Farm Fresh Backyard

How to Start Seeds in a Plastic Sandwich Bag

2010-02-02T03:30:00.000-08:00

This method of seed starting is one that's popular in preschool and kindergarten classes. Both of my older two have come home from school with their little beanstalks that they started in school.

What you need:

:: Seeds

:: Plastic sandwich bags

:: Paper towels

:: Water

:: Seed Starter Mix (totally optional; our seeds have always sprouted without it)

Wet the paper towels down and place them in the bag. If you have it on hand (as I happen to have some), add a teaspoon or so of Seed Starter Mix to your bag as well. Add one or two seeds. Seal the bag, then tape the sealed bag to a sunny window.

Wait and see what happens - be prepared for squeals of ooooh! from your kiddos when they spot little green seedlings emerging. ;-)

I'll share our seedling progress with you next week!

Weekly Quote

2010-01-31T03:30:00.000-08:00

"Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw."

- Henry David Thoreau

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle | Eggshells

2010-01-29T03:30:00.000-08:00

RRR | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is my weekly post geared toward gardening on a budget by reusing & recycling items you already have on-hand.

This week's topic: Eggshells

Eggshells can be quite useful in your garden. Because they contain calcium, adding them to your compost pile will result in a calcium boost to your plants in the future as your compost pile matures.

But eggshells take a loooong time to break down. You can grind them in a blender, mill, or cusinart until they are a fine powder to accelerate the process. Some gardeners simply crush the shells and add them around the base of their plants that require higher amounts of calcium to thrive (think roses and tomatoes).

For an interesting discussion of eggshells and composting, read the comments at this forum; there's lots of useful (and funny) information about how to best compost eggshells.

You can also use nicely halved and cleaned eggshells as seed starter containers. This is a great project to do with your kids as you wait for spring to come and the return of sunny days. For instructions on how to make cute eggshell pots with (or without) your kids, click here.

Thanks for reading and subscribing to Farm Fresh Backyard!

Wordless Wednesday | Packrat!

2010-01-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

I found these tucked away on a garage shelf. I think they're about six years old; the last time I grew cherry tomatoes, my oldest was still in diapers.

Time to experiment with growing indoor herbs!

Add your photo to the Wordless Wednesday fun at 5 Minutes for Mom.

How to Amend Clay Soil

2010-01-26T03:30:00.000-08:00

Ideally, the soil in your garden should be loamy - rich,dark, and moist enough to squeeze into a loose ball that crumbles easily.

Some soil (like mine) is loaded with clay. When I dig a hole for a transplanted bush, I bring up heavy shovels of sticky clods of dirt. If I sqeeze those clods, they squish in my hands like a hunk of potter's clay. The problem with highly clay soil is twofold: it doesn't drain well and when it dries out, it hardens and cracks. Both conditions are tough on the roots of your plants.

If you're in my part of the world (SW Ohio) and you find yourself with predominantly clay soil, you can work on amending it by adding compost and other organic matter to the soil. If you're digging a hole to transplant a bush or a tree, add compost, peat moss, or even coffee grounds to help improve the soil around the roots of your plant. For a larger garden or bed, use the same amendments and work them into the soil as you dig and/or till each year.

Not into digging or tilling? I don't blame you - neither am I! You can wait until late fall and add layers of peat, compost, and those coffee grounds you've been saving to your beds. Over the long winter months, the worms will help you by breaking down the materials you added; you'll find better soil when you put your spade in the ground come spring.

Clay soil is tough to work with but amending it year in and year out will bring you closer to the loamy soil that gardens thrive on.

Thanks for reading and subscribe to Farm Fresh Backyard!

In the Garden This Week | January 25, 2010 {Week 4}

2010-01-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

In the Garden This Week is my weekly garden planning feature. My goal for this weekly post is to stay on track with planning the work that needs to be done to prepare for and maintain a garden this week.

I'll also review the previous week's goals and let you know what I accomplished.

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Last Week's Goals

:: Make a final list of what I'm planting this year and begin garden planting calendar.

Well, this goal ended up being harder to meet than I had hoped, mostly because my Burpee seed & plant catalog came last week.

