So, do you remember me mentioning in this post how we still had some things left to unpack? Three months into living here? Just camping out in the breakfast nook. Some of those things were our books. Well well, I finally got tired of seeing them there and decided to unpack them a whopping...wait for it...nearly 4.5 months after living here. You may wonder how we made it all that time without, a) the boxes getting in the way, and b) not reading or needing a single book. Well, we haven't used the breakfast nook as anything except storage (obviously) since we moved in, mostly because we don't have a table and chairs for it, though big plans are to come for that space. Heck, we don't even really have chairs for our dining room table. (That's a lie. We have 4, but they are metal and vinyl and horrible and uncomfortable and I hate them. But that is what we have to sit on for now, until we get the moolah to buy some...either those or BYOC if you ever come to dinner. ) Oh. And about the needing-to-get-to-books part? We conveniently discovered that the bicycle repair manual we needed was right on top. And when Darren wanted a book to read he just picked one off the top. I guess we're lucky/lazy like that.

Anyway, with my sudden burst of motivation - or annoyance (you decide) - I dragged all the boxes upstairs to our guest room, where our bookcase has taken up residence.

There it is in all its nekkid glory. Since I'm still gathering ideas for how to decorate this room, and our books clearly needed a home, I thought I would try a cheery arrangement to brighten the space a bit more until I can do something with it. Enter Pintrest. Idea-finding love of my life (second to Darren of course). Check out these beauts:

Now if that isn't bookcase porn, I don't know what is.

Well, THIS is too. Possibly the most book-porniferous of all.

I had to share, though it’s not exactly applicable to our place. We all know my house does not have enough space for a library nor do I even own that many books.

Anyway, simple task at hand. Sort books by color. I started by putting them in separate piles according to color group. Some people say not to judge a book by its cover, but, well, that’s exactly what I did.

I never realized I had so many black and white bound books. That kinda put a damper on this whole color thing, but not completely. I started to combine some of the groups, trying to visualize which colors might flow well into each other to make a nice gradient effect for when they would be sitting on the shelves. More obvious were the reds, oranges, and yellows, but surprisingly the greens and blacks also flowed well into each other too. Doing this on the floor seemed to be the best bet, since it allowed me to spread out versus having to keep going up and down, pulling things on and off the shelves if I had tried to organize everything directly on the shelves.

I didn’t really know which color to start with – and honestly didn’t feel like over-thinking it – so I just kind of put them all up there, starting one shelf down to leave myself some space to arrange. Somehow this left me with empty top and bottom shelves.

Hmm...I thought I had more books than that. Maybe because we formerly used these shelves to store all our books PLUS dvds and records. Minor details. Our dvds have a new home in our media cabinet, but our records were still in a box in the corner of the breakfast nook, so I put them back on the bottom shelf where they used to live. Afterall, nobody puts baby records in a corner. I had been itching to find a new spot for them downstairs, but took the fact that they were still in a box as a hint to just return them to their former ‘home’ (color grouping them in the process as well). Then, I figured the leftover gaps were an opportunity to unleash my boxes of frames and décor which had also been nestled in the breakfast nook all this time. (embarrassed face.) I just put in some of my more random/colorful frames in groups, a couple candles, and an original painting I picked up during my 6 months in Costa Rica. Oh, and a sign that Darren picked out, which reads, "Friends Welcome, Relative by Appointment Only." He thought it was funny.

Take a look it's in a book, bookcase reading rainbowww.

Man I used to love that show. Back on track. Here's closeup of the lower half of the shelf.

Ahhh, much better. Not that all the rando extra stuff I put up will definitely stay, but it's a solution for now. At least it finally looks like someone uses this room for something besides clothing storage. And ironing. (Even if we really don't.)

What else do you think would look good on the shelves? I was thinking it might be fun to put a tray or basket with some guest amenities in place of some of the frames in that lower section for when people come to visit. Any suggestions on what you might like to find/use if you came to stay? This room definitely needs a makeover, but I thought some little touches would help make it nice for those who come to visit in the meantime. I love to entertain and would love your input!

