It’s seed starting time! YAY! Since I have no outdoor pictures to share this week, I thought I’d share how I made my seed start pots from newspapers. The seed starter kits sold in the stores are handy, but they are so expensive. This is a much more frugal option.They go together really fast, you can get your kids to help, and you’ll be done in no time. Here’s how I make mine.

You likely have all the materials you need already on hand. You’ll need newspapers, a vegetable can, and a pan or tray of some sort to put the pots in. I have used disposable pans in these pictures. You can use plastic dish pans or anything that has sides and can keep water from leaking out.

To start, take one page of the newspaper, not a two page section. Just rip the two page section down the middle, no scissors needed. Kids love doing this, and the grain of the paper tears straight so it’s easy for them to do.

Fold this one page section in half, the long way, side to side, not top to bottom. Then lay it down on the table and place the can on it, leaving a couple of inches hanging off the can at the bottom.

Now roll the can keeping the edges lined up, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. My kids love to do this.

After rolling the section around the can, turn it over so the newspaper hanging off the bottom of the can is on top. Fold these edges down so it looks like this. After folding, turn your can right side up, and press the bottom down on your table to crease the paper.

Then pull the newspaper pot off the can. The bottoms will stay closed without securing them with any tape or glue.

And put your pots in the pan.

The next step is to fill with dirt and plant your seeds. You don’t have to fill them all the way to the top, you can leave an inch or so of newspaper at the top and it doesn’t get in the way. I love using these, instead of the store bought seed starter trays, as when the seedlings get bigger, you don’t have to transplant them into something bigger before moving outside.

When it’s time to plant your seedlings in the garden, take one of the seedling pots, rip the newspaper off the bottom and plant the whole thing in the garden. The newspaper has really softened up after a couple of months of watering, and rips very easily. The newspaper will decompose in the garden, just as it would in your compost pile, so no need to remove it from the seedlings.

Now, only about 50 more pots to make!

Have you started any seeds yet for your garden?

 

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Cold Frame Gardening
Growing Blueberries
Build a Whizbang Wheel Hoe
How to Make Charcoal at Home
When to Start Vegetable Seeds – tempature chart
Planting Calendar – when to plant according to your zip code

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It’s been a wild weather week here in Kentucky! In the last week, we’ve had morning temps as low as 2*, snow, freezing rain, 70* temps, then morning temps as low as 2*, and snow. In that order! On the 70* day, my son found a dandelion in the yard and brought it to me.

 

Here is what my Daffodils looked like this morning.

We’ are still under a winter weather advisory until tomorrow morning, with more snow coming. Crazy Kentucky weather! lol Oh, did I mention the Kentucky mud? Because when the weather warmed up, all the snow and ice melted to make a lovely red mud. Then it rained for two days. At least the mud is freezing again now. lol So needless to say, the only gardening I’ve done this week is thinking about what I’m going to plant.

Since we’re down to one dog and three cats, all outdoor, the outdoor chores are a minimum right now. Other than making sure the dog and cats have a warm place to sleep. And extra food to eat. I can’t wait for spring and some new chickens, though. I want some fresh eggs again!

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Teaching Your Kids to Homestead
Herb Profile – Elderberries
How to Easily Start Seeds Indoors on the Cheap
Favorite Fruit Varieties and Where to Find Them
Fenced Garden and Chicken Coop
27 Medicinal Plants Worth Your Garden Space

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It’s definitely winter here in Kentucky!

Icicles on my back porch. And an ice covered cedar tree. I took both of these from my covered back porch without actually stepping onto any ice. lol Ice is definitely not my friend. I’d end up flat on the ground. lol

While looking a the picture above, my father in laws garage, and my mothers yard across the street look like they are covered in snow, but that is in face ice! Yes, my father in law lives next door to us, and my mother lives across the street. We like it that way. 🙂 You can’t see the road in the picture, but there is a road between the brown garage and the hill.

So, yes, it’s quite cold and icy here. I have been planning this years garden. In my head. I have also been organizing my seeds like I said I was going to. In my head. roflol Well, I know where I will store the seeds and how I will store them. I have one of those old library card catalog file drawers in my schoolroom. I’ll be putting the seeds in a couple of those drawers. I’m just not sure if I want to file them in alphabetical order, or in order of planting.

