Not Looking at the Eclipse

We’re not looking at the eclipse this evening – for obvious reasons. (For anyone who didn’t pay attention in Science class. – Don’t look at it. It can seriously damage your eyes.)

There are ways to enjoy it though. Science Man put together this pinhole camera. Check out the sliver of light as the moon passed in front of the sun. (It’s small, center-right.)

And here it is reflecting off the house through the trees.

Is that cool or what?

Containers in the Garden

Last year at this time, I had a single 48 square foot box in which to garden. This year, thanks to a huge amount of effort on Science Man’s part and a modest amount on mine, I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 750 square feet. And I’ve already run out of room. Every inch of it has either been planted or is earmarked for planting. That’s a 1,400% increase and I’ve run out of space!

In an effort to squeeze out a little more room, I put containers on the garden wall. It seemed like a good plan for the invasive plants (those highly prolific ones that quickly get out of control) – the spearmint, peppermint, lemon balm and oreganos. I also used containers for the rosemary because it’s not hardy enough to winter in this area. By using a container, I can bring it into the house when it gets cold.

Some people, when using a big pot, fill the bottom with those horrid white foam chunks to   1) reduce the amount of soil needed and  2) prevent the filled pot from weighing so much that it’s next to impossible to move. But here’s a better idea that I’ve learned from someone I no longer remember. I’m trying it for the first time.

Fill those oversized containers a little more than half full with leaves. (I keep a stash of dry leaves next to the compost bin, so this was easy). Then top the leaves with a good quality potting soil and add your plant.

I’m told that when I dump out the soil this fall, I’ll be rewarded with a nice, rich compost at the bottom.

I planted spearmint in this container. It’s now sitting on the garden wall (see photo at top). It smells fantastic.

If you decide to use containers, be aware that you have to water them frequently.

Garden Update:

So, what’s up in your garden? Please hit the comment button and share.

We’ve been eating our own lettuce and spinach for the past week, and the radishes are now ready.

I noticed a frog in the garden a couple evenings ago. He’s a big guy, the color of dirt. If he’d have jumped, I’d have screamed, but he just sat there – peeing himself. Frogs eat insects, snails, slugs and decaying leaves – so, he can stay. His name’s Newt.

Tinsel in the Garden

I was in the garden Friday evening, covering the plants on the off chance of frost. The smell was fantastic – earthy – wet – scented with rosemary, thyme and oregano.

I LOVE MY GARDEN!

It smells wonderful and it’s even decorated now – with tinsel. Two pieces of twine currently stretch diagonally on each side of the peppers and eggplants. Along those strings, dangle strips of metallic ribbon at intermittent intervals. They sparkle when the sun hits them and when the wind blows, they create waves of psychedelic reflection that flash across the fence.

No, it’s not some tacky yard art. It’s reflective ribbon and it’s designed to keep select furry and feathered creatures from helping themselves to my produce.

No sooner had I tucked my peppers and eggplant securely under protective hot caps a couple weeks ago than something started ripping open these paper shields, exposing the tender new plants.

I suspected it was a crow. I couldn’t see him, but I heard him squawking at me from somewhere in the trees as I inspected the damage. Clearly he was laughing at me.

Back to the nursery I went to buy more hot caps and some reflective ribbon that indicated it would repel woodpeckers, birds, gulls, deer, and geese. Then I went home and installed it.

There. Take that snarky crow.

Fast forward to that same evening – more hot caps had been ripped up. Just along the edges of the garden. Deducing that the string of tinsel was too high, I lowered it.

Next morning – more caps were ripped to shreds. Some completely removed. The plants were fine. No leaves have been torn. Nothing chewed. No plants trampled. But still, I’d put those hot caps there for a reason.

Two days later, I caught him. Hanging precariously from the cedar fence, his eyes locked on my garden. I recognized him immediately. It wasn’t the crow. It was my old nemesis. The louse that had stolen every single apple from my tree last fall. The vandal I’d caught chewing his way around the sack of leaves, destroying the stock pile that had been destined for the compost.

Squirrel!

