Hardening Off Seedlings

Even though your seedlings are in a simulated outdoor environment, it’s very important to move them outside gradually. The sun is much more powerful that most normal grow lights, and your little plants will get scorched if they’re immediately moved into full sun for too long. Hopefully you’ve also exposed them to a bit of a breeze while indoors, so the first little outdoor breeze won’t knock them over. I had to cover these little guys because it was so cold that day:

Days 1 through 3

I like to cover my plants for the first few days that I set them out. This gives them a bit more shelter, and makes the temperature adjustments a bit easier for them. On Day 1, start by putting them out only for 1-2 hours. By Day 3, you can bump the time up to 4-6 hours. If it’s particularly cold or windy on any given day, you can either cover your plants, or leave them in for a day.

Days 4 through 8

Now that your plants have been exposed to periods of sun and wind, you can start leaving them out for full days. By Day 8 or so, you should be able to leave your plants out overnight.

Days 9 through 12

Your plants should be hardy enough to be transplanted into your garden. By this time, they may be getting too big for their small pots, and you’ll likely see quite a bit of growth once they’re accustomed to their new garden home. Once planted outside, you may still have to cover them a few times if the weather gets too cold or windy.

Direct Sowing Early Crops

Last week I planted pea, beet, and spinach seeds right in my garden. These are all vegetables that will grow well in cool weather. They generally grow quickly, and will produce fairly early. Here’s a short list of cool weather crops that can be started from seed directly in your garden before your last frost date:

• peas
• beets
• spinach
• lettuce
• kale

Preparing Soil for Planting

Last year I got some good advice from my fellow community gardeners. I noticed that several of them had covered their garden plots with black plastic. After asking why they did this, they explained to me that the plastic has multiple uses. First, it will retain heat and help the soil warm up more quickly. Then, because of the heat and moisture any weeds that overwintered in your soil will sprout. Once sprouted, the weeds will die because they are unable to get sunlight. And guess what? It worked! I had far fewer weeds in my garden last year after doing this! It has now become part of my annual garden bed prep.

In a week or so, I will also buy several bags of organic compost to add to my raised bed and help replenish the soil levels. Once this is done, it will nearly be time to plant everything! The only thing I really have left to do is design my final garden layout plan, and that is what I’ll be talking about next time!

What about you? What kinds of things do you do in the spring to get your gardens ready for planting? Let us hear it!

Thanks for reading!

So while I continue ignoring our terrible weather, I bring to you Part 4 of my Organic Gardening Series: How to Thin Seedlings. Below you can see a photo of my little tomato seedlings, which are doing quite well. I have cabbage and onion seedlings that should technically be outside already, but I’m waiting another week or so for that.

Why You Should Thin Seedlings

When you live in a cold climate where the growing season is short, it’s very likely that you’ll be starting seeds indoors up to 10 weeks before planting them outside. That’s a long time, and your little plants will need a lot of room to grow before being transplanted. If seedlings are not thinned down to 1 plant per potting cell, there won’t be enough room for all of the roots to grow and none of the plants will thrive.

I Know It Hurts

As much as it pains me to snip the little guys down, I’ve come to realize that it’s something that needs to be done. It’s so hard when seeing the first little sprouts come up give you such joy, and then you have to go through and take a bunch of them out. I’ve gotten better about thinning my seedlings over the years, and my plants have been stronger for it. My recommendation for those of you that have a hard time with this is to take your little seedlings and put them right into the compost bin. This way their sacrifice isn’t going to waste!

When to Thin Them
I generally start 3-4 seeds per pot, and thin down to the strongest one as soon as the leaves start touching each other. At this point, they’re usually between 2 and 3 inches tall.

How to Thin Them

The easiest and least invasive way to thin your seedlings is to use a pair of scissors and snip them off at the base. If you’re careful and your seedlings are still small, you may be able to gently pull them out of the soil without disturbing the roots of the other seedlings.

Before:

After:

Voila! Once thinned out, you’ll be surprised at how quickly the remaining seedlings seem to grow! Next time, I’ll be talking about transitioning your seedlings to the outdoors, and getting your garden planting started. Hopefully after our record-breaking snow amounts in April, May will quickly turn around and warm things up for us. Here’s hoping!

