Saturday, February 27, 2010

Starting Seed Indoors

If you want to get a jump on Spring, it will soon be time to start some of your garden plants growing indoors. Lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, and melons are particularly good for doing this, though onions,carrots, and other root crops are not. Starting seeds 4-6 weeks before the last frost (usually between April 25th and March 1st in the Chicago area) means next week is a good time to start. So what do you need to get started?
  1. Some containers. You can buy "seed greenhouses" at a nursery/Home Depot/Lowe's that have clear lids and wicking systems to water from below...or you can go more low-tech like I do. I use seed-starting pots made of peat ($2 buys you about 30 cells) and foil roasting pans. Another good choice is to use restaurant take-out containers--the kind with the clear plastic top and the black plastic bottom. The clear plastic covering on top of your container helps to seal in moisture and make the environment more humid, which helps seeds to germinate faster.
  2. Some soil. The pre-made greenhouses come with compressed peat pellets that expand with water; you can also buy specialized seed starting potting mix. My best results, though, have come from my own mix. I use a ratio of 2/5 compost, 2/5 sphagnum peat moss, and 1/5 vermiculite or perlite. If you don't like fractions, just take a scoop or container of whatever size, scoop up two containers full of compost, two of peat moss, and one of perlite, and mix. This soil has tons of nutrients (compost), trace elements and moisture retention (peat moss) and aeration (vermiculite).
  3. Some light. I grow my seeds in my basement. I got a $20 shop light from Home Depot, threw in a couple of fluorescent tubes, and put it on a timer that turns it on for 14 hours a day, off for 10. If you're using artificial light, you need it to be about three inches over the top of your plants, so I rigged it up on ropes and pulleys to be able to raise and lower it to whatever height I want. Of course, south-facing windows also work too.
  4. Some seeds, some water, and some patience. Do I need more explanation here?
The picture above shows some lettuce seedlings that I planted on February 19th. Because lettuce seeds are so small, I just scattered them into a roaster pan filled with my soil. After they sprouted, I picked 16 of the strongest-looking seedlings and transplanted them into individual cells. This picture was taken on the 24th: 6-day-old plants.

Tell me about your seed starting adventures!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Sandwich Bread Recipe


Several people have asked me for the recipe for my basic sandwich loaf, so I'm going to post it here. This is the bread that I've baked every week for my family for over a year. The girls enjoy it--Ellie especially want the heels because she likes the crust--and I think it's great for toast and grilled sandwiches because it's robust enough to get crispy in the skillet and it really holds in the melted cheese and fillings.

This isn't an artisan loaf or a the product of some complicated process. It doesn't require expensive ingredients or specialized equipment. After the first two times you'll make it, you'll stop needing to refer to the recipe. I've tried a lot of other breads, but I keep coming back to this one. Give it a try, especially if you're just breaking into the world of bread.

Ingredients:
3 cups water
6-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 T instant yeast
1-1/2 T salt
Optional: 3 T flaxmeal

Directions:
Throw the flour, yeast, salt (and maybe flaxmeal) into a big mixing bowl and stir it around a bit. Let the tap water run until it's a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees) and add it into the bowl. Mix it up well. If you have a stand mixer, you can use that; if you don't (like me) stir it until it forms a big ball and then knead it around a bit to mix all the ingredients. Shape it into a ball and put it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp dishtowel or plastic wrap. Let it sit and rise anywhere between 90 minutes and 5 hours, preferably in a warm place.

Come back and divide the dough in half (a digital scale helps here, but it's not critical). Spray some oil in your bread pans and then shape each half of the dough into a log that will fit into the pan. Move the dough into the pans and cover with a damp towel. Let this rise about an hour or so, depending on how it looks. You can slash the tops or brush them with butter or milk or something, but I don't do either. It rises plenty and has a great crust without it.

Warm the oven to 350 degrees and put both loaves in the oven for 50 minutes. I check for done-ness and make sure it's at least 180 degrees inside. Turn them out of the bread pans onto wire racks to cool.