Oh my! So many choices, so many thoughts, so many ideas. I love seed catalogs!

I'm pretty certain of what I intend to plant this year:

Tomatoes
Green/Red/Banana/Hot Peppers
Onions
Carrots
Lettuce (Butter, Iceburg, Romaine)
Radishes
Beets
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Pumpkins (small sugar variety)
Cucumbers
Zukes + Squash
Eggplant
Peas
Beans (Several varieties)
Herbs
Strawberries
Blueberries
Raspberries
Blackberries

If I opt to order live plants, they'll ship in early March for my zone. That gives me a good idea of when I'll need to have the garden beds ready to go (mid-late March).

My goals this week:

:: Finalize order list (and stay within a reasonable budget!)

:: Find good raised bed building plans online for my hubs

:: Begin garden calendar

:: Clean up yard (we've got several branches down from the winter winds).

I'll be back next week to share my progress! ;-)

Weekly Quote

2010-01-24T03:30:00.000-08:00

"The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before."

- Vita Sackville-West

RRR | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Newspapers

2010-01-22T03:30:00.000-08:00

RRR | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is my weekly post geared toward gardening on a budget by reusing & recycling items you already have on-hand.

This week's topic: Newspapers.

If you're familiar with the methods outlined in Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza, then you already know one way to reuse newspaper in the garden. In the lasagna garden, layers of wet newspaper are used at the base of the raised bed as a weed barrier and a means of killing off any existing grass or weeds.

There are a few other ways you can reuse and recyle newspapers in your garden.

:: As a weed barrier and mulch enhancer around existing plants.

Simply wet a few sheets of newspaper and tuck them around existing plants; add topsoil and/or mulch over the newspaper. Not only will this work as a weed barrier, the newspaper will trap moisture and help to fight the effects of evaporation on your plants.

:: In your compost pile/bin.

Add shredded newspaper to your compost bin; the finished compost will have more bulk.

:: As seed starter cups.

If you're good at all things origami, you can make paper cups out of a few sheets of newspaper, add seed starter mix, then plant your seeds to start indoors. Best part? When it's time to transplant outside, you can simply put the entire paper cup in the ground without disturbing the roots.

For instructions on how to make an origami paper cup, click here. (My 8 year old daughter likes to make these - they're pretty easy to do!)

Thanks for reading and subscribing to Farm Fresh Backyard!

Wordless Wendnesday | After the Snow

2010-01-20T03:30:00.000-08:00

The snow has melted, leaving behind my favorite landscaping feature - mud.

{sigh}

Time to wipe the dog's paws...again and again and again! ;-)

Add your photo to the Wordless Wednesday fun at 5 Minutes for Mom.

How to Garden with Raised Beds

2010-01-19T03:30:00.000-08:00

I've gardened the traditional way in the past and getting the ground ready for gardening was no small task - and no fun, either.

I've ripped sod up and double dug trenches; I even once sweetly cajoled my husband into rototilling a huge strip of our backyard in Illinois.

All of those gardening methods are time-intensive, labor-intensive and expensive. And if you find yourself in a situation where you need to sell your home and wish to have an impeccable backyard to help make the sale, repairing the spot where your garden once grew is a great deal of work. (I speak from personal experience - we had to bring in topsoil and seed our Illinois backyard garden site when we had that home on the market. Oy!)

This year, I'm raising my expectations by using a raised bed system to contain my vegetables. Not only will this reduce the amount of labor I'll need to put into preparing the garden for planting, using raised bed will allow for space intensive gardening.

You can buy raised bed systems online or at your local garden center or you can simply build your own. Googling "Raised Garden Beds" will bring back more links than you'll ever have time to review.

Some raised bed gardening tips:

-> Shallow rooted vegetables like radishes can thrive in beds that are about 6 inches deep; deeper rooted vegetables like tomatoes will need beds that are deeper as well, up to 12 inches deep.

-> Plan on adding a mix of soil, peat moss, and compost to your raised bed for optimum growth of your plants.

-> Raised beds can extend your growing season because the plant roots warm sooner than roots in the ground. But plants in raised beds can also dry out more quickly so careful watering is necessary.

