| The snow we had Sunday was much to my liking. Started at 6PM. Ended during the night. Looked lovely for an hour or two and was gone.  Left a nice crisp chill in the air, but not enough to keep me from enjoying this mild winter and the promise of early crops from my winter sown seed. Report on Lettuce Transplanted The Green Deer Tongue lettuce that I had winter sown on December 25th was transplanted to the garden in mid January. I left the cold frame off that lettuce during the storm so the moisture would saturate the bed. When I went out to find that it had been colder than what was forecast, I was a bit concerned. But – when I checked the seedlings — they not only looked wonderful, but had doubled in size since last week! Report on Direct Seeded Garden Bed Then I checked the garden bed that I had seeded directly on January 25th and had left under row cover fabric. All the spinach was up and looking great. Black Simpson lettuce was up more than an inch and really looks good. (Black Simpson is not one of my favorite lettuces, but I planted it because it does well when other won’t.) Now I wish I had seeded some Green Deer Tongue in the garden earlier. I’ll do that this week. The red oakleaf lettuce, the rainbow swiss chard and the beets in that row have not germinated. That row is earmarked for tomatoes this year, but I’ll have plenty of time for these crops to mature before I plant tomatoes in April or May. German Giant Radishes – Transplanted The icing on the cake for my garden activity today was the jug of German Giant Radishes that were winter sown on January 29th. They’ve been ready for the garden for two weeks, but I just never got to them until today. About 30 of the most healthy and beautiful little radish seedlings you’ve ever seen were transplanted this afternoon. I’ve never transplanted radishes. Usually, they get direct seeded right into the garden. I was so impressed when I saw the roots. The fullest root system I’ve EVER seen on a radish! At least two dozen little white roots coming from each one. (Of course, in all fairness — I have to say I don’t take radish seedlings out of the garden to look at their roots.) For Tomorrow The Hakurei Turnips wintersown on January 28th are scheduled for transplanting tomorrow. They too could have been transplanted a bit earlier had I gotten to them. They look as healthy and robust as the radishes did and I can hardly wait to see what their roots look like. Final Thought It’s been a long time since the winter has been as mild as this one. I’m grabbing all the gusto while I can. Hope you are too! _______ Organic gardening is easy, effective, efficient — and a lot healthier. _______ All content including photos is copyrighted by TendingMyGarden.com. All Rights Reserved. Honey is considered by many of us to be a staple to have on hand for cooking as well as lavishing on a homemade biscuit. I don’t think I’d be too far off to say that when most of us pick out a jar of honey and it says pure honey — we think it’s pure honey. Another assumption that I’ll bet would be very close to truth is that when the label says “product of U.S.” we believe it to be a product of the U.S. and furthermore think it’s fine and healthful to consume. Did you know we could and probably have been wrong on both accounts! Of the 400 million pounds of honey consumed in the U.S. each year, U.S. beekeepers can only supply about 48% of what’s needed here. The other 52% comes from 41 other countries! Thanks to a private shipping intelligence service, it is known that in an 18 month period (in 2010 and 2011) the U.S. imported 208 million pounds of honey. Almost 60% of that (123 million pounds) came from Asian countries (like India) that are known laundering points for illegal Chinese honey. What’s Wrong with Chinese Honey? - Although China has many state-of-the-art processing plants — their beekeepers don’t. Tiny operators often use unlined, lead-soldered drums to collect and store honey before it’s collected for processing. Much of the honey comes into our country with lead in it.
Lead (a heavy metal) is absorbed by our organs and retained in the body. It inhibits oxygen and calcium transport in the body and alters nerve transmission in the brain. In children it’s even more dangerous and can cause reduced IQ, altered growth, and in rare cases death. - Small amounts of the animal antibiotic, chloramphenicol, which can cause a fatal reaction in some people, has been detected in some of the honey.
- Are you ready for this one? — It has been reported that another favorite deception among Chinese honey brokers was to mix sugar water, malt sweeteners, corn or rice syrup, jaggery (made in India from palm tree sap), barley malt sweetener or other additives with a bit of actual honey. In recent years they’ve even eliminated the honey all together. They just use thickened, colored, natural or chemical sweeteners and then label it as honey.