Yield: 2 loaves

That's it. It's a really forgiving recipe, and it has FOUR (maybe five) ingredients. If you want to remember the recipe (and be able to scale it and impress your friends), remember the 6-3-3-13 rule: 6 c. water, 3 T yeast, 3 T salt, 13 c. flour. That makes four loaves. The dough, by the way, will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, after the initial rising time.

Anyway, if you try this out and like it, let me know. If you try and don't like it, whisper it quietly down a well somewhere.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Another great informational site

Sometimes I feel like a cheating when I post entries that are really about other blogs or websites, but I recently ran across this site and suspect most of the people that read this blog haven't seen this website but might like it:

F.A.S.T.

The organization name stands for Faith and Sustainable Technologies. It's a Christian-based corporation that provides information relating to aquaponics, gardening, backpacking, raising poultry or rabbits, and many other green technologies. They have also undertaken projects like setting up a greenhouse and aquaponics system in Kenya to help disadvantaged people there.

I think it's a good example of how showing God's love for people and Christian stewardship of the earth can come together.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Window Farm

When I talked about gardening at the Mom's group last week, several people lamented their lack of growing spaces. When you live in a condo or apartment, often you can't just till up the common space to plant lettuce.

Many people in New York City have the same problem, and they've come up with a clever solution: window farms. That link will take you to a pdf file that will explain everything you need to know about setting up a vertical hydroponic garden right in a sunny window, with no soil, no mess, no weeds, and no condo association curtailing your urge to grow fresh produce.

The basic component of this system is only empty water bottles! If your window isn't sunny enough, you can add CFL bulbs to supplement the natural light. It would be a great project for your kids, too.

Let me know if you want to start this, 'cause I'd love to help!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

One Man's Junk = Another Man's Cold Frame, or Greenhouse, or...

Some people collect stamps. Some collect whiskey glasses, or salt shakers, or garden gnomes. I collect windows:


This is my current collection after prowling alleys around my neighborhood. These are windows that people cast out due to remodeling or upgrading their windows to more energy-efficient models. My initial plan was to use the first few windows I salvaged (plus a 4' x 5' bay windowsash that I'd also acquired) to build a cold frame. A cold frame is basically a small box with a glass top that sits on the ground to provide a little extra heat to cold-sensitive plants, or to provide an intermediate zone to acclimate, or harden, young seedlings to the outdoors before transplanting. Cold frames can also extend your growing season by a couple of weeks in both spring and fall.

So far, though, I've accumulated a full dozen windows of various sizes, and now my thoughts are spinning up even grander projects...like a mini-greenhouse! Tonight I measured all the windows and noted the dimensions, and in the next couple of weeks I'll be playing with numbers and drawings to see just what I can make with them. Combined with the discarded-but-fine lumber I also collected this winter, I just might have a tiny greenhouse for nearly zero cost! Reduce, repurpose, recycle!

More updates on this front later, dear Reader...

Different State, Different World


This past weekend, the family and I flew out to visit my parents, who still live in the house where I grew up in Dixon, California. Mind you, they live in central California nearly 500 miles north of L.A. and, granted, were having a warm spell, but the weather averaged in the 60s and hit a high of 71 degrees while we were there.

It was a bit surreal to leave snowy Chicago (where we'd just gotten a foot of snow two days before) to go to a place where we were picking fresh, ripe oranges of our neighbor's tree.

My daughter Eleanor (shown above with her prize) hasn't ever been a real fan of oranges, but like with other garden delicacies, has a completely different attitude when she can harvest the fruit (or vegetable) herself. She went back to the tree several times for more. I include the picture of the orange tree to prove that we did, in fact, leave some for the neighbors! At one point, Ellie said, "Winters are better in California. We should maybe move out here!"

Sigh. Musher girl to sun bunny in four days flat...


Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Worm Inn




The Worm Inn

For the past several years, we have been a "traditional" compost family, meaning that we have a compost bin setup in the back yard, and regularly send most of our table scraps, lawn clippings, leaves, and other garden debris there. It's a great way to reduce how much we throw away into the garbage system, and it provides great fertilizer for our garden. Some of our friends, though don't have a big enough outdoor space to compost, so they have turn to vermicomposting, or worm composting. It's a great way for people who live in condos or apartments to help reduce their garbage output, or to have pets if their building doesn't allow cats or dogs.

