April flew by this year and everything seems to be growing along quite well. I took a turn through the garden and my currant shrubs are just covered with berries. This is their second year in my garden and last year I didn’t get a single berry. I remember one bush in particular started getting overrun with ants in the early summer. I am hoping
Sluggish Seedlings
This is the first time I have grown vegetables from seed indoors. Normally I am a direct-sow kinda girl, but I wanted the greater variety in vegetable options so I could focus on heirlooms this year. So I went out and bought a grow light, made my seed pots from newspaper, and got the growing underway. It’s getting on late-April now and I starting to
Seed Packet Infestation
The weather in Portland has been very Spring-like over the last several weeks, but sure enough the winter weather has swept back through with one final blow. Snow, hail, and near-freezing temperatures decided to take another run through town and looks like they will hang around for a few more days. What I call “Portland’s false Spring” has come to an end. Eventually the temperature
First Transplants
When it’s sunny in Portland, it reminds all of us why we endure the 60-some consecutive days of rain in the winter. A sunny, warm day makes it all worth it to live here. The cherry blossoms are blooming around town and we left the windows open all day long. I got so hot working outside that I actually had to come in and change
Hey Broccoli, Tell Your Friends!
The broccoli seeds have really taken off. This weekend they are getting moved out into a raised garden bed. The chives and leeks are just kind of “eh”. My poor kale, on the other hand, has not raised a single green peep. Tonight I replanted my kale seeds from last year in the newspaper pots, this time adding in 2-3 seeds per pot. Maybe the
Spring Preparations
The first egg of the season arrived this weekend! Surely Spring can’t be far behind. I assume the little green egg was from Hazel, since she is the most consistent layer of all the girls. Pearl and Winnie gave up their egg-laying duties around Labor Day, but Hazel kept up through about mid-October. It kills me to buy commercial eggs from the store when I
And They’re Off!
The seeds have sprouted! Well, the broccoli seeds at least. The kale and chives have yet to poke their little heads out of my newspaper pots. They were seeds from last season so I am hoping they have not gone bad. Doesn’t it just seem too quick for seeds to “go bad” after one season? I was starting to get a little nervous about my
Anxiously Awaiting
It has only been a few days since planting my first round of seeds, but I am anxiously awaiting their arrival into the world. One would think aliens have landed in our house when they see the strange glow through our front window, blinds closed, eerily bright light peeking through openings. My eyes are just glued on those little plastic domes first thing in the
Newspaper Seed Pots
This is the first year I am starting seeds indoors for my vegetable and herb garden. In the past, I have been willing to take my chances shoving seeds directly in the ground when the weather was warm enough. After my experience last year with my urban chickens digging up and eating so many of my seeds, I thought transplanting small plants might improve the