STARTING SEEDS FOR MARKET

Finally got around to starting seeds! Why so early? Because suddenly, not only are we selling about every egg our girls produce (for eating AND hatching), but we have people inquiring about any produce we might have available. Thought long and hard, and decided to grow basically only what we eat ourselves or can store to feed our livestock (chickens and goats) over the winter. There are exceptions (like brussels sprouts ... ick).

How I do it:
Start with Jiffy Peat Pots, add warm water and wait for them to rehydrate. Gently pull apart netting on the top, and insert a label (popsicle stick with seed type written on it in ink), and sow seed. Cover seed according to seed size. Place in a plastic shoe-box container from Wal-Mart, put on lid, and place on top of a heating pad (set on warm / low). Then be patient! Keep moist. Once they start sprouting, take off lid.

Here's what I started yesterday:
5 tomato, roma
5 tomato, beefsteak
7 tomato, yellow pear
10 pepper, bell, kaleidoscope mix (various colors)
2 pepper, hot serrano chili
2 cucumber, spacemaster (bush)
2 squash, summer, early prolific straightneck (yellow)
2 squash, summer, striata d'italia (zucchini)
2 okra, clemson spineless
2 eggplant, long purple
3 cabbage, early golden acre (white)

I didn't have any seeds for my favorite (Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato ... it's orange and sweet and juicy!) so I placed an order. Should be here by next week. So... probably next Monday, I'll start those seeds and some herbs like basil, mint, parsley and dill.

Stay tuned. I'll keep you updated on how our plants are doing, what our biggest sellers are, and so forth.

Varieties of broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower

I've tried and tried and tried, but I just don't seem to have much success in growing the cruciferous veggies like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Help!

I've lost a lot of weight, and it's partly because I bought these veggies and ate them a few times a week. But I don't want to keep paying money for these when I have perfectly good potted-soil to grow my own.

Here's what we need from broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower:

- short growing season (90 days, but less is preferred)
- easy to grow in a container or square foot garden
- small heads are ok
- hardy for harsh winds/microbursts
- heirloom (non-gmo, and so we can save seeds to grow)

Thoughts? Comments?

Eggplant Varieties

This past year, we grew black beauty eggplants (picked before they got big and bitter) and small round thai-green eggplant. Maybe I should tell you that I don't care for eggplant. But I keep hoping I can find one that doesn't remind me of my mother's horrible cooking when I was growing up!

So... looking for a decent non-bitter eggplant to grow and eat. Here's what we need from an eggplant:

- short growing season (90 days, but less is preferred)
- easy to grow in a container or square foot garden
- small and sweet (not bitter)
- prolific
- hardy for harsh winds/microbursts
- heirloom (non-gmo, and so we can save seeds to grow)

Thoughts? Comments?

Pepper Varieties

This past year, we grew mini red bell peppers. They grew weird. Green at first, then they looked like someone charred bits and pieces of them, but that blackened area eventually turned a beautiful red. Each mini pepper was about the size of a quarter, and absolutely delicious!

BUT... I want bigger peppers. I thought they would be about half-dollar size, or about half the size of a regular bell pepper. I was wrong. Each pepper provides about a tablespoon of pepper to eat, which is NOT enough to stuff!

So... looking for a different bell pepper to grow and eat. I really like the vivid taste of the reds (we don't eat them green) but would be open to sweet tasting yellow, orange, purple ... any ideas? Here's what we need from a bell pepper:

- short growing season (90 days, but less is preferred)
- easy to grow in a container or square foot garden
- smaller than a regular sized bell pepper, but big enough to stuff
- hardy for harsh winds/microbursts
- heirloom (non-gmo, and so we can save seeds to grow)

Thoughts? Comments?

Squash Varieties

To continue with our quest to find the bare minimum seeds to produce the most food possible, today's topic is squash. I did a long comprehensive posting on squash varieties and cross-pollination at http://vikkisverandah.blogspot.com/2010/01/winter-squash-cross-pollination-and.html so insteading of asking your input (which you can offer if you'd like to anyway), I'm just gonna let you know what we've decided to grow in the future years:

-Moschato Kind: Butternut Squash (great keeper/prolific/nutty taste)
-Maxima Kind: 90/100: Australian Butter Squash (great for baking/long keeper/prolific)
-Mixta Kind: Mexican X-Top Squash (great seeds to eat)
-Pepo Kind: New England Sugar Pie Pumpkin (good for pies/sweet)

We also love spaghetti squash (good keeper/pasta substitute), but that's a PEPO kind so we'll plant that in the front yard, which is separated from the backyard by our house and workshop.

In addition, we love summer squash, but unfortunately zucchini is a PEPO kind so we'll make sure to plant that somewhere else. Mmmm... zucchini bread!

Comments?

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I'm having troubles locating seeds for the Mexican Xtop squash (it's a cushaw). The place I found them at originally doesn't carry them anymore. If I can't find them again, I might consider the white cushaw (Mixta) squash. Does anyone know if those seeds are good for eating? Or where I can find Mexican Xtop seeds?

Seeds from pumpkin and other winter squashes are really good for our health. We want to be able to eat them as we cut into the long-keeping winter squashes. Don't you do this?

Corn Varieties

Next on the list.... corn. An essential to grow for self-reliance. Can be used to feed our critters and ourselves... in many ways.

Again, we planted way too many varieties and because of the weather and soil (more like just sand) and other circumstances, none did wonderfully well. As a matter of fact, only one Black Aztec corn seed sprouted ... out of four packs sown! Nope! What we did this year didn't work... on so many levels.

We have since refigured out where to put what on our little acreage. We have sectioned out an area 10'x39' in the fenced backyard, far from where we plan to put tomatoes in the future (share the same pest), but within the fence that will hopefully keep out scavenging rabbits. The "cornfield" is actually a little bigger than 10'x39' but I need rows to walk! This Fall will see us rototilling it and getting the chickens to "fertilize" the area every good weather day. Should be ready for planting by next spring. That area is 390' of planting space, which means:
-1 corn plant in each square foot = 390 stalks
-2 bean seeds per square foot = 780 bean vines
-100-120 vining winter squash plants

Lots of good eating! Should keep our family and our critters in food till the next year's crop.

So, from now on, we want only **1** corn that will fulfill all of our needs. Here's what we are looking for ...

- short growing season (90 days, but less is preferred)
- strong stalk, able to handle beans wrapping around it
- lots of ears with lots of kernels!
- can eat fresh picked or dried on the stalk for storage
- good for humans AND critters (chickens, quail, rabbit and a little bit for goats)
- high in fiber and protein
- hardy
- good to grind into a powder/flour
- heirloom (non-gmo, and so we can save seeds to grow)

Is there one that will do above? Would a popcorn be a better choice? Or a field corn?

I know my list about is asking a lot out of a corn, but we don't want to grow more than one. Our neighbors grow corn too, so there's always a chance to cross-pollinate, but we need a good starter that meets our needs.

So ... any suggestions? Comments?

Dried Bean Varities

It should be fairly obvious from my last 3 days that I'm working on next year's garden. Ahhh.... I love looking at seed catalogs, and thinking about what to do differently next year.

Today it's about beans. Specifically, beans that can be eaten as fresh string beans, and also dried for storage. Even more specifically, tender, delicious, prolific heirloom bean seeds.

Suffice it to say that we planted lots of different kinds of beans, plus one kind that makes dried peas and one kind of green lentils. I started the peas too late so they didn't do well, and my goats ate the lentils. Ah well.

Next year we want to plant only two (2!!) dried beans: white for creamy dishes and my Kid's favorite pork-n-beans, and black because they are fun and hearty for chili. Here's what we are looking for in a dried bean...

- short growing season (90 days, but less is preferred)
- easy to grow
- good to eat as string beans AND dries well for storage
- high in fiber and protein, and tender
- white bean vines should grow well up a corn or sunflower stalk; prolific
- black bean bush with strong stems and hearty grower
- hardy for the weird weather in Colorado eastern plains
- good to keep for our critters (AND US) over winter
- good to grind into a powder/flour
- heirloom (non-gmo, and so we can save seeds to grow)

At the start of the summer, I came across a blog entry that led me to an heirloom bean seed saver and WOW! Check it out: http://www.heirlooms.org/catalog.html ... maybe I'll get my bean seeds from there. Anyone have experience with the "Big John Cornfield Bean" or the "Hill Family Greasy Bean"?

We also plan to grow more soy/edamame next year. I've already chosen those seeds. Since my Kid has a reaction to them, and they mess with my hormones, these are mostly for our critters for winter consumption. Also on our protein/legume list is more blue podded peas and green lentils... maybe we'll have better luck next year!

So ... about our bean list (1 white and 1 black) ... any suggestions? Comments?

Sunflower Varieties

Two days ago I talked about cucumber varieties, and yesterday I talked about melons. TODAY .... sunflowers. We plant them as a part of companion group: sunflowers, melons, and cucumbers. What I call the "Three Cousins": the sunflowers grow up tall and strong, with large stalks, sending down long roots that bring up nutrients and moisture. The cucumbers climb up the sunflower stalks. And the melons provide a living "mulch" to keep in moisture.

Here are the varieties of sunflowers we grew this year:
- Skyscraper
- Black Russian
- Mammoth
- Mammoth Russian
- Arikara

Rather, TRIED to grow. Really bad soil that's actually just a lot of sand. Anyway, I ended up mixing seeds so I don't know which actually grew and which didn't. But again, my goal is to plant only ONE kind. Here's what we want out of a sunflower:
- short growing season (90 days, but less is preferred)
- easy to grow
- very tall
- hardy
- strong enough for beans or cucumbers to use as a trellis
- lots of seeds on the seedhead
- seeds are nutritious (good for us AND to keep for our critters over winter)
- heirloom (non-gmo, and so we can save seeds to grow)

Suggestions?

Melon Varieties

Yesterday I talked about cucumber varieties, and how we planted almost everything we had. Guess what? Today is melons. We plant them as a part of companion group: sunflowers, melons, and cucumbers. Kinda like the three sisters (I call it the "three cousins"): the sunflowers grow up tall and strong, with large stalks. The cucumbers climb up the sunflower stalks. And the melons provide a living "mulch" to keep in moisture.

Here are the varieties of watermelon and other melons we TRIED to grow this year:
- Golden Midget Watermelon
- Sugar Baby Watermelon
- Crenshaw Melon
- Honeydew-Tam Dew Melon

Our first growing season at this new place and the soil wasn't actually soil; it was sand. Most sprouted but despite mulch, fertilizing, etc.... not even ONE produced a melon. We had to buy them this year! Refuse to next year. We're preparing raised beds, adding lots of goat and chicken and rabbit manure, grass cuttings, and so forth. Next year will be much better.

Anyway, we love all sorts of melons, but again, my goal is to plant only one watermelon and one cantaloupe kind. Here's what we want out of melons:
- short growing season (90 days, but less is preferred)
- easy to grow
- small to medium fruit
- long vines
- high in vitamins and water content
- delicious as a sorbet, or dehydrated
- good for us AND to sell extras at market or CSA
- heirloom (non-gmo, and so we can save seeds to grow)
- good for our critters to eat (chickens and goats)

Question: Will a cantaloupe cross with a watermelon?

So what heirloom cantaloupe and watermelons do YOU have the most success with? Suggestions?

Cucumber Varieties

We TRIED to grow several varieties of cucumbers this year .... mostly because I got tired of looking at the packets of seeds I'd accumulated. All we grew were vines, except for two little gherkin-size cucumbers that were absolutely delicious. Types we grew outside:
- Boston Pickling
- De Bourbonne
- National Pickling
- Poinsett 76
- Muncher

If you've been reading my blog, you know we moved into this place just last March. We used this year as our experiment year, seeing if the soil would grow anything. It really didn't do well. It's not actually soil; it's sand on top of sand on top of sandy loam! We're working on it, making raised beds for next year and accumulating manure from our goats, rabbit, and chickens. And we'll place grass clippings, fallen leaves, moldy hay, etc on the beds to "ferment" and compose over the winter.

Meanwhile, I want to choose only ONE kind of cucumber seed for future years. This is what we want out of a cucumber:
- short growing season (90 days, but less is preferred)
- pickle and pickle relish
- eat fresh too
- ok to dehydrate (preferred but not required)
- burpless (preferred but not required)
- small fruits (gherkin-pickle size)
- vine (not bush)
- heirloom (non-gmo ... so I can keep seeds for following years)
- sell extras at market or CSA

I'll grow them as part of my "three cousins" field: sunflowers, cucumbers, and watermelons. Good companion planting. The sunflowers are the stakes for the cucumbers to climb, and the watermelons ramble along the ground, keeping in moisture for all.

Your suggestions for the perfect cucumber would be appreciated.

Arsenic in Backyard Eggs

Read this posting at http://backyardfarming.blogspot.com/2010/07/arsenic-in-your-eggs.html and thought everyone should be aware of it.

Threw our last bag of chicken feed (and chick feed) away so can't check it but from now on ... will be checking our feed for Roxarsone ... you better believe it!

(Actually picking up more today, plus bulk oats, bulk cracked corn, and bulk black oil sunflower seeds... almost all of our livestock will eat, plus even good for us!).

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We've had a lot of storms here lately. On July 4 we had a tornado nearby and the terrible storm and hail that went with it. Tuesday night we had another horrible storm that gushed rain all over. Thinking about how to improve our critter pens so they don't get as much water, although for the most part, they stayed pretty dry. Lost a couple of raspberries, blueberries, some pumpkins, a tomato, summer squash and who knows what else. Oh, and some more of our roofing came off. Wonderful house we just bought.

Too late to replant most of what I wanted to grow. Not gonna have much to harvest this year. Next year WILL be different.... chickens scratching and pooping, goat-stall to muck and spread around... and drainage ditches dug in strategic places ... maybe even a greenhouse or two ... soooo much better next year.

Temp on Wednesday was supposed to top 67 degrees. Yup. That's all. (Sorry USA East Coast). Actually slept last night but my poor corn and tomato plants are NOT happy. And just before it started raining again (3:30 p.m.), I got some indoor tomatoes (3 amish paste and 2 purple russian) transplanted outside. Also threw some millet seed on a small area and lightly covered it with potting soil. AND placed some potting soil against a couple of patches of fence and placed some missouri wonder bean seeds then covered with about an inch more of potting soil. (We have mostly sandy loam, remember?).

Today I plan to do more beans (blue lake vining bean) along another patch of fence, using the same method I did yesterday. I'll also neatly place some potting soil on a place that is pretty bare, near the chicken coop, sow some different kinds of squash (patty pan, zucchini and yellow straightneck) that will be ready to harvest in about 60 days (please no early frosts!) and cover with more potting soil. AND by the very slow growing corn patch, plant some sonoran gold bush tepary bean seeds and in the slow-growing popcorn bed plant some black valentine bush bean seeds. THEN I'll hope for more rain... supposed to have some this afternoon! If not, I'll water heavily.

Working on the Kid's 9th grade curriculum, which he starts the 2nd week in August. Ordered some books from Amazon.com and 2 of them came yesterday. Hope he's ready to be a freshman because this year will be his hardest yet. Should be fun tho. I'm incorporating the local exhibit of King Tut (Denver) into his geography lessons. I know, it's a stretch but how often in one's life does that exhibit come within 100 miles of you?!?! Already planned the date to go, asked my mom-in-law to go, and are getting tickets. Giving the Kid the day off from school so we can spend the entire day there (Hubby's taking the day off too). Worth it.

Planting Again

Because the microburst (tiny tornado) took away my pumpkins and other things that I'd planted and put out... we tried again.

Yesterday, the Kid and I planted more (ha!) bantam yellow corn and a few more spaghetti squash seeds in the dedicated section in the backyard. When they get about a foot tall, I'll add some pole beans to finish up the Three Sisters plot.

Also in the backyard, I did a different kind of Three Sisters ... I call it the Three Cousins for the lack of a better name: mammoth sunflowers, vining cucumbers, and melons. Same principle ... the sunflowers provide a stalk for the cucumbers to climb, and the melons provide ground cover and moisture barrier.

Then I realized that I had found a 1-pound bag of old (2007) blue hopi corn seeds that I should either broadcast or throw away. Guess which we did! There's a corner of our backyard filled with thigh-high weeds that the Kid and I just broadcast those corn seeds into. I'm hoping Hubby will use the string-trimmer to cut down the weeds before the corn shows up (if it does at all). Corn loses germination as it gets older.

Hubby brought home some (free) icing buckets from Sam's bakery. This weekend we'll poke some drainage holes on the sides at the bottom and along with my other pots/containers, plant with tomatoes, peppers, okra, and eggplant. Decided the southside of the workshop is the safest place for the garden until the windbreak is at least 10 feet tall! Good sun, wind protection, and not far from water source.

Checked on the popcorn/sunflower field and it's really growing. Sowed some amaranth there too but can't really tell if it's come up or not. Not sure what to look for. Will play by ear.

This is supposed to be a difficult weekend. Very cold temperatures and lots of rain. Possibly snow. Yes, you read right. Snow. Well, at least my plants will get a good drink.

Right?

We slept in today, then we'll go to the workshop to work on planting tomatoes (and their companions ... basil, parsley and marigold) in pots to get ready to put outside next week. Might also build a chicken tractor, build another "dog run" goathouse inside the workshop, pick up our milking doe on Sunday, and might even clean! Or we might do the bare minimum, and take naps.

Fun fun.

Started more seeds

I suddenly remembered that I hadn't started most of my herb seeds. Now it's June, and I barely have any herbs to plant outside. Wanted to grow soapwort, parsley, sage and so much more. Especially basil now that I've discovered pesto!

So yesterday I got out a long under-the-bed storage tub, filled it with small peat-pots, filled them with potting soil, and planted seeds. Watered each little section, and put the top on to keep the moisture in. Here's what I started:
-english lavender (perennial)
-common chives (perennial)
-genovese basil (annual)
-soapwort (perennial)
-giant of italy parsley (biennial)
-bouquet dill (annual)
-green culinary sage (perennial)
-wormwood (perennial)
-gumplant (perennial)
-evening primrose (biennial)

Some take a couple of weeks to germinate and some shorter. Hope I can plant them outside by the end of June.

I have lots more herb seeds to start but I think I'm gonna hold off. I'll start them later and grow them inside until Spring planting in 2011.

Really hate being behind. Feel like I have a million things to do and no time or energy or money to do them.

Still haven't finished unpacking, or painting, or even putting up curtains. My front room is so full of boxes that I can't even get to the windows to open for a cross-breeze. Since my hands don't grip, I can't wield the drill so working on the goat house or chicken coops is out (by myself... I can help Hubby). And now we've decided that the workshop is too hot for the quail and rabbit, and the garage won't work either once we move the boxes out and start parking in there, so we're going to create a wall-unit in the basement's family room for rabbits and quail.... yet another thing to build. Most of our 2 acres got mowed last weekend but there's thigh-high weeds in our fenced-in backyard where I had planned to put the garden. We still have lots more trees to plant, and even more fruit bushes and trees coming within the next week. I have lots of pumpkin and winter squash seedlings that need to go into the ground, and tomato and marigold plants that are getting very leggy.

Yesterday was supposed to be the "coldest" day here for the next week or so ... in the 80's. No rain here in a while, so need to water very regularly. Hope our tree sticks survive. Should have mulched with hay but we didn't have enough. Almost out and need to get more for our critters. At least I put hay on the broccoli and cabbage plants, and the potatoes.

On the goat-house front, Hubby got home too late from work (his Mom needed him to stop by on the way home) so we didn't get really anything done last night. Still hoping to finish by weekend but we'll see!

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Update on the former owner of this property: in the mail yesterday, we received a copy of the letter Hubby's lawyer sent to the former owner, demanding that since he broke the law by lying on the disclosure form to sell this property, that he must reveal to us the contents and depth of the trash pile he dug at the bottom of this property. It was very strongly worded, citing legal cases where non-disclosure cost the seller bucks for lying and then fees for disposal, etc. Since we got our copy yesterday, Mr. Lance should have received his copy at his employment yesterday.

We've received the tree-sticks that we bought to plant around the trash hole, but we'll plant on the outskirts, keeping in mind that we may need to get a backhoe to dig up the hole. Meanwhile, I think I'll scatter peppermint and spearmint seeds in the hole. We can't plant any edibles around there anyway ... might as well make it smell good!

Chicken and Seedling and Pen Update

Thought maybe I'd post a few pictures this morning....

The above picture of the yellow pool shows the plants we're growing indoors. Using a yellow kiddie pool, didn't poke holes in it, filled it with compost and dirty, and transplanted some mesclun seedlings on the right, and in the middle... nasturtiums and strawberries. On the left, which you obviously can't see, are seeds I planted for radishes, Danvers Half-Long carrots (short roots) and bunching onions (scallions).

This is a pic of the seedlings sitting in my east-facing bedroom, what we call the "green room" or "garden room". As you can tell, I have lots of tomato seedlings, cabbage, bell peppers, and much more. Really waiting for this snowy weather to finish so I can get out and fill up the garden (which I haven't finished getting ready yet).

The above is a picture of what the space looked like before the guys got very far with building the chicken coops and goat pen. Took them 2 days to get very far.

The above is a picture of what our goat pen looks like now that it's mostly finished. Plenty of room in the 4x16 enclosed house (yes, it has uncovered areas for good ventilation). Sturdy gate. Can't see the poultry fencing along the perimeter. Still to do: stack some bales of hay in the back of the house, place the water bucket ... where?, and install a scrap gate along the left wall to hook on the feed buckets. Other than that... it's sturdy and functional. Not by any means purty but will work for us. Should have the goats in it by weekend.

The above is a picture of our quail egg incubator. Yeah, we got that cheapo thing. Hard to keep the temp steady so I'm constantly checking and adjusting the foil around it. Then every time I take off the lid to turn the eggs (twice a day), the temp drops 10-15 degrees so really have to watch it then. Have it in the garden bedroom's bathroom so it won't be disturbed. Gonna have to find a better place for it the next time. Anyway, there are the 4 fertilized bobwhite quail eggs that came with it. They take 23 days to hatch, and our coturnix quail will only take 18-19 days. So... if Pecka gives me an egg today and tomorrow, we'll place them in the incubator tomorrow night. Should all hatch on Monday, Jun 7. Here's hoping!

Wanna see a pic? This is Henny Penny, the laying Araucana (easter egger) hen we got two Sundays ago. She gives about 6 eggs every 7 days. She's finally gotten used to us, and knows when we open the back door of the little temporary "isolation" coop that she'll get a treat ... whether it's a big red wiggler worm, or a handful of cracked corn or oats, or an apple core ... she's excited to see us!

Speaking of hens ... here's a picture of 4 of Henny Penny's light green chicken eggs, compared to 5 of Pecka's quail eggs. I love the contrast!


And here's a pic of the Kid's dinner the other night ... one chicken egg and 3 quail eggs. Notice the beautiful intense yellow-orange yolks and firm whites. Not sure you can see but the inside of the quail eggs is a light blue, and the inside of the light green chicken egg is ... light green! How cool is that?!?! Saved the eggshells to crush and give back to the chicken and quail. Good source of calcium to make more eggs.

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Remember ... please plant a nut or fruit tree today.

Rainy busy Saturday

We woke up today with every intention of getting the douglas fir tree-lings and holly bushes planted. Well, me directing and Hubby and Kid planting.

As we got dressed and started to head to the door, an odd sound came from the baby monitor that we have connected to the workshop/barn. Sounded like static. Actually, was rain mixed with hail. A moment later, it hit the house. Sooo... we didn't get planting outside done. Or the chicken coops or chicken/goat pens done. We DO have a big pool of mud in the goat pen area tho.

What did we do? Gathered another quail egg and another green Henny Penny egg. Hubby hooked up the grow lights in the indoor garden room. Planted the european mesclun salad mix seedlings in the indoor "pool" (I'll try to take a pic tomorrow). Started two dif kinds of corn seeds in jiffy peat pellets. Started lots of different kinds of winter squash and pumpkins and gourds in jiffy peat pellets. Took a lamp out to the workshop/barn because the overhead doesn't give out much light, even at night. Had our furnace looked at (gotta replace... argh). Fed cracked corn to the Henny Penny for the first time ... loves it and oats and especially loves apples! Gave a little of her laying pellets to the quail to see if it will strengthen her shells. Talked with a neighbor about how they sell their eggs (word of mouth ... can't keep up with the demand).

Checked our mail and our quail eggs and incubator were there! Ah ha! I'll take a pic tomorrow.

By the time I finished directing what to do, and did some myself, it was late. Expecting close to 70 tomorrow with hopefully no rain. Maybe we can at least get the goat pen finished and possibly the chicken coop. Hope!

How to Grow Lentils Part 1

It took me a lot of experimentation and testing to find lentil seeds that were (1) organic and (2) would sprout in dirt! I found some and am offering some for sale too!

This is my saga of growing lentil plants. I took my special organic green lentils and planted 1-2 in each reconstituted peat-pellet (see pic). Did 3 pellets in a baggie. The first sprout popped up within 7 days. I had given up on 2 and 3 and pushed another lentil in each when the next day number 2 popped above the soil. Oops. About 3 days after that, number 3 popped up! So about 14 days after I originally planted the peat-pellets, I had 3 seedlings, and noticed that #2 and #3 had another popping up beside the first ones! Argh! Of course, we keep our house temp at 63 degrees F during the Fall, Winter, Spring so it was probably the temp. The moral of this paragraph is that some lentil seeds sprout quicker than others so be patient!

I'll continue to grow these 3 in our house's garden room, and will plant some outside along our fences, with cucumbers. Now... here's some info about growing lentils:

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Basic info: An annual plant, member of the pea family (legume). Sometimes referred to as a bean. Grow on short vines (18-24 inches high). Branches are sparse. Flowers are small and kinda white or light pruple. Pods are flat, small and broad and have about 2 flat seeds. The kind I'm growing are green, but there are red, yellow, orange, brown and tan too.

Sow: 2-3 weeks before the last frost. If frost kills the seedling, it might grow back from what's below the ground (resilient). Can start indoors before transplanting or grow on your windowsill (pots should be at least 8 inches deep). If temp is kept at 68 degrees F, seeds will germinate in around 10 days. Outdoors, plant in full sun, in loose, well-drained soil (sandy is good). PH between 6.0 and 6.5.

Spacing: 1/2 to 1 inch deep, about 2-3 inches apart (I hate to thin and do as much "intensive gardening" as possible. Trellis to allow air circulation... I plan to use almost every fence I have for bean, pea and lentil growing.

Feeding/Watering: Dress bed with compost before planting, weak compost tea when about 5-6 inches tall, and again at flowering. Stop watering when they start to die/dry out. While growing, keep evenly moist, although they are pretty drought tolerant.

Companion planting: NEVER near onions, garlic or other alliums. They love potatoes, cucumbers and summer savory. I will be planting vining cucumbers along the fence with the lentils ... 5 lentils, 1 cuke, 5 lentils, 1 cuke and so on.

Growing: Protect from pests (aphids or weevils) or early frosts. Use crop rotation system to avoid infestations. No real diseases to worry about, but are susceptible to mildew (which is why you need to give them good air circulation).

Yield: about 2 lentil seeds per pod. Number of pods can vary. So... not good but if you're into providing your own food, as we are, and like lentils, grow them! Plants lots, especially if you eat lentils more than once a week.

Harvesting: pick fresh for immediate munching, or allow to let dry on the vine to harvest for storage and later-cooking. Takes 80-110 days to come to harvest.

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THIS WAS PART 1 OF "How to Grow Lentils". I'll write Part 2 when they are growing in the garden, and probably Part 3 when I've harvested them.

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Please plant a nut or fruit tree today.

Seedlings and Chicks

These pictures were taken last week but I didn't get a chance to post them until now. That's the day of the snow storm ... we got a couple of inches of snow outside.

Picture 1: that's part of our fenced-in dog run that we're turning into a goat pen, chicken pen, relaxing area, and raised-bed intensive garden area. Can you tell that I planted peas in the bottom right... between that horizontal wooden post and the fence. Hope they don't die. Haven't sprouted as of yesterday.

Picture 2: I love this picture. This is the upstairs bedroom that faces east and south. The window in this pic faces east. I love setting here at dawn to watch the sunrise. Absolutely beautiful. Out the window you can see the snow that fell for another couple of hours after I snapped this pic. On the window ledge is a planter with lettuce that we've been eating on for a couple of weeks. You can also see where I've repotted some of my seedlings (grown from seed) and placed in baggies. I really need to get the cabbage and broccoli in the ground! In the foreground to the left are the apple rose finn fingerling potatoes that I set out to get sprouts in the eyes. Those really need to be planted soon too!

Picture 3: Here are seedlings I started. The foreground has tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, etc. In the little baggie to the left is an experiment I did with lentils ... and yes, 2 out of three sprouted so yes, I'm planting some in the ground this year. Towards the back of the pic is a flat I did with different greens.... I was testing some old seed and as you can see, they sprouted! Um... anyone need some flats of lettuce?

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The baby chicks did well over the night. Interesting that we never realized that chickens... even babies ... sleep at night.

We ended up separating the chicks again ... each kind in its own box. The black australorps are ever so nice to each other, but the easter eggers... geez! There are two in that group of five that will peck at another. Not good.

As for the night... the blacks cuddled together ... not away from the heat and not near it. Kinda in the middle. Must have the temp right. Hubby thinks they put off more heat than the ee's. Could be.

Last night the ee's spread out in their box but closer to the heat. Every time I checked on them, one or two were off by themselves, wings totally spread out and sleeping away. One even slept in the feeder!

Of course, they are all up and eating breakfast now. They did well in their makeshift boxes but Hubby's gone to pick up a metal trough and a second heat lamp setup. Turns out I'm allergic to chickens (nose, eyes, argh!) so we need to move them to the garage. Hence, the requirement for a better set up.

We do have that chicken coop we got a few weeks ago. Still have to re-hang the door but we're thinking .... a local community is having an "animal swap" where people can either trade, sell or buy all kinds of animals, including dogs, chickens, sheep, goats, etc. We think we'll go (next weekend) and see about getting a dog or 3, and perhaps a couple of laying hens... something different than what we have. Just for the experience (oh, and the eggs!).

Our "handyman" is coming over this morning to quote on building our outdoor goat and chicken pens. Plus our "subdivision" is having a huge garage sale so I want to go to that. AND I need to get the potatoes planted in the box setup I talked about a couple of days ago. AND Hubby and I need to build the raised beds and fill so I can get the cabbage, broccoli and greens planted. My little seedlings (as you saw above!) are getting quite large!

We also have a friend coming by ... the one that gave us all of the pallets and some wood. Busy day. Gotta scoot!

Quail Question and the two-dollar garden challenge

I found the following question in my YouTube in-box and thought I'd answer it here:

From MrDreaC: I saw a video a wile back on quail. I was hoping you could answer a few questions i had. the reason i ask is because im thinking of raising some quail. i wanted to know if you had any pointers for me. such as how many birds id need (just me and my girl would be eating).# and size of cages. the best species to buy, where to buy and the like. also my wife has told me that she doesn't want the house to be full of bird squawking all the time. are the birds loud? how may meal birds can be produced by 1 breeding pair? thanks in advance. (sic - above is exactly as it was in my in-box!)

My Response: I'm not an expert by any means. You can check my blog at http://vikkisverandah.blogspot.com and search for "quail". They do make noise but it's not constant and certainly a lot less than most birds. Keep one boy and one girl together because they get jealous and will peck another of the same sex. We just moved ours into rabbit hutches with easy-to-clean pans underneath. Do NOT let a pet-store employee talk you into using a regular bird cage... they don't work for quail. Quail do not fly a lot. They jump up and often hit their heads. They don't need tall cages, just wide. Good luck.

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My goat-neighbor-son called yesterday and said he'd be over today to help construct the goat pen. Would have come over yesterday except he got his chicks in. All 400 of them! He's going to do something called "Pastured Poultry Profit" from a book by Joel Salatin. Interesting. Never heard of it. But will have to pick his brain about it. I think they have 2-3 acres, but the info I found talked about doing it with 20 acres. The reviews I saw for the book on Amazon.com brought up concerns about the lack of info on how to market the meat/eggs in today's society. Didn't discuss the internet, from what I can tell.

QUESTION: what is the best way for a small "hobby farmer" to market the meat, eggs, milk, cheese, produce, etc.?

We'll probably use most of our eggs, but would like to sell our extra quail and quail eggs. Plus we plan to sell our produce. That's why I'm asking the above question.

I got a LOT of work done on repotting my seedlings yesterday but still have lots more to do. My plants are growing so fast and we haven't even begun making the raised-bed frames for them. I have a lot of cold-crops ready to go so we need to get it done soon!

Plus I broke down the other day and bought 3 strawberry plants and a small 9-flat of lettuce plants. I just couldn't wait any longer! I want fresh greens! The lettuce got planted yesterday in a windowsill planter... plenty of space because we'll keep them "clipped". The strawberries will get planted in another windowsill planter and should begin bearing within a month.

It's so much to get done for the first year on a new property. We'll do as much as possible, but I'm thinking the strawberry pyramid will have to wait until next year. That's why the windowsill planter for this year.

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Last night I took 3 peat pellets, un-shrank them (rehydrated), and placed an organic green lentil in each.

Assuming they sprout, I'm gonna do a lot more and plant them all along a fence. I've never grown lentils so know nothing about them. I'll harvest, save to eat and to seed. Since they didn't have a name, I'll call them VC Green Lentils!

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I'm thinking that I'll put off my $2 Garden Challenge for a year. I just don't have the time, energy and strength to do more than what we had already planned. Even scaling back still won't give me that extra time. Sorry to disappoint but ... I'm sure you understand.

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Hubby, the Kid and me did get some pallets and other things moved around in the workshop/barn last night. We also moved the chicken coop in place but I'm not happy with the puddle of oil soaked into the dirt underneath. Gonna have to figure out something.

And ... Hubby tried to work on a co-worker's laptop here at home yesterday and it tried to reconfigure our modem. It's basically shot. I had to piggy-back off a neighbor's to post this morning. I'm really ticked, especially since Hubby does all of this work for free. That free job's gonna cost us a new modem. And Hubby got a promotion about a year ago but have they given him the title and new pay yet? Nope!

Ok, I'm not in the best of moods today. Maybe I should go back to bed for a little while.

Sunday Evening Came Fast

Well, here it is, 7:18 p.m. on Sunday evening, and we still haven't started our taxes or finished painting the guest suite. But we did...

-get a 5x8 trailer full of pallets (for goat and chicken pen building)
-found a 4-compartment rabbit hutch that we will pick up next weekend
-took a walk around the neighborhood and found lots of dogs, goats and chickens
-bought 3 rabbit carriers that will work well as quail pens
-bought 2 kerosene lanterns ($2 each) at the same garage sale
-almost bought a duckling just because they are so cute
-met our next door neighbors (with the alpacas) - wonderful people!
-took mom-in-law out for Easter Linner (lunch/dinner)
-bought an intercom system for house (so we won't need to stomp!)
-figured out where to put our fence but still need to mark it
-saw how two different families keep their chickens and goats
-saw how two different families keep their alpacas
-discovered feed stores push Purina even tho I said "no purina goat food"!

...and last but certainly not least, discovered that the wind blows here ALL the time and we better get used to dirt in our mouths and eyes. Pulled so much sand out of my eyes this morning, I could have slept in a sandbox! Gonna have to make sure we plant the windbreaks immediately.

HOWEVER.... Remember how I started a flat of seeds on March 31? Wednesday? Saturday morning (Apr 3) I peeked at the flat and couldn't believe it! Some had sprouted... 2 lettuce, 1 broccoli, and a marigold. This morning (Apr 4) I peeked again, and even more had sprouted... several lettuce (2 kinds), cabbage, broccoli, and more marigolds! I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!

I'll take a pic of the flat of seeds tomorrow. I'm thinking... I might sell lettuce and herb seedlings through craigslist. I have so many seeds and can't possibly use them all. Hmmm... maybe we can actually earn enough to get the greenhouse built before Autumn.

Today we get pallets and a hutch

Yesterday the Kid and I went out for errands to the second closest town, about 40 minutes drive. First to the health food store where I picked up a couple packets of quinoa and lentils. Also got some millet for the quail, us, and trying to plant. We'll see. The Kid also got several loaves of gluten-free bread, gf brownies and gf cinnamon rolls. I grabbed more dried soup veggies, because I go through a couple of packages of those a week.

Next to Bed, Bath and Beyond because the Kid needed an organizer for the shower next to his basement bedroom. No where to hold his shampoo! Looked at shower curtains too but everything was so expensive so just got the organizer. (Sidenote: couldn't believe it but he found a porn mag in one of the basement bathroom drawers... unbelievable! At least he brought it to us as soon as he found it but we sure did have to answer a lot of questions.)

Then to Wal-Mart for essentials necessary for the bathroom the Kid just vacated up here. Not even a soap dish or towel rack! I picked out some stuff that will do nicely in this "guest-suite", and goes well with the newly-painted light green walls. Picked up a few other things, but by the time I was ready for check-out, my body was ticked off at me so we hurried home, unloaded, put the car back in the workshop and I didn't move for another hour.

I've been thinking about space lately, and I think that in addition to using the other suite up here as a guest-suite, I'll put my planter-shelves in front of the two south-facing windows, and when the seedlings are ready to leave the mini-greenhouse after they've sprouted, I'll repot and place on those planter-shelves. After all of my seedlings have been planted outdoors, I'll use that space to grow lettuce and herbs indoors year-round. Maybe even a tomato! Yum! Nothing beats homegrown veggies.

But today.. we have lots of things to do. That woman in the nearby town will be waiting for us to pick up the 10+ pallets, there's another person in the same town that has a 4-compartment hutch that we should be able to modify for the quail, the country store that will be providing our chicks at the end of this month is holding a sale on livestock feed so we'll stop by to pick up some goat food, AND a nursery in the same town is calling our names to visit and explore and order our fruit trees!

What else to do today (Saturday): Hubby still needs to finish painting the guest-suite (high places and edges) so I can finish moving things around there. We need to find the frame for the Kid's full-size bed in the basement (he's almost 6' at age 13). Want to plant peas in the ground so they'll start germinating and growing ... fresh peas eaten straight from picking are very delicious.

Oh yeah, the most important thing we need to do this weekend: open boxes to locate our paperwork to do taxes! Once organized, I just need to call H&R Block to make an appointment for next week. With selling the house and other things, our taxes are just a mite too complicated this year. Next year we'll do them ourselves.

As for Sunday... driving into Denver to take mom-in-law out for Linner (Lunch/Dinner). Probably won't put up another post till Monday so everyone have a good Easter.