That’s why the plants had been left alone. He wasn’t interested in them. He wanted the hot caps for nesting material.

Science Man extracted a few of the previously chewed caps from the garbage can, and we scattered them along the fence line as a sacrifice, hoping to divert his attention from the garden. It worked –  for about an hour. Then he returned to the perimeter of the garden. The metallic ribbon, while offering no claims of being a squirrel deterrent, did help to some extent. But each day, I’d find at least one plant uncovered. Exposed to the cold.

Now the hot caps have been replaced with row cover to protect the plants at night. It’s light enough not to damage the plants, made of permeable fabric that allows the sun in and it retains heat. The tinsel’s still there, dangling from above, trashing up the joint.

On the up side, we’ve started eating from our garden. Some or our spinach went on the vegetarian pizza I made this evening, and our own lettuce went into the salad. Soft, tender leaves. Yum. And this is just the beginning.

Recipe: Granola

We love granola at our house, both as a snack and as breakfast cereal. But good granola is almost always expensive. It can also be overly sweet. So, I learned to make my own. I do something different every time I make it, depending on what I have in the kitchen. But here’s what I made today.

Preheat oven to 300

In a large bowl combine:

4 cups of oatmeal flakes (use regular, not the quick cook oatmeal)

2 big handfuls of nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, or a combination)

¼ cup of unsweetened coconut

In a small sauce pan combine:

½ cup of Sucanat sugar (this is a brown, cane sugar)

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup of honey

1 Tblsp vanilla

Heat sugar mixture on low until honey is melted. Stir to combine then pour over dry ingredients and mix together.

Pour onto a large baking sheet (I line mine with parchment to help with clean up).

Bake 40 minutes at 300 degrees F, stirring once or twice during that time (I usually forget this part).

After removing from oven add:

½ cup of dried fruit (I use raisons, cranberries, cherries, blueberries, apricots or any combination. If using apricots or cherries, chop to a size that’s consistent with the raisons & cranberries).

Let cool and enjoy.

It freezes well, and makes a great hostess gift when visiting friends.

To keep costs down, be sure to shop the bulk bins for the oatmeal, nuts and anything else available.

Movin’ Outside

I moved the tomato seedlings outside this weekend. It’s a bit early, but with this great weather, a reassuring forecast, and some hot caps and aqua domes, I went for it.

Prior to this transition, I put them out for a few hours per day so they could harden-off (gardener speak for getting used to the elements).

TIP: One thing I learned in the gardening classes I’ve been taking is that when tomatoes get leggy (long and top-heavy) you can pull the bottom row of leaves off and bury them in the soil from that spot down. They’ll send out new roots from that area and it will help stabilize the plant.

Since mine were getting a bit leggy, I gently removed the tender row of leaves before placing each into the soil we’d had trucked in. The soil that is part dairy compost (I think this means cow shit), along with soil, compost, and wood shavings. All organic. It’s great stuff. But the little darlings demonstrated their lack of appreciation for this fine earth and the glorious sunshine by immediately flopping over.

I was horrified.

But after a long soak and a few hours, like most pouty children, they got over it. By evening they looked pretty good.

I did cover six of them with aqua domes and the rest with hot caps.  No particular reason other than six aqua domes was all I had. This protects them from the cold if the temperature happens to dip.

This morning I planted Black Beauty eggplants (you usually see these at the stores) and Rosa Biancas (just trying something new). I also planted Anaheim and Jalapeño peppers. I covered most of these with hot caps too. Hot caps are those little waxy parchment paper domes. I ran out before I got everything covered and pulled out the parchment paper in lieu of going back to the store. They look simple enough to make, right?. Well, they’re not.

Tip: Here’s something else I learned in class. Those little hot caps not only insulate the plants a bit from the weather, the retained heat also helps your plants grow faster. And the caps protect them from bugs. So when you’re confident that the weather won’t dip too far, you can either toss the hot caps OR you can cut the top off (careful not to scalp your plant). The plants can grow out the top, but the open dome will still protect the tender stems from bugs that might want to dine on them.

