Weekly Gardening Thread (Seeds) Vol. 2, January 13, 2012

January 13, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Good morning everybody! It is cold and clear here in NE Louisiana, zone 8a, we should reach 50° today under sunny skies. We've received several inches of rain in the past 3 weeks, so there will be no garden prep for a while yet, but the sunny sky has a way of getting me in the mood.

In last week's thread we discussed our seed and supply catalogs. This week I intended to discuss saving seeds from our own harvests, and starting seeds indoors. In preparing, I actually found a couple of articles that are very informative and give good information in very plain, easy to understand language.

Both of these articles are from GRIT magazine online. It is my hope that you will benefit from this information. The pages seem to load very slowly, but you may find it time well invested.

Vegetable Seed Saving: What You Need to Know

Preparing to Start Seeds

If you have any links with good information along these lines, please feel free to share them with the group!

[afraidfortherepublic]

See #80. This program ran on PBS this morning. This is quite an operation. Video at link.

[Arrowhead1952]

I just got back from my sister’s off Boggy Ford .... Can’t yall get a trapping program going?

The PD here now has a "shoot on sight" for coyote and wild dog packs. I've seen coyote within 75 yds of our house.

[bgill]

We dined on broccoli again this week. So sweet tasting. The cauliflower hasn’t made yet but the freezing night temps did a number on the plants. Those may be gone in a few days anyway when Mr. b gets out the tiller because he doesn’t understand to go around producing plants. He’s the guy who never mows but decided to a week after I planted lilacs. Yep, mowed right over them. I may have stand in front of the asparagus and triple dog dare him to get close.

We’re supposed to work on doubling the size my teeny little garden if it warms up this afternoon, brrr. Yesterday, we bought another cattle panel (price rose 32% from last year) and mapped out the septic system (neener, neener, I was right) which wasn’t placed with a garden or a porch in mind.

[bgill]

the average food item travels at least 1,500 miles before it hits supermarket shelves and studies have indicated transportation can account for up to half the price of a head of lettuce or a pound of tomatoes.

With gas going up to $5 this summer, imagine what that's going to do to the price of groceries and everything else.

[SumProVita]

I ordered the Jacklyn Raspberry. The canes reach a height of 5 feet so I will probably use a trellis (or maybe some good stakes) with them.

[SumProVita]

One more thing: I just discovered that the Heritage you have is heirloom and this site ( http://www.backyardberryplants.com/plants/raspberriesblackberries ) has some very good things to say about Heritage. I may add them next year.

;-)

[SumProVita]

“Plant them in the ground instead of leaving them in their packages to cook on the driveway.”

I will definitely follow your advice.

;-))

[SumProVita]

Is Rice Hull mulch hard to find? What should I know about it?

My husband has a garlic patch and maybe he should be using this.

[tubebender]

Rich Hulls are available in areas that grow rice such as over the hill from Humboldt Bay in the Sacramento Valley. Sawdust should work but put down some fertilizer first if you do use it...

[SumProVita]

Ok... I don’t suppose I could easily (or inexpensively) get rice hulls here in the Middle Tennessee area then.

I guess I’ll stick with wheat straw since I can get pretty clean bales from a local farmer’s supply.

Thanks though...

[Free Vulcan]

Meant to post this and forgot, remembered when I saw the Cooking thread today. Love this in the late fall/early winter on a real nasty day. Dig some leeks and grab the last of the kale and get some fall taters out of the root cellar. Leeks are the filet mignon of the onion family. It’s pure comfort food, not good for the arteries or your waist.

Leek and Potato Soup with Kale:

1 lb of bacon, chopped into 2 inch chunks
6 medium leeks (the storebought ones are usually large, 3 of those are enough)
1-2 tbsp dried celery leaves
2qt half-n-half
6 medium sized potatoes, diced
3 cups chopped kale
1/2 cup ground parmasean cheese
Pepper to taste

In a stock pot or similar size soup pot cook bacon chunks on low-medium till done but not completely crispy. While cooking bacon clean and prepare leeks by splitting them in half long ways then slicing 1/4 in. thick. Add to bacon when done and cook for a few minutes. Dice the potatoes 1/2 to 1 in., your choice. Chop the kale down to 1” or so pieces.

Add pepper to taste, then half-n-half, diced potatoes, kale, and parmasean. Add extra milk if needed to cover. Bring to a boil for about 5 minutes, turn off and let sit for 1/2 hour to soften the potatoes and kale, then serve.

I dry my own tomatoes and peppers, you can crush about a quarter cup of each and add when you put in the leeks. You can also include a 1/2 dozen leaves or so of fresh sage with that (I bring mine indoors for the winter). and/or a few stalks of chopped celery when you put in the potatoes instead of kale. You can sub 1-2 pounds of sausage for the bacon.

[tubebender]

Clean Wheat straw is a excellent inexpensive choice and I have used it in the past.

[satan69]

SOUTH FL UPDATE:
GLOBAL WARMING UPDATE:
26 degrees in South FL at 7:10 am. Sprinklers are going trying to save what’s left of my garden and the new crops I planted.. I am leaving them running till the temp goes up to 32 degrees...

Anyone know where I can order some Global warming? They talk about it on the news but I can’t seem to find any!

Thanks!

Keep warm

I have a huge fire going in the fireplace keeping my butt and back warm.. Only bad part is going out and getting more firewood. Next year I am going to put the wood pile closer to the house!

[Darth Reardon]

That’s horrible. Here in Tampa Bay it was 46 this am. I’m pretty sure being right by the water helps to buffer the cold snaps.

BTW, didn’t you say awhile back that Jan 15 was your spring planting day?

[who knows what evil?]

The cold air has been sinking south instead of settling into the northeast as it usually does...one below this morning in NH, but temps will head right back up to the above normal range tomorrow...the inch of snow on the ground will be gone just like that. No snow on the ground in mid-January is almost unheard of up this way...guess we have the ‘global warming’ that you folks need for your crops.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I've received two more catalogs since I posted the thread last week, and both are excellent sources:

John Scheeper's Kitchen Garden Seeds

Victory Seeds

I found this website when searching for some "Tres Frisee" endive (the light green lacy, curly stuff in Spring Mix baby green salads). The whole website looks great, no pictures, but the lettuce page alone had be salivating.

Heirloom Seeds lettuce page

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Hi greeneyes! I was wanting to do a little hibernating myself, but the sun is out and it is in the 60's already today with just a little breeze. The call of the outdoors is a scream this morning.

I hope your lemon tree is loaded-down next season.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Don’t you be ‘gakking’ on flowers ... Lady Bender’s hothouse of flowers last year has me planting flower seeds for the first year ever! I simply don’t know what Mr. Bender did to deserve her.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"Plant them in the ground instead of leaving them in their packages to cook on the driveway."

I cooked mine in the garage ... you can do that in Louisiana. The leaves were blanched out entirely white, but I planted them anyway. They actually turned green and the plants grew.

Some things do well in spite of me!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

That was so nice ... thank you from the bottom of my heart.