Fall bulb planting surprises
Not sure if it is the long winter, or just me getting older but I have no clue what bulbs we planted last fall. Guess I will find out in a couple weeks.
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Releasing ladybugs in your garden
When we started my garden at my our current house my daughters and I noticed we didn’t have any ladybugs roaming around the leaves. Now I would like to think that aphids and mites feared me so much to dare to step foot in my garden, but the reality is I live in a newer neighborhood with vegetation in its early stages and with the lush forest around me…
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Growing potatoes with kids
I was checking out our pantry I noticed some of our potatoes were starting to sprout. I took this as a great opportunity to have a little activity with the my daughters. We started by taking a look at the sprouts and had a little discussion about how potatoes grow underground and this one potato will grow into many more potatoes. We then cut an egg carton in half…
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Hunting for spring at our local nurseries
Since nothing is blooming in my yard and my wife convinced me that Northwest Flower & Garden Show would be a little too busy for our young girls (I know she was right, as usual) We decided instead to go on a nursery tour, I normally get my plants from our closest nursery or the local home and garden center but was curious what the other dozen or so…
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Using alfalfa pellets as cheap organic fertilizer for your lawn and garden
We all know if you walk into a grocery store the organic produce is always more expensive than produce grown using non-organic methods. Using deductive reasoning it seems easy to determine that this would mean growing vegetables organically will cost me more than if I used non-organic methods. What is a cheap vegetable gardener to do? One disadvantage (and advantage) to organic fertilizer is that it is not as…
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Make your own homemade newspaper pots
As you probably know we shouldn’t be using peat pots due to environmental concerns, buying terra cotta pots is too expensive, what is a cheap gardener to do? Make your own homeade pots out of newspaper of course. Muddy Clogs describes how to exactly do this on her blog. My only complaint is that I didn’t think of it first.
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Growing Challenge: Planting the seeds
I have decided to participate in The Growing Challenge hosted by the people at Elements in Time. The short version is to try growing at least one thing from seed that you have not tried before. My daughters and I have decided to grow some tomatoes (Sweetie, San Marzano, Siletz) which I normally pick from the limited choice of seedlings that are available at my garden store. While picking…
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Harvesting seeds from the grocery store – Update
I definitely can’t complain about the current results of the garlic and potatoes I planted from my original post Harvesting seeds from the grocery store Every clove of garlic I planted has come up and seems to compliment the onions well and is supposed to keep the slugs away which I can always use help on. The potatoes have finished developing above ground just hope my soil is not…
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Harvesting your own seeds
This past fall I made my first attempt to harvest my own seeds. If you can’t tell from the picture I chose cilantro (or coriander if you eat the seeds) and seem to be worth the minimal effort. Just as a warning, if the plant you are dealing with happens to be a hybrid (parents of different species) what you get the next year may not be the same…
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Sow what your actually going to eat
It is getting that time a year when we are all getting our seeds in order and start planning what we will be including in your garden. Every year I always tell myself “Take it easy, don’t overdo it” but unfortunately I never listen to myself and look at the many seeds in the packet and end up composting at least half of my crop of spinach, carrots, and…
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My Lettuce seeds have sprouted
My lettuce seeds sprouted faster than usual this year, I expected to have some problems since I have saved the seeds for 3 years now. I don’t have a heating pad (yeah I’m cheap) so just put them on top of the refrigerator in a makeshift greenhouse out of an old strawberry container. They would have still germinated in my mid-60 degree house, but the extra heat gained from…
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Strawberries in the PC grow box (UPDATE)
Well the strawberry plant seems to be doing great in the $20 PC grow box. Can’t wait to try it out on my recently planted seedlings.