This little device moves the vermicomposting from a plastic bin in the basement or under the kitchen sink to a more prominent, conversation-starting location, and may even make it easier to remember to compost. It also seems like it'd be easier to collect the worm castings from this setup compared to a regular plastic bin, and the less you have to handle your worms, probably the better for everyone.

As a side note: I've never actually used this product, and I'm getting any kickback from the company for touting the product. (Although, if they WANT to send me a commission, I wouldn't turn it down.)

Thursday, February 18, 2010

My Inspiration

A little over a year ago, when Melissa and I were thinking about drastically expanding our garden I did a fair amount of research into urban gardening. I came across one of the best little books on the subject that I've ever found then or since: My Handkerchief Garden by Charles Barnard.

The author describes transforming his urban backyard (25'x60' -- almost the exact dimensions of mine) into a full garden producing all manner of vegetables. He talks about the health benefits of fresh vegetables, the cost savings compared to the grocery store, and how working in the garden reduces urban stress. Because urban space is always at a premium, he talks about interplanting, rotation of ground, thinning, and other 'square-foot' gardening techniques. He talks about extending the growing season by starting seeds indoors, using cold frames in the spring and fall, and using row covers to protect the plants against early frost. He passes on clever tricks to build indoor growing shelves in your windows, and cheap ways to make raised beds.

Now, there are many resources in print or on the web that offer similar advice, or discuss just those same topics. After all, urban gardening is become all the rage. So what makes this book so much cooler than all the rest?

It was written in 1899.

Turns out people have been growing things for a lot longer than they've been surfing the 'Net, and vegetables still grow in about the same way as they used to. So check out the book, it's a quick read, but a great one!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Garden Planning

For those of your who have asked or are interested, here's my 10-step process for making a garden plan.

  1. Draw the layout of your available space on graph paper. I prefer to get large-square paper (2 squares per inch) so that each square can represent 1 square foot of garden. This step will help you visualize your possibilities and keep you on track for planting.
  2. Make a list of everything you may possibly want to grow. For now, don't be realistic. Shoot the moon. Reach for the stars. Include things that sound good to you or that your family loves to eat or that you've always wanted to try. Gather facts about each plant on the list. Find a good garden book or a website with lots of plant information, and write down the kind of soil each plant prefers, how much space it requires, when to plant it (indoors or outdoors), when to fertilize or tend it, and how long it takes to mature.
  3. Estimate how much you can reasonably use of each plant during its harvest time. If you can eat two heads of lettuce per week, don't plant so that a dozen plants are ready at the same time. However, if you plan to can or preserve things like squash or carrots or onions, make sure that enough of it ripens at the same time to prepare a full batch: you don't want some of your produce to go bad while you wait for more to ripen.
  4. Divide your available space into separate beds/areas. This will help you plan and also remind you how much can be grown in a small area (hint: it's more than you think!).
  5. Figure out your interplanting arrangements. To maximize your space, compare how long plants take to mature. Plant fast-growing varieties like spinach and radishes between those with longer maturation times, like carrots and broccoli. Make sure that whatever vegetables you plant together have similar soil and watering requirements.
  6. On your garden drawing, start "laying in" plants. This is where having the drawing to scale helps. I usually designate a unique letter or letter pair for each kind of vegetable, then draw them in on the plot in the space they will go. This will help you figure out how many plants of that type will come to harvest at the same time. Always allow for a couple of extras to replace those killed by a late frost, dug up by squirrels, or otherwise terminated before they (literally) come to fruition. Refer to your plant information to see how close the plantings should be and what kind of soil and fertilizing they will need. Keep plants with similar need in proximity. Plan successive plantings to stagger the crop at harvest. Number the separate plantings on your garden plot. Remember that not all vegetables will produce all summer, no matter how late or early you plant them.
  7. Count how many plants you will need and order seeds/plants accordingly. Your garden drawing will help you estimate how many seeds you will need. Of course, get some extra to allow for spillage, replacement plants, and ones that don't sprout, but your garden plan should keep you from order 3000 lettuce seeds when you need about 30.
  8. Find or make a garden calendar. You can use a regular monthly calendar, but I prefer making a weekly calendar, since the exact day you do something isn't as important as the week in which you do it. Write it the first planting date for each kind of vegetable, then add in succession plantings about two weeks apart for as many plantings as you have. For indoor planting and some outdoor crops, you will be working backwards from your last date (between April 25th and May 1st in the Chicago area).
  9. Add in other reminders. Some plants require regular fertilization, such as every three weeks or once a month. Write in these chores in the appropriate week. My sister uses Post-It notes for this, for example writing "Feed the corn" on a note and then moving the note three weeks later after the fertilizing is done. Other notes may be for transplanting or hardening indoor seedlings, mulching maturing plants, or tasks related to overwintering.
  10. Follow your plan and take notes. It's easy to get excited gardening and plant too many seeds, or to look out your plot and think that you don't have enough space. If your garden plan is sound, however, it will be a better guide than your in-the-moment guesses. Follow your plan whenever you can. Take notes about general weather conditions, when you actually planted (and how much), what you did for fertilizer, and how much you harvested. All this information will improve your plan for next year.
Some people have garden calendars that cover two or three years of information. These are great because you can compare years side-by-side and make changes to your plan based on your experience from previous years.