Something's been a-brew around here for the past two weeks, and if you know us well, you probably guessed BEER. And if you did, you would be right. We finally got our sh*t together to make our first brew in the new house. By 'get our sh*t together,' I actually mean that we promised to bring 5 gallons of beer to a relative's Oktoberfest party the first weekend of October, so we were already way past the date in which we should've started the brewing process. Nothing like a little lot of procrastination and a looming deadline to light a fire under our butts (slash the brew kettle). Or maybe it was the visions we had of 40 something people mobbing us for showing up empty handed...either way.

Apart from this being our first brewing session in the new house, it was also a special occasion because we had the lovely opportunity to host some company. Introducing...House Made brew. Guest starring Molly (my cousin) and Tom (her boyfriend).

People get all charmed and excited when they find out we brew our own beer out of our kitchen, like it's a glamorous hobby that puts us on a whole new level of 'cool.' Maybe kind of like Jesus with the water-into-wine thing, just not as quick (and without the religious following). Ok, I'm exaggerating.  But really, watching water and grain boil is not that glamorous, and the only new level it takes us to is a new level of frugal (because it's cheaper to make quality craft beer than to buy it). In reality, WE are not that cool, but the end result is. Molly and Tom likely realized this, but hopefully they weren't too disappointed and still enjoyed our company.

I should preface this by telling you that Darren already posted about our brewing session over on his totally awesome blog, Ohio Brews, but his rundown is geared a bit more toward the craft brewing community (aka those who know a lot about home brewing), so I'm here to give you a dumbed down version. Not saying you're dumb, but perhaps less 'brew-savvy.' We thought about doing a joint post, but in the end decided it would be easier to separate them since our blogs have different audiences.

So, how does the magic happen? Well, you need some basic equipment to get started.

A giant stock pot slash brew kettle (about 5 gallons) to boil in, a bucket with lid and/or a carboy (1) (each should hold at least 5-6 gallons) for fermenting, a thermometer (2) that can withstand prolonged high heat, kitchen timer, a siphoning tube (3), racking cane (4), an airlock (5), a hydrometer (6), and sanitizing powder/solution (7). You could buy them separately or get a kit, which will have most of those items, like the one in the picture above, courtesy of Northern Brewer. Most beginners bottle their beer, which would require bottles (you can recycle old ones as long as they aren't screw-tops), a bottling bucket with spigot (8), caps, and a capper (9). However, we have a kegging setup, so our equipment is quite different - we'll get into that in another post.

Without getting into much detail, there are three ways to home brew: extract (most basic, typically using no to little actual grain, and is typically what a beer kit involves), partial-mash (using some extract + some grain), all-grain (most advanced, the name says it all). Extract-only brewing gives you the least control over the recipe, being more of a dump-and-stir method, while all-grain gives you the highest level of control over every aspect of the process. The first recipe we ever made was an extract + speciality grain recipe that we wrote ourselves - pretty ballsy of us, looking back - but we quickly jumped into partial mashing after that. Our recipes follow the partial mashing method because we don't have the equipment to do all-grain brewing yet, but it still gives us a decent amount of control and creativity over the end result. To write a recipe, we decide what style beer we want to make, research recipes that follow that style, pick out the desired characteristics we're looking for, then write up our own version with the guidance of a great gadget called BeerTools.  Beer Tools let's us input all our info and shows us whether we are staying within the style guidelines. Added bonus - it let's us save our recipes too. There's only one recipe we've made that wasn't a Corrie/Darren Original, and we've been lucky enough that all but one of our own recipes have lived up to our expectations. Even the so-called 'failure' brew still had some big fans at our holiday party, so it wasn't completely unsuccessful.

