Gardening Weekend + Surprises!

Sometimes, I'm real nervous about starting plants from seeds.  REAL nervous.  A lot of times, you just don't know if the seeds are good or bad, but I hate the wait most of all.  What I do love is how some plants just pop up over night!  I started my kale and collards about 2 weeks ago and one day there was nothing happening but the next morning, these cute little sprouts were busting out! Once they really started to grow, I moved them into my greenhouse for some good blast of sun.  I wanted to make sure they didn't get too leggy.  I also moved my chamomile and columbine into the greenhouse as well.

kale on the left and collards on the right

On my windowsill, I started more mint and wanted to try growing more rosemary...

Valentine's Strawberry Shortcake

Happy V-Day!  The boyfriend and I don't do much for Valentine's Day but I love to do a little cooking!

It's Seed Starting Time!

The weather has been nutz!!  I walked out yesterday morning and saw that my tulips were starting to come up!! Yikes!  I tried to cover them up with some more mulch and I'm glad I did because it SNOWED!!  What a weird day.  Anyway, I started the first phase of seed starting.  I started my kale, collards, eggplants, peppers and some flowers about a week ago using my empty toilet paper rolls and whatever scavenged containers I had saved from last year. The window over my kitchen sink has become the prime place to start seeds. For some reason, the plants LOVE that window.  My mint that I had propagated from cuttings went crazy so I'm starting more cuttings as well as some more basil.

The first to sprout was my chamomile!! I think it only took about 2 days!

Jelly Jar Terrariums

So my clever Venus fly trap gnat controller was a bit of a failure.  I think the gnats were too small and light that it wouldn't trigger the plant.  And I had no idea that the plants needed humidity and lots of moisture.  I walked in to check on the Venus fly traps and they were a little sad looking.  I decided to retire them and create a nice, humid environment by putting them in terrariums.  I saved plenty of jelly jars and they were the perfect size for these tiny plants....

A Natural Solution to a Gnat Infestation

Last year I had a little gnat infestation that started with a bad bag of Miracle Grow potting soil. By the way, I am never buying MG soils again, organic or their regular type.  Well, I brought my mint plant in to over winter and lo and behold, I started noticing gnats flying everywhere!  I realized a little too late that I had planted the mint in MG soil. :-(  Well, now my basil plants are being over run with gnats as well.  Arrrgh!  I went to Lowe's today, and by the way it's 70 degrees here in January, to look for sticky traps or any other gnat or flying bug traps but discovered they had Venus fly traps!  Tiny ones to boot!!!  What a better way to take care of those little suckers than a man made approach!

So Much to Do, So Little Time: Goals for the New Year

Is it just me or does a year go by way too fast these days?  It's almost Feb.!!  Well, 2011 was a good start. I didn't accomplish everything I intended but it was a crazy year.  I think 2012 will be busier and hopefully more productive and happier.  So, what's in store....

1. I AM going to learn how to can and pickle, dammit!
2. No question, I am going to have a garden.  I have BIG plans for the garden and my plans may be too big for my breeches but I am quite determined to have a crop of ANYTHING to pickle or can.
3. Cooking and Food:  I'm big on cooking and I think this year, I'm determined to learn traditional methods for making Korean ingredients like Korean red pepper flakes, pepper paste, possibly Korean miso, which is much stronger than the Japanese variety. 
4. I'm going to keep making my dream wardrobe one item at a time. :-)

So there!!  If other things happen like beer brewing or maybe RVA will allow chickens (doubt it but one can hope) and I get my chickens then I'm totally open to it in 2012.  But the gardening and canning is a must this year. 

First Year Part 3: Urban Homesteading

So, I'm not quite an urban homesteader yet. Learning how to grow my own food and making clothes is definitely a good start but last year, I wanted to learn how to can and make soap.  Well, that didn't happen.  These activities are still on the list and I hope after starting a real garden this spring, I'll be able to actually grow a large enough crop to can and pickle something. I'm still planning on making soap but whether I get to it this year or not, I don't know.
Anyway, the idea of urban homesteading has been an important goal for a while. I'm all about raising my own food and using what I grow/raise to make other useful everyday products. I definitely like the idea of recycling/reusing and reducing our waste in the whole homesteader scheme of things. One of the steps I took to start this journey was starting worm bins back in 2009. The worms at the time were the perfect method for composting my vegetable and paper waste.