Then There Was One

This morning I did my final pass thinning the tomatoes, peppers, collards, cabbage and kale down to a single plant in each starter cup and then I crossed my fingers that no fungi or pests find my singletons between now and when they move outside.For now the 38 tomato plants are vigorous and hale and I am excited that fully half of them are from my own saved seed.I added a few new varieties this year of both slicing and cherry tomatoes and plan to save seed from all I want to grow again next year.The cabbage and collards are nearly ready to be hardened off and will join the lettuce, spinach and leeks I will be direct sowing this weekend.Now that the 2 week forecast has no nighttime temps below freezing it is time to get the spring garden into full swing!

Don't Blink

During the past week of business travel my indoor plant starts have grown with the vigor of youth into a verdant and slightly unruly bunch of tweens.The tomatoes from my saved seed are particularly in need of thinning.  I seeded them a little more thickly since I did not know what my germination rate would be.  While they initially lagged about week behind fermented seeds I purchased this year, the germination rate for my saved seed looks to be close to 100%.Pro Tip - always use scissors to snip off the plants you are thinning to avoid disturbing the roots of chosen specimen.

Tender Beginnings

While winter is having it's (hopefully) last hurrah outside, I am prepping my indoor garden to be without me for a week while I travel for work.After trying first newspaper pots then peat pots for last year's starts and having them disintegrate before I was ready to transplant to the garden, this year I am using Siloé Oliveira's technique of drilling holes in smooth plastic cups that can be reused year after year.All of my starts are doing well but the ones I am happiest about are my saved seed from the Paste and Amana tomatoes I grew last year.  They sprouted a few days behind the new varieties I purchased seed for this year, but since I did not ferment the saved seed I knew they would lag a bit.And gratuitous pics of some of the collards and other tomato varieties starts just because they are so pretty...

Starting My Garden Early

While Punxsutawney Phil and the meteorologists work out their differing predictions for the end of winter, growers are already hard at work preparing for spring, summer and fall.January plant starts included cabbage,chili peppers, bell peppers and rosemary.Now that February has begun, the seed starting kicks into high gear with oregano, collards and lots and lots of tomatoes with 8 varieties and a total of 38 plants this year!The new starts will welcome roommates in my growing nook for the cilantro and basil I grow indoors each winter.  I purchased inexpensive shop lights, metal wire shelving units and florescent tubes 5 years ago so I never have to go a grey winter day without their bright colors and fresh flavors complimenting meals.The minimal, initial investment for the equipment has more than paid for itself already and now as my garden diversifies and the number of indoor starts continue to expand each year with no additional infrastructure costs to date, I consider this money extremely well spent.Happy Spring, whenever it comes :)

Regrowing Update

An update from last month's post on regrowing veggiesI have tripled the number of green onions I am regrowing to keep up with culinary demands and have just started my first celery, another in demand veggie that I will need to add more of with another purchase or two.

Winter Growing

This winter there will be a lot of focus on my indoor gardens mostly because my outdoor winter garden is a bit of a bust this year.  The collards and spinach I planted were just beginning to grow when an unseasonable cold-snap halted them in their tracks.  I tried resowing but still don't have much of anything green going on outside.  I haven't given up completely on the 3 inch tall collards that I still hope will be served on New Years, but accept that I may be buying most of my good luck meal this year instead of growing it.Right now my indoor garden consists of two trays of basil microgreens (already harvesting from the tray on the left) and 8 pots of basil that will be allowed to grow into full plants of about 8" tall and pruned a bit daily as needed for meals.I will be starting another 3 trays of cilantro microgreens this weekend and will do various other types of microgreens (arugula, mustard and red cabbage) off and on all winter to add some homegrown flavor and crunch to winter meals.If you are considering indoor growing, microgreens have a lot going for them.  They have a very quick turn around, usually only 2-4 weeks from beginning to end which is basically instant gratification in the gardening world.  And due to their fast germination to harvest cycle, they aren't usually around long enough for pests and diseases to become an issue.These little plants really do have some powerful flavor, often even more than their adult versions and growing research from reputable sources is showing that some of them are packed with up to 5x the vitamins and carotenoids found in the adult versions of the same plants.So whether or not my outdoor garden takes off with this wonderfully sunny and warm week we are having, I will be posting (and eating) fresh all winter long.

