Sunday, January 17, 2010

January 17, 2010

/Sigh it has been forever since I've been here.  Mostly I've been away spending time with the family and looking unsuccessfully for work.  The rest of the reason is that I haven't had much to say gardening wise.  I've been content reading my friend's blogs. 

Until tomorrow (hopefully), the only gardening thing I've done besides helping my eldest pick a carrot from the garden for dinner or a snack is to write an article for Patti's e-zine.   It was on indoor gardening under lights and should be coming out in February.  Tomorrow I hope to take some time to start some lettuce seeds to germinate and grow under lights.  It is time to do that finally.  I am not sure if I will use my self-watering window boxes or one of my soil blocks for these.  I wanted to use the window boxes for mint and other herbs this year to keep them from spreading, but I like the idea of being able to move the lettuce indoors if we get another cold front move in.  We've already had a week of 18 degree nights (never happens here).  It killed everything in the garden.  I would love to be able to bring in the lettuce on those nights if it happens again.



The real reason for my post tonight is that I'm excited to bake bread again.  Some may remember last year when I made a sourdough starter and tried my hand at no-kneed sourdough bread.  It worked ok, but I never really mastered it before my starter died.  I just wasn't consistent keeping it up. 

Well, my brother found a recipie for easy no-kneed bread in Mother Earth News.  It takes all of 5 minutes to make enough dough to last a week and make 5 rounds, pizza crust or other breads.  Do that once a week and know that the kids are eating healthy fresh bread.

Lastly, my brother and I are going in on our Territorial Seed order this year to save on shipping.  We did it last year and it worked great.  I don't really need much as I intend to just grow what we can consume, with any extra possibly put up.  I got more carrots, broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, peas and some herbs.

I hope you are getting geared up for spring if it fits your climate, or at least planning for spring.  I expect to start posting again as often as makes sense.

Enjoy your garden!