We hope to build at least (2) 3' x 6' raised beds for our vegetables and may also build a small tier for our strawberries. I'll be sure to post the plans we use as well as some step-by-step pictures when we tackle the project.

Looking for more information about raised bed gardening? Read Square Foot Gardening for in depth information about how to create high yielding raised bed gardens.

In the Garden This Week | January 28, 2010 {Week 3}

2010-01-18T03:30:00.000-08:00

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Last Week's Goals

->Pick Plant Varieties

Well, my goal for last week was to pick some varieties of veggies to plant based on my Hardiness Zone (6a). I had it in my head I would seed start everything.

Then I remembered how much work it is to start seeds, how messy it can be, how you have to baby them.

And then I saw some of the nice little plant samplers being offered by Burpee.

Like this Heirloom Vegetable Sampler:

Looks good, doesn't it?

Check out this Home Orchard sampler:

Yum!

So, I got to thinking about how much I actually wanted to seed start and what would be nice to have on hand, ready to plant. I think that I'm a little garden-shy; it's been a bunch of years since I've had a full garden. And the last time I started all my plants from seed, I didn't have three kids running around like bulls in a china shop.

I think I'll do a mix of starting from seeds indoors (mostly herbs), direct sowing (easy things that grow quickly like beans, peas, carrots, and lettuce) and started plants I'll order. I'm hoping to be successful gardening; doing it all from scratch my first year back to digging in the dirt feels pretty risky.

Oh, and I happened across a very cool tool/template at Gardener's Supply Company. You can design your own kitchen garden or use one of their many plans for a kitchen garden grown in a raised bed system. I really like how they lay it all out; it seems pretty easy to follow. Plus they have different "types" of kitchen garden plans like one for salsa lovers, one for salad lovers, and one that sounds enticing to me, the Plant It & Forget It garden!

To check out the Kitchen Garden Planner, click here.

I've not started the garden plan calendar yet; I still need to narrow down what I'll be ordering for the garden. I did decide to use a raised bed system this year - more about that on Tuesday.

This week, I'm determined to make a final list of what I'm planting and how I'm planting it (direct sow, seed starts indoors, or started plant) so that I can order those plants for delivery beginning in March. Once I order them, I'm sure I'll be motivated to start building the raised bed frames (and by me, I mean giving my dear hubs the plans of what I would like him to build!) and setting dates on the calendar.

I'll be back next Monday to share more plans with you. ;-)

Weekly Quote

2010-01-17T03:30:00.000-08:00

"It is utterly forbidden to be half-hearted about gardening.

You have got to love your garden whether you like it or not."

~W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman, Garden Rubbish, 1936

RRR | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Composting

2010-01-15T03:30:00.000-08:00

RRR | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is my weekly post geared toward gardening on a budget by reusing & recycling items you already have on-hand.

This week's topic: Composting.

We have many, many trees on our small property; my husband and I spend the weekend of November blowing, raking, and bagging leaves for our town's bi-weekly leaf pickup.

This year, I used a pile of those endless leaves to start a small compost pile in one of our trashcans. I layered the dried leaves in with the plant clippings I had on hand after cutting back the last of the flowers and blooms in the planters around our front yard. Before long, I had filled the trash can with the layered mix; I set it on the side of my house and let Mother Nature begin to do her thing.

I checked back on it in mid-December, just before the Christmas season began and before any snow had fallen. The layered pile in the trashcan had shrunken to two-thirds of it's original height; when I took a small shovel and poked into it, I found signs that everything was beginning to break down quite nicely.

Composting is one of the most original forms of recycling yard, garden, and food waste. My hope for my small "beginner" compost pile is that it will be ready come early spring to be used as I build my garden beds.

If you're handy, you can build a simple compost bin; there are several designs shared here with full instructions for each. While both my husband and I are pretty handy with a hammer and nails, we have some other big projects planned for this spring around the house and I fear that building a compost bin would fall far down on the list. I'm may buy one instead but I haven't fully decided; I'll definitely share with you any attempts to build one on my own. ;-)

Thanks for reading and subscribing to Farm Fresh Backyard!

Wordless Wendnesday | Snow Beauty

2010-01-13T03:30:00.000-08:00

Japonica, Front Planter

We had a good amount of snow fall last Thursday and Friday. While it's cold and it makes travel troublesome, the snow does create a backdrop for pretty pictures.

