Well, I pretty much have my seed orders all ready to go. I should actually already have them in by now, but I am always behind. I have been spending so much time lately looking through catalogs, searching vegetable varieties online, and adding more and more things to my list of seeds to order. Probably way more time than I should, but oh well. Anyhow I have started planning when everything needs to get started inside and outside. In doing this I suddenly realized how close summer really is. The first things that are going to need be planted are going to be the leeks, which I will probably be starting as soon as 2 weeks from now. The tomatoes and peppers are going to get started in just over a month and a half from now. Then in just over 2 months we will be starting our cool weather crops outside. Can you believe that? Just about 2 1/2 months till we can start planting outside!
I can not believe that everything is going to be getting started in just 2 or 3 weeks. Once I start planting the first seeds then every week after that I will be starting seeds, then before I know it transplanting seedlings begins, then things start moving outside into the hoop house and finally things start getting planted outside. And it will all be beginning very, very soon.
I am so excited for this year. I can hardly wait to try some of the new exciting vegges I plan to grow. There are so many different unusual things we will be trying this year. I am working on a list of what we will be growing this year and hopefully will be posting it soon.
I still plan to experiment with seed starting mixes and potting soil mixes but I think it will be best if I wait until I begin starting my regular seeds for this year. Before I begin my seed starting I am not really consistent with turning on my plant lights and it stays kind of cold in the basement also. Unless I have good growing conditions I do not know how successful the experimenting will be. Anyhow, tonight I am going to work on getting my soil mixing recipes together that I plan to try. Then I will get everything together and ready to go so when I start planting seeds I can start my experimenting also.
Off to do more planning.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Let the Experiments Begin!
Now that Christmas is past and the rush is over, it is time to start some experiments! That is after I get a plan together and clean up my plant area in the basement. It is kind of a big mess down there, what do you expect plants are dirty. But every year before planting begins everything gets cleaned up, and it is that time now. But anyhow, now for my experimenting plans.
The first thing I plan to do is mix up a good seed starting dirt mix. I have not got any recipes together yet but I will soon. The seed starting dirt should be fairly easy to come up with since most seed starting mixes do not have very much in them and they are pretty simple. Seeds do not need much in the soil to actually get started, the most important thing for starting seeds is the temperature. I plan to try at least 4-6 different mixes. I will start somewhere around 6-8 seeds per mix. Next I will take the plants from the mix that works the best and try a bunch of different potting soil mixes. I will probably use the seedlings from the mixes that are not a good to experiment with some different homemade fertilizers. I love experiments. So much fun! I am not 100% sure what kind of plant I am going to use for my experiment, but I am thinking my best choice would be tomatoes. I do not want to use something that grows too fast or too easily, because it may be happy in any kind of dirt. I also do not want to use something that grows too slowly since I do not have forever. Tomatoes are good because they are pretty easy to read if they are not happy, they usually let you know if something is wrong.
Tomorrow I will clean up the basement and get everything ready for my experiments, and also hope to get some plans together as far as what my soil mixes will be.
So those are my plans. But this is just the beginning of my experimenting, I plan to try a lot more soil mixes in the future. I also plan to do some experiments with different kinds of plants and what kinds of soil mixes each like. Experiment with fertilizers. I have all kinds of plans, and things I want to try. The list goes on and on. Well, anyhow hopefully tomorrow I will have some more plans to share.
Oh, I also realized that I need to get a new header picture taken. I think fall is over now, time for a winter picture. I need to get that done tomorrow also. (Looking out the window, snowing) Yeah it is definitely not fall anymore.
The first thing I plan to do is mix up a good seed starting dirt mix. I have not got any recipes together yet but I will soon. The seed starting dirt should be fairly easy to come up with since most seed starting mixes do not have very much in them and they are pretty simple. Seeds do not need much in the soil to actually get started, the most important thing for starting seeds is the temperature. I plan to try at least 4-6 different mixes. I will start somewhere around 6-8 seeds per mix. Next I will take the plants from the mix that works the best and try a bunch of different potting soil mixes. I will probably use the seedlings from the mixes that are not a good to experiment with some different homemade fertilizers. I love experiments. So much fun! I am not 100% sure what kind of plant I am going to use for my experiment, but I am thinking my best choice would be tomatoes. I do not want to use something that grows too fast or too easily, because it may be happy in any kind of dirt. I also do not want to use something that grows too slowly since I do not have forever. Tomatoes are good because they are pretty easy to read if they are not happy, they usually let you know if something is wrong.