I’ve spent about ten hours in my garden and yard this weekend. I read somewhere that gardening helps prevent osteoporosis in a way that running, aerobics, and cycling doesn’t. All that pulling, lifting, carrying, and shoveling is good for the bones. That’s good news since at this point the only parts of me that do not ache are my fingers.

Now We’re Growing

Check out these beauties!

They’re the tomato seeds I planted just five weeks ago today.

Last year, I tried to start a few seedling in a south facing window. A few of them pushed their way through the potting soil. Some didn’t. But even those that succeeded remained small and spindaly. They were nothing like these lush, robust plants.

This year, I did things differently. I did my research and I attended some highly informative classes. Your local nurseries can be a wealth of information. Not just for ad hoc questions, but many have classes. And they’re FREE!

My favorite have been at the North End Organic Nursery in Boise. They’re friendly, informed, and very knowledgeable. This is where I learned the importance of using seedling mix before moving the seedlings to a nutrient rich potting soil and what a difference heat mats and grow lights make.

In these classes, I learned how to water plants properly to prevent problems, and that fruiting plants (tomatoes, eggplant, squash, peppers) need more sun than leafy plants (kale, lettuce, chard, spinach, mustard). The former love long, hot summers. The later thrive in cooler weather and do best in spring and fall.

One interesting thing I learned is that green bell peppers are not ripe. They transport better and have a longer shelf life than their ripe counterparts, but they do not have all the nutritional benefits. Since learning this, I switched to buying ripe peppers (red, orange, yellow) and haven’t eaten a bitter pepper since.

Now I’m counting down the days until I can move the warm weather crops to the lovely garden beds that Science Man built. He’s still working on the walkway at the back, but it’s so gorgeous. It runs the length of the house.

The cool weather crops are already out there, thriving at the other end of the garden which gets more shade.

• The lettuce, spinach, radish, and peas are up.
• The kale, carrots, and green onions have made a bashful debut.

That’s where things are at our place. How about yours? Have you planted anything? Are you trying anything new this year?

Happy growing.

Cleaning Hard Water Stains From Your Glasses

I still love the Picarde drinking glasses I purchased years ago at a Crate and Barrel while in Phoenix. They are sturdy and unadorned without being plain. The highballs are large enough for a tall glass of lemonade, and the tumblers are perfect for a lovely Merlot when I don’t want to break-out the crystal stemware. By break-out I really mean hand-wash.

Over the years, the glasses developed a bit of a ring around the bottom – white, cloudy – a souveneir of our city’s hard water. But I’ve tolerated it because I love these glasses and haven’t found any worthy of replacing them.

A couple months ago, our dishwasher went on the fritz and the hot water wasn’t heating properly. The heating element was quickly replaced, but the incident left a nasty film on the stainless steel liner of the dishwasher, my pots and pans, and the glasses. We found something to run through the dishwasher which did a fairly decent job cleaning it. And somewhere in the recesses of my brain was a memory of hearing that vinegar could clean hard water stains from drinking glasses. (That little nugget has Martha Stewart written all over it – it was probably Martha).

So, the next Saturday, as I was working on various projects around the house, I filled my eight-cup measuring pitcher about three quarters of the way full with water, and dumped in about a cup or so of vinegar. Then I submerged one of the glasses into it and went about my other work. Ten or twenty minutes later, I checked it and was amazed to find that the glass looked brand new again.

I whipped out my camera and took a comparison shot for you. Here it is. The glass on the left is as clear and bright as the day I bought it. All of them came clean, as did the stainless steel.

No need to toss your glassware. This is inexpensive, non-toxic, and worked beautifully.

Cheers.

Seedlings

Things are changing fast on seedling row. Last week I mentioned that when the true leaves made their appearance that I’d have to replant. I thought I had about a week, maybe two.

WRONG.

The very next day, I noticed true leaves on all three tomato varieties. Certain my babies were starving, I set to work transplanting them into fertile, organic potting soil (remember they were in seedling mix which helps them germinate and establish their initial roots, but it does not contain the nutrients the seedlings now need).