First question that comes to mind is “Why Can’t They Test the Honey and Know?” Most reputable honey can be analyzed to match the pollen in the honey to the flowers from their specific region of the world. There are also simpler tests to detect the presence of commercial sweeteners and other contaminates. But the bad guys seems to be staying one step ahead. Some Chinese producers have come up with an ultra-filtration system that removes or conceals all floral fingerprints and indicators of contaminants. The resulting product which has no color, no flavor, no nothing — is then mixed with real Indian honey. What if it’s U.S. Honey? It has been documented that a record amount of the Chinese honey was being purchased by major U.S. packers. They do this of course to keep the cost down – in spite of the dangers. Food Safety News – a daily Web-based newspaper dedicated to reporting on issues surrounding food safety — contacted Suebee Co-op – our nation’s oldest and largest honey packer and seller to get a response to these allegations. They’d also hoped to find out exactly where the company got its honey. Suebee did not respond to repeated calls and emails. Other major honey sellers were contacted and also did not respond. (That tells me they had something to hide.) List of Honey Without Pollen (Not real Honey)
Food Safety News gives a list of the honey they tested that shows no traces of pollen. (Remember – that means it’s not real honey.) Among the brands found on the list are Archer Farms Organic Classic Honey, Busy Bee Organic Classic Honey, Full Circle Pure Honey, Great Value Clover Honey, Mel-o 100% Pure Honey, Natural Sue Bee Clover Honey, Safeway Clover Honey, Walgreen Mel-o Honey, Wegman Clover Honey, and Winnie the Pooh, Pure clover. Surprised? I sure was. Although its not all inclusive — since it’s just the brands Food Safety News tested — it still might be helpful to print it out and keep it in your wallet or purse. What to Avoid - Since tests show that more than 75% of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn’t what the bees produced, I would suggest avoiding all honey sold at the big food stores, drugstores, and big box stores.
- Tests show 100% of honey in the small individual serving portions in places like McDonalds and KFC have had the pollen removed. (Remember – the pollen being removed is to conceal how the product has been contaminated.)
- Although tests found you have a better chance of getting the real thing if the label says organic ——you can’t be sure. Out of seven samples tested that carried an organic label, five were ok.
- About 60% of the foreign honey is sold to the food industry for baked goods, drinks, sauces, and processed food. Another reason to stay away from these products.
The Good News – Best Places to Get Real Honey
In the tests done at the request of Food Safety News it was found that all of the samples of honey — bought at farmers markets, co-0ps, and “natural” stores — had the full, anticipated, amount of pollen. That means — it was real honey. How encouraging! Sometimes at a farmers markets you’ll find the beekeeper selling the honey. Direct from the beekeeper is a great source! At co-ops, “natural” stores or small “health food” stores you’ll most likely find honey that is local. This way — you could even visit the source if you wanted. Possibly the store owners or managers will be able to tell you about the people who raise it. When I can, I buy honey directly from a beekeeper I know. The rest of the time, I buy from a “health food” store in Richmond that carries local honey from a beekeeper in the area. The FDA? In theory — the job of protecting consumers from dangerous honey, identifying it as adulterated and therefore illegal for importation falls to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). If you’ve been keeping up with the shenanigans of the FDA of late — you know that’s not happening. They’re probably too busy raiding organic food stores here in the U.S and destroying sources of healthful raw milk to worry much about the dangers from imported honey. Final Thought Don’t rely on the government or the powers-that-be to make sure your food is safe. There’s too much proof out there to show that’s not gonna happen. Knowing your source for anything you eat is your best bet. ___________ If you want even more details be sure to read the Food Safety News article on the tests I mentioned. And if really want to know even more, check out the in depth article on the adulterated honey, banned in Europe, but flooding U.S. Grocery Shelves! __________ Organic Gardening is easy, effective, efficient and its a lot healthier. _________ All content including photo’s is copyright by Tending My Garden. com All Rights Reserved. If you’re like me – you were raised on meat and potatoes. (My Father was a meat salesmen — so we had plenty of it.) I can also add dumplings, canned peas and spinach with an occasional piece of iceberg lettuce thrown in for good measure on a sandwich made with Wonder Bread and tomatoes. And of course, homemade apple pie, chocolate chip cookies, fudge and ice cream. What a diet! Is it any wonder my “insides” were sick until I was past 30! Lucky for me I learned how to eat more healthfully and made a change. But let me tell you — and you already know this if you grew up that way — it takes some doing to make a turn around. It’s not an easy road. But Bill and I are living proof it can be done. Even as early as a year or so ago Bill and I would compromise by eating conventionally raised meat from time to time if we were invited to a friend’s home or if we wanted to go to a nice place to eat. Then I started learning even more about the unsanitary conditions and the harmful things in conventionally raised meat —not to mention the harmful possible effects of the GMOs passed from the meat to you. It’s too bad they don’t have a sign on it at the store warning: Eat at your own risk — because literally — that’s what you do. Garden and a small amount of Organic Meat We now depend heavily on our garden for food almost year round. We very seldom eat meat. When we do — it is strictly organic – either chicken or grass fed organic beef. Our portions are 1/3 or even 1/4 of what we were eating in out teens and twenties. Like everyone – we have our problems – but believe me — how you eat makes a difference. How a Pound of Ground Beef Can Serve 2 People for 4 Meals Here’s a way to fix ground beef that makes it go a long way, is satisfying and easy on the wallet. It’s versatile and I change it all the time depending on what I have available. The idea is to get a lot of good nutritious extenders into the beef and yet have it taste good so that you’ll feel satisfied. To save time, I make it up 2 pounds at a time and freeze it in the shape of meatballs that are 1 1/2 to 2 inches in circumference. (You can flatten the meatballs when they thaw if you want a burger.) You’ll get about 25 to 32 meatballs depending on how big you make them. I freeze 4 at a time wrapped in saran wrap and then place them in a gallon freezer bag. Take the air out with a straw. I get a minimum of 8 meals (for two people) out of 2 lbs of ground beef. More often I get 12 meals. Fresh ingredients like onions and parsley will change depending on what’s in season. Use what you have on hand. I’ll give you some variations at the end. Ground Beef Mixture for Meat Balls and Burgers
Using your hand, brush organic vinegar over the ground beef. This helps kill bacteria that might be there. In a large bowl place the following ingredients: - 2 pounds of grass fed organic beef
- 2 cups of finely chopped onions (out of my garden)
- 1 cup of finely chopped fresh parsley (out of my garden)
- 2 cups of organic unprocessed fine bran (I use bran sold by Shiloh Farms)
Whisk together the following 3 ingredients and add to the mix: - 1/3 cup of Poupon mustard (Doesn’t have to be exactly 1/3 cup.)