Beers fall under two categories - either ale or lager. Ales are have their own yeast strains that ferment at warmer temperatures, while lagers have specific yeast strains that ferment at much colder temperatures. A commercial example of an ale is Guinness, while a commercial example of a lager is MGD or Budweiser, to give you an idea. But maybe you already knew that. I should give you more credit. Obviously there are many different styles of beer that fall under each category. The one we brewed this time is a Märzen, better known as an Oktoberfest style beer. This beer falls under the lager category and gets it's name because, historically, it was brewed in March (Märzen) and kept in cold storage (a cellar) until late summer/Oktoberfest. Fun fact of the day. Oh, and we named it "Dan-The-Man Marzen" after my cousin who's hosting the Oktoberfest party. It was a big hit last year, so by request, we're bringing it back for round numero dos.

That's the 'label' we made for the outside of the keg last year. Our first ridiculous attempt at using Gimp (aka free 'photoshop') by compiling a picture of Dan, a cheesy clip art, and scanning an image of a record we own (yes, the music is hilariously awesome in case you were wondering).

Let's begin with the basics. The grain for the partial-mash, which we had already measured out and crushed into a reusable mesh sack; lager yeast; and sour cream malt extract.

We buy our ingredients from a local restaurant that has a brew-on-premisis facility, so we reuse one of their leftover containers to hold our malt extract. So if you were genuinely concerned that we put sour cream in our beer, fear not.

Now, we do the monster Marzen (partial) mash! That was a stretch. Anyway...We started by heating 1.5 gallons of water to 175° in our beer kettle (aka the Bayou Classic, as it says on the side), then add the mesh sack, dunking it a few times to fully submerge all the grain.

The water temp usually falls a bit with the addition of the grain, so we had to bring it back up to between 148°-160°, which is the mashing temperature range. We tried to maintain it around 156°. You must maintain it between this range, which is the tricky part, because if you don’t the sugars wont extract properly from the grain, which is what mashing is all about. And sugars = fermentation = alcohol. Put a lid on it to preserve heat if you need to.   You can add boiling or cold water to the mash to help you control it if you are having a hard time. The more precise your temp control, the more control you have over the flavor of your beer.

After a little more than 30 minutes, we sparged the grain with about 1.5 gallons of hot water. As Darren says,  Sparging is a fancy way to say "pour hot liquid over the grain to try to get as much flavor out of the grain as possible." In fact, I think that is exactly what he was explaining to Tom as I took this pic.

Tom lifted the bag out of the water, letting it drain, and poured the sparge water through to rinse more sugars into the pot. Sugar mixes better with hot water (as you might know from cooking in general) so it makes more mash-created malt sugars dissolve out of the grain and you’ll get a more efficient extraction (which means better adherence to your recipe). This is where muscles come in handy, because someone - in this case, Tom - gets to hold that heavy bag for awhile. Set the grain sack aside in a bowl and after it rests awhile, be sure to add any additional liquid that has drained out. So far, we've essentially made grain tea, which has a technical name: wort. Not like warts. This is different (and not as gross.) In fact, it smells delicious. At this point, we have sweet wort, which is basically unconcentrated malt extract. Like the extract, this sweet wort is made up of water and sugars, most of which will ferment into alcohol and CO2, but a few which will not ferment and instead add to the flavor and sweetness of the beer. The extract helps bulk up and moderate your wort, which is good in case you made mistakes during the mashing part - hence the advantage of partial mashing. 

So now there's about 3 gallons of wort in the kettle. This part of the process is called the boil. Why not boil the whole 5 gallon batch at once? Well, your typical kitchen stove probably isn’t powerful enough to handle boiling that much water. Plus, you will have to cool everything down later to a specific temperature range for the yeast to work, so by only boiling part of the water, you can later top it off with cool water to assist in the cooling process.We turned the heat up to high and mixed in the malt extract, which kind of looks like syrup. 

Darren poured, while Molly stirred. It's important to stir constantly until the extract is fully incorporated into the liquid, otherwise it will settle and burn on the bottom. 

