4 little boys playing out there yesterday without any coats or boots on! Luckily the snow this time of year does not last very long. Andy is off school for spring break and the weather is actually supposed to be nice - warm and sunny later in the week. I'm hoping for a trip to the zoo during the week.

Meanwhile down in the basement, the seedlings are coming along nicely. They will be ready when the garden is.

The cabbage family plants and lettuce are doing the best.

Even the tomatoes are looking nice. The only things that have not sprouted yet are the peppers and the chives. I don't know why I can't grow chives - I used to have beautiful chives but I have had no luck at all growing them lately. I have tried direct sowing and starting under lights. I have not given up on them yet - but if they don't sprout soon, I may need to do some research on what I might be doing wrong.

The 2009 Gardening Season has officially begun!

I actually started my seeds last Sunday, the 22nd, but just haven't had time to get online and post.
I am using an odd assortment of containers this year in my effort to reuse things and not buy new - especially if they are made of plastic. I am trying to reduce the amount of plastic in my life.

And I have sprouts already! The cauliflower and broccoli are the first to sprout. I am sure the brussels sprouts and cabbage will not be far behind.

The weather outside is so not ready for planting. There is actually a new coating of snow on the ground this morning (very thin). Starting my own seeds really helps me get through the end of winter - watching those sprouts come up gives hope for the future.

Pictures of my garden Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The tomato plants are looking very healthy in the basement.


The pepper plants are not looking so good. Most of them are not up.


The cabbage and brocolli look great - the cauliflower and brussells sprouts not so good.


I have this pile of grape vines on the patio table from the fall. What was I thinking? Did I really think I could use them to weave a basket or something? I think they need to go in the compost....


The snow shovels are still by the back door - I think we can safely put them away now.......at least I hope so.


Lilac buds will soon be fragrant flowers! I can't wait - I love lilacs in the spring.


Lillies will soon be up.


The rhubarb is awakening also.


The onions I planted on Sunday.


Andy's garlic project.


Kind of blurry - but some of Andy's garlic A (the old stuff) is actually coming up.


My next big project - I have started digging these shrubs out. I don't like the bushes in the front of the house and the rocks. I want a nice flower bed with mulch.