In the organic garden; 2019 planting

I have finally finished planting my garden. It is off to a good start. This year my fertilizers are alfalfa meal, egg shells, and potash. I will see how this works and then decide if I like it.

Tomatoes are near the far end of the garden this year as my rotation puts them there. I use the 1/3 rule of rotation because my garden isn't very large. You can see I have already gotten some grass clippings and have distributed them around as well. I will work to get in my tomato plant stakes in the next week.

The middle of the garden is full of my low growers, onions, beets, kohlrabi, carrots, bush beans, and zucchini. I usually run into the problem later on of my monster zucchini plants taking over more than their fair share of the garden, but I will worry about that later.

The far end of the garden is where the sweet peppers will grow this year. If you noticed my fencing is far taller than in previous years. Last year deer jumped the outer fence then basically stepped over my short fence to gobble up as much of my garden as possible. Add to that a devastating hail and wind storm over the 4th of July and my garden had areas that never recovered. I am hoping to avoid that this year with a taller fence and will use some tarps if really bad weather is approaching.

One last change this year is to  spread out my cucumber plants, then train them to grow towards the fence eventually growing up the fence. I think that sometimes my plants are way too close together along the fence line so maybe this will help them grow.
Gardening is especially good for the soul during troubling times. So get out there and take advantage of some gardening therapy. Happy gardening!

Irish Lap Quilt

This is a lap quilt with an Irish theme for my mom. 

Baby quilt

This is a baby quilt I made for a friend's new grand baby on the way. 

In the Organic garden - Sprouting Pepper Seeds

Hello on this blustery snowy day in February! Obviously I am not in the garden, but I am getting ready for it. My pepper seeds have mostly sprouted!! Very exciting for such a winter day. I usually start seeds in small containers wrapped in plastic bags sitting on my warming mat. Before I had warming mats I just put them on top of the refrigerator until they sprouted, then over to the window sill. Once the true leaves have sprouted I will transplant them to a reusable cup that I have labeled and drilled holes in the bottom for drainage. I do need to be careful the containers don't dry out, so I keep a good eye on them daily, and water as needed, very gently. 

I also save my plastic bags. I just air them out until they are dry and then I save them with all my seed stuff until the seed sprouting. Tomato seeds will be planted about halfway or at the end of March. Peppers are easier, but tomato plants can be more of a challenge if I can't put them outside at some point in early spring. The plants may get a bit leggy but then I just bury more of the stem when I plant them, so it all works out. 

Happy planting!!

Krista

Potato, Lentil, and Lemon Soup

If you are looking for a new twist on potato soup, this may be the one for you. It is light and delicious! Just the nice hot soup for a cold day. I loosely based it on one I saw in a magazine that included some lemon juice. It was a really nice addition. I hope you try it.

Potato and Lentil Lemon Soup

1 cup lentils                         

8 cups vegetable broth

1 medium yellow onion          3 medium carrots

3 medium potatoes                 ½ cup fresh cilantro

1 bunch kale, chard, or collard     1 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground pepper              1 T. minced garlic

1 tsp. ground coriander           1 lemon

(opt. ¼ tsp crushed red pepper)

* Place the cup of lentils in a pan with 3 cups of water. Bring

boil, reduce heat, and simmer covered for 30 minutes.

* While lentils cook, place vegetable broth in a large soup

pot, then add chopped potato, chopped collard or other greens,

diced onion, chopped carrots, salt, pepper, garlic, coriander,

red pepper desired, chopped cilantro, and the juice of 1

lemon.

* When lentils are finished cooking, add entire contents

with lentils to soup pot.

* Soup should be thoroughly cooked by now, but test to see if potatoes are soft to be sure. Serve hot.

* This soup freezes well.