Thanks for reading, folks!

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

You will need the following:

Seed trays with plastic containers and clear lids
A spray bottle full of water
Seed starting soil (quality is important)
Paper and pencil
Grow lights

Step 2: The Dirt

Fill your containers with your soil, and spray it really well so the top layer is nice and damp. A good seed starting soil will be loose and fine, not dense. After they’ve sprouted, your seedlings will require a lot of nutrients to grow as quickly as they do. This is why I use Fox Farm soil; it’s fine enough for seeds to easily germinate in, but it also has the nutrients they need to grow big and strong! I also don’t have to worry about manually fertilizing the seedlings this way, which is much easier in my opinion! If you want more information about choosing a seed starting medium, check out my previous post: The Importance of Dirt.

Since I only sprayed the top of my soil, I add some water to the bottom of the tray so the soil can wick moisture up to the seeds as well.

Step 3: Planting the Seeds

I’m a lazy seed planter, I’ll admit. I don’t read the seed packets for every variety to see what their planting depth should be. I just sprinkle some seeds on the dirt, very lightly tamp it down, and then sprinkle a little more dirt over the top of the seeds. A good rule of thumb is to have your seeds at a depth that is approximately 3 times that of the seed’s diameter.

For really small seeds like Petunias or Snapdragons, I just sprinkle them on top of the soil, tamp it down lightly and call it good.

Step 4: The Lighting

Without at least 12-16 hours of bright light every day, your seedlings will get tall, stringy, and likely fall over after a few weeks. We want strong, sturdy little seedlings that will be healthy enough to withstand their eventual transition outdoors! For this reason, I recommend getting some good grow lights, and connecting them to a timer. If you’re on a budget, these are great bulbs. It’s best to keep the lights between 2-4 inches away from the tops of your seedlings.

Lastly: Ongoing Care

Once planted, water, light, and air are the three things your seedlings will need to thrive.

Water

If you watered your seed trays from the bottom as well as spraying the top, you probably won’t have to water much for the first week or two, since the seedlings won’t have any developed root systems yet. If the top of the soil looks dry, just give them a good misting.

Once sprouted, your seedlings will need a fairly steady supply of water. It’s just as important to make sure that they aren’t too wet, either. If you’re unsure of how much water to give your seedlings, I would recommend watering less. If you water too much, you risk mold, which means you could lose all of your seedlings. If you don’t give them enough water, you’ll likely notice their leaves getting a little wilted, and they should respond well to a good drink of water.

Light

As we discussed above, your seedlings will want at least 12-16 hours of light each day. They will also want a period of darkness to rest. This is why having your lights on a timer works so well. If you don’t have an automatic timer, just make sure to turn the lights off at night.

Air

Air circulation is important for two reasons. First, it is a preventive measure against mold and mildews. Second, it will help strengthen your seedlings so they will better be able to withstand outdoor winds when being transitioned outside. I like to put a fan near my seedlings once they’ve sprouted; it should be on the lowest power. If it still seems as though it’s creating too much of a breeze for your seedlings, then I just move it a little further away.

Finally, it’s important to note that a little attentiveness can go a long way when starting plants from seed. I check my seedlings every day, sometimes every two if I’m busy. It’s definitely more important to watch them closely when they’re just sprouting. Once they’ve grown a bit, then you don’t have to worry about them as much.

Well, that’s it folks. Thanks for reading! I hope all of you are enjoying nice spring weather! In the meantime, I’m wishing I could stay snuggled up at home right now.

PS – Stay tuned for Part 4, when I’ll talk about pruning and hardening off your seedlings!

While on vacation we toured around a bit, and I got to check an item off my bucket list!  On our third day, we traveled up the coast to Akumal beach. Once there, we rented snorkel equipment and began exploring the ocean.  Sure enough, just a few minutes out we saw a few sea turtles eating sea grass. This one was only a foot or two away from me; he was swimming to the surface for air.

If you ask my close friends, any of them could probably tell you that my favorite animal is the turtle. I was so excited to see these guys up close, and just floated above them for quite a while. It was really incredible, and I’m so thankful that I got to have the experience.

