Saturday, February 23, 2013

Indoor Garden Upgrades

So this year I decided to ditch the old plastic trays you can buy at the garden center. You know? The kind that flats of flowers come in.  Holding eighteen 3" pots filled with soil and water was fine on the tables but move them an inch and they break.  


So as you can see I upgraded to something a little more indestructible.  They have a 10 year warranty but I don't really care.  What mattered was they were about the right depth and heights and width and all 3 of those containers fit between the ladder game. And I like the clear look.  


A look in the first one shows a little container of green onions.  1 pot of bok choy, a whole bunch of celery in peat pots, 2 bell peppers, many jalapenos, and Serranos too. I'm leaning towards Salsa this year. Last year it was all about the tomato sauce (I made homemade spaghetti with 2 quarts of tomato sauce tonight and it was delicious - lasagna will be made from the left over sauce later this week).
This tray is full of cold weather veggies and items for the covered square foot garden. Summertime Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, kale, and swiss chard. 

I must admit that I've NEVER eaten chard or kale - I'm only growing them for my parrots.  Oh ya, PARROTS, with an S.  Yes.  And they are super fun! We've had Kiwi, a yellow sided green cheek, since last April.  Today we purchased Mambo, a green cheek. She is not quite a year old and was living with the cutest family but her owner is moving. Today we got Mambo to jump on command, step up when asked and without biting, and target train to learn the clicker and get a treat.  Someone held her all afternoon and Kiwi even showed off his basketball skills while she watched intently. The best part was the end of the day when she let me scratch her head and neck and fell asleep in my hands. 


And last of all I have the 5" peat pots with the heirloom tomatoes.  2 are early girls but the rest are either cherokee purple or pink brandywine. I saved the seeds from the pink brandywine and they grew well last year so I'm using them again.  Best flavor ever!



1 comment:

Edward Family said...

You mentioned you have never eaten kale. I just started roasting kale with olive oil and salt. Some people call them kale chips. They do taste chip like and all but 1 kid loves them. I have some pictures and instructions if you'd like!