Seed Catalogs

The catalogs are coming, the catalogs are coming!   I have been going through the seed bin and ordering new seed for this year.  It forces a discussion of what the general plan is for the garden year.  I am trying to stick to the New Year's resolution of more family, more friends, less stress, and more fishing, but the easiest part of gardening is picking out seeds to grow.  Last year, I used up quite a few odds and ends of seeds that were three years old and newer.  This year we have to order enough for this year and some seeds that will carryover for the next year also.  Vegetables like lettuce, carrots, squash, beans, and peas, for instance, don't seem to lose too much germination ability over that period.  Other seeds such as onions are really best that first year.  Cucumber's and melon's seed which are long and flat can get brittle in their packages and can break which ends their viability.  If I had time and inclination, I could move the seeds into dark glass jars for safe keeping, but instead I don't order too far ahead. I try to buy organic seeds, but there are some hybrids from non-organic sources I have been growing for over 20 years that I just can't give up on or find an adequate substitute. I highly recommend High Mowing Seed Company this year!

WWOOFing

I am a member of WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.  The idea is to trade work on the farm for a view of the local area and a place to stay and maybe get food, all the while soaking up whatever can be learned about farming etc. in the process.  I have been "hosting" woofers, as the other parties are known, for 8 years.  It has been mostly an enjoyable experience, with only an occasional glitch, someone taking advantage of my good nature and food source, or someone not able to really help.  The trade off is having someone or someones in and around your home all summer.  The good part is it keeps my view of things fresh and I get cheap labor.  I am toying with the idea of NOT woofing this summer.  There is some pretty good options on local folks who want to help and I don't have to feed or board them.  Managerially, it would free me up immensely, as even when I don't feel like working all day, I have to find things for these people sitting in my house to do!   Sometimes I am not sure we are coming out ahead if they are heavy eaters... Anyway, I will let you know.  If this is something you are interested in doing on one side or another, I would recommend it on the whole.  I just want to do things a little differently this year.

Paper Poinsettias

Someone gave me a bag of this rolled paper to make some craft items and bows out of.  I found myself a bit bored watching football yesterday and started this project to decorate jars of jam I am giving away as presents. I only used red and a mossy green string of paper, but you could add pink petals or different green leaves if you wish. Unroll the paper to get some sheets to work with.  Cut petals from the red, some larger ones 5 or 6, and some smaller ones for the middles of the flowers.  Leave stems on the ends of the petals to wrap together when making the flowers.  Cut some leaves from the green and make oak leaf shapes to imitate poinsettia's leaves.  I only had 4 leaves per flower.  My flowers were small to go on the jars, but you could make some life-size ones if you wanted, might even be a little easier.  Gather the petals like a bouquet twisting together the stem ends.  Add leaves to the outside and a sheet of green to cover the whole group twisting some more to hold the whole thing together.  It is a little tricky until they seem to come together at the last minute.  I used quite a bit of gold glitter glue to make the middles and then added green glittler glue to the leaves.  For the next flower, I put the green glitter glue on before I built my flower, a good idea.  You could also accent the red petals with red glitter glue something I haven't tried yet, but the day is young! Wire together and use wire ends to attach for tree decoration, package topping, or to place in bouquet.

Winter garden

I have a few lettuce heads, spinach, a few carrots, and broccoli, kale, and chard left in the greenhouse, well until some animal breaks in to rob me.  So far, so good, though, as I just put the berry fencing in front of the doors and that seems to be enough to keep anyone from challenging the doors.  The tissues are weak as they have survived 20 degrees and warm days over this last weekend, but the carrots are super sweet.  I also have some parsnips, but they are still pretty small.  May have to harvest some to roast whole soon, just to give them a try.  Supposedly they turn very sweet (probaly like the carrots, huh?)after a freeze, and they have certainly had that!

Garden Catalogs

The garden catalogs are coming already!  I remember when they used to wait until after the first of January to send them out.  I can't get excited yet.  I know I want to do more fun and less drudgery next year in the garden.  I also want to put things on automatic watering set-ups to free up away time.  I will thumb through the catalogs, but only for a source for dried flowers, one of the fun things I want to grow next year. I want to grow some heirloom dried beans, too, but I will find them in one of the catalogs that hasn't made the jump to hyperspeed. 

Making A Pomander

I made a pomander.  I used an apple because it is so much easier to poke the cloves in than an orange.  Get cloves in the bulk spice area of a market or this could cost a fortune.I covered the whole thing, but you can make patterns that will dry together or add ribbon.  In the olden days, pomander which came from the French meaning "apple of amber" consisted of a ball of resin formed in part from ambergris from whales, civet and deer musk.  Spices were added and it made a hard ball that smelled good, we hope.  This ball was carried in a cover as a necklace to ward off infection and at least bad odors.  Later versions such as what I made were kept in linen closets to prevent moths.  I just like to have them around for a clovey holiday smell.

Fall and Winter Gardening

If you haven't worn yourself out with summer gardening, you can think about planting crops for fall and winter.  I should have posted this in August as it is too late for this year, but something to think about if you are missing your supply of fresh vegetables from your garden. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, Binda Cloebrook has the Bible on the subject in her Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest.  It gives time tables for planting to have things to eat now.  Her information dates back to the beginnings of the organization, Tilth, in the early 1970's, and she has a friendly view of the subject.  Eliot Coleman's Four Season Harvest is the other book I know gives specific instructions on planting for fall and winter production.  The timing is the tricky part, more so than temperature.  If the days are not long enough and your spinach isn't already up and with it by mid-September, it just can't seem to muster the energy to make big leaves.  Root crops are perhaps the exception.  With their growth underground, day length is not such a factor, though cold days prevent the soil from warming enough for growth.  Makes for over-wintered dinky carrots that will grow again in spring though they may be hairy.  All in all, experimentation is always the best to figure out what grows well for you.  Cold frames, cloches, tunnels, and greenhouses break all the rules each extending the seasons a bit.