2018 Update: Weather here in the Pacific Northwest isn’t nearly as strange as what our friends in Ireland or on the East Coast are dealing with. What I’m seeing is actually pretty typical for early March in the Pacific Northwest: a back and forth between blustery, cold, wintery weather and drizzly, mild spring weather. In my…
Seed Starting
5 Things Friday 3/2/18
Five Things Friday: where I assemble assorted favorites, oddities, announcements, discoveries, random thoughts, life tidbits and whatever else wasn’t quite long enough for a real post. This week: the sky split apart! Plus, organizing the larder to eat it down, reading with kids and more. Have a great weekend, friends! Do One Little Thing This…
5 Things Friday 2/23/18
Five Things Friday: where I assemble assorted favorites, oddities, announcements, discoveries, random thoughts, life tidbits and whatever else wasn’t quite long enough for a real post. This week: thinking about garden clean-up, snow in the garden, rethinking school and more. Have a great weekend, friends! Do One Little Thing This Week If you are in…
All the Seed Terminology You Need To Know
Gardening has lingo. Some of the terminology surrounding seeds, seed starting, and growing is pretty intuitive and some is more obscure or weird. But it helps to understand these seed-related terms if you want to navigate a seed catalog, ask accurate questions, look things up, or just sound like you know what you’re talking about….
My Seed Order for 2018
I think we need to add a new term to the general lexicon. Stress-induced Seed Acquisition Syndrome. SSAS. We can pronounce it like sass. SSAS is closely related to other Homestead acquisition and purchasing disorders, such as: Chicken Math Delusion Syndrome (CMDS) – the belief that your 4 x 8 foot chicken coop can totally…
5 Things Friday 2/2/18
Five Things Friday: where I assemble assorted favorites, oddities, announcements, discoveries, random thoughts, life tidbits and whatever else wasn’t quite long enough for a real post. This week, beginning seed starting, a great daily-use insulated coffee mug, and why the one crazy hack they don’t want you to know is…doing the work. Hope your weekend is…
February Gardening Chores For The Pacific Northwest
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s February. You know what that means? It’s time to get going. I can feel it, and I’ll bet you can too – that little twitch in your hand that says, “alright, baby, let’s start some tomatoes!” February typically marks the beginning of the big seed starting effort around here. Not just…
5 Things Friday 1/26/18
Five Things Friday is where I assemble assorted favorites, oddities, announcements, discoveries, random thoughts, life tidbits and whatever else wasn’t quite long enough for a real post. This week: resist buying stupid seed starting gear! Plus, why I love magnesium to help manage stress, The Resilient Farm and Homestead, perennial herbs and more.
How To Grow Onions: The 4 Things You Need To Know For Success
Onions can be weird. Here are four things you need to know to grow them successfully. First, they are oddly finicky about daylight length. Second, they can be grown as a fresh eating vegetable or a storage vegetable. Third, there are enough onion varieties to bog down even the most decisive garden planner. Last – but certainly not least in the confusion department – you can grow them from seed, set, or from plant starts.
How To Wash and Disinfect Gardening Pots
Before every gardening season it’s a good idea to wash, rinse and disinfect your seed starting pots. There are many very good reasons for this, all boiling down to: “avoid giving your baby plants a dirt disease.” Confession time: it’s been probably four years since I’ve given my pots a proper scrub-down. Do as I say,…
How And Why To Do A Seed Germination Test
So…a year without gardening for me also meant a year without buying seeds. Well, ok, maybe I bought a few packets early last year before I collapsed into homesteading ennui. But I have only a handful of seeds from 2016 and none labeled 2017. Of course, because I have suffered from seed hoarding disorder for…
Are LED Grow Lights Worth The Money?
Reader Chris wrote in several weeks ago, asking about LED Grow Lights. Have you revisited LED Grow Lights lately? I want to start some transplants earlier than usual this year, and my normal method of raising transplants won’t work. I need to invest in some grow lights and I really don’t want to buy fluorescent tubes…