Milk Jug Greenhouses

During the winter, I read about "milk jug greenhouses" that some gardeners use to start seeds, especially greens.  Cool-weather-loving vegetables and flowers can be started in these milk jugs and the jugs placed outside in a sunny spot as early as March or April.

I decided to experiment with milk jug greenhouses this year, and planted some Lacinato kale seeds on March 16th.  I left the jug in our plant room and figured I could let the seedlings get a good start and then put the jug outside around the 1st of April.

To my surprise, when I checked the jug today, I saw that almost all the kale seed had germinated and broken the surface of the soil. That's fast!  It often takes ~2 weeks for them to germinate when I direct-sow outside.  This afternoon, I cut up another jug and planted pansy seeds.

Kale and pansy seed in my mini greenhouses

Kale - click to enlarge picture

The leeks are coming along well, and most of the Ping Tung seeds I planted (a week and a half ago?  I forgot to note the date) have germinated.  Against my better judgement, I started some sweet bell pepper seeds a few days ago.  For some reason, we never seem to have great luck growing sweet peppers, even when we buy transplants from the nursery.  I should know by now not to swear that I won't waste my time and energy starting mediocre producers and space-hoggers from seed, as it's a sure way to guarantee that is exactly what I'll end up doing the following summer.

Last week, I connected online with a girl who used to have a practice at my workplace.  She, her husband, and little boys live on a farm 5 minutes outside of town.  They are moving in two months and have a freezer full of meat, including organic, free-range chickens.  I bought two of those (8-10 lbs each) for $40.  A very reasonable price!

Birthday Goodies

On Thursday morning, I was led on a bit of a treasure hunt through the house to find my birthday gifts. In the bathtub, hidden by the shower curtain, I found a hard-sided potting bin and a book on orchids.  Under the dining room table on a chair, a seed saving binder (Lee Valley).  In the washing machine (ha!), a whole bunch of dahlia tubers (assorted ball and Karma dahlias).  The boxed tuber is called, 'Arabian Night'.

Also in the potting bin, some little watering caps (red and green, beside the seed saving binder) that are used on water or pop bottles.

In the plant room, a peat pellet greenhouse kit that includes a head mat.

When I checked my email, I found a gift certificate for Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds from my brother! I ordered:

Grey-Speckled Palapye Cowpeas - rareseeds.com

White Whippoorwill cowpeas

Grey-Speckled Palapye cowpeas

Lime Basil

Flashy Oak Lettuce

Gentilina Lettuce

Mexican Sunflower (Red Torch) - rareseeds.com

Candy Roaster - North Georgia squash

Calima beans (I grew these last year - tender, and excellent producers)

Mexican sunflower – Red Torch

I have never grown cowpeas before.  I am not even sure they will do well in this zone, it being the polar opposite (pun intended) of the climate they typically thrive in.  I chose early varieties that have a bush-like habit (I gather most are "viners").  If I can find the space, it will be a fun experiment.

White Whippoorwill Cowpeas - rareseeds.com

The rosemary, parsley, and leeks planted a week and a half ago have all started to sprout:

One little rosemary sprout in this picture!

The leeks were the first things to appear.

Now, I just have to wait until I can start my tomatoes, eggplants, marigolds, pansies, squash, etc. Mid-March seems very far away.

New Year, New Seeds, New Grow Lights

It is lightly snowing out this afternoon and it is -8 degrees.  Though normally I would refer to this as bathing suit weather where our winters are concerned, this season -8 has been on the chilly side.  This has been, by far, the mildest and most humid winter in northern BC since I moved here in 1999.  No snowstorms, no extended stretches of -25 to -40 degree weather.  January and February are usually the coldest months, making me dread leaving the house.  This year, I have been poking around the property wearing a sweatshirt instead of a winter coat, boots, and thermal mittens. Not much snow is on the ground, but there is a lot of ice.

Earlier this month, I placed an order with West Coast Seeds for nematodes.  We will apply them to our raised beds and garden plots in the Spring in an attempt to combat the root maggots that have gone after our onions, leeks, and radishes in recent years.  Those will be shipped in 2 or 3 months.  Being me, I also ordered some seeds.  *cough*  Some had been on my seed-trade wish list for a few years (e.g., Epazote, Stevia), some were to replace seeds I used up last year (Sunspot sunflower) and some were just because they looked like fun to try (Patio Snacker cucumbers and Principe Borghese tomatoes, a meaty cherry variety that is reputed to be excellent for sun-dried tomatoes).   They arrived quickly, very nicely packaged, and the shipment included a complimentary package of Butterfly Blend wildflower seeds.  Always a nice touch!

In December, Santa (okay...R...) gave me a grow-light system from Lee Valley.  I was not expecting that, and was very pleasantly surprised!   I moved some things around in the plant room and we set it up in the afternoon on Christmas Day.