Add your photo to the Wordless Wednesday fun at 5 Minutes for Mom.

How to Determine Which Types of Vegetables to Plant in Your Garden

2010-01-12T03:30:00.000-08:00

Last week as part of my garden planning, I thought about what types of fruits and vegetables I want to grow this year in my garden.

Deciding what I want to grow is simple enough; I asked myself "What do we like to eat?" But after that, it becomes a bit more challenging because there are so many different seed varieties for each plant.

Here's a short list of ideas I've brainstormed to help me narrow my choices down:

:: Know your USDA Hardiness Zone

My area of SW Ohio is Zone 6a. While there are some plants that just won't flourish here without the protection of a greenhouse (think citrus trees), there are several more that thrive in my climate. Be sure to find your USDA Hardiness Zone as a starting point for your planning; click here to find yours.

:: Know your area's average last frost and first freeze dates

My area has an average last frost date of April 13 and a first freeze date of October 23. That means I have about 6 months for my gardening season. Knowing that time frame, I can plant both cool weather loving vegetables (ie: carrots, spinach, beets) and warm weather loving vegetables (ie: tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans). To find your average last frost and first freeze dates, click here

:: Know when you want to harvest your vegetables

This ties into the one above because once you have an idea of your planting season, you can create a timeline for planting based on how many days it takes your plants to mature and produce. For instance, if you love tomatoes (like *yours truly*!) as soon as possible and all summer long, you'll likely want to plant a mix of early, late, and everbearing varieties. If you want a constant supply of lettuce or carrots, you'll need to plant successive crops spaced apart by a week or two to have mature plants available to harvest weekly.

:: Know if you want to can, freeze, or dry any of your harvest

Some varieties of vegetables and fruits are bred specifically to be sturdier for canning or freezing. If you are hopeful (again, like *yours truly*) enough to plan not only a thriving garden to feed you in the warm months but a boutiful enough harvest to can and freeze the extras for the winter, it's smart to consider planting varieties that are ideal for canning or freezing.

Now that I've got all that down, here's a list of seed catalogs you can request. Browse through them once they arrive and begin making a list of what varieties will fit your needs/climate.

Heirloom Acres Seeds

Burpee

Gurney's Seed & Nursery Comapany

Have a favorite seed company or catalog you'd like to share? Leave a comment below and let us know all about it!

In the Garden This Week | January 11, 2010 {Week 2}

2010-01-11T03:30:00.000-08:00

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Last Week's Goals

->What to grow this year
I made a huge list of vegetables I want to grow this year as well as berry bushes I want to plant. They include:

Tomatoes (for fresh, canning, freezing)
Peppers (green, yellow, red, jalepeno, banana, chiles; for fresh & canning)
Onions (sweet)
Carrots (for fresh & freezing)
Lettuce (romaine, iceburg, butter(
Celery
Radishes & Beets (still thinking about these)
Potatoes (regular & sweet - thinking I'll need smaller varieties)
Pumpkins (small, sweet varieties to can)
Cucumbers (for fresh & canning as pickles)
Squash (zukes & yellow, for fresh & freezing)
Eggplant (for fresh & freezing)
Beans (green, yellow, black, kidney, white)
Herbs (basil, chives, thymes, cilantro)
Berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries)

->Garden planting sites in my yard
I have a great deal of shade in the back portion of my yard but there are some areas that are partial sun; I'll try berries and maybe some lettuces and herbs back there.

I also have a nice spot for berry bushes on the side of my yard. Blackberries and raspberries will go there.

Along the other side of my yard, where I have good light (south facing), I'll likely plant the rest of my vegetables. I have some sites along the back of the house as well which might work for herbs.

In the Garden This Week {Week 2}

I've ordered some garden seed catalogs. Until they arrive, I'll spend some time looking through my gardening books and online for plant varieties that would be a good match for my USDA Hardiness Zone.

I'll also create the beginning of a garden plan calendar on Google Docs with the idea that it will help me plan out planting dates and potential harvest dates based on the varieties I think I'll plant.

