Started my veggies

I started my veggies last Saturday and I have to say I'm really excited about them.  Many of them have already popped up.  The japanese ornemental corn, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, red onion, cucumber and a daisy are all up within 3-6 days.  Unlike flowers the vegies are quick, makes you feel like you've accomplished something, lol.  I didn't do the vegetables in the egg cartons only because I have to figure out a better way to do that.  The cartons are decintagrating  to fast and are tough to move, because I'm using a  south facing window for light I rotate the cartons everyday so the plants grow straight.  I'm thinking a tray might help that. So for my veggies I did use a normal seed starting tray, but the good news is that I can reuse the trays next year.  

All the snow has melted from the front yard and looks like all my trees made it and so did my Alexander Mackenzie rose :) I can't wait to see all things green.

Tomato oops

Ever heard the expression you can have to much of a good thing? Well, I over fertilized my little tomato plants and they are on their last leg :( I believe it was the coffee grounds.  My large plant loved the coffee ground and Epsom salt bath, but I think it was just to much for the little ones.  So I think when I propagate my adult again I won't fertilize until they are older. Well live and learn right? So moving on and trying something new.

PrimalCon2013

Wow!! What a blast.  Hi again everyone, my husband and I went to PrimalCon2013 this weekend. We had an amazing time.  For those of you unfamiliar with the primal lifestyle it's basically getting back to our roots as human beings.  Eating animal protein, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds and of course playing outside, a lot.  This weekend was all about that! We got to meet the author of The Primal Blueprint Mark Sisson and so many other wonderful and amazing people, all experts in their fields.  We learned so much useful information about nutrition, posture and exercise. I'm so excited to get back home and implement all the things I've learned, I will post a link to Marks website for those of you who would like more info.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/#axzz2QTiO8SRj

An alternative to stuffing

I know it's not really the season for stuffing but we did just have a long weekend with yummy food, and yes I made stuffing.  Well an alternative to stuffing anyway. I really like this recipe, I hope you will enjoy it too.
This was a big batch to feed 15 or more, although there was nothing left so maybe 10 or more. Lol.

4 butternut squash.  Peeled, gutted and cubed
2-3 Tbsp of apple and sage stuffing spice (epicure) or your favorite stuffing spice.
1/2 c butter cubed
1 Tsp onion powder
1 Tsp sea salt ( to taste )
I'm not a stickler for exacts :)

Place all ingredients in an oven safe pan, cover and cook at 350F for 30min.  Stir then put back into oven for another 30min or until tender :)

Recycling kitchen scraps

Have I mentioned that I love Pinterest?  I may have :) So I found that you can plant some of your discarded veggies in the ground and they grow again, specifically green onions.  So I had a batch of organic green onions left and thought why not?  So in the dirt they went and 4 days later I already had some major growth.  I may never buy green onions again :)

Worm composting

I've been doing a lot of reading on worm composting, what are the best worms, how to do it, the benefits of composting in general, and I decided I want to give it a whirl.  Especially since I spent $9.99 on a tiny bag of worm castings yesterday.  I was in my front flower bed today pruning my unfortunately dead roses when I came across a lot of earth worms snuggled against the house.  Well I figured why not start with those, they are not red wrigglers (I guess those are the best) but at least this will give me and idea of what worm composting is like, and it's free. Red wrigglers run around $30 - $55 a pound.  So I used an old honey bucket, grabbed as many worms as I could find along with some of the dirt they were in, and went inside.  I added some newspaper, water and egg cartons then crushed up some eggshells to put into it as well. Drilled some holes in the lid and tada, mini worm composter, I think ;) I added a bit of tomatoe clippings and cucumber bits to start, we will see what happens in the next week or so.

Stringy Dianthus

So I'm doing something wrong :( Looks like my dianthus are growing really stringy and weak.  My straw flowers are doing the same thing.  They were on the top shelf of my greenhouse, and upon googling why this is happening, temperature and sunlight seem to be the culprits.  I don't think they were getting enough direct light and possibly getting to hot. I've moved them to a lower shelf and I think I might have to open more of the greenhouse during the day.  Hopefully this will solve the problem, I will keep you posted.