Tag: lettuce

Finally, Planting Season is Beginning

Finally, I can stop thinking about last year’s garden and start thinking about this year’s. I’ve ordered all my seeds, (maybe) and printed out my growing resources from Botanical Interests.

I’ve used these garden resources for years to organize my plantings, both for indoor and outdoor sowing. I thought they didn’t have them this year, but instead they made them part of this journal package. Phew! I really rely on them to know when to plant and keep track of what I’ve planted, when and where.

I’m finally ready to get started sowing the inside seeds. I grow some things myself and rely on my local nursery for the rest (shout out to Vern Goers Greenhouse!). Along with wonderful annuals and perennials, they have an amazing selection of peppers, tomatoes and other vegetables. I went to visit them the other day to see how things are coming along. Looks like it’ll be a little while until they’re ready, but it is only the beginning of April.

While I was there I did get some beautiful pansies to brighten the porch.

What did I sow today?

Flowers:

Vegetables:

I was hoping to get some cold weather seeds sowed this weekend, but my WI garden looked like this:

Still had to get some new dirt turned into the beds at home, so got that done this afternoon. Next post, I’ll let you know what I planted!

Kitchen Lettuce

I saw on Pinterest lots of pins about how you can grow some vegetables from the remains of store-bought or farm-raised vegetables. I thought I’d give it a try with some green leafy lettuce I bought at the grocery store.

Stephi Gardens

First, I cut off the end off the head of lettuce.

Stephi Gardens

I wrapped the washed lettuce leaves, wrapped in damp paper towels and placed them in the fridge drawer for use this week.  The cut of root end, I placed in a glass of water and put it near the kitchen window.

Within a week or so, the first leaf started to grow.  I changed the water every few days to keep it fresh.

Stephi Gardens

Almost 3 weeks later, I was getting enough leaves to start to think about harvesting the lettuce for some sandwiches.  Along the way, I added another lettuce root and watched them both grow.

IMG_3081

A few days later, it was time.  I just snipped off what I wanted and let the rest continue to grow.

Stephi Gardens

Yummy fresh sandwich for lunch!

Stephi Gardens

It was fresh and tasty, but does take patience to get enough lettuce to use.  I didn’t end up with enough for a salad, but it was great for sandwiches.  A larger container with more lettuce cuttings would easily produce enough for salad.

Have you grown anything on your countertop?

May Vegetable Garden

I’ve been so busy in the garden, I haven’t had much time to write about it.  Hopefully I can catch up in the next few days.  Everything is in that wonderful, lush spring phase.  Well, almost everything, but more on that another day.

garden vegetables

My raised vegetable beds are looking great.  I got my first harvest yesterday and we enjoyed a fresh vegetable side dish and a few small treats.   Most of the early seeds I planted in the side raised bed didn’t come up, but the spinach and a few stragglers survived the harsh spring.

garden spinach

garden spinach

In that bed, while the few early things are finishing up, I’ve planted tomatoes, onion starts, sugar snap peas, lots of squash, zucchini and cucumbers.  All the “messy” garden characters are nicely hidden on the side of the house with plenty of space to grow. All seem to be getting started nicely.

Raised bed garden

The new beds are also flourishing with vegetables, herbs and even some flowers.

Raised bed garden

The “left” garden has swiss chard, kale, spinach, lettuce, bush beans, cabbage, green peppers, sunflowers and nasturtiums in it.  I expect it’ll get a little more shade as the summer goes on, so maybe the cool weather plants will have a bit of an extended life.

Raised bed garden

The “right” garden is chock full of more lettuce, radishes, cabbage, green peppers, bush beans, basil, sunflowers and zinnias.  In front are marigolds, potted herbs and snapdragons to give the beds some color.   I like my herbs in pots to keep them tidy and in place.  On the side of the house I have more herbs, including mint.  Mint should always be in some type of corralled container to prevent it from taking over.

Raised bed garden

 

Leafy greens

So far, no complaints on the appearance of the gardens.  I’m really trying hard to not let it get unruly.  Hopefully the flowers add a burst of color.  To further help that, in the background of the gardens I’ve added cosmos and daylilys.  This project may turn out to be even nicer than we expected.

garden strawberry

Even the strawberry pot is looking great. Nothing like fresh from the vine fruit to remind you of what fruit is supposed to taste like.