Obviously there was a huge variety of flora everywhere we went. Many of the plants that were growing wild in Mexico can only be grown indoors, and with a great amount of care, in Minnesota. It was refreshing to see so many flowers in bloom, and got me excited to start my garden at home.

These last two photos were taken in Cancun, the night before we flew back to Minnesota. IF you’d like to see some of my other photos from the trip, just head on over to my Flickr page.

Overall, we had a great trip! It was a much needed break from our cold and snowy Minnesota weather. Now that I’m back, I’m ready to dig in the dirt! I’ll be posting my Seed Starting guide in a couple days, so check back soon! Thanks for reading!

I’ve included a link to my garden plan, as well as a nifty seed starting timeline for folks in my hardiness zone!

Today I’ll go over my earliest phases of garden planning, which I do before I even start my seeds. The level of planning that you do can vary, but after a few years of winging it, I’ve decided to try planning things out a bit more.

I’ve got my seeds, and I’ll be ready to start some of them this week. As you can see, I have a good mix of flowers, fruits and veggies. Now that I’m going to be getting a CSA share, I’m planting fewer fruits and veggies, but more flowers.

It’s always difficult to get an exact estimate of how many seeds to start. Last year I went a little crazy with seed starting, and my seedlings did really well; there were a LOT of extra plants. I crammed more transplants into my garden than I had planned for, and even then, I still had leftovers. But after the flood, many of my community garden friends needed to replace some of their tomatoes and other vegetables, so I was able to give all of my extras away.

Garden Planning 101: Things to consider:

• How much food do you have space for? Not just in your garden, but in your home as well.
• How many people are you trying to feed?
• What will you eat or use the most (try to be realistic).

Space
First, you should calculate the square footage of your garden. I have 175 square feet of garden space. Then I like to get an idea of how much will fit into my garden. If you’re like me, and tend to plant things fairly close together, you could refer to a Square Foot Gardening resource. You can also choose to focus on a few important plants, and give them lots of room to grow.

Next, take a quick survey of your pantry and/or freezer at home. If you have a lot of space, and aren’t afraid to jump into a canning, dehydrating, or freezing project, then by all means- plant as much as you can! If you’re like me, and have a limited amount of space and experience with canning, then you need to put a bit more thought into your plan.

People
Second, think about how many people you will be feeding with your garden. Also, what do they like to eat?  If only one person really likes beets, it’s probably not a good idea to plant a lot of them.

Reality Check
Lastly, be realistic. Think about the vegetables you want to plant, and how much of each you’re likely to use. I like to try out new and interesting vegetables, but if it’s your first time growing something it’s probably best to only plant a few. Remember that harvest time is usually pretty busy, and you will likely have a huge amount of veggies to put up all around the same time (this is especially true in Minnesota where we have such a short growing season). I grew Quinoa last year, and I was really excited about it at first. Then I didn’t have time for threshing and winnowing the grain.  Oops.

My Plan
I used the Mother Earth News Garden Planner to get an idea of how much I can fit into my garden. It’s a great piece of software, and anyone can sign up for a free 30 day trial. Here’s my plan, complete with a list of my vegetables and a handy timeline for when to start, transplant, and harvest each thing! Awesome, right?

Keep in mind, this is NOT my final garden plan. I still have to take companion planting and crop rotation into account. I will probably do this in a few weeks, once it’s closer to the time I will be starting to plant cool weather crops in my garden.

Most cold climate gardeners are gearing up to start their seeds, so I’ve attached a handy Seed Starting Timeline that I created for anyone living in between zones 3b to 4b. The dates were calculated using an average last frost date around May 31st.

Free Printable Guide for Seed Starting

We’ll get down to the nitty gritty of seed starting next time! I recommend reading some of my previous posts to get ready! You can order your seeds if you haven’t done so already, and find some quality seed starting soil. Both are very important to having healthy seedlings to put in your garden!

