I am really not very good at growing things from seeds. I just haven't had enough experience, I suppose, which will change with practice, but that doesn't help me much now.
My pea and cucumber seeds have sprouted. The others have not. Not only that, but the cucumber seedlings are already a couple of inches tall (!) and I need to start raising the lights. That's going to make the tiny little peas (not to mention the other species once they emerge) really leggy; which is a problem that has plagued pretty much every seed I ever planted.
So what I'm probably going to have to do is get a separate light setup going for the little cucumbers so I can keep the light fixture right on top of the other seedlings so they don't stretch out. It'll take a bit of figuring out but I can do it. It's really too bad I didn't throw myself into gardening with as much gusto as I did cooking when I moved out, perhaps if I had I'd be really good at this by now. But that's alright. We won't have a place with a yard for a while now so I have plenty of time to get this right. And if my seedlings all turn out leggy again this year, I can always just order some healthy ones from the internet and transplant them. I'm not going to buy them from Lowe's this year, not just due to funneling money to Monsanto either. Last year my strawberries from there succumbed to soil disease and my peppers came with a hoard of aphids which proceeded to spread to all my other plants and resist my every effort to kill them off. These are problems you are not supposed to have to deal with when container gardening. I'll get quality seedlings from an organic non-Monsanto owned grower, thank you very much.
With tomorrow being the first day of March, Spring is closer and closer. Here's hoping my little garden gets off to a good start. :)
Interview: Joel Salatin | Life and style | The Observer
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Interview: Joel Salatin | Life and style | The Observer
This is a wonderful article about Joel Salatin, the owner of Polyface Farms in Virginia. Great guy, great farm. I'd love to visit some day.
It's about time I started this little blog back up again, since it's getting to be planting time here in Wisconsin. I ordered San Marzano Tomatoes and Smart Pickle cucumbers from Seedsofchange.org and they came in the mail today. A quick trip to Lowe's and 20 minutes cleaning off the top of the fridge and replacing the bulb in the grow light setup my mom gave to me and they're sitting pretty waiting to sprout. Should see some action by next week. I planted the tomatoes and cucumbers plus peas and spinach. I'll do pole beans later I think. I was going to wait on the tomatoes and cukes too but I figured since I've never grown them from seed before I'd better get started now so if I encounter any surprises I can easily start over and change my tactics. Since I have even lighting this year, I should have no problems with legginess.
Might as well mention my diet changes too: After watching Food, Inc. and getting started on several books (including Real Food by Nina Planck and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan) I've simply stopped eating a ton of stuff I thought I'd never do without. No more boxes of mac and cheese or cans of Chef Boyardee. No more McDonalds, Burger King, or Taco Bell. Store bought cookies, donuts, and other snacks are out too. I don't even consider this stuff food at all any more, no more than a clod of dirt is food. And after learning about industrial beef filler being treated with ammonia to cut down on E. coli I feel nothing but revulsion at the very idea of eating another McDonald's burger. I've even stopped drinking factory-farmed milk! I've been buying organic unhomogenized whole milk at Sendik's and basically only drinking milk at work save for what goes on my cereal and into my coffee (still the cheap stuff since Trev still drinks it and I don't bring my organic stuff home). And I used to drink a lot of milk, almost a gallon every other day or so. So it's more cooking, more water and tea, and better choices at the store for me! I'll take my grass-fed beef and fresh veggies, thank you very much. And if I can get my hands on some raw milk at some point so much the better. Should be another interesting year ahead.
Edit to add: Oh yeah, I did get the closet cleaned out. But it's so much easier to have my stuff on top of the fridge so if I can keep the cats off of there that's where it'll stay until I move them outside in April.
This is a wonderful article about Joel Salatin, the owner of Polyface Farms in Virginia. Great guy, great farm. I'd love to visit some day.
It's about time I started this little blog back up again, since it's getting to be planting time here in Wisconsin. I ordered San Marzano Tomatoes and Smart Pickle cucumbers from Seedsofchange.org and they came in the mail today. A quick trip to Lowe's and 20 minutes cleaning off the top of the fridge and replacing the bulb in the grow light setup my mom gave to me and they're sitting pretty waiting to sprout. Should see some action by next week. I planted the tomatoes and cucumbers plus peas and spinach. I'll do pole beans later I think. I was going to wait on the tomatoes and cukes too but I figured since I've never grown them from seed before I'd better get started now so if I encounter any surprises I can easily start over and change my tactics. Since I have even lighting this year, I should have no problems with legginess.
Might as well mention my diet changes too: After watching Food, Inc. and getting started on several books (including Real Food by Nina Planck and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan) I've simply stopped eating a ton of stuff I thought I'd never do without. No more boxes of mac and cheese or cans of Chef Boyardee. No more McDonalds, Burger King, or Taco Bell. Store bought cookies, donuts, and other snacks are out too. I don't even consider this stuff food at all any more, no more than a clod of dirt is food. And after learning about industrial beef filler being treated with ammonia to cut down on E. coli I feel nothing but revulsion at the very idea of eating another McDonald's burger. I've even stopped drinking factory-farmed milk! I've been buying organic unhomogenized whole milk at Sendik's and basically only drinking milk at work save for what goes on my cereal and into my coffee (still the cheap stuff since Trev still drinks it and I don't bring my organic stuff home). And I used to drink a lot of milk, almost a gallon every other day or so. So it's more cooking, more water and tea, and better choices at the store for me! I'll take my grass-fed beef and fresh veggies, thank you very much. And if I can get my hands on some raw milk at some point so much the better. Should be another interesting year ahead.
Edit to add: Oh yeah, I did get the closet cleaned out. But it's so much easier to have my stuff on top of the fridge so if I can keep the cats off of there that's where it'll stay until I move them outside in April.
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