Then we waited for the wort to boil. This is the part where you drink beer, if you haven't started already. Tom brought an Imperial Hefeweizen he brewed on premises at The Brew Kettle (the place we bought our supplies). 

Your boil will last 60 min, but you don’t start the clock until you have a steady rolling boil. As you wait for this to happen, be sure to keep a close eye on the pot, because it could go from calm to overflowing in a hot second. No pun intended.

Once we achieved a rolling boil, we started the timer. The hops needed to be added at certain times, according to the recipe as the time counts down.  For ours, we added 1 bag at the 45 minute mark and 1 bag at 5 minutes. Each bag contained 1 ounce of a different type of hops.

Molly and Tom had to do the requisite hop sniff test. Generally speaking, adding hops at the beginning of the boil serves the purpose of contributing bitterness (necessary for balancing out the sweetness of the wort); adding hops between the 15 minute and 5 minute timeframe contributes flavor; and those added from 5 minutes until the end are mostly for aroma. Hop pellets - the kind we used - disperse quickly so there’s no need to stir.

While we had 60 minutes of boil time to kill, we used this as an opportune time to drink more beer sanitize everything that would come in contact with the wort post-boil. For some reason, I always feel a little Beastie Boys taking over at this point...I'm tellin' ya'll it's sabotage let's sanitize! For anyone who wants a '90s flashback (or has no idea what the heck I'm talking about), here's a video.

This was our bucket of stuff being sanitized:

That sanitizing solution kills HIV/AIDS. No joke. It says it on the bottle.

When the boil clock reaches zero, turn off the heat and remove the pan. The new goal is to cool the wort as quickly as possible while keeping it as sterile as possible. This is not only in your best interest from a time standpoint, but also because the longer it takes to cool, the more susceptible the wort is to contamination and resulting off-flavors now that it's no longer being heated. The fastest way is to use a funky gadget called a wort chiller, specially designed for this purpose. However, we do not have one, so we do it the annoyingly long cheap way and make a cold water bath in our sink. 

Eek! That sponge should not have been there...Also, it might be hard to tell, but the water is going into the sink, not that pot. Darren stirred the wort a bit - with a sanitized spoon of course - to help release more heat. As the wort cools about halfway and the water bath doesn't seem to be as effective, we add ice to the water bath to help move things along. (Sidenote: If you are brewing in winter, you might think putting it in the snow is a genius idea. It won’t work.) As the wort only has about 10 degrees to go, we move it into the bucket it will ferment in and top it off. 

Oh, hey, feet.

 Connecting the sanitized tube and racking cane, we siphoned the wort into our fermenter, leaving behind all the icky gunk in the pot (called trub –it’s leftover malt proteins and hop particles). 

Gross. (Darren is a good sport and does cleanup duty.) We topped off the wort with cool spring water, bringing the volume up to 5 gallons and the temp down to right where we needed it (the exact number which I cannot remember right now).  Then, we took a sample of the wort with a (sanitized) turkey baster (who says you can only use them at Thanksgiving?) and put it into our (sanitized) hydrometer tube to measure the Original Gravity. 

We gave the hydrometer a spin to dispel any bubbles, then waited for it to settle and read the number at the point where the top of the liquid meets the instrument. This number - the gravity - is a reading of the density of the beer, specifically the amount of sugars present. As the beer ferments and sugar turns to alcohol and CO2, the gravity drops. By looking at the original gravity/sugar content, you can get an idea of how high in alcohol your beer will be. (BeerTools gives us estimated numbers when we input our recipe, which gives us an idea of how far along the fermentation is as we take additional readings).  

Then, we added the yeast and give the thing a stir, which helped oxygenate the wort and activate the yeast. Ale yeast ferments 62° -75°ish, while lager yeast (what we used because we're making a lager) ferments around 50° - 60°, though it can be pitched at a higher temp initially.

