Seedlings

My seedlings are popping up! Its so fun everyday to see who decided to come up above the soil. Each day there is a new variety that decided to stretch out towards the sun in my patio door. The last one to pop up is my parsley, I am thinking that I got a bad batch of seeds. I bought the parsley seeds at Wal Mart, I should have ordered them from Territorial.

I decided it would be a good idea to buy a shelf to put in the patio door when my puppy gladly tasted the first batch of basil that I grew. I made the mistake of putting them on the floor in the sun and 20 minutes later they were gone! But the shelf works well. I normally have flats of seedlings spread all out on the floor in front of the window and worry someone will step on them. Now they are all up against the glass and it looks nice too.

I planted my herbs, 4 varieties of tomatoes and 3 kinds of peppers. I like to put the herbs in cans. Its a free pot and it looks cool to sell them at market. I planted the tomatoes and peppers in peat pots for easier transplanting. My tomatoes and peppers will go in the garden.

In two more weeks I need to start my pumpkins, zucchini, summer squash, cukes and eggplant. They get so big so fast that you don't want them in the house too long. Its so fun to watch all of this growing! And before you know it they will all need to go into the garden. Then the real work begins!

My Seed Order!

Its March 2nd and I finally decided to order my seeds. The snow is almost off my deck and my seed trays are sitting out in front of the patio door waiting to be started, so it must be time. My Cool Breeze Cucumbers were already sold out so I almost waited too long!

I like to order from Territorial Seed Company. They have really nice seeds and the newsprint pages make me really happy in January. I like to read seed catalogs like a novel so it takes me weeks to choose which varieties I will order. I sit there with my highlighter and my post it flags for hours reading every choice, trying to decide which will be best. The funny thing is I tend to end up ordering my favorites over and over. Renegade Beans just do the best and are so sweet! Teton Spinach grows so much later into the season than other varieties I've chosen, and there is nothing like a Sugar Snap Pea! They are so yummy raw, I think I eat as many as I pick to sell.

But I did decide to venture out on a few new things this year. I've never grown Beets before, and my sister sold quite a few, so I chose Red Ace. They sound good. I hear Kale is the big thing for next year so I decided on Dwarf Siberian. He sounds fun! Then there are Radishes. I never like Radishes till last year at the market when I finally tasted one. They are good! But I did try one from the grocery store in February and that just doesn't work. I couldn't help it, I ordered 2 varieties of Radishes, Cherry Belle and Red Head. Don't they sound interesting?

http://www.territorialseed.com/

Now I have a sign...

I hated to do it. But I did. I painted OVER the "Garden Girls" sign that my Sister and I had made for last year. But Teri isn't doing the Market with me anymore and so I needed my own name and a sign.

My sign needed to show everyone who I am. It needs to show that I am earthy and organic, but like things nice at the same time. It shows that organic gardens have bugs. You love the good bugs and the bad bugs you pick off, share your veggies with or spray with something organic. We have dandelions. That is why our farm is called Dandylion Hills. You just remove them from the areas where you don't want them growing. The goldfinches love to eat their seeds. Some people love to eat the greens and say they are good for you. I have a wine recipe that I should try to make. Maybe not.

So I have spent the last 3 days searching through gardening books, magazines and online for all of my images and ideas. What else is there to do in February in Minnesota. It was fun and got me excited to hang up my sign the first day of Market. I like it!

Dreaming of Garlic-

Its a cold, windy day and I am trying to organize my gardening info that I have collected over the years. And then I got to all my garlic stuff.

I wonder how its doing underneath all that snow?

You plant garlic in October and cover it with 3 inches of straw. It pops up with the weeds and the daffodils in the spring. The garlic scapes are awesome looking and its an upright, happy plant with all of the goodies hiding under the ground. You have no idea whats underneath until you dig it up in July and its beautiful. I love it!

Last year I planted Music and Blossom. They were great, but the obsession grew. Because once you taste garlic from a garden you will never want the pathetic, boring stuff from Cub again! So I found some more bulbs at the Renaissance Festival, Spanish Rojo and Silver White. Then I traded some of my garlic starts for a friends. I acquired Georgian Crystal, German Extra Hardy and Chesnook Red!

I think that if I decide to try more varieties I had better make my garden bigger! Funny how that happens.

My first blog post!

Here we go.

I feel like Julie in "Julie and Julia", one of my favorite movies right now.

I thought this would be a good idea to keep up with friends and family and to let people who do go to the market what is new and exciting at our place.

It is January in Minnesota and cabin fever hasn't quite set in yet. But I am thinking it is time to pull out the garden catalogs and get my order in. Especially since I want to start some plants in the house. I usually start herbs for the market and tomato and pepper plants. I have had pretty good luck with this, especially since I got my little green house last spring. So I will let you know what seeds I decide to order soon.

Tami