seed starting.

Last year, almost all the gardening I did was from plants. I knew this year I wanted to try starting most of my garden from seeds and if that didn't work, use plants as a last resort. Not only are seeds cheaper, they are obviously the most natural way to start a garden with your own effort. And they are, not so obvious to my ambitious side, really hard when you are a beginner.

Last month I read The Seed Starter's Handbook. Honestly, I wish I would have picked it up a week or two sooner because I felt a little behind when I started my seeds. It's a great guidebook for what to start when and basic information on how the process works. I still have a million questions and will probably re-read this book every year.

I purchased a shelf unit and some clamp on grow lights from Home Depot and set up shop in the spare bedroom. It gives me lots of room - three shelves worth! - to start plants and when it's nice outside, I just let them sit in the sunshine for the day. I started kale, kohl rabi and turnips first and I need to do some research on what I did wrong. I ended up with some plants that I could put in the ground but they are pretty leggy and have weak root systems. I'm not sure if it's over/under watering, not enough natural sunlight, under/over fertilizing or the soil. I need to read up on it.
I started eggplant, dill, tomatoes and peppers next and those are looking really good as plants...even better than my cold weather plants. I am trying to get them outside and used to the sun as much as possible but it's been so overcast and cold lately that it's been a little difficult. Crazy that in two weeks it will be warm enough that I'll be able to put them in the ground!
I started some herbs (basil, oregano, sage, etc) this weekend and some more tomatoes. I feel a bit behind on my herbs but I'm not sure how quickly anything will grow once it heats up so maybe I am okay. I need to get some cucumbers started this week and hope they hold up with being transplanted...I hear they are a bit finicky with being relocated.

I'm still so new that I'm not sure the timing of everything, what should be transplanted, what should not be transplanted, etc. I'm just trying to go into this with the attitude that I will probably kill some things and that's okay...better luck next year. Maybe. Hopefully.

square foot gardening.

I recently read a book about a method of gardening called Square Foot Gardening. For someone like me, it's EXACTLY what I needed to read. My hyper organized mind was having a hard enough time with all the uncertainty that comes with growing things and with trying to keep up with the timing of everything. This book recommends breaking your garden up into 12"x12" sections. You can fit in more vegetables in each square, are constantly rotating your crops to promote good soil and it's easy to organize! I immediately nerded out and used my graph paper to map everything out - and made an accompanying Excel spreadsheet and calendar - and feel so much more prepared for what to plant when. I would highly recommend it to anyone that needs to take gardening one square at a time.

I purchased some lumber at Home Depot and split my raised bed into 22 sections. Under the cold frame, I started three different kinds of onions, peas, my kale/kohlrabi/turnip transplants, beets, carrots, radishes, spinach and lettuce...and I didn't even use up all the space! When you look at each section individually, it also makes succession planting easier so I don't have a bunch of squares that are full of carrots all coming up at the same time. Now we just have to see what plants actually live.

supper 3/13.

So, daylight savings time is currently sucking the energy right out of us around here. Before that could happen, we had this weekend, which was full of projects. I planted a BUNCH of things - I'll put up details in my next post - went to the farmer's market, cleaned the house and finally cooked a fresh meal.
It's pretty sad how long I have gone without proper grocery shopping which for me is the start of bad, bad eating habits. I'll go all day and realize I had a slice of bread with peanut butter and SweetTarts. Disgusting. I'm hoping it was just a winter thing...really, really hoping considering these terrible choices and lack of proper food led to a 15 lb weight gain. Yikes.

