So, the only thing that seemed to grow well in my old seed starting tray this year were my tomatoes. Specifically, the 4 Break O'Day tomatoes and 9 Tess's Land Currant Tomatoes that were planted about 4 weeks ago (there was supposed to be 12, check out my heat mat experiment to see how much better my 2nd batch germinated in it). These were planted about 2.5 weeks ago on a heat mat...Unfortunately both batches stems are turning purple... ...
How Much Does a Heat Mat Speed Germination? My Organic Garden Update
The heat mat WORKS! Ridiculously well, so well in fact that I’m definitely buying a second one next year. I’ve had the batch 2 of my seedlings going since 3/20 – it’s now 10 days later and everything seems to be growing strong! ...
Using a Heat Mat to Speed Germination:
So, like I mentioned before. The mold got me. It sucked. Eleven days after I had planted my initial seeds in my seed starting tray I decided I needed a do-over. I was now behind the seed starting dates for a lot of stuff by about 1 ½ weeks. How can I fix this? A HEAT MAT!? I don't know but I'm gonna try! While I was at the gardening store figuring out how to stop the mold I was coerced into buying all new seed starting materials…..A LOT of it. Let me tell you, that guy was a good salesman ...
What to do About Moldy Seed Starting Trays? Organic Gardening Mishap #1
Ok, so you probably saw my post that I started my first batch of seeds on 3/9. I planted more on 3/17. On 3/17 I planted tons of Rocky Top Lettuce mix, tons of Arugula, 3 Calabrese Broccoli, 5 Waltham Broccoli, 5 Stonehead Cabbage, 4 Golden Cabbage, 25 Beets (I’ll be succession planting these for a total of 160) and 6 Eggplant. Fast forward to 3/20…. MOLD, and LOTS OF IT…. ...
Starting Seeds Inside: Starting My Organic Garden
I hate waking up. Like REALLY. In college, everyone knew I was never up before noon – NEVER. Yes, that means I skipped ALL morning classes. For the last few years I felt like I was getting up early if I could catch McDonalds breakfast (that ends at 11am). I don’t know what this garden is doing to me – but for the last few weeks, I’ve been waking up at 8am dreaming about seed starting….. So you know what I do? I get up and start planting. ...
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce Recipe – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free Recipe
SOY FREE CHINESE FOOD? Is that possible? Here’s a start – Homemade Teriyaki Sauce that’s Gluten and Soy Free! ...
Planning My Organic Garden: Smart Gardener
Every year I try to get really fancy while planning my garden – with grid paper, colored pencils, markers, etc. I beautifully begin to sketch out my two front beds, 1 back bed, and miscellaneous planters to visualize based on heights how it will all look like. Here’s how it turns out…. ...
My Simple Gluten Free, Soy Free, Nut Free Flour Mix
If you've read the post titled "My Gluten Free, Soy Free, Diary Free, Nut Free Life" you'll have a better understanding of all of the food restrictions that make my dietary choices pretty limited. The flour blend below is the blend I use for nearly every recipe on this site. I have intolerances to gluten, dairy, and soy, many grains ,such as amaranth, teff, and sorghum, to name a few. Worst of all, I'm allergic to tree nuts and deathly allergic to peanuts. This flour mix is gluten free, dairy ...
How To Grow Garlic: Planting Organic Garlic
When are you supposed to plant garlic? In the Fall. When am I planting Garlic? In January….. Why? You ask? Because I got lazy. Well, I hate to say lazy…. But, I had so much other stuff going on like Halloween and… I guess that’s all I can think of, but I felt really busy. ...
My Gluten Free, Diary Free, Soy Free, Nut Free Life and How To Live it!
I have always been nut free; not by choice, errr…. I guess by choice because I want to keep living. I found out when I was young that I was allergic to soy - I gave it up for 2 years per the suggestion of my allergist and then started eating it again (supposedly it was supposed to make the allergy go away - it didn't happen). By May 2012, I felt like crap! At that point I couldn't even really pinpoint when/why/how I felt like crap. The following paragraphs will give you a brief glimpse into a ...