Finally, we attached lid. The lid has a hole in it where the airlock goes (if you are using a carboy to ferment in, you need a stopper with a hole for the airlock). We filled the airlock halfway full with sanitizing solution, capped it, and inserted it in the lid. It acts almost as a filtration device for the CO2 released during fermentation, which you see in the form of bubbles inside the airlock.

We moved the whole thing into the dining room to let fermentation begin. This is where the waiting game starts. It could take up to 72 hours for the beer to start fermenting, but ours started late that same evening. It's important to keep the beer in an area of the house where the temperature is steady aka not by a drafty door/window. After a couple days of fermenting at room temperature, per the yeast instructions, we moved the entire bucket into our kegerator. Lagers spend most of their time fermenting at a cool temperature, so for some people, a basement might work. We are fortunate in that we have the kegerator for drinking beer, but can also set the temperature to cycle at a specific number, which allows us to use it for lagering as well.

Almost three weeks later, we are still waiting. At the beginning of this week we took another hydrometer reading and decided the beer was ready to move to secondary fermentation, which is basically another step of fermentation where you rack (siphon) the the beer out of the old container, removing it from the yeast that has settled to the bototm, and into a new carboy. Some people think secondary fermentation is optional, but we always do it because it helps clear out extra sediment in the beer and we think it helps improve flavor. 

So that's where our little beer is at right now, and where it will probably stay for another week or so until we actual move it into the kegs and carbonate it. A whole new adventure! We were glad to have Tom and Molly over to learn about home brewing, and we hope you learned something as well. Or at least fulfilled any curiosities about what goes on behind closed doors. Did you ever think brewing beer could be so science-y?

We'll be sure to update you when it's time for some kegerator/carbonating action!

Cheers! 

Just the fact that I named this a 'recap' is already terrifying me into jibber jabber submission, so I will do my best to tame my feverish fingertips and keep this briefer than last time.

I'm going to be real with myself and assume that my tendency to blab might have kept some people from reading through all of my last post. (Hey, I don't blame you. Confession. There are a number of blogs I wish I could be as awesome as adore/follow and some days I just don't have the time/desire to read through long posts either.) Besides that, I was super charmed that a few people not only read my whole seed starting post, but enjoyed it so much that they actually asked me for advice. Since I'm feeling a bit more humble than masterful, I thought I would include the most helpful references I used in my gardening adventures, because what fun is knowledge if you can't share it with others?? So, in this post, I will attempt to do an abbreviated recap - kind of like a little step by step cliff notes version of seed starting with tips and tricks - along with my fav references, and a couple bonus recipes for what I like to do with my garden goodies. Sharing is caring. I feel like I'm channeling my inner Mr. Rogers today.

In that spirit, I will proceed to put on my blogger sweater and slip on my indoor blogger sneakers so we can get this party started.

Pause. Let's do this in reverse order. Recipes, Refs, Recap. Just like that. That way the people who are thinking 'I hate vegetables. Please stop talking about them' or 'I'm only here because the word recipe was in the title and I want food' don't have to scroll through the longer part to get to the goods.

The Recipes.

Margherita Pizza
This is what I have been obsessively wanting to eat all summer with the tomatoes and basil from my garden. I have a picture, but can't seem to find it. We make a baking sheet-sized pizza, so all ingredient amounts are based off of that. You can use our sauce and yeastless dough recipes, use your own, or buy premade.

Ingredients: 

2-5 tomatoes (depending upon the size you have), sliced; 1 (16oz) ball of fresh mozzarella; 20 fresh basil leaves, torn ; flour (or cornmeal)

Lightly sprinkle flour or cornmeal on a baking sheet. Roll out the dough into a rectangle and transfer it onto the baking sheet, stretching and evening out the dough to fit. Crimp around the edges for the crust. Spread the desired amount of sauce out on the dough with a spoon. Lay out the slices of mozzarella on top. They don’t need to be overlapping because they will spread out as the pizza bakes. Top with tomatoes. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees, or until done. (Alternatively, you could try grilling the pizza on low heat).  If desired, with 5 minutes left in the bake, mix together equal parts olive oil, liquid from a jar of minced garlic, and a pinch of sugar until the sugar dissolves. Brush onto the crust and continue baking. Garnish with fresh basil before cutting and serving.

