Today's Harvest

We've been shelling peas like mad today. I put these in the freezer on a piece of parchment. Did you knowI Love to Cook at Kitchen Kneads has parchment precut for cookie sheets? My husband went and bought us pizza. Maybe that defies the purpose of gardening which is healthy eating. But it made it possible to get more done. We found out Pizza Plus has a gluten free crust so that was nice. The cheese might do me in. It seems like my milk allergy is getting worse. 

I picked a head of broccoli and some green onions today. I can't wait to eat them! And I pruned the tomato plants too. I got rid of all the leaves and branches touching the ground. They are just reaching the tops of the cages and just starting to bloom. 

Harvest Monday - 18 June 2012

We arrived home after a last minute trip for Father's Day weekend.  A friend let us borrow their raft and so we took our children for a 7 mile float trip down the Green River on Saturday. And we also ran up to Dinosaur National Monument on Friday since we were already there. 

When we got home Sunday afternoon I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner.

One of the things we don't do is go shopping on Sunday.  We also don't do big chores on Sunday.  We do make beds and wash dishes but no scrubbing or washing clothes, etc. 

So I ran up to the garden and grabbed some snow peas which took 3 minutes.  

Then I peaked in the square foot garden and some of the Little Finger carrots were ready and they were delicious. No more trying to grow carrots in the clay.  These were ready faster and less bitter.  I will be planting more of those now.

I love the taste of fresh snow peas.  I pounded out 2 chicken breasts and cut them and made stir fry with all these veggies over glass noodles.  

And some tiny green bunching onions. I just never transplanted them.

And the last baby bok choy. I think next time I will grow the real stuff. Probably starting August 1st for a fall crop. 

Harvest Monday - February 20, 2012 - vegetable gardening in Utah

Outside my garden looks like this:

Inside my garden looks like this:

I love that my children keep referring to the lights as stairs.

And since I can't spend anytime outside I am slowly but surely getting everything ready inside.  These are the domes I purchased at Anderson's Seed and Garden a few years ago.  They are still in fantastic shape. 

If you happen to Like their facebook page just let them know that I sent you in a comment.  They are giving away a something free on Fridays (to anywhere in the USA).

The peat pots are actually Jiffy Brand but the seed trays are from Andersons

I labelled all of the popsicle sticks and placed the corresponding seed packets with them.

Next year I think I will move them into the spare bedroom. This year they are out where I can see even if it is the basement. How many of you have basements?

This is the Michihili Cabbage - a type of chinese cabbage.  I purchased the seeds at Andersons but not in the bulk seed section.  I love stir fry and kimchee.  We ate a lot of it as kids because my Dad was stationed in Korea right before I was born.

This is the Dutch Ball Head cabbage.  I need to thin soon.

All of my Pink Brandywine and Red Beefsteak tomatoes are doing well.  I thinned them a lot.  I'm just glad to see the seeds I gathered actually sprouted. Lovely heirlooms.  I love them!

And my Utah Celery:  

This will be interesting but I think that because I have a drip irrigation system on a timer that they will do well. You can't ever let it dry out and you can't overwater (black heart).

 I'm not sure how the blanching part will go. But I love trying new things in the garden.

And I finally got a few sprouts from my Correnta Spinach.

I love this Big Daddy Onions.  They are doing well - including those in storage.

And the green onions from seed I collected are in serious need of being thinned.  I just dumped the bag in the pot.  Next time I will put a 1/3 of the seeds in a pot this size. 

Here is the link to my gardening board at Pinterest.

And here is the link to the Pinterest Gardening Board.

Harvest Monday - February 13, 2012

This weekend I finished putting together the other two shop lights.  The full spectrum sunshine bulbs are working great.  I love the color.  It's a very soothing light verses the regular florescent bulbs. 

I also have stacks of new seeds for this year.  I think I am going to try and start my baby bok choy March 1st.

The romaine lettuce is doing well.

The chinese cabbage is almost all sprouted at this point.  The few you can't see in this photo I can see when I look directly at it - those sprouts are just tiny.

Green onions.  Just about time to thin them a little.

And good news.  My Pink Brandwine (Left) and Reb Beef Steak (right) have sprouted.  Unfortunately it's a little early so these are going bye-bye and I'll plant mid-March and see how it goes from there.

Getting this garden started

It's February 1st - again.  How about that?  I know that last year I planted a bunch of cold weather vegetables on the same day and was going out of my mind because the ground was so soggy that I didn't get my garden tilled until the end of April. 

That's a long time to have lettuce, cabbage, and kohlrabi sitting around the house - in my window sills to be exact.  In my dining, living room, and bedroom window sills.  My husband doesn't have very many pet peeves but that is one of them. And they really do block the view. 

Three things have changed this year: 

#1 - I have two square foot gardens that don't require a tractor to till and with better drainage I will be able to plant even if the spring is extra soggy thanks to my awesome dad and my husband too. (I still have lots of space to be tilled - there are some things that grow just fine in regular old soil)

#2 - I finally figured out how to hang my full spectrum light over my plants so they are on a table in the basement and not in my dining room window.