Store Bought Reboot - Regrowing Veggies

Here at NearlyHomeGrown, food scraps usually end up being frozen for future vegetable and/or chicken stocks or composted to feed the next generation of growing food.  But I have been interested in the regrowing veggies craze and finally had the perfect reason to try it.The latest shiitake flush resulted in 7.7 oz of fresh mushrooms and they have been going into almost every meal in one way or another, but especially into homemade ramen noodle soup where they are a headliner ingredient.One of the other ingredients, the scallions, have been something of a philosophical splurge for this autumnal meal.  They are store bought, out-of-season produce that I could live without but really didn't want to because of the flavor and color they add to the dish...and voila! The perfect vegetable to try regrowing!The green onion ends were pulled from the cooking scrap pile destined for stock making and put into a clear jar with fresh water and placed in a sunny window.  The water will need to be changed every other day between now and spring when I will try planting them in my outdoor garden.  In the meantime I can continue to steal the green tops for ramen soup and other dishes while keeping the root alive and growing.

Umami in Progress

Oh sure, we can call it my shiitake block from 100th Monkey Mushroom Farm, but fresh, delicious umami in progress is what it really is and it is a bumper crop this time!

A Fungus Among Us

It is the time of year when harvests from the garden begin to taper off, Halloween decorations go up and a girl's thoughts turn to fungus. It was this time last year that I was trying my hand at growing shiitakes on my breakfast bar.With the success of last year's shiitakes under my belt, I wanted to expand my repertoire this year and grow some Elm Oyster Mushrooms also.My first grow out of my box kit was productive and I am resting the kit for it's second grow now.The 'grow your own mushrooms from a kit market' has exploded in the past couple of years and there are many great vendors out there,  but I have to give a shout out to the wonderful and personal customer service from 100th Monkey Mushrooms. I love the helpful videos, the quick and helpful response via email for questions and their outstanding customer service - when I placed my order online for my Shiitake blocks and the Elm Oyster box a couple of weeks ago, Jimm called to let me know that the Shiitakes would not ship for another month and to see if I wanted to receive them together or separately.I am still waiting to see what (if anything) will happen with the 2 morel kits I ordered from Gourmet Mushrooms last fall.  The information on the website and included with the kits' instructions said to not really expect a harvest until the second year which is finally less than six months away!  I have been diligently adding compostable organic material to their separate 2'x2' raised beds to feed the mycelium for a year and a half and have my fingers crossed that in spring 2016 I will have the Holy Grail of forage mushrooms growing in my backyard!

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Haute Cuisine

In the past couple of years microgreens have become a buzzword on restaurant menus and news articles talking about their nutritional content compared to the mature varieties of the same plant.  Some early studies show that there may be reason to laud their nutritional content and chef's put them on their menus because they are delicious to the eye and the taste buds.I grow a number of indoor microgreens (basil, cilantro, mustard, arugula, beets) to add color, flavor and crunch to dishes but you don't have to set up a grow area to get some microgreens in your diet, you can just repurpose your plant thinnings.This year I overseeded my regular and dwarf varieties of pak choy and basil in my backyard garden because I was using 3 year old seeds and suspected that I would have low germination rates.  Surprise, the seeds germinated at a remarkable rate and now I have a whole lot of extra seedlings that will have to be removed to make room for the vigorous individuals to grow to maturity.  Rather than cut them and toss them in the compost, I let edible seedlings grow enough to be used as microgreens before snipping them down.Below you can see that I thinned one square of the dwarf pak choy that will be used as microgreens today and I will save thinning the square next to it until I can use them in a meal.  Waste not, want not!Whether you are just thinning seedlings or clipping microgreens to go into your next meal, be sure to use scissors or a similar sharp pruner to cut the plants at soil level.  If you pull on your thinnings, you may damage the delicate roots of the one you have selected to grow to maturity.

