It still looks like winter in Minnesota!

The highs continue to be 10 degrees below normal. I am so ready for spring. Ugh - more flurries are predicted for today.

Watching my seedlings in the basement grow helps me realize it really is spring and know that this snow won't last forever - even if it feels like it will!


The Red Acres Cabbage has sprouted.


The brocolli and brussells sprouts seedlings are growing taller and stronger.


And the tomatoes are even sprouting up!

The seedlings know and feel that it is spring. I can't wait for that first taste of spring lettuce and rhubarb crisp. Yum Yum!

We have sprouts!

I always get so excited when I see the first sprouts of the season. It is like everything is right with the world, the circle of life continues and warmer weather will be here soon! Like every year, the cool weather plants are sprouting first. The brocolli and brussells sprouts have all sprouted as well as some of the lettuce. I love gardening, I really do! I can't wait until I can taste the goodness these sprouts will turn into.

The start of the 2008 gardening season!

The garden outside might not be ready for planting yet, but it's time to start the seeds indoors.



Here is what my planting area looked like this morning.


First I laid out my peat pots and my jiffy pots and the seed packets to decide what to plant.


Next, I filled the peat pots with compost that I had dug out of my compost bin this summer and was saving for this. I like the idea of using compost to start seeds instead of a sterile planting mix - but it should be interesting to see what I end up with - strange things may sprout from the compost - I may regret doing it this way this year - or it may be the most brillant idea I've had in awhile......


Then I put masking tape along the edges and marked on it what was in each row.


Then I planted the seeds and poured water over them.


Oh no - floaters! That is what happens with the jiffy pellets sometimes before they expand - they float all over and if they don't stay in neat rows, it might be difficult to tell the difference between the cauliflower, brocolli and brussels sprout seedlings - they tend to look very similar since they are all part of the cabbage family.


I solved the problem by putting some masking tape between the rows. I'll remove the tape once the pellets expand - and then they'll stay in place anyway.


Next, I pulled the lights into a timer. I set the timer for the lights to come on at 6am every morning and off at 8pm.


Then I covered the pots with plastic and lowered the lights down close.


And here is what my planting area looks like this afternoon.

Mom, do you know what these are made of?

This is just too good not to share. Andy was just looking at my gardening stuff - excited that we are going to start plants indoors this weekend and he just came running to me with a peat pot in his hand and asked me if I knew what it was made of.

Now, I know it is made of peat but I wondered what he thought so I asked. He was very proud to tell me that it is made out of cow poop! I asked him how he came to that conclusion and he informed me that he learned it watching Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe! He always has to say the name of the show like that - it is not just Dirty Jobs, but Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. For those of you not familar with that show, it is on the Discovery Channel.

So, now I wondered if it really was made of peat or not so I did some investigating. The ones I bought are indeed peat pots, but Andy is correct - Mike Rowe did do an episode on some that are made from cow manure. They are called Cowpots. I think I will probably buy the cowpots instead of peat pots next year. I had never heard of them before. There is no convincing Andy however, that the ones we have right now are made of peat.

My little gardener!

Here are a couple of pics of Andy's science fair project. I was so proud of him. His project might not have been the most detailed - but it was all his - and after all, he is only in 2nd grade and he does have autism.

It is almost spring in Minnesota!

It has been a very long and much colder winter than we have had for many years and I am excited for spring to be near. After all next week is March and the last few days have actually had highs above freezing - you can just feel that spring is close.

I've had a very busy winter. I started a new job. One with tons of flexibility so I can be home with my garden (I mean my son) this summer and work around Dan's work schedule. I'm continuing to go to school online for my Master's and getting good grades (2 A's and 1 B so far). I did do some pruing this winter but probably not as much as I should have - the snow was either too deep or it was too cold or I had something else to do (in other words I placed other things above pruning in my priority list).

Soon it will be time to plant the seedlings in the basement and watch them grow and before you know it the whole garden will be awake and growing. I think I am more ready for spring this year than I have been in some time - but that doesn't mean I'm prepared. I'm probably the least prepared. But I still have time.

I need to take the time this week to plan this year's garden (can you believe I haven't done that yet?). Now, I don't sit down and draw out what I will plant where - I used to do that and well, I found I just didn't follow the darn drawing anyway. But I've been gardening long enough to know about how many plants I can fit in my garden spaces so I just start the plants and worry about where they will go later. I just try and move them from where they were the year before - more important with some plants than with others.

Planning for me also involves deciding how much to plant of something and if I want to try something new. Since I garden primarily to feed my family year round I plant a lot more than someone who just wants to pick something occasionally fresh to eat. I also plant a lot more veggies than flowers - flowers have always been more of an after thought to me - pretty to look at and great to draw the pollinating bugs, butterflies and such in - but Andy really likes flowers so as he has grown older we have added more and more flowers every year and now I can't imagine why I never appreciated them more before.

One thing I look at when deciding how much to plant vs. last year is if my canned supply looks like it will last until fresh start coming - if not - I may need to plant more - but there can be other reasons it didn't last. Take tomatoes, for example - in spite of the tons of them I canned - they are mostly gone. I only have 1 jar of tomato sauce and 2 jars of salsa left and all of the rest of the tomatoes were eaten this year already. But do I really need to plant more? Probably not. A hail storm in late May last year took out half of my tomato plants - I decided to try and replace them with ones from the nursery (which was weird for me since I never buy tomato plants) and all the nursery had left was grape tomatoes - which are quite a bit smaller fruit than what I had been replacing. So you have to factor Mother Nature in there.

I also take into consideration how things performed. If it is a new plant I might give it a second year to see if it was just the weather conditions, but sometimes one year is all I need to know that I didn't like that variety. Take Brussels Sprouts, for example - last year I tried a new variety and they grew wonderfully and looked great but the sprouts never formed into tight balls - they were just a few leaves. My family likes Brussells Sprouts too much to take that chance again. We are going back to what we grew the year before.

Part of the gardening planning for me also is to decide what to plant where (not by drawing maps like I stated earlier). I only have limited space in my raised bed so it is reserved for the thing that need to go there - either because the rabbits will eat them if they are out in the other planting areas - or things like carrots that need the loose soil to put down wonderful eatable roots. And since I write very little of this down and most of this planning goes on in my head - sometimes I make last minute changes and things end up somewhere else - ah - it happens.

To me, gardening is just about growing and enjoying it - and doing some trial and error. I am such an anal person strictly following rules in other parts of my life - my garden is where I'm a little looser and sometimes it is just fun to see what comes up!

In other news, Andy's science fair is soon (March 6) and he will be doing a report on his garlic that he planted last fall - I am so proud of him for wanting to do a gardening project. He started a garlic bulb in a pot a couple of weeks ago so he would have something to take besides pictures on a board. He is also going to take a complete garlic bulb and some loose cloves - I think the kid is a genius - borderline MR - yeah right!

Mexican Soup with Dried Tomatoes

Here is a tasty soup that I made recently. I love to come up with recipes in the winter that use the food I have grown in my garden and put up for winter use. If you aren't dairy free like I am - this soup would be really tasty with shredded cheese.

Mexican Soup with Dried Tomatoes

6 cups broth (I used turkey broth I had made with the turkey bones after Thanksgiving, but chicken or veggie broth would work just fine)

1 cup salsa (I used my home canned but I am sure store bought would work fine)

3/4 cup dried tomatoes, sliced in long strips

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 cups corn (frozen, canned or fresh will all work)

1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice

Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least 10 minutes.