- 2 organic eggs
- 1/3 cup of organic milk (Feel free to substitute organic soy milk, zucchini milk, or even water if necessary)
Combine ingredients by kneading (maybe a minute) as if you would bread. Then use your fingers to “smush” it so it will be more uniform and stay together. Form the meatballs. Freeze most for future use. Cook in preheated 360 degree oven: - 20 minutes for 1 1/2 inch meatballs.
- 25 minutes for 2 inch meatballs.
Do NOT overcook.
Keep in mind that grass fed organic beef will continue to cook after it is removed from the oven. You’ll get the time down pat once you do it a few times. Cooked correctly this ground beef mixture will be melt in your mouth tender and very tasty. Serve as meat for any meal. Tastes good with just about everything. And of course it’s great with spaghetti and homemade roasted tomato sauce. Ingredient Variations - If you can get organic celery or if you grow your own, it’s wonderful in this mixture.
- You can substitute celery for onions or add half celery and half onions.
- Any herbs that you like will be fine. I love the fresh parsley and use lots of it in the mixture. If I don’t have it, I’ll use 2 tablespoons of dried thyme.
- I’ve also used basil, garlic, oregano, rosemary, and cayenne pepper. Use whatever you like.
Final Thought
Eating meat (especially eating big portions) is a habit you can break. If you use this recipe I think it will help you succeed in breaking the habit and still be satisfied. ___________ Organic Gardening is easy, efficient, effective — and it’s a lot healthier. ___________ All content including photos is copyright by TendingMyGarden.com. All Rights Reserved I’ve really had fun with winter sown seed this year. Just for the fun it, I’m starting some root crops that are usually traditionally seeded in the garden. And they’re traditionally seeded directly in the garden because in most cases they do better that way. But if you’re like me and want to start some beets, carrots, turnips, or radishes either inside or winter sown — here are a few things to keep in mind: - Don’t sow too thickly. Thinner sowing will make it easier to separate the transplants without damaging the roots.
- Transplant as carefully as you can. Damaging the roots can cause root crops to be malformed.
- Be patient. Transplanting can set them back a couple of weeks until their roots establish themselves again.
- Mulch lightly with straw and continue to add more as they grow.
- Have a cold frame or some row cover fabric ready to place over them should the forecast call for severely cold weather after they’re in the garden.
- Learn from and enjoy the experience and don’t take your failures or your successes too seriously.
If you want to try to get a jump on the season and sow some beets, carrots, turnips, or radishes in a flat or container — go ahead. As always there’s a risk that you won’t be successful, but there’s always the possibility that you will be! A Shining Example of What can Happen A reader of TMG started carrots in a container her first year of gardening. She transplanted them to her new garden bed and ended up with some of the most beautiful carrots you’ve ever seen! (No one ever told her carrots that they’re not suppose to like transplanting. ) Final Thought When this happens to you, you’ll be congratulating yourself for getting a head start on those delicious early root crops. _______ Related Posts: Seed Starting – It’s Easy Even with Less than Perfect Conditions You Can Plant in December _______ Organic gardening is easy, effective, efficient —- and it’s a lot healthier. _______ All content including photos is copyrighted by TendingMyGarden.com. All Rights Reserved Sue, a reader from zone 7a (like me) planted beets last fall and they didn’t form beets although the leaves did very well. She plans to plant beets again this spring, and wants to know what she’s missing to make them produce beets. Since I’ve heard this dilemma many times and have experienced it in my own garden, I thought it would be helpful to beet lovers to write about it. I’ll answer Sue’s concern by telling:
1. About my relationship with beets.
2. The variety can make a difference.
3. Things to know to give your beets the best chance to develop.
4. The solution to the beet problem and almost any other garden problem you might have. #1. My relationship with beets I don’t plant big rows of beets, but rather plant them wherever I can fit them in. A few here, a few there. I’ve grown beets for many years and although I really enjoy the beets I get, I enjoy the beet greens even more. The minute those little roots produce leaves that are even 2 inches tall in early spring, I start picking. Primarily I use them for our salads everyday in the early spring. As the season progresses and the leaves get larger, I use them steamed as a side dish for dinner. Or as one of my mixed greens when I fix roasted greens. (Makes my mouth water just writing about them!) I don’t pay too much attention to the fact that for beets to bulb out they need about 2/3 of their leaves. If I run short of greens I pick them. At various times during the growing season those poor little roots don’t have any leaves! Needless to say, I don’t always get beets. But — I always get greens! #2 – Consider the Variety Beets not forming could be because of the variety of beet you’re growing. Some produce great roots, some produce great greens and some produce both. Last year I grew bull’s blood beet. The leaves are red and so beautiful it can be grown to compliment flowers in your borders. It’s also the beet grown for red dye for fabric and food. I didn’t know it when I planted, but bull’s blood beet is cultivated for the greens and not the root. Thus, I got very small roots if any. This year I’m growing Lutz Winter Keeper (also known as Lutz Green Leaf). I’ve had excellent results from this beet in the past It’s an old time variety that makes tasty greens all season and nice roots as well.
#3. Things to know to give your beets the best chance to develop - Direct seed in the garden, 1/2 inch deep, rather than transplanting. Sometimes transplanting will keep the root from forming properly.
In the spring you can plant consecutively starting 3 to 4 weeks before your last frost date up until 2 weeks after the frost date. In the fall direct seed about 8 weeks before your expected first frost date. This should give them time to form roots. - Beets are a cool weather crop and do poorly in the heat of the summer.
(If you’re only interested in the greens, I wouldn’t hesitate to sow anytime you feel there is enough moisture for them to germinate.) - Plant in full sun. A little afternoon shade is fine.
- They love a well drained sandy loam that is rich in organic matter.
- If you plant beets after a crop that is a heavy feeder like tomatoes or broccoli, they’ll probably not do well. They’ll do better after a crop like beans, buckwheat, or peas that fix nitrogen in the soil.
Even though beets need sufficient amounts of nitrogen to produce beets, keep in mind that adding nitrogen in the form of fish meal or alpha meal for example, is risky. If you put too much in the soil you’ll get only greens. When planting after crops that fix nitrogen in the soil like I mentioned above, it somehow seems to be just the right amount. - Beets don’t grow well in hard or dry soil. Loose soil (friable) is essential.
- Beet growth is usually stunted in acid soil. If you’ve worked on your garden soil and consistently add organic material you should have a ph that is more towards neutral and perfect for almost all garden vegetables, including beets.
- A beet seed is actually a cluster of several seeds. Each can produce many seedlings. Beets won’t bulb out properly if they’re overcrowded. So - if you want beets rather than greens - thin to about 3 to 6 inches.
- Control weeds with mulch as beets don’t compete well.
- Use mulch (straw, grass clippings or shredded leaves) to keep the moisture in your bed and keep the soil from crusting over. Beets use a lot of water when they’re forming. Thus, if you can’t water (I don’t) you may have less beets bulb up in years when rain is lacking.
#4 The solution to the beet problem and almost any other garden problem we might have The solution to almost any garden problem we have — including beets not forming — is having soil that is rich in organic matter. It’s all a question of time — and how patient you’re willing to be. In the interest of time, simplicity, and the hundreds of other things there are to do in life —- I have always just waited on my organic matter to improve my soil and correct the problem — whatever it may have been. It is said that beets need sufficient and correct amounts of boron, potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. If you’ve been improving your soil and adding organic matter consistently — you more than likely will meet their needs. What if you Don’t Want to Wait? If you want to find out exactly what the deficiency is and add things to correct that deficiency now— then you’ll need to have a soil test done. By having a soil test, you’ll know exactly what you need. Guessing at what to add without any real knowledge can cause more harm than good. Final Thoughts I personally take the easy road and leave it to my organic matter to take care of all my problems. I like to keep it easy and simple. And you can’t get much easier than just adding organic material to become organic matter. Best of luck with your next planting of beets! _____________ Organic gardening is easy, effective, efficient — and it’s a lot healthier! _____________ All content including photos is copyrighted by TendingMyGarden. com All Rights Reserved There are several seed starting charts online. They list various vegetables, how many weeks before or after the last frost it’s safe to set them out, and how many weeks beforehand you need to start the seed. You use your area’s last frost