Organic Garden - Warm weather plants

 The pepper plants and tomato plants are eagerly awaiting the warmer weather this week so they can be put into the garden. Most tomato plants had to be transferred one more time to a bigger cup but peppers don't really require it most of the time. As long as the weather gets warm, peppers catch up and grow pretty fast.

I know many people already planted warm weather crops in the garden but if the soil isn't warm enough they just don't like it, so I wait in this northern zone until my garden soil is above 68 degrees.

I have put some hot peppers in large pots and if my garden was all individual raised beds it would be fine to plant early. I wait for 2 reasons; warmer weather and unpredictable spring storms. Since I grow my tomatoes and peppers from seeds, most can not be replaced at the nursery so I don't want to lose them.

This is the first year I have ever started some warm weather seeds in pots. I started all my winter squash seeds (spaghetti, bon bon, and butternut), cucumbers, and zucchini. I planted the zucchini yesterday but the rest will hopefully go in this week. I have to make a new spot for my climbing squash as I don't have room for them to wander in the garden. 

I am pretty excited about these zucchini because I usually just throw in the seeds and hope for the best. Maybe I will even get some early! As you can see I usually plant them in a sort of "well" so they can more easily direct the water to the root area.
It is an exciting time of year because the anticipation of the garden and growing things fills me will a kind of joy that can't be replaced. Even if I could only plant in pots I would because growing things is really so enjoyable.
Happy planting!

Organic Garden: Time to transplant seedlings.

 Wow! What a great day it was outside today!! Around 70 degrees and the garden soil was perfect for cold weather crops to go in. I planted spinach, beets, and kale today.  I hope to get a few more things in this week. As you an see my tomato seedlings were getting big so a few days ago I transplanted them for the first time. I will say that this is how I do it from years of practice, but by no means think that there probably aren't other ways to do it. This is just what works best for me.

First I take the potting soil out of the bag and put it into my large bin to hydrate it.

I use water I get from my outside spout so that it has no salt in it, and pour some into the bin with the soil then stir it up to get it partially hydrated.

 Next I count the first variety of seedlings to transplant and mark the small cups. I reuse as many as I can from year to year. I drill small holes in the bottoms for drainage, three in each cup. I hold 4 or five in a stack and use my trusty drill to make the holes.

I use an old baby spoon to scoop out my plants and put a tiny bit of soil in the bottom of the cup.

I place the plant in the cup and fill in soil around it. Tomatoes will grow more roots if you bury as much stem as you can so each transplanting will have this happen and then finally in the garden with only a few leaves and stem above the dirt in the garden. I won't move to the next size of cups until the plants have matured a bit more.

After as much soil as can be put into the cups fills them up,  I place the cups in a container with water to let them now soak up as much water as they can before they are put into the tray. You can tell they are ready because the top of the soil looks really dark when wet.

Once they are all transplanted and hydrated, they are put into a tray and back in front of my south facing windows. When days are not too windy and mild I will let them get some outside time for a half hour or so, and give them at least a half hour of light fan action each day.
I will do the same for the pepper plants in a few days and wait a few more weeks before the next transplanting.

Organic Garden; Getting Ready

Spring is upon us (or just about!). I have started some seeds. I like to pick seed varieties and grow them indoors early. I use an organic seed starter and as you can see some are in regular 6 celled containers. I also started some peppers in some of those expanding pellets. I am not really happy because of you look closely there is some mold starting on some of them and that can be a problem. I have been running a fan part of the day to try to avoid that and also to help start to harden the plants.

If I don't have the seed starters with the clear top, I just set them in a food bag with a twisty until most  or all of the seedlings are up. I also have them sitting on a seed warming mat. I found that helps them start much better. I start pepper seeds at the end of January and tomatoes in early March. But even if you start some now, they will catch up once they go outdoors, usually anyway.

Then I wait until they have a good set of true leaves before transplanting them. This seedling isn't quite ready yet. I will wait until those true leaves are bigger or there are another set to have a better chance they will grow.

When the seedlings are big enough I use tiny cups to transplant them into so I can write on the cup which variety it is. These cups work great. I just drill holes in the bottom for drainage and reuse as many each year as I can. They don't stay in these that long, but it's a great size for that first transplant.
If you don't grow your own plants from seed but get some 6 packs of small plants early from the nursery, you can transplant in the same way. I will do that for eggplant and some other varieties if I see something I think I need.

Dr. Seuss Quilt

This is a baby quilt I made for my friend Anna. I knew she was a big Dr. Seuss fan so when I saw this fabric I knew it was perfect!

Mom's Log Cabin Quilt

This is the quilt I made for my mom last year. We gave it to her on her birthday. It's just a simple log cabin block but the design pattern turned out great!

Little Fox Baby Quilt

This was a baby quilt I made with a fabric that had the cutest little foxes on it. I was trying out a new quilt block called the Milky Way.

Rising Star Quilt

I finally made a quilt for myself! This is a queen sized quilt. There was no pattern except that I saw the rising star quilt block and liked it. After I worked out how many of those I wanted I added the nine patch, the strips in between and then the flying geese on the sides. It turned out pretty good.

Spicy Vegetable Soup

As you can tell, I love soup! This is a new twist on what you might think of as vegetable soup. It really is delicious and easy to make. I hope you try it during this really delicious soup!

Spicy Kale & Vegetable Soup

8 cups vegetable broth                            28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes         15 oz. can black beans-rinsed

11 oz. can nibblet corn-drained               1 small bunch kale-chopped

1 small turnip-diced                                 2 medium white potatoes-diced

2 stalks celery-chopped                          1 medium yellow onion-diced

1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper (+/-)             2 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. salt                                                1/4 tsp. gr. black pepper

* In a large soup pot place the veg broth. Add the onion, potatoes, and turnip.

Heat to boiling and add all the other ingredients. Cook long enough that the

potato and turnip are cooked through.

* Makes one large pot and freezes well. 

Taco Dip

This is the taco dip I came up with a few years ago. I didn't particularly like spinach dip, so this was my alternative to that. It has been a favorite for years and is super easy to put together which is why I decided to share it. We usually enjoy it on club crackers but I think tortilla chips would be good too. Enjoy!

Taco Dip

1 package Knorr Vegetable Recipe Mix

1 package Kraft Mexican Taco cheese (8oz)

1 cup light mayo

2 cups sour cream

1 tsp. taco seasoning

1 box Keebler Club crackers

* In a large mixing bowl mix the sour cream and the mayo together.

* Add the package of Knorr and taco seasoning, stir to mix.

* Add all the cheese and stir until mixed.

* Put in an appropriate container and refrigerate several hours,

   or overnight.

* Serve with crackers.

* Makes about 4 cups. 

Ceramic Deer Project

This little ceramic deer once belonged to my husbands grandparents on his mom's side. It has seen decades outside in the elements. My husband brought it home for me to paint as a Christmas gift for his mom this year. The challenge was in trying to make it look like a white tail deer. I looked at a whole lot of internet pictures, and hopefully did it justice.

If anything it looks better than before. Now, if you know the recipient, don't show her this on the internet!