Check out the difference in the leaves between last week’s photo (seed leaves) and this week’s (true leaves). It just amazes me how much they’ve grown in a single week.

Over the course of this past week, true leaves have also appeared on the eggplants, as well as the Anaheim and Jalapeno peppers, so they too were upgraded to their own fertile pots this morning.

I also started the sweet peppers and the basil indoors this week and they’re on the heat mat.

Carrots, kale, and radish seeds were planted directly into the garden. In two to three weeks I’ll plant some more radish and carrots, and maybe another couple packets of spinach. Staggering the planting helps prevent everything being ready to pick all at the same time.

I didn’t do this with the lettuce I planted last week because this loose leaf variety will come back a couple times after I cut it, and it won’t last much past June anyway. Lettuce doesn’t like the hot summers so when the temperatures go up, it bolts and turns bitter. I’ll plant more in the fall.

So, that’s the status check. Next week I’m going to tell you how I changed my glasses from looking like the one on the right back to the one on the left. They look brand new again. And it was EASY.

 

Until next week, happy planting.

Signs of Life

The seedlings are up – tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, kohlrabi, and leeks. They started making their debut three days after planting. They’ve been removed from the heat mat and have been placed under grow lights for about 14 hours a day . This will help them develop into stronger and healthier starts. Even the sunniest windows often do not get enough light and the seedlings can end up weak and spindly.

The leaves you see here are called seed leaves. Soon true leaves will form, and that’s when I’ll know it’s time to transplant the seedlings into a fertile potting soil. I originally used a non-soil seedling mixture – great for starting seeds, but will not provide them with the food they need.

Each day, I find myself staring at these slivers of green in amazement. In a few short months they’ll be big, bushy plants that’ll provide us with a significant portion of our food. I’m just in awe of nature right now.

Not all seeds need to be started in the house. Some can be sown directly into the garden. This morning I planted some cold-weather crops.

• Two packets of mixed loose-leaf lettuce
• One packet of peas
• Four packets of spinach

Ooops. One of the four spinach packets turned out to be basil, and it’s way too early for basil.

Yeah, the seeds looked vastly different. Yeah, that should have been a clue. But I didn’t notice until later, when I was making notes in my garden journal. <sigh>

I also planted two packets of green onions. I didn’t have luck with them last year, but I have-high hopes for this year, now that I have this beautiful new garden full of all this rich, organic garden soil.

Well, that’s pretty much the status on my garden. Anything happening in yours?

Here Comes Spring

Here Comes Spring !  It’ll be here on March 20^th to be precise. The date fluctuates between March 20^th, 21^st, 22^nd. The word equinox means equal night. It is one of two days during the year when the hours of sunlight equal the hours of darkness, and it is the threshold to spring. It’s when Mother Earth rewards us for enduring the dreariness of winter with a celebration of life. Grass turns greener, daffodils and crocus push forth through earth, bursting out in joyous color. Lambs and calves are born. Trees are budding, some with the promise of fruit. It is a time of fertility. Of celebration. Life.

The arrival of spring is celebrated by cultures the over the world. The earliest celebration I was able to find dates back to pre-Christian northern-European tribes. Ostara, also called Eostre, is a fertility festival, named after the lunar goddess of fertility and rebirth. Many, including some Christian scholars, believe the symbol of the Easter bunny and the Easter egg were filched, along with the name Easter, from Eostre.

Most of the seeds I planted last week are up in celebration of spring. I pulled the plastic dome lids, which were fogged and beaded with moisture, from the trays on Wednesday and was surprised to find sprouts. Lots of them. The tomatoes and kohlrabi were up. A day later the eggplant sprouts had pushed their way through the soil, and as of this morning, a couple hot peppers had made their debut. I’ve moved the trays under the grow lights for now. Soon I’ll have to transplant into a rich soil that will feed the tender plants. They’ll remain under the lights until they are ready to go outside.

This week, the North End Organic Nursery (NEON) will deliver the garden mix that will top off the beds my wonderful husband built in our backyard.

Springs coming! I can’t wait!

If anyone has any cool ideas on how to celebrate the equinox, please hit the comment button and share them with us.