free date to determine the date to start your seed and the date to transplant your seedlings to the garden. Frost-Free Dates are Only Guidelines Sounds easy enough. But frost free dates are only guidelines based on past weather statistics. There might be a probability of 30 to 50% (depending on what chart you use) that it will frost on that date, but there is usually a greater probability that it won’t. Different sources = Different Frost-Free Dates To make it even more tricky, the “frost dates” vary as much as a month, depending on the source. For example, one website gives April 6 as the last frost date for Richmond, Virginia. Another gives May 7. And there are probably other variations as well. Here’s a source. Here’s another. Your Best Bet: Experience – Notes – Current Weather Forecasts Most of us who have gardened for years have a feel as to the probability of what the date should be in any given year. For new gardeners who have never really had to pay attention to a frost free date it’s pretty tough. Bottom line is: each of us can best determine when the actual last frost will be in our own garden based on past experience, notes taken in past years, and current weather forecasts. If you’re new to gardening and don’t have this experience — you soon will have. Warm-weather Crops will need protection. If there is a frost on that last frost date, cool weather crops like onions, lettuce, garlic, parsley, cabbage, broccoli, shallots, spinach, beet and kale should sail through just fine even without the protection of a cold frame or row cover fabric. It’s those hot-weather-loving crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and basil that we have to be worried about. It’s the Gardner’s Call This winter has been so mild and even though colder weather is forecast for March, I feel I’ll have a great chance for success in starting seedlings a bit early. At least, I think its worth a try. It’s always the Gardner’s call. Figuring Guideline Dates:
#1 – Using a Cool Weather crop – BEETS as an example: According to the Organic Gardening seed start chart beet seedlings should go in the garden 2 weeks before the last frost. Depending on which chart I use, my area’s last frost date could be early as April 11th and as late as April 25. Based on what usually happens I’ll use the April 11th date to figure guidelines. Thus, 2 weeks prior to the last frost date of April 11th would make March 28th the date for transplanting beets to the garden. According to the chart seed should be started anytime from 4 to 6 weeks before the set out date. Figuring 6 weeks back from March 28th, that gives us February 15th for starting seed. Make Your Decision Based on your Experience I usually sow beets directly into the garden in March. This year I decided to try them winter sown and seeded a jug on January 4 and another on January 25. The beets winter sown on January 4th have already germinated and I plan to transplant to the garden within the next few days. (Way ahead of the dates the charts would indicate.) Just to be on the safe side, I’ll have either heavier row cover cloth or a cold frame ready for the icy weather forecast for March 1. Just to be on the safe side I’ll sow more in a jug this month (February) and then after the cold spell in March I’ll direct sow in the garden as well. #2 – Using a Cool Weather crop - BROCCOLI as an example: According to the Organic Gardening seed start chart broccoli seedlings also go in the garden 2 weeks before the last frost. And seed should be started 4 or 6 weeks ahead of that date. So for guidelines only I’ll use the same dates as the beets: March 28th to set out and start seed date as early as February 15th. My Decision on Dates for Broccoli – Different than chart guideline dates.
I planted broccoli seed via the winter sown method on February 3rd. I brought it inside to germinate. It germinated February 8th and I moved it outside. If all goes well, I’ll transplant the seedlings to the garden by March 15. Again — even though it probably won’t get cold enough after that to harm the broccoli —- I’ll be ready with heavier row covers for protection just in case some unusually cold temperatures show up in the forecast. #3 – Warm Weather Crops – Example – Tomatoes According to the Organic Gardening seed start chart tomatoes can go into the garden 1 or 2 weeks after the last frost date. Seed should be started 6 to 8 weeks before that. Using April 11th as our last frost date, that makes our guideline dates for transplanting as early as March 28th and as early as February 1st for starting the seed. My Decision on Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant and other warm weather crops DIFFERS A LOT from chart guideline dates.
Warm weather crops LOVE warm weather and they don’t like cold weather. I’ve learned over the years that it’s no need to rush to start these crops because those started just a bit later will catch up quickly to those started too early. I plan on waiting until at least March 1st to start seed for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. I’ll start them in the manner of the winter sown things and plant about 2 seeds per jug. Hopefully, this will give the roots enough room so I won’t have to move them to a bigger pot before moving to the garden. After they germinate, the jug will be moved outside since I don’t have adequate light for them indoors. The jug serves as a mini-greenhouse for the seedlings. If necessary for extra protection I’ll have my makeshift cold frame close by. I might even use one of the heavier fabric row covers to make it easier to cover the jugs if the forecast calls for the temperature to drop severely. On April 1st I’ll make a decision based on the weather and the size of the seedlings as to whether or not they should be moved to the garden. If I decide to move them to the garden that early, I’ll cut the bottom out of a new jug, take the cap off, and place it over the seedling to act as a mini greenhouse until the temperatures are sufficiently warm. If the temperatures get warm in the day and stay cool at night, I’ll remove the jugs in the day and place them back over the seedlings at night. Backup – for when you make the wrong call
