And in Other News

And by the way, (and seemingly much more importantly), I'm pregnant! So I'm just a producer of life on all accounts! Yay for productivity! Anyways, my youngest just turned 10 a couple weekends ago, so this is making me a teeny bit leery of starting allll over again!

You thought you were going to get a political rant, didn't you! Well, maybe later. Living in Findlay takes all my political steam out of me and turns it into fairy dust. It's exhausting. But I do have some thoughts on the healthcare bill. I know, a day late and a dollar short, eh?

This is my new condensed version of what I put together last year for my seed starting. I got an Aerogrow garden for Christmas that I put kitchen herbs in, and when I realized they sold a seed starter kit, I found a used space saver version that I transplanted the kitchen herbs in (top shelf), and used the larger garden to start my seeds (middle shelf). The bottom shelf just holds my supplies: books, my special guano hydroponic fertilizer, watering cans, etc. And also on the top shelf I have all my seeds, my planner as well as a thermostat. Off to the right I have plans for a eraser board to keep track of my planting, transplanting, re-transplanting, and direct planting. But that might be pipe dreams, I have a lot of those.

I don't quite have a plan for when I transplant into larger containers, maybe I can keep them in there until its time to plant into the garden. I haven't looked that far ahead, since I just got the first set of seeds in the Aerogarden yesterday. I am still going to keep my downstairs operation set up, and I really had plans for that metal shelving unit being a perfect aquaponics unit, and I have to admit I cringed a little when hubby brought that ugly thing upstairs, but honestly it will only be there until the melon and squash get in the ground, I don't plan on a continual planting of those crazy things.

If you're wondering what I started, I took an educated guess (since I knew I was running out of time, and there was none to spare for research, I figured I could trust 3 years of practice!) I started the Tigger Melon, Black Beauty zucchini, both tomatoes (Purple Russian and Fox Cherry), 5 color Peppers, Chinese Lantern, Both Little Gem and May Queen Lettuces and my Red Creole Onion. I think probably i could have started my cukes since I did my zucchini, but I think I just forgot. Maybe I'll go do that now. Those will be my favorite crop this year, as well as the popcorn/baby corn.

The ground still isn't dry enough to work up, and this year I plan on mixing in some "Mel's Mix" since I got that industrial sized bag of vermiculite, and my compost is looking wonderful this year. That's mostly why i started my onions indoors. I'm not sure if I plan on harvesting this year, as long as I get something to put in the ground, maybe I'll have a winter harvest at best, but next year they will be perfect! I have these new interesting strawberries that I'm looking for a safe place for... Last year I had my asparagus, strawberries and rhubarb planted along the garage, and protected by some wimpy decorative wire thing that only really keeps rabbits out, but not dogs. After my asparagus was attacked by asparagus beetles last year, if there was any hope at all for it coming back, it was erased by my psycho digging dog. Not even one sprig came back. Eck.

So that's where I am. My Dear Garden Diary entry for today. See you again soon!

Garden: Late Start as Usual!

I just ordered $50 worth of Heirloom seeds from Baker Creek's website. I requested a catalog sometime last year, and was completely stoked to receive the gorgeous thing early this year! I wanted to buy everything, but after much toiling (and possibly detrimental delay), I narrowed it down as best as I could!

Here is a preview of several of the more exciting fruits and veggies I hope to be displaying later this summer! Eeek, getting giddy just thinking about spring!

Purple Russian Tomato

Chinese 5 color Hot Peppers

Tigger Melon

Cosmic Purple Carrot

Mexican Sour Gherkin Cuke (Just bigger than a quarter!)

I know I'm getting a late start, but it's actually planned! My hubby bought me an aerogarden for Christmas, which I planted an herb garden in, and some of those herbs germinated within 3 days! The hydroponic nutrients, rich light source, and constant movement of water is just the right recipe for starting seeds! So this year I'm scrapping my downstairs operation, purchased a seed starter kit for my 7 pod aerogarden (I bought a smaller corner 6 pod garden to transplant my herbs into so I can use the larger kit), and plan on starting my garden this way this year! I still may need my downstairs operation, but I'm kinda thinking about turning it into a straight up hydroponics system. I purchased some vermiculite and hydroponic nutrients (which I need for my aerogarden anyways), so I practically have everything I need, I just have to put it all together.

I'm also rolling around an aquaponics project, complete with fish and everything, but don't want to bite off too much again this year. I'm still planning on doing the rain barrel this year, which is yet another project! I think I need to keep it to one big idea per year! I can't deny that I get all my best ideas from Patty Moreno, the Garden Girl! The aquaponics idea is from a video on her site, check it out!

Monsanto in the News...Again! Please Watch!

Very important news for us all. Without food we cannot sustain life... Please watch and do what you can.

Garden: 2010

I'm getting ready to begin my 2010 garden (again, slightly late, but I have a plan this year for my procrastination) and was going through pictures to post up from last year's yeild. Nothing. Couldn't find my pictures. But I did find these 2 from my cellphone...

This is a picture of my basement "grow-op" setup. Not too pretty, I know, but it's simple and functional. It did get me some good starts last year. This year I have a new method to start and am planning on turning my basement operation into a hydroponics setup. Shouldn't be too difficult. I will keep you posted, though. You can see my pulley system in the above picture, but what is not visible is my timer and heater.

This picture is the small (but tasty) yield that sprouted up in the short week in July we visited Canada. When I left there was nothing much to speak of, but when I returned, we had a nice little harvest. Keep in mind I use Mel Bartholemew's Square Foot Gardening System, which allows for smaller yields sporadically over the season instead of a ton of veggies once, at the end of the growing season.

I am ordering from a catalog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds this year. These seeds are (obviously) heirloom, non treated, non patented and guaranteed to be 100% GMO (genetically mutated organism) free. The selection of seeds they have is amazing, dating back hundreds of years. Check out the site for yourself! Its good to find a company out there that is defending our ability to have and store safe seeds. With companies such as Monsanto taking over the seed stores, it might not always be this easy.