Microgreens

Many of our indoor seedlings have reached three inches in height, making them perfect candidates for transplanting into larger containers or into the ground.  As much as we'd like to start planting under row covers or in the hoop house, the predicted cold weather and snowfall make it impossible.  In the mean time we are enjoying thinning the seedlings as this effort yields a delicious and healthy mix of edible tiny green leaves known as microgreens.  The lettuce, chard, and kale will make it into salads, while the bok choi and Asian green tong ho are a perfect addition to stir-fries and Chinese hot pot.  Most go straight from the tray to the mouth.  And it doesn't take much.  Some researchers claim that microgreens contain up to 40 times the concentration of nutrients, such as vitamin E, vitamin C, and beta-carotene, over their mature counterparts.

Harvesting four week-old Baby Arugula lettuce.

End of January Seedlings

Wood on the wood stove and temperatures below freezing tonight but our area has been spared from the heaviest snowfalls and lowest temperatures of the Eastern Seaboard.  Planted just two weeks ago, all of our seedlings are doing well, except for our heirloom mustard greens.  The mustard greens were vintage 2012 seeds, and only three came up from probably more than a hundred seeds planted.

Iceburg lettuce, bock-choi, spinach, and Arugula lettuce seedlings.

More Seeds Arrived

Winter can be so much fun for the gardener.  No beds to weed, no soil to haul, no rows to water.  Just contemplating the upcoming spring and planning our garden layout.  Today our latest seed order arrived.  We typically place a seed order in the winter to use in the following year's garden, which means that these new seeds may be planted 12 to 18 months from now.  I know some people have trouble storing seeds that long, but we haven't ever had much of a problem storing seeds at room temperature for a year.  We keep them in a drawer that is dark and safe from rodents.  My reason for ordering seeds a year in advance is so we are less affected in the unlikely event that seeds become unavailable.

We like the catalog and selection of

heirloom seeds from Johnny's Seeds.

First Seedings 2015...Are Up!!!

I cannot recall a year when our seedlings came up more quickly than this time around.  In just two days, the Romaine, Arugula, and Iceberg lettuce seeds have all sprouted.  Hopefully it is because we lowered the grow lights to just above the seed tray covers, and not because we planted the seeds too shallow.  Either way, they look great.  The Bok Choi which we put on a heating pad is up too. The grow lights are on for ten hours a day, from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  In addition, large windows in the room provide generous ambient light beginning at sunrise.

Arugula lettuce sprouts.

Winter as a Time to Grow

One way to enjoy gardening during the winter is to invest in some auto-didacting, or self-learning, about how to become a better grower and gardener.  Recall what worked in last year's garden and what didn't.  Ask yourself what vegetable would you like to try to grow for the first time, what tool would have made a job easier, and what pests would you like to better control.  The Internet offers an endless supply of articles, blogs, podcasts, and free books on gardening and homesteading.

Ron Finley is a self-described guerrilla gardener who

promotes growing food in urban Los Angeles as a way

of educating and inspiring community.

His presentation has inspired me.

First Seedlings 2015

Our location in Maryland is part of hardiness zone 7a, meaning that normal winter low temperatures fall somewhere between 0 and 5 degrees F.  Starting seedlings indoors last year in February left us feeling as though we should have started earlier.  So, to get a jump on this year's growing season we started today, a moderate mid-January day with temperatures hovering above freezing.  Using the rack we built this time last year, we assembled 13 trays of spinach, lettuce, kale, Asian greens, mustard greens, Swiss chard, bok choi, and peas.  Once these plants are established we will move them into the hoop house or plant them directly in the garden under plastic row covers.  As space is freed on the rack we will start a round of cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, and the like.

The grow lights  have been improved by replacing

 their fixed hanging wires with chains.  This allows

 us to adjust the lights closer to the trays.

October Full Circle

As tonight's temperatures dip into the thirties, the coldest since springtime, I remember the garden.  Today's weather was beautiful, cool and sunny, a perfect day for tearing down the garden and cleaning out the chicken coop.  The chicken's love going through the generous weed piles in search of insects and seeds.  In return, the garden loves the waste material from the coop.

Admittedly I have not done much in the way of tending to the garden since July.  Instead, over the past two months, the neighbors have religiously made it to the gym each morning in the dark when the place opens before the crack of dawn.  The five hours of much needed exercise each week has to come from somewhere.  I am at peace with the trade-off.  We do not rely solely on our garden for our sustenance.  The garden is a luxury.

If it seems that I have forgotten the garden, the garden has not forgotten me.  For today's weeding I was rewarded with a dozen beautiful squash, six pounds of potatoes, a large bowl of cherry tomatoes, a few Asian bitter melons, and several green peppers.  A small patch of baby bok choy, offspring of some early plants.  There are still more potatoes to harvest this fall, plus sweet potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, and spicy chilli peppers.  And plenty of seeds from sun-dried green beans and okra.

Tomorrow I will finish cleaning up, taking whatever other fruits and lessons the garden gives.