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

Where to Get Vanilla Beans

Most people don’t realize that vanilla beans are really easy to find (cheaply) online. They are likely very expensive at your local grocery store, so I recommend getting them from Amazon. I purchased mine from them, after a recommendation by one of my girlfriends. So without further ado, below are the links to the exact beans that I got, and they come in many different quantities. (They’ve got great reviews, and even better, they all qualify for free shipping!)

You will need at least 3-4 beans per cup of vanilla extract that you intend to make.
Premium Bourbon-Madagascar Vanilla Beans – 16 beans – $11.49
Premium Bourbon-Madagascar Vanilla Beans – 1/4 lb. – Approx. 27 beans – $15.95
Premium Bourbon-Madagascar Vanilla Beans – 1 lb. – Approx. 108 beans – $44.95

I should warn you that the smell of vanilla beans is to die for; it really is intoxicating. If you’re still not sure you want to make vanilla extract yourself, I say you should do it just to smell the delicious aroma of freshly cut vanilla beans. Aah. I’m glad that I have a few left over so that I can just open the bag and smell them occasionally.

The Recipe: Make Vanilla Extract

This will make 4 cups of extract.
12-16 Vanilla beans
4 cups of vodka- the higher the quality, the better
A little patience

Supplies
Knife
Measuring cup
Clean and dry glass jars

When you’re ready, leave the ends of the beans in tact, and cut a slit through the center of each one. Then turn the bean one quarter rotation, and slice through it again. This will help the flavors to infuse really well. Once you’ve sliced all of your vanilla beans, put them into your clean glass jars and add 1 cup of vodka for every 3-4 beans. Voila! You now have vanilla extract. Once you’ve completed this process, the only thing left to do is be patient.

Your vanilla must sit for 2 months before it’s ready. Gently shake them once every week or two. It will get darker as time goes on. Once it’s ready to be used, you can simply add more vodka to replenish your supply!

If you’d like, you can even print out cute labels for your jars, like this one!

These are especially great for when you give some of your vanilla extract as a gift, or share it with friends. I put them on my jars too, just because I think they’re so darn cute! Now, time to get baking!

Thanks for reading!

The days are getting longer, and hopefully warmer, which means it’s time to start ordering seeds for your garden. When looking for seeds, you will find that seed companies can vary greatly in quality. After starting seeds from many different companies, I can honestly say that I’ve had the very best luck with seeds from smaller companies. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is absolutely wonderful; they are a small family owned farm in Missouri.

So, if you’re planning to have a garden this year, your first step should be to order seeds. If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to order at least a couple good seed catalogs to look at during the gloomiest months of winter. Here are the two I got this year:

Request Your Own Seed Catalogs
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Seed Savers Exchange
Territorial Seed Company
Johnny’s Selected Seeds

On Choosing Seeds

So, you’ve got your catalogs, and you’re ready to decide what to order. It’s important to know what can easily be started from seed in your area, or if it would be best to purchase transplants. This is something that I always have to consider, being in zone 4 with a short growing season. It’s important to know how long your growing season is, and to consider how long each plant will take to produce.

If you’d rather not start seeds indoors, then make sure you’re only ordering seeds that will do well to direct sow in your garden. In Minnesota, there are certain things that I cannot grow by direct sowing. Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are a few examples. If I didn’t start these plants from seed myself, I would have to go to my farmer’s market and purchase transplants for them because our growing season is too short.

Tip #1: Know your Terminology: Heirloom, Hybrid, Genetically Modified (GMO), Determinate, Indeterminate, etc. etc.
Heirloom seeds have been around for generations, and are the most reliable if you intend on saving seeds from your garden. They are the most likely to give you viable seeds that will produce plants that are the most genetically similar to the parent plants.
Hybrid seeds will give you child plants produced from the cross pollination of two different plants. Often times these hybrids are purposefully bred to gain the most beneficial characteristics from the two parent plants; disease resistance, better productivity, etc.
Genetically Modified seeds are seeds that have been genetically engineered in a lab to have specific properties. This is very different from hybridization because they can combine genes from two completely different plants that could never naturally crossbreed. Doing this can actually damage the DNA of the plant, and create unwanted (and potentially harmful) genetic mutations. This means that the genes of the original plant may change the way they function, possibly activating genes that can trigger allergies, or even create specific biological toxins. Moral of the story: try to avoid GMO seeds.
Determinate and Indeterminate are terms that you will most likely come across when looking for tomatoes. So, which type of tomato plants should you get? Determinate or indeterminate? Well, that depends on your garden, and the answer could easily be both! So what’s the difference? Determinate tomato plants are generally more compact. The plant will stay more bush-like, and will bear it’s crop all at once. Determinate varieties are better suited to containers, so they would be the best choice if you’re garden is on your patio. Another thing to note with determinate varieties is that you should NOT cut off the suckers of the plant, as doing so could stunt it’s growth. As for indeterminate varieties, they are pretty much the exact opposite. They will grow large and vine-like, while producing fruit throughout the entire season. Because they get so big, they will likely need more staking than determinate varieties, and also do well when the suckers are cut off.