If you make the call to move seedlings to the garden earlier than what you really feel is safe, have a few extra seedlings waiting in the wings for a few weeks just in case. That way — if you do lose transplants to the cold, you’ll have a backup. And you won’t have to start all over or buy the chemical soaked seedlings from the market. A few years ago, in a part of Michigan where frost can happen EVERY month, there was a hard freeze in May. Most people lost their gardens and started again. There was another hard frost three weeks later in June. They lost their gardens again. When starting for a third time it was hard to find transplants and too late in the season to start somethings from seed. Thankfully, in Virginia we usually don’t have to worry about things like that. But — it’s always a good idea to have backup in case something unforeseen goes wrong. Final Thoughts If you’ve started seed and gardened for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve learned these things from experience. If you lack experience I hope this will make it easier for you. You really can’t do anything wrong. The main thing is TO DO. If you sometimes make a wrong call — just start again. The rewards of healthy, delicious food make it worth it. ___________ Related Posts: Hardening off Your Seedling Tomatoes – Starting Your Own is Easy Seed Starting – Its Easy Even with Less then Perfect Conditions Seed – The Advantages Looking at Winter Sown Seedlinga and the Garden
Onions – Starting from Seed is Easy and Economical ___________ Organic gardening is easy, effective and efficient —and it’s a lot healthier! ___________ All content including photos is copyright by TendingMyGarden.com All Rights Reserved. Since starting winter sown seed on Dec. 21st, I’ve planted new ones every few days. Jugs total 51 with more to come. I figure with the mild winter we’re having, it’s a great opportunity to experiment with seed I may not have planted this way.  Jugs have been planted, tapped closed, and tops removed for ventilation. I also label each jug on the outside with a marker and put tape over the writing so it won't wear away. Seed planted between December 21 and January 6th have germinated. Included are different varieties of lettuce, mizuna, onions, rosemary, echinacea, snapdragons, claytonia, lavender, sweet william, beets, spinach, swiss chard, iberis, and parsley. All have been thawed and frozen many times, but are still looking good. It was hard to take pictures through the top of the jug, but you can see enough to give you an idea of what’s going on inside.  This is a great way to start parsley. I've several jugs of parsley planted. Even the German Giant Radishes sown January 29th have germinated. I’ve always direct seeded radishes, but just couldn’t resist starting a few radishes this way to see how they’ll do.  Radishes. The most exciting thing to date was having one of my favorite heirloom lettuces (that dates back to the 1740s), Green Deer Tongue, get about 3 times bigger than other varieties planted the same day. I transplanted in the garden not even a month after sowing the seed! If temperatures are expected to get below 29 degrees I’ll put one of my cold frames over them.  Green Deer Tongue lettuce Winter Sown on January 6th -- already transplanted to garden. I was surprised to see the lavender and rosemary come up so quickly. Lavender needs a time of chilling before germination takes place, so I guess my timing was good. The Garden Last fall I planted gobs of stuff. It would come up and then disappear — so I guess something was eating it. Very disappointing. Fortunately I had some Red Russian Kale, a dozen lettuce plants and patch of spinach make it through.  Part of a small patch of spinach in the garden about 3' x 3'. Really sweet and delicious this time of year. I planted some more seed in the bare spots around the spinach and it’s germinated and doing fine thus far.  Spinach sown in the garden in December, now coming up. I had 3 parsley plants left in the garden in the fall. The one shown below was the biggest. I’ve been rationing — trying to make it last until the small seedlings start growing. As huge as this was it’s now only about a foot and a half square.  Garden Parsley. These spring onions don’t look like much, but they’re DELICIOUS! I try to start the winter with at least 50 spring onions to get me through February and/or March.  Spring onions in the garden in February. Planted last year. The multiplier onions I planted last fall are up about 4 inches. They’re great onions because when you finally get enough to save, they’ll last as long as you need them without going bad! A great backup onion.  Planted last fall, these multiplier onions are up about 4 inches.
I couldn’t resist adding this picture of the small Illex tree making it’s winter show. Several bushes had to be removed from the spot in the lower right corner. Removing them dislodged the Illex. Bill has it staked to give it support. The male bush (not shown) is bigger and has perfect form and shape. In spite of its less than perfect shape, I don’t want to take this female out because I’d have to start all over. It’s so pretty with all the berries.  Illex making its winter show in the back side border. Final Thought I hope you’ve enjoyed taking a look at some of what’s growing for me and that you’re having great success with yours! _______ Organic Gardening is easy, effective, efficient and a lot healthier.