#3 - I'm not planting Kohlrabi

These little jiffy pots fit in my Jump Start 12 inch window sill trays.  I refilled them today. I don't like these for peppers or tomatoes.  Last year I had a hard time getting the tomatoes and peppers to sprout in them.  They are great for all of my cold weather veggies.  

You might notice that is actually the plastic piping from a ladder toss game. I purchased the light at Lowes last year and it just sat in the storage room until today. I stood out in my garage trying to figure out what I could use. 

And then I saw it.  I practically skipped into the house with it.

 It's all just kind of shoved in the corner. It doesn't look great but it's better than sitting in the windows on the main floor of the house. The heating pad is on  low on a timer.  The light is on a heavy duty timer with 4 outlets in it, perfect for when I get another light or two. (I bought it years ago for the Christmas lights on the front porch) It'll be on from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.  

I've never used grow lights before. This will be interesting.

 I put the lights nice and low.  They are just a few inches from the Jump Start boxes.

 On the left is the Pink Brandywine.  I purchased the plant at Walmart last year.  It's an heirloom so I collected some of the seeds and I decided to try and start some now.  If they grow -  good.  If they don't I will know by March 15th - in time to purchase seeds somewhere.  It was a delicious slicing tomato.  It just takes forever to grow. End of season sort of tomato but so worth it.

The middle pot hold green bunching onions with seeds I collected myself.  I've done it before.  They grow like crazy with no problems.

The pot on the right is the Red Beefsteak. Again - just trying to see if the seeds I collected with sprout. It's a late season variety.

Romaine Lettuce, and 2 boxes of spinach. I might plant more but I need another light before I do.  I have always started Spinach outdoors but the last 2 years were a total flop.  So I'm experimenting and starting it indoors just for kicks. And I'm going to plant them in my west square foot garden.

Just a few bits of stuff started.  The boxes on the right are not filled with anything.  They are just sitting there so everything is in one place. The Jump Start tray not on the box is on a heating pad.  I find that the cabbage starts better when the trays are kept warmer.

It's about time I made my seed list.  This year I want to keep my expenses down in the veggie garden because I want to plant a few more trees (the 4 last year were $450) and bushes. I better get my plant written down or else...

The best part - this cost me $0 this year. I haven't purchased anything for my garden since September of 2011.  I do need some seeds.  But I'm going to try to not get all crazy eyed when I go into Anderson's in a few weeks.

And to keep my tomato cravings in check I've been making tomato soup with the canned tomato puree you see in those jars.  It's spicy with home grown garlic and onions too.

Green Onions and Yellow Onions

I decided that I like to grow onions that I can store.  So for the summer I love green onions.  Did you know they freeze well? Great for mixing into your pico de gallo. Okay, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I can hardly wait for my tomatoes to be ready.

And my yellow onions are Big Daddy.  If you have tried to start onions from seed but haven't had much luck, then this is the brand to try.  Super easy.  Almost too easy.  And they store well.  Just pull them when they are big enough and let them dry.  Then throw them in an old milk crate or wire basket and you're done. 

My nice row of Big Daddy Onions. The one next to it isn't so big.  huh? not sure why.

Chicken and snow peas

Lets start with the smallest head of cabbage from my garden EVER.  But it was tasty, I can say that. I will grow the Columbia River cabbage again except I will put it back between the rows of corn for better shade.

 And some of the green onions I've grown too.  I love the green bunching onions.

 Purple Kohlrabi, regular green kohlrabi, and a bit of garlic (it wasn't quite ready and I hadn't cured it so it wasn't very strong). I like the garlic tops to fall over and after you pull them up you let them dry in the hot sun for 2 weeks and this is what it takes to get great flavor. Learned about that from this show although the garlic feature is no longer there.

The last of the snow peas.  They were like candy.

 Here is the cabbage all chopped up and in the pan.

And here it is beginning to cook with a little olive oil.

And here are the snow peas with the sliced water chestnuts. The nice thing about snow peas is that by the time you get sick of them, they stop growing for the season.  I'll let you know how the fall crop goes.  I haven't wanted to grow one before but having my own Honda Mini-tiller really helps! Today I added 2 more rows of green beans and 1/2 row of lettuce.

I pulverized the chicken then cut it into small pieces. Very tender that way and super fast to cook. Here is the link to the recipe I sorta used. Moo Goo Gai Pan

My Garden

I decided that over the years there has been something missing from my garden photos.  

The gardener...

I'm always the person taking the photos.  So I talked my husband into taking a couple of photos for me.  I can't wait to scrapbook them with photos of my plants and harvest.  I love this wire basket.  I bought it a few years ago and had it above my kitchen cabinets for decor.  But it's the best garden basket ever! And you can see why I love being in my garden.  It has the best view on our entire lot. At least until someone builds on the lot next door.  

Friday night I harvested over a pound of Oregon Sugar Peas (if you have crappy soil like me, they'll grow like crazy so go for it).  And three heads of romaine lettuce.  I harvest part of it and leave the lower part behind and it grows more lettuce.  You can see it by my left hand in the photo.  Click on it to enlarge it to see it better.  I also harvested a handful of green onions and the last of the strawberries.

And I love my mini rototiller.  Thank you Honda - my garden looks amazing this year with very little effort!