Once I get the calendar done in Google Docs, I'll link it here for your use as well. ;-)

I'll be back next Monday to share my early plans with you. ;-)

Weekly Quote

2010-01-10T03:30:00.000-08:00

"Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden."

~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

RRR | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: How to Reuse Egg Cartons

2010-01-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

RRR | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is my weekly post geared toward gardening on a budget by reusing & recycling items you already have on-hand.

This week, I'm chatting about egg cartons.

I've got about 5 or 6 empty egg cartons stashed on a shelf in my garage just waiting for March to come. I'll be using the egg cartons as seed starters indoors by punching a small hole in the bottom of each cup then filling the cups with a seed starter mix (purchased by the bag at my local home and garden center).

Once I plant some seeds in them and gently spritz them with water, I'll place them on a table or chair by a sunny window indoors and let Mother Nature do her thing. Of course, they'll need a little spritz or two of water daily to stay damp but not much more than that. I'll also need to put a towel underneath the cartons to catch any water or dirt from the drainage holes in the bottom.

Looking for more ways to reuse those old egg cartons? Check out the big list of ideas right here.

Happy recycling!

Wordless Wednesday | Winter Dreams

2010-01-06T04:00:00.000-08:00

Future berry patch, coming 2010.

I'll need to move the bushes that are already there (a fire bush, a butterfly bush, and a wiegela) to the front yard. I'm planning on planting blackberries and raspberries here. I can't wait!

Add your photo to the Wordless Wednesday fun at 5 Minutes for Mom.

How to Determine When to Start Your Garden This Spring

2010-01-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

While it's winter outside and the snow is falling, there's a lot of work to be done in preparing for planting a garden in the coming spring.

For first time gardeners, or gardeners like me who haven't tended a vegetable patch in a few years, it's important to know when your average last frost date is in your area. This is the *average* last date you can expect a freeze; knowing this date will help you determine when you can sow seeds and plant seedlings in early spring.

I'm using the Frost Chart for United States at The Old Farmer's Almanac to help me determine when I'll actually be planting the garden.

Knowing the average last frost date in my area is April 14 gives me a deadline of sorts. If I want to plant seedlings and seeds in mid-April, I'll need to do a great deal of work in March to prepare the garden beds in my backyard and to start seedlings indoors. I'll devote January and February to planning the garden, browsing seed catalogs, gathering supplies, and creating an action plan for getting the outdoor work done in March.

Garden Planning: January 4, 2010 {Week 1}

2010-01-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

I've learned the hard way that without a good garden plan, it's easy to fall behind on all that needs to be done to get a garden going and growing.

Every Monday, I'll share with you what my plans are for the garden each week. I'll also let you know how last week's plan went - what I finished, what I didn't find time to do.

This feature will be called In the Garden This Week, and I'll create a little graphic to go with it.

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In the Garden This Week {Week 1}

I have two goals this week.

One, to make a list of what I'd like to plant this year, including berries and vegetables.

Two, to make a list of all the spots in my back yard available for planting, including how much sun and shade they receive during the course of a summer day. This will help me determine where I'll plant everything.

That's it for this week - they aren't overly ambitious goals but since it's early January, I have time to lay a good groundwork for my garden by really thinking about what fruits and vegetables my family likes to eat and which ones would flourish in our USDA Hardiness Zone.

I'll be back next Monday to share my early plans with you. ;-)

Weekly Quote

2010-01-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

"Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination."

Mrs. C.W. Earle, Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, 1897

About Me

2010-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hi! I'm Marianne.

I write The New Frugal Mom where I talk about coupons, deals, and saving money.

I also write Writer-Mommy where I talk about life as mom.

I believe in Jesus, love, and the power of the mighty java bean.

I'll be adding to this site as it grows; thanks for your patience.

To contact me, please email me at FarmFreshBackyard (at) gmail.com

A Resolution for 2010

2009-12-31T23:25:00.000-08:00

This year, I will have a garden.

It will be a challenge. I will battle weeds, the rambunctious play of my three children, and the flying feet of our resident insane canine.

But I will plan.

And I will plant.

And I will hope and pray and work until something shiny and bright flourishes and grows.

Won't you come along with me?