Tag: mini greenhouse

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.

Gardman Mini greenhouse

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!

My grow bags full of carrots

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 🙂

Stratus rain gauge

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:

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…

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

Happy Shopping and Happy Holidays!

Seedlings on the Move

I’ve been anxiously awaiting Mother’s Day, and not just because I get to be the center of attention, but because it signals the official beginning of the outdoor garden season in my area.

Generally once Mother’s Day passes, I can start planting the warm weather plants without too much fear of a cold snap. Some things like zinnias, I will still wait a couple more weeks to make sure the ground is nice and warm. It finally seems like the vegetable seedlings I started in the house are ready to move outside. The flowers will wait a few more days (Finally Planting Season is Beginning).  About 4 weeks ago I started:

 

Squash, cucumbers and zucchini really don’t like to have their roots disturbed, so they can be finicky when you transplant them. It’s recommended to start them outdoors, but I’ve had good luck growing them in peat pots or other biodegradable pots to give them a head start. After they get nice and strong in the house, I move them to my mini greenhouse for a couple of days, then outdoors in the shade for a couple more. Then, when they’re ready to plant I gently tear the bottom off the pot and plant the whole pot.

I’m super excited to try out my new trellis for the zucchini and squash. I had to move the zucchini and squash because of last year’s squash vine borer attack.  The other vegetable beds don’t have the space to let them grow free on the ground so I’m trying the trellis. 

It was pretty easy to put together, but best as a two-person job. Gardener’s Supply Company has a nice video to show how to assemble it. It’s made of plastic, so won’t rust but seems plenty strong enough to hold zucchini and squash. I’ll let you know as the season progresses.

I got the squash, zucchini and cucumbers in the ground, but had a little incident with some of the zucchini. They hadn’t grown as robustly as the others, and I wasn’t as gentle as I should have been.

I broke the main stem, which is really easy to do if you’re not careful. Sometimes it heals, but it’s iffy. I planted it anyway and will hope for the best. So far it seems to be holding its own.

I usually try to have a backup in the same pot and thin them after they’ve become established in there ground, but in this case it didn’t grow. I also usually grow more plants than I need and hold some in reserve in case there’s an “incident”. If they all grow in the first couple of weeks, wonderful, I have plants to share.  

My “spares” in the greenhouse with my microgreens.

So far so good! A few days later and everything is looking good, even after some cool and stormy weather. Btw, for our small family 2-4 zucchini plants and 4 squash plants provides more than enough for us and some to share.

My sugar snap peas are doing great in this cool weather and starting to climb up the rainbow spiral stakes and pea trellis. I originally had the stakes “out of order”, but the science nerd in me couldn’t let that be. 🌈 I reorganized them, but from the front of the bed they were backwards, oh well, close enough.

rainbow gardener's supply company rainbow stakes

Last but not least, my mouse cucamelon plants are off to a very slow start and still in the house under the grow lights. I hope they get going soon, I’m looking forward to one of latest food trends!