Tomorrow I will clean up the basement and get everything ready for my experiments, and also hope to get some plans together as far as what my soil mixes will be.
So those are my plans. But this is just the beginning of my experimenting, I plan to try a lot more soil mixes in the future. I also plan to do some experiments with different kinds of plants and what kinds of soil mixes each like. Experiment with fertilizers. I have all kinds of plans, and things I want to try. The list goes on and on. Well, anyhow hopefully tomorrow I will have some more plans to share.
Oh, I also realized that I need to get a new header picture taken. I think fall is over now, time for a winter picture. I need to get that done tomorrow also. (Looking out the window, snowing) Yeah it is definitely not fall anymore.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Janurary- Herb of the Month- Rosemary
~Rosemary~ Topic of the Month
Just thought I would start out by saying, Happy New Year everyone!
2010 is here!
As I have mentioned in a previous post I choose so make rosemary the herb of the month since I have been using it lately and have really started to like the flavor it adds to dishes.
Here are some medical uses and health facts of rosemary that you may find interesting:
-It is thought of to be a memory stimulant so instead of just keeping your pot of rosemary in the kitchen, you could move it do a more useful spot such as your desk where you do your work of where your kids do their studying and school work.
-Studies done on animals have shown that rosemary has cut their risk in half of getting lung cancer, colon cancer and breast cancer.
-Can also help to relax muscles, rosemary tea has been know for calming nerves.
-If rosemary tea is gargled it has been known to aid in healing canker sores and ulcers.
These are just a few of the many know uses of rosemary.
Cooking:
Rosemary is best used fresh, since it looses most of its flavor when dried, although it can also be used dried if you wish.
Rosemary can be used in cooking so many things, and it does not take much to add quite a bit of flavor. So far I have used it in stuffing, chicken, stir fry dishes, and possibly some other things that I am unable to think of at this moment, but there are sooooo many more options for cooking with rosemary that I have not tried yet.
One thing that will probably be the next thing that I try with rosemary will probably be rosemary butter. Sounds good doesn't it?
Here is a link to a site that explains some good ways to use rosemary for barbeques and others cooking uses along with some recipes.- theherbspiral.com
How to use rosemary in your cooking- this site gives you alot of ideas of how to cook with rosemary. Lots of good ideas. I may just have to try some of these.
Here is a link to my Pumpkin Bread Stuffing with Rosemary
Nutrition Data:
From Nutritiondata.com:
"The good: This food is low in Sodium, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin B6, Magnesium, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Folate, Calcium, Iron and Manganese.
The bad: This food is high in Saturated Fat."
You can check out the rest of the nutrition data for rosemary here at Nutritiondata.com
Just thought I would start out by saying, Happy New Year everyone!
2010 is here!
As I have mentioned in a previous post I choose so make rosemary the herb of the month since I have been using it lately and have really started to like the flavor it adds to dishes.
Here are some medical uses and health facts of rosemary that you may find interesting:
-It is thought of to be a memory stimulant so instead of just keeping your pot of rosemary in the kitchen, you could move it do a more useful spot such as your desk where you do your work of where your kids do their studying and school work.
-Studies done on animals have shown that rosemary has cut their risk in half of getting lung cancer, colon cancer and breast cancer.
-Can also help to relax muscles, rosemary tea has been know for calming nerves.
-If rosemary tea is gargled it has been known to aid in healing canker sores and ulcers.
These are just a few of the many know uses of rosemary.
Cooking:
Rosemary is best used fresh, since it looses most of its flavor when dried, although it can also be used dried if you wish.
Rosemary can be used in cooking so many things, and it does not take much to add quite a bit of flavor. So far I have used it in stuffing, chicken, stir fry dishes, and possibly some other things that I am unable to think of at this moment, but there are sooooo many more options for cooking with rosemary that I have not tried yet.
One thing that will probably be the next thing that I try with rosemary will probably be rosemary butter. Sounds good doesn't it?
Here is a link to a site that explains some good ways to use rosemary for barbeques and others cooking uses along with some recipes.- theherbspiral.com
How to use rosemary in your cooking- this site gives you alot of ideas of how to cook with rosemary. Lots of good ideas. I may just have to try some of these.
Here is a link to my Pumpkin Bread Stuffing with Rosemary
Nutrition Data:
From Nutritiondata.com:
"The good: This food is low in Sodium, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin B6, Magnesium, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Folate, Calcium, Iron and Manganese.
The bad: This food is high in Saturated Fat."
You can check out the rest of the nutrition data for rosemary here at Nutritiondata.com
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