width=”549″ height=”366″ /> My ancestors were German farmers, but somewhere along the way the green thumb gene got spliced out of me. Despite enjoying an abundance of homegrown green peppers, squash, and tomatoes in my youth, I never seriously shadowed my grandparents nor my mother in the garden. My youthful experience gardening involved one sad attempt at growing carrots from seedlings, an endeavor so fraught with impatience I harvested…
width=”550″ height=”309″ /> Many people may have heard of guerilla gardening where eager gardeners will make use of an abandoned lot and start a little vegetable garden on the down low. Here is another take on a similar idea but a little more out in the open. My brother-in-law lives in a condominium that unfortunately does not provide much space for an outdoor garden with the exception of several…
width=”549″ height=”412″ /> Before you put those Christmas lights away into storage you may want to keep a couple strings (non-LED) set aside to use for heating a hoop house. These little lights can help boost the temperature 5-10 degrees inside your enclosure, while this will not allow you to grow tomatoes and peppers during the wintertime. This may be enough to allow you to keep a winter garden…
width=”613″ height=”368″ /> My previous attempt at making planting strips worked ok, lapsed a bit on the watering, but had a few surviving carrots. This time around I decided to go with the classic technique at making planting strips with simple toilet paper. 1. Start with single ply. If you buy the fancy double-triple ply toilet paper you will want to pull them apart to start with a single…
width=”526″ height=”412″ /> My daughter likes to plant seeds but when working with smaller seeds it can be difficult to plant these seeds especially the farther the location is from edge of the garden bed. I have been thinking about solving this problem with a seed strip which can be made using burlap, newspaper, toilet paper, or any sort of paper for that matter. Next you simply stick the…
Being busy with work and a new baby at home, I completely forgot to plant my cilantro. Though I got a little surprise when I pulled back the shredded leaves I used on my beds…I nice blanket of cilantro seedlings, almost like mother nature knew I was going to be lacking focus this season. I was pretty good about picking my cilantro (or coriander at this point) at the…
For a couple years now I have attempted to start onions from seeds and the same thing happens each year. All is going well, good strong seedlings, then I run out of space in my grow box and the poor seedlings get kicked out to fend for themselves a few weeks to early leading to very few survivors. This summer I decided to try something new, during the end…
Last year by 5 year old learned she likes to pick and eat fresh pea pods and was very diligent on harvesting new peas as she found them. Unfortunately this meant less peas for me. This year I am using successive planting to ensure I get my fill this year but also do not get overwhelmed with one big harvest all at once. I started the process about a…
When we bought our house we found a screen door in the garage. Not wanting to have or install the screen door we tried many times to get rid of it without success. Finally I decided to use the parts to create a cold frame. I did consider using the whole door and hinges as a cold frame but decided I could make something that looked a little better…
I like to push the envelope my luck when I decide to start seeds outdoors and this year is not an exception. Just yesterday I posted about planting the rest of my outdoor seeds where karma responded with a freak snow storm and freezing temperatures. I am not too worried about about the new seeds I planted since many have been sitting dormant in the refrigerator for almost 12…
It has been a blessing that the competition for free coffee grounds at the Starbucks at my work has increased now the weather warmed up and I have freed from the temptation to grab yet another free shiny silver bag of grounds. The reason is, I have put four bags in my compost, worked generous amounts into my vegetable garden and I still have six bags left. Now I…
I haven’t done many posts in a while about regular old gardening in actual dirt so figured a good time to do an update. Though I enjoy indoor seed starting in my LED grow box and computerized grow box, some plants need to be started outdoors. Today my daughters and I planted the last these plants for fall outdoor planting. A few weeks ago, we planted garlic, onions, spinach,…