It’s not Saturday anymore, but here’s the Saturday on the Farm update anyway.  🙂

I went for a walk yesterday (Saturday) to check for signs of spring. Here’s what I found:

My Chives are coming up! Looks like I’ll be able to use some shortly. yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was very surprise to find Daffodils opening in the front yard! The plants only get a few inches tall this year, I’m not sure why. Maybe all our 20 degree weather stunted their growth. I was just happy to see them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Iris’s are coming up in the a/c garden. Yes, that is the very original name we gave the garden on one end of the house that goes around the a/c. We’re really clever like that. lol These are brown tipped on the edges. I’m guessing from the weather, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wild Roses are leafing out! This one is in the back yard by my clothesline. I love to hang out clothes when they are in bloom. They smell so good! Then while the roses are still blooming, the honeysuckle blooms. I could stand out there all day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also got my tomato seeds planted this week in my little newspaper pots. I planted these two varieties. Seeds of Change S10772 Certified Organic Roma Paste Tomato (affiliate link) and Ferry-Morse 3140 Organic Tomato Seeds, Beefsteak (600 Milligram Packet) (affiliate link)  Now to just get the rest of the seeds started!

 

Do you have any signs of spring where you live?

 

 

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I planted carrots last August and left them to over winter in the garden as a test. I pulled some up the other day and they were great! The biggest one I pulled was 5″. The the biggest carrot I’ve ever been able to grow in this Kentucky mud. (Don’t laugh at me! lol) The tasted so good, too! So much better than store bought carrots. I will definitely be planting more carrots this spring, as well as planting some for the winter.

 

We had another large garden spot a few years ago. We used it for several years before letting it go back to grass. Last May, I think it was, we covered it with cardboard to take it back for gardening. Here’s what it looked like today. You can see the older cardboard in comparison to a new piece of cardboard in the lower right front of the picture.

And when I pulled back some of the old cardboard, this is what I found. Nice soil just waiting to be planted. We’ll be planting sweet corn and green beans in this section.

I love using cardboard in the garden. It kills off the grass and weeds while retaining moisture. A few years ago while watching a gardening segment on a tv show, the owner of a landscaping and gardening company recommend using cardboard in the garden. She said that the cardboard breaks down into a protein that attracts worms. I tried researching that but couldn’t find anything about the protein. I even called my local extension agent and asked him. He didn’t know anything about the protein, either, but said that cardboard was good in the garden and that the moist environment under it would attract worms. We do have a lot of worms under ours. So I do recommend using cardboard. It also saves a lot of time weeding!

Here are the remaining carrots in the garden, with the cardboard pulled back from the row. You can see we have weeds started already in with the carrots, but look how nice the soil is where the cardboard was. The carrot tops in this picture are the same size as the ones in the carrot picture above, they look smaller because of the angle of the camera. I can’t wait to pick more of them to eat!

On my way back from the vegetable garden, I stopped at the Bible Garden to take a picture of the Hardy Cyclamen. This stays green all winter long. In the spring I get beautiful light purple flowers, then the plant dies off in the middle of summer, only to grow back in the fall. It’s nice to have something green sticking up from the snow. 🙂

Have you ever used cardboard in the garden? I’d love to hear how you use it!

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Carrot Tops – I did not know you could eat the carrot tops!
Guide to Growing Herbs
How to Grow Microgreens – I’ve never heard of microgreens before, I want to grow some now!
Raised Row Gardening
8 Aromatic Indoor Herbs Which Purify Air
Herbs You Should Plant This Year

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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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