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All content including photos is copyright by TendingMyGarden.com. All Rights Reserved. We don’t eat very many things that come in cans. But according to statistics I saw sometime ago, 17% of the average American’s diet comes out of cans. The one canned item that was a staple in this household for many years was tomato paste. Even after I found out about the dangers of BPA, I was naive enough to think that because I bought organic that BPA would not be used as the liner for the cans. With more evidence coming out all the time on the dangers of BPA, I decided to write to the company to make sure. Their reply informed me that “Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a critical component of protective coatings used with metal food packaging and provides important quality and safety features to canned foods.” and that “—BPA is not a risk to human health. ” What a shock that was! My opinion of that company plummeted. BPA has been linked to serious health problems like cancer, heart disease, intestinal malfunctions, infertility and reproductive issues, increase in body insulin levels, birth defects and behavioral changes in children for a good many years now. It’s not a secret. The company was either lying or ignorant. And I can’t believe ignorance was a possibility. Furthermore, I’ve read since then that they plan to change their cans to BPA free but don’t have a timeline for it. But even if it’s replaced with another plastic, studies have found that almost all plastics release hormone disruptors at some level. I have enough problems without inviting more so I like to stay away from canned foods. (For a short but interesting read you might want to check out the Organic Grace site article on BPA. Some info is from 2008 and 2009 with some 2011 updates about what companies are doing. Even tells about BPA in toothpaste tubes!) Canned Tomato Paste – A staple For years I never thought I could get along without canned tomato paste. I’d let my tomatoes cook down on top of the stove. I called it tomato essence. In the winter I would thaw out a package and add a small can of tomato paste. That gave it a more homogenized creamy texture when I wanted a spaghetti sauce. Roasted Tomatoes to the Rescue After experimenting with roasted tomatoes a few seasons ago I found out that I didn’t need canned tomato paste to give my sauce a creamy smooth texture. All I do is peel, cook in the oven until almost all the liquid is gone, and stir. You won’t believe how creamy smooth it is — not to mention delicious!  All I did here was thaw my quart of tomato sauce and add some fresh frozen chopped bell peppers from my garden. As I mentioned in my post Tomatoes – Roasted – For the Easiest Most Delicious Tomato Sauce, a TMG reader made it even easier. She sliced and cooked the tomatoes with the skins on and then put it in her Vitamix to make it smooth as butter even with those skins. After that she wrote to me and said: “—the result (is) the most flavorful, amazing tomato paste you’ve ever tasted in your life! —” A Great Way to Use ALL your Excess Tomatoes Once you discover this for yourself, you’ll want to use every tomato that you don’t eat fresh to fix and freeze plenty of this sauce for winter meals. It takes a lot of tomatoes to make a quart of paste/sauce. Final Thought Once you have your homemade roasted sauce on hand you’ll never need to buy another can of tomato paste. If you do run out of your own sauce, try buying an organic tomato sauce in a glass jar. It’s a much healthier choice. Related Posts: Tomatoes – Roasted – For the Easiest Most Delicious Tomato Sauce A Quick and Delicious Tomato Sauce _________ Organic Gardening is easy, effective, efficient — and it’s a lot healthier. _________ All content including photos are copyrighted by TendingMyGarden.com. All Rights Reserved. I’ve been growing onions for 34 years and they’re one of my best crops. Took me about 3 years of gardening to find out that the best, the biggest and the healthiest onions come from transplants. But what I didn’t find out until recent years was — how easy and economical it is to start the seed and grow your own transplants. It’ll cost you about a penny a piece ( or less) to find out for yourself. Great for either the Winter Sown Method or Indoors Growing onions from seed is a piece of cake! I started six varieties of onions on December 25th via the winter sown method. Even though the ‘soil’ in the jugs has been frozen solid off and on since then, my guess is that the sun warmed it long enough for almost all the seed to germinate. If you start indoors with warmer soil temperatures your germination will be quicker — sometimes only 4 days. My winter sown onion seed took about 2 weeks to germinate. Had the temperatures been even colder, I may still have been waiting. But, they’re up and growing beautifully. Once they get into my garden with its good drainage, full sun and lots of organic matter they’re gonna make great onions. When to Start Your Onions Allow at least a week for germination, 8 weeks growth before transplanting and anywhere from 12 to 18 weeks of growth in the garden. Why? The idea is to plant in time for the onions to get as much top growth as possible before length of daylight in the summer triggers bulbing. When that happens —- the onion stops making the top and starts making the bulb. The longer you can have your onions growing in the ground before that happens the bigger they’ll be. (Keep in mind that some varieties get bigger than others. 3″ could be big for one variety and 5 or 6″ could be big for another variety.) How to Start Follow my instructions for starting seed in my post on Seed Starting with the following differences and additions: - Use jugs or plastic pots that give the roots of the onions at least 4 inches of soil.
- Just scatter densely (maybe 1/8 to 1/4 inch apart) and don’t worry too much about spacing at this time. The roots will separate readily for transplanting. And at this time in their life they don’t mind a bit being close together.
- Cover with about 1/16 of an inch with medium that is already wet. (If you cover with dry medium, it’ll be hard to get the medium wet and trying to do so will rearrange your spacing of the seed.)
- A word of caution: If you plan to grow them indoors under florescent lights rather than move them immediately outdoors as I do, be carefully of how much light you give them. It only takes 10 hours of light to trigger bulbing in some onions (the short day varieties). You sure don’t want that at this point or you won’t get onions.
- If they get too tall and fall over, cut them with the scissors to 3 or 4 inches.
- If need be — give them some foliar spray like Liquid Kelp Spray. (I don’t usually do this, but might this year.)
- Harden off your onion seedlings before planting in the garden. If you need some hardening off guidelines see my post on Hardening Off Your Seedling.
