Plant Project

I experienced some success last year with my indoor vegetable plants. We had yummy lettuces for ages from those plants. This fall I bought two potted herbs, Basil and Rosemary. I potted them and put them in my sunniest window. It faces south west so it gets about 5 hours of direct sun light during this time of year.



The middle plant is a Money Tree given to me as a birthday present by a friend.

Last night I found a parsley plant at my grocery store and bought it to expand my window garden. I also found some lettuce seeds in my stash and am going to start a potted lettuce bed.

I did plant radishes last year but they never did bulk up in the root but the greens looked good.

One day I would like to expand into some hydroponic growing and try tomatoes, or cucumber, maybe peppers. But ultimately I would like to use a system that runs on solar, storing the energy for use at night. Here in Canada, the northern hemisphere we are only getting 8 hours of sunlight, IF it's not overcast, which our winters usually are. Because of the location of my window I am lucky to get as much sunlight as I do for my herbs.

I use the herbs on chicken, in soups and the parsley is a must have for a gluten free Shepard's Pie recipe I use to make all the time. Maybe I will try drying some herbs for longer storage.

Next Order of Business

My indoor radish experiment was a flop. The radish leaves did great but the actual radish was nonexistent. The lettuce on the other hand has done rather well. I am harvesting baby greens right now using the "cut and come again" method. This is a method of snapping off leaves but leaving the main plant intact so it can continue to grow and flourish throughout the season.

Today the kids and I planted some more seeds. Each of them chose some seeds a few weeks ago to plant in their own square foot garden. I think it's interesting that my daughter has chosen flowers (morning glories and corn flowers) to grow while my son went for the vegetables. He wants peas, carrots and cucumber, with sunflowers mixed in.



Because my daughter wants morning glories we have to soak them for 24 hours before planting. We dampened some paper towel and placed the seeds inside. We planted the cucumber and sunflowers. I also started my broccoli and tomato plants.

I know I am a bit behind. I should have planted them a few weeks ago but I don't even have my raised beds constructed yet. The lumber has been purchased and is sitting in garage waiting for a sunny weekend to piece them together. I decided to paint the outsides of my boxes, not the insides that touch the soil that touches our food, just the outside to keep the wood from rotting and looking dingy over time. The paint is also waiting patiently in the garage.

Fruit trees are on sale this week at my favourite garden store. I went yesterday to see what varieties they had and came home to hit the books. One of my favourite resources is The Farmer's Wife's Guide to Fabulous Fruits and Berries. I picked it up last summer at a second hand store for three bucks! It's an excellent reference book with how-to's and recipes. Covers everything from choosing varieties, planting, maintaining, harvesting and preparing and/or freezing.



I used this book and a few others to determine the best varieties of apples for my needs. Not all apples are created equal. Tonight I head back to purchase the varieties I chose but I will post about that another time, once I have some pictures.

So far so good on my little homestead in the suburbs.

So Far So Good

A week and a half ago, I planted some lettuce and radish seeds with plans to keep them indoors until maturity. I used large compostable pots, potting soil and compost. So far so good. I water every other day as needed. And keep them tucked away in a portable greenhouse which is currently in my living room. Within another week or so I should have a few radishes and lettuce leaves to munch on.

I will need to add some fertilizer or compost tea to keep the soil nutrient level up.



I am currently looking for a book on exclusive greenhouse growing, My plan is to attempt to grow lettuce and other plants that require little sunlight in the house throughout winter, without the aid of hydroponics.



So far my little experiment is going well though time will tell if these adorable baby plants actually deliver the goods.