Seedling Advice

The last burnt Spinach plant on the right

Most of my seeds have come up indoors. My main problem is getting seeds to survive my family. Here is my advice....or maybe pet peeves for handling seedlings:

1. Please!!!! refrain from from touching these tender plants! The oil from our skin does not do well with many edible plant leaves. This is why you see gardeners wearing gloves. They not only want to keep there hands clean but also protect their plants.
2. Refrain from over-watering seeds. Seeds can drown in soil conditions.
3. Be kind to seedlings when it comes to the process of hardening them off. In other words, wait until their true leaves appear. The first two leaves of a plant are not their true leaves, these fall off once the plant is old enough and have enough leaves to capture more sun.
4. Do not set seedlings outside, with the clear lid on your portable greenhouse, when it is over 45 degrees! I know this and did it anyway.....just burnt up all my beautiful seedlings.
5. Make sure the seeds are planted deep enough so that the plant doesn't shoot up very tall, but have a shallow root system. This causes the plant to die very quickly.

Composting

I figured it was high time I showed in detail what goes into composting around here. Yes, you can have one huge compost bin. Around here, I keep my various composting materials separate.

First, there is the chicken manure compost. I keep this separate deliberately. I make sure these compost bins age for a good 1.5 years before adding this to the bottom layer of my garden beds in the fall. By spring, these manure compost have aged 2 years.

Second, there is the green composting pile. Green compost basically consists of "living" plants. Scraps of vegetables, fruits, grass clippings, leaves, all go into this compost.

Last, there is the brown composting pile. This consists of all the compost of wood ashes, wood shavings, pine needles, cardboard, ect.

I lay a thick a layer of cardboard as my base because I'm too cheap to buy a true compost bin. I allow the yearly rains to soak my composts. If I am not too lazy, I'll turn these composts after a good rain. Because they get a lot of air to them, these composts decompose within 6-8 months.

Location: location is important to me. I prefer the manure composts to be a few feet away from the coops where I clean out the manure. I prefer the vegetable scraps to be by the back door, but this is not possible. I have a dream compost bin when it comes to vegetable scraps, but that will have to wait.

Summer Plans

I just planted my spring garden. Spring is less than two weeks away, and it's time to plan for the summer garden! I am dreading the Summer garden.

One reason I am dreading the Summer garden, is because I have yet to successfully harvest any summer produce. My summer plants are beautiful. The vegetables look so juicy. Somehow they never make it to picking time.

I feel as though I've added a whole different level of detail (not the word I'm looking for) this year. So far the concepts: companion planting, lunar phase planting, garden bed layering, and heirloom have been thrown around. I am going to add the concept succession planting to the mix.

Succession planting explained at its simplest. The idea is vegetable roots leave behind certain chemical compositions. This chemical factor effects what vegetables are planted in the garden bed next.

I feel as though, I not only have to consider what companions can grow together but also what plants can follow the previous inhabitants of that garden bed. Without further ado, my Summer Garden List:

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Peppers
• Beans
• Squash
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Fennel
• 
  

One Can Dream

Lemon Blossoms 2012

Oh I dream of my own conservatory. Yes, there are greenhouses. I like sunrooms. Lanais are quite luxurious themselves.

I want my own conservatory though. A room attached to my house, preferably in the center. A room with flagstone floors, a fountain in the middle, and glass for walls and ceiling. Will I ever get one? Considering the cost, no. :) I'll have to make due with the greenhouse.

Growing up in the deep South of Texas, my favorite summer smell was the orange groves. My favorite memories were those of picking oranges at my grandparents' house. For this reason alone, I grow miniature orange trees, lemon trees, banana trees, and . The problem is these miniature trees have grown into a size that my windows cannot cover with enough sunlight.

Lastest Book in my Collection

Seed to Seed

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm a tad disappointed. I read the reviews which kept me from complete disappointment. People warned that the book was lacking pictures.

This is a not a step by step book for novice. A beginner gardener, yes. I have only saved seeds from peas successfully. My advice is to take the time to research how to save your particular vegetable by searching online.

Now if you are looking for a technical book that will name the families your veggies come from, the regions they grow in, and general outline of what to expect from seed to seed - this is your book.

I am happy with the information and disappointed with the lack of illustrations. Maybe one day I will write a book with over 400+ illustrations of seeds from seedlings to harvesting to seedling. It is a fascinating experience. I will say working with seeds takes every ounce of faith you have.

Complete

Completed garden 2014

Working by myself this year, the garden was completed in 3 days of maybe 4 hours a day??? Grant it I had three little helpers who would dig up my beds while I was making them, trample what laid, ect. This garden is roughly 20 feet by 10 feet. My point.....lasagna gardening, aka, sheet composting works. This is something a feeble person could do on a smaller scale.

I finished cleaning out my compost bins and transferred compost from one bin back to this main bin. One thing I learned.....air keeps compost from smelling! My children had stuffed some compost in a trashcan we had by the garden. It rained and year later, I have dumped it out. It reeked so bad. In case you don't know. I don't like barnyard smell. When we first had our chickens and only one child. I cleaned out their wood shavings twice a day.

Completed compost pile

Indoor Growth

I am so excited to see sprouts after 4 days. I have no trouble growing my seeds indoors. It is transferring my plants that gives me trouble. My other problem seems to be how tall these indoor plants shoot up. I don't know if they shoot up high because I did not plant them deep enough or what? Either way, it's time to start planning for indoor planting for summer plans!!!

So far my garden seeds have not emerged yet, but I am not surprised as this week the weather has been cold once again. I am thankful for all the rain to save me from having to water them.

I believe this is spinach seedlings, but not 100% sure. I planted broccoli as well.

Spinach?