What if you don’t have enough time this year to get your onions to maturity? Suggestion #1 – Buy a packet of seed for $1.25 or so. Start your onions. Grow to replanting size (about 8 weeks) and plant in the garden. The worse that can happen is you’ll have a great crop of onions a bit smaller than usual. If you’re really late — you’ll have a crop of spring onions. How bad can that be?! Not to mention you’ll know what to expect next time around. Suggestion #2 – Start seed in mid July or August. Transplant to the garden in September for wonderful fall spring onions. Here in Virginia I have spring onions all winter long. Final Thought Don’t wait thirty some years like I did before starting some onions from seeds. It’s easy and where else could you get wonderfully delicious and healthful organic onions for a penny or two a piece?! ____________ Additional Reading: Growing Onions Onion Sets – What you Need to Know to Get Better Results How to Have Garden Onions April thru January Hardening Off Your Seedlings Seed Starting – It’s Easy Even with Less then Perfect Conditions You Can Plant in December ___________ Organic Gardening is easy, effective, efficient and it’s a lot healthier __________ All content including photos is copyrighted by TendingMyGarden.com. All Rights Reserved Seeing that the big chemical companies like Monsanto, Bayer, DuPont, Dow, and Syngenta are buying up all the seed companies —- if we look to the future with some thought —- one of the best things we can do for ourselves is to start our own seed and save some seed. I for one, don’t want companies whose history as well as current deeds have proven them to be the “bad guys” — to be in charge of my food — either the end product or the beginning seed. That’s a good reason for me to grow from seed and try to save my own seed whenever possible. Some of the information out there makes seed starting sound complicated. The fact is – seed starting is easy! And you don’t need a lot of fancy supplies to get started either. What you Need to Grow Seedlings Inside 1. Containers. I’ve used flats, 3 inch pots, and even gallon plastic jugs cut almost in half as shown in my post on winter sown. 2. A medium to start them in. I use Pro-mix. (I gave a bit of detail on this in a previous post.) Wet the mix well BEFORE you plant. 3. In order for your seedlings to grow properly inside you’ll need adequate light. That means either a bright southern exposure or some inexpensive florescent lights. No need to buy the expensive grow lights. The inexpensive florescent lights will work just as well for seed starting. Position the lights 1 to 2 inches above your seedlings. Keep them on 14 to 16 hours a day. What if You Don’t Have Room Inside? I start my seed inside— one flat at a time on top of my refrigerator. (It’s a bit warmer there and gives those few extra degrees of warmth that helps speed germination.) There’s no room in our house for lots of containers with seedlings. I especially don’t have room to rig something with florescent lights. So seedlings have to be moved outside for light once they’re up. Then I move another flat to the top of the refrigerator to germinate more seed. This might not be as ideal as staying warm inside with florescent lights supplying the light. But life at my house is not always ideal, so I find ways to work around the problems. Ways to Protect the Seedlings from the Cold How much protection the seedlings are going to need outside depends on the weather. I keep flats off the ground (or in my case cement) by by placing them on other mesh flats that are turned over. Then I put a make-shift cold frame over them. (Some old windows pieced together with plastic over them) If it gets severely cold I’ll lay some row cover fabric gently over the seedlings and then put the cold frame over them. This year I’m using jugs (as I did for my winter sown seed) to start the seedlings inside. I’ll put them on top of the refrigerator to germinate. Then I’ll move them outside. The jug will work as a mini greenhouse. On days when it’s warm, the seedlings will be just fine in the jug. On days (or nights )when the temperature drops — I’ll set the cold frame over the jugs for extra warmth. Do You Need to Pot Up to a Larger Size? Just so you’ll know — I’m going to plant 3 seeds per jug. That should give the seedlings room to grow and thus, save me from having to move them to a larger pot. When you start your seed in flats, you’ll want to move them to larger pots to give them room to grow. When to Start Hopefully you’ve gotten a jump on the season with winter sown seed. Seed suitable for winter sowing in December has germinated for me and is looking great. Six varieties of onions are up. Also varieties of lettuce and other greens. Parsley, snapdragons, iberis, and even rosemary has germinated. I plan to start cole crops like broccoli and cabbage about February 15th. I could wait until March 1st if I wanted. Warm weather crops like tomatoes, eggplant and pepper I’ll start about 8 weeks before it’s time to transplant to the garden in mid May. Seed Starting Charts You’ll find numerous seed starting charts if you google them. Organic Gardening has a simple one if you want to use it. Resist starting cole crops and warm weather crops too early. Try to time them so you won’t have to hold them in containers after they’re large enough to set out. Final Thought If you’ve never started seed before because you thought it was too complicated or thought you didn’t have the right set up ——-that should not hold you back now that you know the truth. Starting seed is easy. And don’t worry about less than perfect conditions because you can still be very successful starting seed. ______ Organic Gardening is easy, effective, efficient —- and it’s a lot healthier. ______ All content including photos is copyrighted by TendingMyGarden.com | Receive my new posts via email:Thank You for Visiting!
My name is Theresa and I've been organic gardening in Virginia for more than 34 years and have been cooking for more than 50. Please stop by often to be entertained, encouraged, and learn things about organic gardening and cooking the easy way --- here a little, there a little --- from my stories, tips, anecdotes, experiences, and explanations. What readers say:" I like your way of gardening! Not much hassle but great rewards." Another said:
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