It is officially gardening season in Northeast Missouri, and each day I dip into my seed storage container and start a few varieties indoors and direct sow a few more in the garden. I'm a firm believer in a slow and steady approach to gardening - even a half hour's work each day will lead to a lot of food! Right now, I am focused on growing salad greens. My early spring standards always include lettuce, kale, swiss chard, mesclun, and collards. But this spring, I'm feeling a bit sassy, so I'm throwing a few more favorites into the mix. I've selected five of my favorite spring greens to share with you today. These five greens are easy to grow, and will add a little diversity and flavor … [Read more...]
The 5 Best Heirloom Melons to Grow this Summer
This winter, when I received seed catalogs in the mail, I immediately turned to the Melon pages. After years of struggling to grow melons in conditions that simply were not suitable - partial sun, cool nights - I was determined to grow a few delicious heirloom melons in my tiny garden. Baker Creed Heirloom Seeds, based in Missouri, has the most incredible selection of melons I have ever seen. It was incredibly difficult to select only a few, and I ended up with a dozen or so varieties. Sadly, some of my starts didn't transplant well, but I was still left with an assortment of eight varieties, of which we are still harvesting several! Here are my favorite (and most delicious) … [Read more...]
Preparing.
Snow geese have been passing overhead each day, huge flocks heading west. Today, I saw my first robin on a tree branch outside the kitchen window. Friends are tapping black walnut trees for their sap. Spring draws closer yet! I, for one, have been preparing my seed orders and dreaming and scheming about this year's garden space (which technically doesn't yet exist, but hey, a girl's got to dream!) The spring garden will be planted here at the house where we've been staying, and I'll work on prepping some sheet mulched beds on the land for our summer crops. While I already have a more than ample supply of seeds - which, by the way, I keep in an under-the-bed style Rubbermaid … [Read more...]