Full Spring Ahead

This morning the blueberry bushes were loaded with plumping berries,as well as a new crop of blooms.The beds are looking more green than brown with each passing day.This afternoon the rain is the gardener so I am catching up on indoor projects.  I started my first Elm Oyster Kit experimenting with a cloche instead of the humidity tent that comes with the kit.  I really liked the Shiitake Blocks and plan to do them again soon but I wanted to learn more about the Elm Oysters because they are a forage mushroom in NC.

Growing My Garden

One month and seven days after the evil groundhog did his worst, the Raleigh area has had two days in a row that could reasonably be called spring-like.  The latin edict of carpe diem sent me to my backyard today to set up my new garden beds in preparation for the spring planting and transplanting that will be upon me in a few short weeks.Back in 2011 when I was learning about square foot gardening, I did a lot of research on what to make my raised beds out of.  I wanted to find something both durable but also easy to break down and transport since I knew I would only be in Kansas for a few years.  I found the Lifetime Products 4 x 4 raised beds and have never looked back.  They are easy to put together, rot resistant, BPA free, lightweight and transportable (10 of them traveled with me from Kansas after a year and a half in use) and are very nice to look at.  I priced out the Lifetime beds compared to making wood ones and found the lifetime to be a better bargain for my needs.Today I wanted to show how easy they are to put together so here I am with my weed barrier in place and putting together one of my new beds in my On Screen Debut.Another benefit of the Lifetime beds is that they have little markers for the square footers among us.  I use those guides to drop in small, galvanized screws  and tie kitchen string between them to mark out my squares.  It creates an attractive, floating (but still flexible) grid to plant within.I now have all of my beds set up and in place and just need to mix the soil for 4 of them.  I have 8 that need to have their floating grids of kitchen string but should have my garden up and ready to go in the next two weeks, which is a good thing considering the size of my zucchini starts!

New Beginnings

The groundhog has come out of his hole to do his evil once again this year and after few minutes spent researching his predictions (hint - he pretty much always sees his shadow and his accuracy is debatable) I got down to the real business of early February - seeds!My 2015 garden as it exists on paper and in seed packets, has already expanded over previous years' in terms of both square footage and vegetables to be grown.  It may expand a bit more before the daffodils raise their heads and announce the official start of Gardener's Spring.I have been busily recycling the newspapers left in my driveway and on the office breakroom table for months into folded newspaper seed pots in preparation for this first full week of February. I would also like to that all those generous people that donated used wine corks for my plant markers ;)

Winter Pesto

I grow a lot of basil indoors during the winter months. I have learned that around 14 smallish pots is the ideal number to have enough fresh basil on hand for my near daily culinary use as well as the occasional fabulous hostess gift.  Once in a while though, events conspire and a couple of days go by with no foraging and the basil gets a bit overgrown.So one of the side effects of growing so much basil is the need to make a small batch of pesto about once a month.  A lot of pesto recipes are based on a large quantity, summer harvest.  Here is the scaled down version I make with my winter basil:Winter Pesto:2 cups packed fresh basil leaves (I prefer Genovese Sweet Basil)1/4 cup olive oil2 garlic cloves, pressed1/4 cup toasted pine nutssprinkle of salt1/2 cups shredded Parmesan, Pecorino or blendBlend all except the cheese in food processor until smooth, adding in the olive oil a little at a time. Add the cheese and pulse again until preferred consistency.Pesto is great because even in small batches you can stretch out its bright, summery taste.  You can freeze 1/2 TBS dollops in an ice cube tray for a quick, pre-measured burst of flavor for any soup, add to softened butter for wonderful bread spreads, blended with hummus for dip, a spread to spice up a grilled cheese, tossed with pasta - the list is endless.

Garden Craft

I ran across this wooden paper pot maker online and wanted to try it.  I made a couple of so-so pots with it this morning then searched for a video tutorial to see if there were any tricks to doing it.  During my search I ran across this origami paper pot video so I had to try that too.I think I prefer the origami version for strength of construction, aesthetics and depending on the seedling being started, size, but both fun ideas for biodegradable seedling pots that recycle newspaper.