If I file them in order of planting, what do I do about the seeds that I can plant twice, spring and fall? Just refile them after planting? hmmm…….

How do you organize your seeds?

 

 

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It’s been really cold here in Kentucky still. We had a really hard frost this morning. It was 10 degrees on our back porch this morning! I would have taken a picture, but it was too cold to go outside! I took this picture from my front door after it warmed up a little. Into the 20’s. lol  The poor Butterfly bush looks so bedraggled after a major pruning this fall. The stairs on the hill lead up to the road.

The angel in the picture is from our Nativity scene. I go the indoor Christmas decorations packed up, but we’ve had a cold go through our house, and no one has felt up to putting the outdoor Nativity scene away. The angel isn’t really lit up, that’s the morning sun shining through the plastic. It looks cool, anyway, I think.

I didn’t get my seeds sorted this week like I wanted to. I really have to do that this week so I can get some seeds started. Last year I waited too long to start them indoors so I don’t want to make that mistake again.

Do you start seed indoors in January?

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Hostas are edible! – includes a recipe
Free printable end of season garden tracker
The complete quide to seed saving – video

Green House Plans
PVC Pipe Plans – Lots of awesome projects!
The Easiest Fruiting Plants to Grow

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It’s that time of year!  Time to start planning next years garden!

I have to sort through my seeds and organize them. They are in a sad state of disorganization. sigh…. That doesn’t stop me from planning, though!

For a few  years now, I’ve been wanting to get a Meyer Lemon Tree, a Fig Tree and Elderberries. This is the year! Now I just have to decide where to order them from. One of the major companies that has a coupon on the front of their catalog seems to have the best price. But is it the best quality? hmmmm…… I think I’ll be ordering the Elderberries from some place else,  but I do like the guarantee from the big company.

What to do, what to do….

Here’s the Meyer Lemon Tree I’m considering getting.

And here’s the Fig Tree I’m considering getting.

Anybody have any experience with either of these trees? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

It’s been below freezing and we’ve even had a dusting of snow this week, so I have no current pictures to share. Here’s a picture of an Iris from earlier this  year.

 

 

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Saturday on the Farm update.  Here are a few pictures of the end of the harvest.

I froze lots of green bell peppers. Some diced, strips, and halves for stuffed peppers. It is so convenient to pull these out of the freezer. I plan on growing and freezing even more next year.

I still didn’t get to can tomatoes yet. I froze them until I get the chance, and feel up to it. We washed, cored, and bagged. So when I’m ready, I can just pull them out and dump them into the pan.

 

This is my delightful Burning Bush in my Bible Garden. This picture does not do it justice. I couldn’t get a picture that showed the fabulous red leaves at their best.

The leaves are all gone now, and the bush is still striking with the brown branches and all the red berries.

 

Now it’s time to plan next years garden! Have you started planning yours yet?

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Grow Your Own Tea
Root Cellars 101
Chicken Treats
Printable Elderberry PDF’s – Lots of great information about elderberries
Growing Ginger

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I’ve been busy this week trying to stay caught up with preserving out harvest. The zucchini is staying ahead of me, though. lol I shredded 5 two cup bags worth of zucchini this week and put them in the freezer. In the big bag in the back, you can see two other small bags I already froze. I put the small bags inside a big bag to keep them from falling all over the freezer. And my toes. lol I have about  6 or 7 zucchinis waiting to do something with. As soon as I get the energy, I want to can pineapple zucchini.

Here’s some of what we harvested this week. Zucchini, raspberries and what we think might be the last picking of the green beans. There’s still some out there, but we have to make sure we save enough for next years seeds.

And more red raspberries another day.

Here’s my helper Hannah picking an Armenian Cucumber.

Here’s my  youngest, Zach with our harvest that morning. Two Armenian Cucumbers, yellow squash, a tomato and a green pepper. yum!

I was surprised this week with two more Hibiscus flowers. Beautiful.

Have you harvested any interesting vegetables lately, or had any surprise flowers?

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Propagating Elderberry Bushes
Maple Sugar – how to videos
Homemade Fertilizer

Use Lime to Kill Ticks
Greenhouses Made From Old Windows and Doors
DIY PVC Tomato Cage

 

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