My 2013 Garden!

Last year's garden theme was quantity-lots of tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers, but when I looked around I wasn't growing anything that interesting. This year's theme is diversity! So I'd like to plant different varieties of different vegetables. I'd still like to have an abundance, but with our relocation this year, I'll be working with a smaller plot than last year (last year was 10'x20', this year will be 6'x12', oy). I'm also not going to be as organized with the planning this year because, as last year proved, the best laid plans often go astray so I'm going to roll with it.

So this year, I still did my garden plan, but it will probably need revising and improvising as I see what takes off and what mood I'm in come planting time. I used www.gardeners.com. They have a great kitchen garden planner and best of all, it's free! I highly recommend it. It helps lay out spacing and gives tips on each plant.

Last night, I started habanero peppers (the holy-crap-hot peppers), banana peppers (the yum-these-are-good-on-sandwiches-or-pickled peppers), eggplant (the I'm-planting-these-for-Morgan-because-he's-been-telling-me-he-wants-to-make-his-grandmother's-Tunisian-stuffed-eggplant-recipe-and-last-year-yielded-almost-no-eggplant eggplant), and Roma tomatoes (the sauce tomatoes)!

I started 8 of each using my soil blocker. I put 2 seeds in each block. We'll see what happens. They are in a plastic gardening flat on a warm seed starting mat and will be under a grow light once they come up. All of these vegetables need at least 8 weeks indoors and some repotting eventually. Let's call these my "high maintenance" vegetables.

In the beginning of May, I'll start my low maintenance/direct seed vegetables (squash, beans, lettuce, carrots, whatever else strikes my fancy between now and then), but I don't direct seed much because I haven't had a lot of luck with direct seeding. I usually start them all indoors for 2-3 weeks. It helps me space out my garden better and helps me differentiate between weeds and vegetable plants in the beginning.

Here are some pictures of the soil blocks. I also keep them under a greenhouse to keep their humidity levels up. These types of seeds like warm and humid, so I oblige.

And lastly, my garden plan. Like I said above, it's just an idea. It'll probably change, but it lets me see how far apart everything should be planted and how many (approximately) I can fit.

Spring is almost here!

Correction: Spring is technically here! Summer is almost here!

Windowsill Looseleaf lettuce

It worked. It needs another few weeks and it's not much, but it's nice to know it's possible.

It's also almost time to start my spring seedlings. Remember last year I mentioned it's important to identify what to plant, how much, and when. Next post I will talk more about what I'm planting this year. The early plants are definitely tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. They need at least 8 weeks indoors and can't be planted out until the middle to end of May, so they're about ready to get started.

It worked!

I successfully grew Bok choy on our windowsill in the winter! And it was delicious. I sautéed it last night with garlic and put it on top of some pasta with Parmesan. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product because it looked so good we ate it pretty quickly. But here it is right before I cooked it up. I just wish we had more.

Next up....windowsill salad!

Bok Choy!

We ate the arugula and will be eating the Bok choy soon. I like sauteeing them with a little sesame oil, just for flavor, but they're basically steamed, and serving with a meat like beef or lamb.

Next up? I bought loose leaf lettuce seeds to grow next.

It seems to be working...

So far so good. Seeds are sprouting. Ahead of schedule too!

Winter Gardening Blues?

Anyone else feeling a little blue since the gardening season ended? I've decided to try my hand at some winter gardening. If I had access to the outdoors I would set up some cold frames, but apartment living leaves me trying different things. I've been reading up on the topic and I think I can grow micro greens indoors. I set up my grow light just in case the days are still too short. I didn't set up the warming seed starting mat because lettuce likes cooler temperatures so I thought the windowsill might work. One last problem: I couldn't find any seeds in my local stores so I'm using whatever was left over from last season that I thought would work in cooler temperatures and with shorter day lengths.

So...I planted arugula and bok choi, both which can be harvested as baby greens. Also, both mature pretty quickly. I'm going to see how this works out and if it works, I also have a packet of a variety of loose leaf lettuce seeds.

My Newest Tool...

Remember over the winter when I was so excited to show my soil blocker? Well I liked it so much that this summer I ordered a mini blocker! Shown below. Apparently, it isn't good to start seeds in too big of a container. The repotting process, if done gently enough, is actually good for them. So next year I will start all small seeds in a micro block (larger seeds like beans will still start in the regular blocker) and then I bought a contraption that allows small blocks to fit inside of the regular block. It's actually just a pin that makes a hole large enough for the micro block. Genius!

I had no idea the micro blocker would be so tiny. It makes sense, though. If some seeds don't start, as they sometimes don't, it's less wasted soil and space.