Tip #2: Have a (Basic) Garden Plan
At this point, you should have a very general plan for what you want to plant in your garden. It’s important to know how much you can expect to fit in your garden, and how much of each plant you’ll have space for. If you’re an experienced gardener, this will be fairly easy, since you’ll already have an idea of what will go where, etc. If this is your first time gardening in a specific space, I would recommend staying tuned in for the next post in this series, which is going to be all about Garden Planning!

Tip #3: Try Something New
Last year I tried Quinoa, and this year I’m trying out several new things. Chinese Noodle Beans, for instance. I’m pretty excited about those, and I also plan to grow Bok Choy and Kale for the first time. I also found a variety of Canteloupe called the Minnesota Midget, that I’m going to try growing, as they are a small, shorter season variety. I found a fantastic pin on Pinterest about how to grow melons in cool climates.

With these tips, you should be ready to order your seeds. I almost never use all of my seeds in a year, so don’t be afraid to ask a friend to go in on your seed order with you! Also, don’t forget to read reviews and do a bit of Googling if you’re unsure of a certain seed type. Or comment here, and I’ll do my best to help you out!

Thanks for reading!

What is a CSA, you may ask? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Having a CSA farm share is a wonderful way to give your family amazing, quality food, from a nearby local farmer. When we found the Lake Superior CSA, we sent in our application right away. We’re both super excited for all of the farm fresh goodies that we’ll be getting starting in May, and personally, I can’t wait to see what we each decide to do with all of our wonderful foods!

About our CSA share

We’re starting out small, since this is a first for both of us. Our share is a Whole Diet share, with an additional Grains and Goodies share for the 11-month contract. Over those 11 months, we will be getting approximately this much food:

Whole Diet Share
PASTURED POULTRY:
12 chickens, 1 holiday turkey
WILD FISH:
22 lbs of Lake Superior fish
100% GRASS-FED LAMB
11 lbs lamb (ground, kabob and/or stew) plus one boneless leg of lamb
100% GRASS-FED BEEF:
38 lbs of ground (1 lb packs), 8 lbs of roasts, 7 lbs of steaks
PASTURED PORK:
50 lbs of assorted cuts of pork (chops, roasts, hams, ham steaks, ground, brats, pork steaks, etc)
ORGANIC EGGS:
1 dozen every other week May 22 – October 16
ORGANICALLY GROWN VEGETABLES:
Every other week, May 22 – October 23 – 3/4 bushel box of seasonal vegetables
Monthly, November – March – 3/4 bushel box of storage vegetables and seasonal hardy greens
BAYFIELD FRUIT:
Every other week, late-June – October – 4 lbs of Bayfield fruit
SEASONAL EXTRAS:
Honey, maple syrup, and other tasty treats
Grains and Goodies share
11 lbs farmstead cheese
8 – 3 lb bags of Maple Hill Farm Four
3 – 3 lb bags of Maple Hill Farm Pancake Mix
11 – 1/2 pint jars of Spirit Creek Farm Garlic Scape Pesto
11 – 1/2 pint jars of Great Oak Farm Organic Honey
18 loaves of Starlit Kitchen bread
18 various baked goodies from Starlit Kitchen
11 pints of Bayfield Apple Company Jams & Jellies
11 – 6 packs of White Winter Winery’s NA fruit spritz
11 pints of Spirit Creek Farm fermented veggies

So yeah, it sounds like a lot of food. Still, I’m incredibly psyched to start getting our deliveries! I’m particularly excited about having fresh eggs and berries. I don’t usually eat much beef, lamb, or pork, but I’m looking forward to trying out new recipes. And I figured that if I am going to eat any of those meats, this is the best way to get it, since the animals were all well cared for and treated humanely.

