The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Planning garden using GrowVeg (Year #2)

Feb 6, 2010 garden planning, spring, sprouting

Though GrowVeg worked great for planning my garden last year, this year it became even more useful.  By creating a garden plan using my template from my previous year not only did it save time but also showed where I should not plant certain vegetables because I planted the same family of plants in that area last year.  Here is my plan for my larger plot:

I am growing much of the same as I have in past years with the addition of broccoli and Swiss chard.

For my longer fence plot here is what I am going with the following:

New in this area I am going to plan on growing some dry beans for storage as well as some green beans along with our regular cucumbers, tomatoes, and sunflowers.

I also have an area I am planning on growing herbs, though for that I am just going to wing it.

In the end it took me about 3-4 minutes to create this plan thanks to GrowVeg which I can print out and keep by the garden so I don’t have to wonder, “Now where did I plant that spinach again.”

They do have a free 30 day trial if you want to try it out this year.

Growing sprouts in a Mason jar

Jul 8, 2009 cheap, kids, sprouting

My daughter was required to do a presentation which included an experiment using plants for school and of course her mother directed her to me.  Given there was not a lot of time until the presentation I suggested that she grows sprouts, given you can go from seeds to a jar full of sprouts in less than a week.

Construction

You really can grow sprouts in almost anything.  We chose a mason jar, though plastic storage containers, trays, or even fabric bags (just drip in water and hang)

The important thing is to provide plenty of airflow, if you don’t your seeds will produce an awful stank that you won’t want in your house let alone eat.  We used a piece of an old pair of leggings, which we stretched over the opening of the jar and applied the mason jar ring….well that’s about it.

How to Grow Sprouts

The process starts with seed selection.  You can grow any seed as a sprout though you may not want to eat them.  Cilantro is a good example it will grow great but the root of a cilantro/yellow mustard sprouts are very potent so use with cooking, not raw.  Some good suggestions are alfalfa, broccoli, buckwheat, cabbage, chickpea, garlic, lentil, oats, yellow mustard, peas, onion, radish, sunflower, fennel, arugula, pink kale, fenugreek, wheat, or wheatgrass.  In our case my daughter wanted to determine how quickly and big seeds grew depending on the initial size, so I gave her a several different types of seeds for her experiment.

Take about a tablespoon of seeds and soak in room temperature water with a couple drops of liquid fertilizer overnight.

In the morning drain, rinse and let sit out of direct sunlight.  Repeat the drain/rinse process once a day (twice a day if your sprouts begin to smell)  During the first couple days it is advisable to shake and/or roll the jar on its side to allow the seeds to spread out a little.  Doing this simple procedure within about a week you should have a jar full of fresh healthy sprouts.

Why grow sprouts?

Fun: Great for kids with limited attention spans.  Within a day or two they can see their seeds sprout growing more and more each day.  It is also a great way to keep your sanity during those long winter months.

Cheap: For mere pennies you can grow pounds of greens.

Nutritious: These little sprouts pack a ton of nutrients for their little size.

Easy: The process is pretty fool proof, just rinse with water, set them on your counter, and eat.  What could be easier