Yesterday, I decided to start my leeks and some parsley seeds.  A little early, but the leeks are easily maintained until transplanted outside by simply trimming them every few days once they have grown a few inches tall.  This morning, I started rosemary seeds.  We will see what comes of those.  I keep reading that rosemary is notoriously difficult to start from seed and that even new seeds have a low germination rate.  I set the parsley and rosemary on the heat mat and the leeks on a shelf.  Hopefully, Bea won't be too put out by the tray of leeks being in one of her favourite look-out spots.

Lou, enjoying the view from the other side of the plant room (seated comfortably in a container of jade plants).  

Holiday Soup Gift Jars

Ingredients

1/3 cup beef bouillon granules

1/2 cup dry split peas
1/4 cup pearl barley

1/2 cup dry green lentils

1/4 cup dried onion flakes

2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning

1/2 cup uncooked long-grain white rice 

1 or 2 bay leaves

1/2 cup uncooked pasta (shells, macaroni, alphabet)

I also add...

1/4 cup red lentils

dehydrated carrots

dehydrated corn
dehydrated zucchini slices

Directions

In a 1 litre jar, layer the bouillon, split peas, barley, lentils, onion flakes, Italian seasoning, rice, and bay leaves. Wrap the pasta in plastic wrap, and place in the jar. Seal tightly.

Attach a label or recipe card to the jar with the following: 

Holiday Soup  

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS: 1 pound ground beef, black pepper to taste, garlic powder to taste, 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes - undrained, 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste or 1 (10 oz) can tomato sauce, and 3 quarts water. 

TO PREPARE SOUP: Remove pasta from top of jar, and set aside. In a large pot over medium heat, brown beef with pepper and garlic; drain excess fat. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste/sauce, water, and soup mix. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in the pasta, cover, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until the pasta, peas, lentils and barley are tender.

Holiday Soup jars can be given as-is, or in a gift bag with a box of corn bread mix, a wooden spoon, can of tomato sauce, pretty napkins, etc.

 

It Arrived!

I participated in the Annual Canadian Autumn Seed  Exchange again this year. I always look forward to this exchange, as it is very well organized and rare varieties of seeds are often submitted.  My return parcel arrived this week, much to my delight!  It included several items from my wish list and a number of seed varieties I hadn't heard of before.  I received...

Lovage - planetnatural.com

Herbs - Ajwain (carom), purple basil, fenugreek, feverfew, lovage, and thyme.

Cosmos, Double Click Snowpuff - harrisseeds.com

Flowers -  Ambersoa (Desert Star), Chrysanthemum (Single Annual), Cosmos (Double Click Snowpuff), Digitalis (Foxglove), Datura Inoxia (Moonflower), Rose Campion (Alba), Strawflower (Choice Mix), Wildflower mix, and Benary’s Giant Lime zinnia.

Nicotiana Sylvestris (daggawalla.com)

Miscellaneous - Mimosa Tree, Money Plant, and Nicotiana Sylvestris (flowering tobacco plant).

Flagg pole beans (flickriver.com)

Beans

Arakara – bush

Blue Jay – bush (snap/dry)

Doloff – pole (dry)

Flagg – pole (dry – RARE)

Jacob’s Cattle – bush (dry)

Kahnawake Mohawk – pole (dry)

Painted Pony – bush (snap/dry)

Soldier – bush (dry)

True Red Cranberry – bush with pole habit (dry)

Zuni Shalako – bush (snap/dry)

Painted Mountain Corn (villageschoolma.org)

Carrots – Kaleidoscope (hybrid) and Scarlet Nantes

Corn – Painted Mountain

Eggplant – Almaz (hybrid), Early Long Purple (hybrid?), and Casper

Garlic – Kostyn’s Red Russian

Copenhagen cabbage (mypatriotsupply.com)

Greens

Cabbage – Copenhagen, Jersey Wakefield, and Red Acre

Kale  - Sweet Blue and Green (hybrid)

Lettuce – Black Seeded Simpson and “Cold Hardy”

Purslane – French Golden Leaf

Galeaux d'Eyesines Squash (flickriver.com)

Leeks – American Flag

Squash - Canada Crookneck, Galeaux d’Eyesines, and Small Sugar pumpkin

Tomatillos

Amana Orange Tomato (suburnbanseeds.com)

Tomatoes - 0-33 (determinate, red, frost tolerant), Amana Orange, Banana Legs, Bushy Chabarovsky, Chocolate Stripes, Deep Space (Snickers), Eva Purple Ball, Ildi (yellow cherry), Mac Pink (determinate), Moravsky Div, Ozark Sunrise, Red Siberian, San Marzano, Sungold F1 (cherry, hybrid), and Zapotec.

Turnips – Purple Top White Globe

Vampire Deterrent

   Last night, a client gave me some extra garlic she had - hardneck garlic, though I am not sure what variety it is.  It is cloudy and chilly today (3 degrees at 2:00pm...actually pretty good for the end of October in this region) and garlic should have been put in the ground a month ago, but I thought I would plant it, anyway.  There's nothing to lose, and Hallowe'en seems like the perfect day to plant some vampire deterrent!

Cabbage Crystals

This morning, we had a hard frost that did in the last of the flowers and left the cabbage looking sparkly.

The last of the tomatoes to process...