On Sunday, we had some buddies over because that's what we do every Sunday and I love it. Seriously...stop on by anytime. Mark purchased some chicken for him and our friend Shaun but they got so distracted with fantasy baseball, they hadn't started doing anything with it by the time everything else I had made was done so I offered to cook it. I haven't cooked meat in almost five years and it is gross. I became a vegetarian because meat was too expensive and I hated beef and I thought I could live without everything else. I tried it as a new year's resolution and never missed it. Except Chicken McNuggets and the two cheeseburger meal at McDonald's...I know, disgusting, but I'm just trying to be honest.
Anyway, cutting chicken really is the grossest. Mad props to carnivores everywhere because I can't stomach it anymore.
Mark purchased some Panko crumbs awhile back because he wants to make some fried onion/potato thing so I knew we had those. I melted butter and mixed it with lemon juice and dijon mustard in a bowl. After cutting the chicken, I dipped the slices in there and then dipped them in the Panko with some fresh herbs and parmesan and baked the chicken at 425 for 15 minutes. The guys said it tasted great so I would definitely cook it if you are a meat eater looking for a quick meal. I made a sauce out of mayo, dijon mustard, a little soy sauce and a little sesame oil to dip the chicken in and that was really good. I may use that for potatoes in the future.

I also cooked some brown rice in my rice cooker with vegetable stock, garlic infused olive oil and fresh herbs from the window. I chopped up some shittake mushrooms I got from Delvin Farms at the market on Saturday - they were huge! - and baked them with olive oil and garlic for about 15 minutes, stirring a few times part way through.

I put them and sauteed spinach on top of the rice with some lightly toasted slivered almonds, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

Finally, I grated three turnips and made this Spring Turnip Frittata from this month's Eating Well. I didn't have any broccoli raab but I would like to try it again when it appears at the farmer's market. I added goat cheese to the mix and it was really, really good.

Everything on the plate (I ran out of spinach for the picture) was sort of the same color, which I try not to do, but otherwise it was a very good meal and most important of all, made me excited for fresh food over the next few months! It's spring on Sunday so it won't be long...I'm really going to miss my SweetTarts, though.

spring salad.

It's not technically spring yet but today could have fooled anybody. And we set our clocks back tonight so the extra sunlight will also be deceiving. 65 and sunny meant I had to go back to the farmer's market. I thought I would continue to go all winter but once our CSA basket was up, my good intentions left with it.
I woke up fairly early today and headed down to Franklin. It wasn't that crowded and it's a lot smaller than in the summer time but being back made me very happy. I put our deposit down on our CSA so we are officially signed up! We are sharing it this year with some friends so I'm rooting for my yard to supplement the smaller weekly veggie flow from our CSA basket.
I really, really love my CSA farmer and I highly recommend them. Yes, it's quite the trek down to Franklin every week but it's WELL worth it. They are a family of four that does it all together and their love of local food and farming is so sincere...their newsletters alone are worth it. Please check them out if you are shopping around for a CSA share - Beaverdam Creek Farms. If you already have a preferred CSA, then stop by their booth and check out their produce. It always looks great - and sells out quick! - and today was no exception. From them today, I purchased a bag of Red Cardinal Spinach, mixed lettuce and Purple Top Turnips, with the greens attached. I have big plans for the turnips tomorrow night in a Spring Turnip Frittata from April 2011 Eating Well Magazine that I want to pair with rice and steamed spinach.
I actually stumbled upon the frittata recipe while making a salad dressing from a different article in the same magazine tonight. Mark wasn't that hungry and I wasn't either, considering I got so excited to shop/plant that I forgot to eat anything until after 2:30. I washed the mixed greens from the farmer's market and put slivered almonds, hard boiled egg, red kidney beans, goat cheese, cheddar cheese, white onion with the Creamy Curry salad dressing from Eating Well (recipe below) on top - SO DELICIOUS! Maybe it's because we haven't had farmers' fresh salad for a loooonnnggg time but this tasted so great to us tonight.
I haven't purchased premade salad dressing from the grocery store in over four years and I think I may have become a little routine in what I mix together for our usual salads. I've lost a bit of creativity with the "throw a salad together" routine so this Creamy Curry dressing tasted even more fresh and fantastic to us - and it has no garlic?!? Who would have guessed it?

Creamy Curry Dressing - April 2011 Eating Well Magazine:
Puree in a blender (or Magic Bullet!!!) until smooth: 1/2 cup each nonfat yogurt and mayonnaise (I used more yogurt than mayo but to each his/her own), 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon curry powder and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper.