2019 Stephi Gardens Holiday Gift Ideas

This has been a very hectic December at my house. Are you as behind in Christmas shopping and preparations as I am? Here’s some (slightly late) holiday gift giving ideas from things I love!

Friends: Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission for each sale. All reviews are my own and are not influenced by any compensation I may receive.

Gardening:

Titan A-Frame Trellis: I’ve always grown cucumbers on trellises, but this year I tried it for my summer squash and zucchini. It didn’t look like the Pinterest squash trellises, but it saved space and was super convenient. The trellis was pretty easy to put together, and Gardener’s Supply Company has a nice video to show how to assemble it. It’s made of plastic, so won’t rust but is plenty strong enough to hold zucchini and squash. It’d work great for any climbing vegetables!

Mini Greenhouse: I start a number of my vegetables inside the house in the spring, and before they can go in the ground they need to spend some time outdoors to harden off. With our unpredictable Midwestern weather, that can be tricky to do. I don’t know what I’d do without my Gardman 4-Tier Mini Greenhouse. It’s super handy to keep the most tender of vegetables and annuals safe from cool spring nights until it’s planting time. As a bonus, it’s a handy place to grow microgreens.

Grow Bags: In addition to raised bed gardening, another way to add space and grow really healthy vegetables is in grow bags. I’ve had mine from Gardeners Supply Company for years and have grown carrots, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes in them. Their BPA-free fabric is really strong, yet allows for breathing and “root pruning”. No root bound plants in these bags! I’m adding more to my garden this year!

Stratus Rain Gauge: I was forever trying to figure out how much rain we got during a storm, or how little during a drought. And not in general, like somewhere in the greater Chicago area, or at one of the airports, but in my backyard. It’s a huge help to know how much to water the garden, and to satisfy my curiosity. You can read more about my rain measuring adventures in a previous post, “How Much Rain Did We Get?“. If you want to get super nerdy, I actually found a handy plastic ruler for measuring snow in tenths of inches. Much easier than converting all the time 🙂

Of course, gift cards to any local garden center or catalog seed company are always appreciated! Some to consider are Burpee, Botanical Interests, and Territorial Seeds.

Reading

I love to read! This year so far I’ve read 41 books. On the right sidebar of my blog you can see the latest books I’ve read and would recommend. I do read “bad” books, but don’t worry, I leave them off.

You can also find me on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/stephigardens. Friend me, I love to see what everyone else is reading!

What were some of my favorites this year? Top spot would be Dan Egan’s The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. Anyone who grew up near the Great Lakes will appreciate this journalists very readable history of man’s influence on the Great Lakes. I spent most of the book shaking my head in disbelief over the things that we’ve done to the lakes, but remain hopeful about the amazing resiliency of the Lakes to remain viable. From the building of the canals, St. Lawrence Seaway, lampreys, salmon, zebra mussels, asian carp, water levels, it’s all there. Much food for thought!

I also throughly enjoyed reading:

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Reid Jenkins
The Underground Railroad by Colton Whitehead
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloane

What were your favorite books of the year?

Cooking

FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer: I have no idea what took me so long to get one of these amazing kitchen gadgets. My friend was telling me about hers and I knew I needed one. I’ve been vacuum sealing meat, fresh vegetables, soups, and even banana bread (ok, that took a little practice). I’m so excited to have frozen food that still tastes fresh and be freezer-burn free. Plus, everything fits better in the freezer! I bought the FoodSaver FM2435 Vacuum Sealing System & Starter Kit and I’m thrilled with it.

Souper Cubes: I make a lot of soup and broth and have all kinds of containers for the freezer. I came across these amazing silicone freezing trays that are perfect for freezing soups and broths in perfect portions. No more messy freezer bags full of broth. They also have a clear fitting lid to keep the soups fresh in the freezer and make for easy stacking. Need a new healthy soup cookbook? My latest favorite is Clean Soups: Simple, Nourishing Recipes for Health and Vitality by Rebecca Katz.

I’m really a sucker for kitchen gadgets. Who doesn’t need a…

Joseph Joseph Scoop & Pick Jar Spoon and Fork Set– perfect for scooping out those maraschino cherries or olives.
Sur la Table Ultimate Fork for mashing avocados, scrambling eggs and so much more!
Garlic Twister that can mince all kinds of ingredients, from garlic to ginger, herbs, nuts and more.
Oxo 4 piece mini measuring cups–Great for cooking and cocktail making.

Be sure to check out my Holiday gift ideas from 2018 for more suggestions, and my Favorite Things page.

Happy Shopping and Happy Holidays!

Starting My Seeds Indoors

This weekend I finally had time to get my seeds and seed starting materials out to get them started indoors. I usually try and plant vegetables like cucumbers and summer squash that I have trouble finding in stores, but I buy my tomatoes and pepper plants from a local nursery who has a great selection.

I hauled out all the seed starter kits I had (see Starting Seeds Indoors), plus I bought some new trays to expand what I can grow. I also bought a great new mini greenhouse to set all the trays on and set it up on the porch. I’m hoping this will work better then the tray tables in front of a bedroom window!

I first started with my APS-24 systems (see Starting Seeds Indoors for more thorough instructions) I like this size for starting vegetables and larger flowers. Be sure to thoroughly wet the capillary mat and pre-moisten the sterile germinating mix used to fill the holes.

Then add the seeds according to directions as to how many per grouping and how deep (you’ll thin them later). Be sure to label them so you know what you’ve planted!

Since I have my new shelf and have space for more trays, I added to my collection of seed starting trays. I bought a couple of different kinds to try, a 72 cell Ultimate Growing System from Burpee to replace my missing APS one, and some smaller Jiffy 12 cell kits.

Both of these use soil pellets that you add water to and they expand. Like the instructions say, warm water does work better. After setting up all three kinds of soil cells, I think I prefer the old fashioned germinating mix that I pack myself. I found the pellets a bit difficult to get to rise evenly and needed to still fluff the mix in the Burpee kit.

I’ll see what I think after everything gets going as to which system I prefer for ease of use, and which holds up better for use year after year. For anyone who noticed the chunk missing from the styrofoam APS system, that was my fault. I’m not sure why I decided it what a good idea to pick up the full tray with one hand to move it. That missing piece would be where my thumb was. Otherwise, I’ve had these for years without any problems. Best to move all these trays with two hands!

Most of the germination instructions say plant inside 4-6 weeks prior to the last frost date. I’m about 3 weeks prior, although I usually wait a couple more weeks until mid-May before putting them in the ground. They should be fine starting this week. Here’s what I planted:

24 cell size:
Cucumber, Marketmore Organic (Botanical Interests)
Summer Squash, Baby Round (Botanical Interests)
Summer Squash, Cubes of Butter (Botanical Interests)
Summer Squash, Patty Pan Scallop Blend (Botanical Interests)
Zucchini, Burpee Hybrid (Burpee)
Marigold, Boy O’ Boy (Burpee)

72 cell size:
Cosmos, Sonata Mix (Burpee)
Marigold, French Favorite (Botanical Interests)

Jiffy pop-ups:
Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Botanical Interests)
Zinnia Fireball Blend (Botanical Interests)

Here’s the finished project. All ready for the sun to shine on it and get everything growing.

Seeds are in the House

After spending quite a bit of time pouring over seed catalogs, I finally sent in my seed orders. I had lots of new seed catalogs come to the house, and some more companies I just visited on-line, making the choices this year really tough.

Ultimately, I went with some Burpee stand by’s and the rest from Botanical Interests. I ordered an assortment of vegetables and flowers. Some of the vegetables I’ve grown before (summer squash, zucchini, lettuce) and others are new to my garden (pattypan squash, beets and cabbage).

I’ve outgrown the raised bed on the side of the house, plus we’ll have new construction next door so I’m not sure what the sun situation for that bed will even be come next year. So we spent a great deal of time watching the sun pattern in the yard last year (full sun is a problem in my yard) and mulling over where we could tolerate more vegetable beds. We finally settled on a new location off the back of the patio for 2 new raised beds. I’ve promised to keep them under control and somehow “pretty” them up. You can imagine them out there under the snow.

I bought new raised bed frames last fall from Plow and Hearth, so I am ready to go after a trip to the lumber store. I’ll let you know how I like the brackets.

Are you ready to start planting?