I am still planning on having a full vegetable garden of my own this summer, so we’ll see how crazy I’m going to be during harvest time. I may try to adjust my garden plans to accommodate more flowers and fewer high maintenance vegetables. Anyhow, I’m glad that I have a few months before we’re going to start getting food. Now I have time to clear out our freezer and pantry before I’ll starting putting anything up again! Sounds like fun, right?

How to Join a CSA

If you’re interested in joining a CSA yourself, then firstly I’d like to say that you’re awesome! Secondly, I would recommend checking out Local Harvest to find a CSA near you. You can also just Google “CSA + your location.” It’s also a good idea to search popular local websites. We actually found ours via Perfect Duluth Day, not through Google or Local Harvest.

Bonus Salsa Recipe!

This is the Best. Salsa. Ever. I’m not lying. It even has cucumbers in it.

I admit that I don’t actually can this salsa, I just keep everything in canning jars. But it’s amazing when everything is fresh out of the garden.
Recipe
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeds removed and minced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 large red or orange pepper, diced
3 large chopped tomatoes
1/2 large cucumber, diced
1/4 bunch of cilantro leaves (or parsley if you prefer)
juice of 1 large lime
1 t kosher salt
a dash (or two) of your favorite hot sauce

I did all of this by hand, but it can be done with a food processor as well. Once everything is mixed together I refrigerate it for a bit so the flavors can mix. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve fresh with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading, folks!

If you haven’t heard our stories about the flood or escaped zoo animals, you can read more about it here, here, or here.  Other than the poor little zoo animals, we were quite lucky that no lives were lost.  The damage to the city however, is major.

Even my garden on the rooftop could not escape the damage caused by the heavy rains.  Our drainage on the roof is good, but still not quite good enough.  Here’s a shot of my garden from yesterday afternoon after the rain cleared up a bit.

Luckily, I was able to drain quite a bit of this water thanks to a loose board on the side of the garden bed.

On my way down to see my garden, I took a few shots of the runoff and the damage that was done do our streets.

This was right by my house! The road was completely destroyed.

You can’t see it, but there are HUGE holes in the street as you go down. The pavement was completely torn apart.

No one I know sustained any major damage to their homes or cars as far as I know, but it’s still sad to think of all that was lost with this huge storm. I know that we’ll be repairing damage from this one night for at least another year or two, possibly longer. It makes me realize how easily disaster can happen, and I feel very grateful for what I have.

On a more positive note, I’m really looking forward to my time in Michigan! We’re going to the Balloon Fest this weekend, and I’m really excited to see a hot air balloon! I’ve NEVER seen one before. And yes, I did grow up in the middle of nowhere, thank you very much.

I won’t be at the computer at all until I get back to MN on the 26th. Until then, I hope everyone has a great weekend, and good weather!

Botanic Beauties – a collection of leaves I picked during a hike last weekend in Minneapolis.

Romance in Yellow – Fresh Ranunculus flowers that I found at Bachman’s while in Minneapolis. They’re one of my favorite flowers.

Latte for Your Thoughts – my espresso latte from Sun Street Breads. It was so yummy I almost drank it all before I got a picture!

Sailboat Races – several sailboats parked on their trailers just off the shore. The Duluth Sailboat Races started a few weeks ago.

I’m back to work tomorrow, so I guess I’m okay with this yucky weather continuing for a couple days. I just hope it’ll be nicer for the upcoming weekend, as we have a wedding in Rochester, MN to go to.

Also, I added more photos to my Flickr photostream, if you’d like to take a look. I have yet to add any new prints to my Etsy shop, but feel free to contact me if you see one that you’d like to have available for purchase!

Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a wonderful week!