And remember, if you haven't started yet, NOW is the time to plan! If you wait until spring to think about your garden, you will have lost valuable growing time and will get a lower harvest in return.

A New New Beginning

Dear Readers,

I am chagrined by the date of my last post and humbled by the amount of friends and relatives telling me they actually read this blog. So, I'm launching a new beginning for the Horto in Urbs blog.

Again.

Well, it's mid-February and the garden planning is well underway. This year's lineup:

  • Carrots
  • Cantaloupe
  • Blueberries
  • Broccoli
  • Garlic
  • Herbs (basil, cilantro, and thyme)
  • Lettuce (head and leaf)
  • Onions (yellow, from sets)
  • Raspberry
  • Spinach
  • Squash (acorn and butternut)
  • Strawberries
  • Tomatoes
And the most daring addition:
  • a Braeburn apple tree!
Owing to last year's overabundance of lettuce, mistimed cilantro (it was gone before the tomatoes were ripe) and frequent fallow patches of good soil, I've made a weekly garden calendar. It will help me keep track of indoor and direct-seeding dates, transplant dates, succession planting intervals, fertilizing refreshes, general weather data, growing notes, and harvest totals.

Gardening is a continual process of refinement and improvement that will likely only stop when they plant me in the ground. Some of the major changes from last year:
  • No more corn. The squirrels ravaged the entire crop in one awful afternoon. I'm using last year's entire corn bed for cantaloupe, which Ellie loves. Sixteen plants oughta keep her in melons, I should think!
  • Much more interplanting. This is the main handkerchief garden/square foot garden concept. I did some last year, but didn't really utilize my available space to its fullest.
  • More succession planting. I succumbed to the temptation of planting several rows of things that would then be ready for harvest all at once--like lettuce. It turns out that no matter how much my family likes salad, we just can't down six or seven heads a week! Hopefully, an organized plan will help restrain me to planting in increments that we can reasonably use or give to friends.
  • Using cold frames. Over the winter, I've been collected discarded/replaced windows from back alleys (I think I'm up to a dozen now), and in the next couple of weeks I'll be turning them into cold frames to direct-sow early, harden indoor seedlings for transplant, and later to extend the fall harvest.
  • Bulk planting. For things that store better than leafy greens, I'm planting more of them this year: carrots, onions, garlic, and cantaloupe come to mind. I'm also adding three more raspberry bushes to eventually have a decent harvest that we can make jam with or do some useful with, rather than getting a handful of berries now and again.
  • Determinate tomatoes in containers rather than crazy indeterminate ones on an 8-ft trellis. Just easy to deal with, and hopefully easier to shield from squirrels.
  • Oh, and blogging more.
I also need to look at my indoor growing setup. I had good luck last year in the area I set up (rather inconveniently) in the furnace room, but the customized, out-of-the-way space I created in the laundry room did not do well. At first I thought it was the light (fluorescent tubes designed for plant growing), and then I suspected the soil mix (still do), but now I think it was too cold in the room (the basement is not well heated). I'm going to try again with different soil and more heat.