Yeastless Dough:

Ingredients:

1 cup flour, 1/3 cup milk, 2 T veg oil, 1 t baking powder, 1/2 t salt

Measure out the liquids over a bowl and let them spill over just a bit. Mix everything together with a fork until it mostly comes together, then finish mixing with your hands and let it sit, covered, for 15 minutes. For a baking sheet sized pizza, make two balls of dough and then combine them before you let them sit for 15 minutes.

Sauce (makes enough for 2 baking sheet sized pizzas, depending upon how ‘saucy’ you like it):

Ingredients:

1 can condensed tomato soup, 1 (6oz) can tomato paste, 1 tsp. Paprika, 1 Tbsp. dried Oregano, 1.5  tsp. dried minced garlic (or substitute 1 T fresh minced garlic), Crushed Red Pepper (to taste)

Combine everything.

Grilled Zucchini & Squash
Ingredients:
Olive oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, Dried Oregano, Dried Basil

Slice your zucchini and squash lengthwise, approximately 1/4" to 1/2" thick. If your vegetables are very large, you might want to cut them in half widthwise before slicing. Lay out on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and dried herbs to taste. Let marinade or mix around if desired. Grill until the veggies just start to become tender.

Preserving Herbs

What do you with all the fresh herbs you've grown if you want to make them last through the winter? If bringing them inside isn't an option, dry or freeze them.

Drying:

Cut the herbs, wash and let dry. Tie them in loose bunches with a rubber band or string. Poke a few holes in some paper bags and place an herb bunch upside down in each one, closing the mouth of the bag around the stems. The herbs should be hanging freely inside the bag. Doing so will keep the oils of the leaves from rubbing off on the bags, therefore losing flavor. Hang them in an area with low humidity and good air ciculation for a week or two. Store them in jars or bags on the stem, or remove the dried leaves and store in a small container.

Freezing:

Cut the herbs, wash and let dry. Most herbs can be frozen in a plastic bag, placed directly in the freezer. Another method, which I used for cilantro, was to remove the leaves from the stems, spread them out in a dense arrangement on half a baking sheet, then just barely cover with water. I used folded plastic wrap to keep the water and cilantro from flowing into the empty half of the baking sheet. Place in the freezer until frozen. Pull out the sheet and break the 'herb ice' into chunks. Place in a bag back in the freezer for future use. You can also do this in ice cube trays. Basil turns black when it freezes, so despite the great flavor it retains for general cooking, it is not worth freezing basil for use as a garnish.

Garden Mint Mojitos

Check out my post from awhile back for individual and pitcher-sized recipes.

The Refs.*

Here's a couple books that I used as my holy bibles of container gardening. Not only are they practical for anyone with even the tiniest smidge of a concrete or balcony 'backyard,' but they emphasize ways to grow a flourishing garden without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers = my kind of jam. Plus, they elaborate on and go beyond much of what I touched on here, but in a much more eloquent and intelligent way than my lowly blogger self ever could. Seriously, if you are considering planting even one thing and have any intention of eating part of it, you need to read one or more of these books. All hail to these awesome gardening folk: 

Fresh Food From Small Spaces – R.J. Ruppenthal

- If you are a city dweller or apartment resident who claims to not have space for a garden, this book will blow all your preconceived notions out of the water. As a city dweller himself, the author tells you how to make the most out of every square inch you have, indoors and out. He provides information on making your own self-watering containers and using vertical gardening and reflected light strategies to maximize your space and lack of sunshine. Apart from your typical container gardening advice, he covers tops like grain/salad sprouting, making yogurt and kefir, and cultivating mushrooms (all which can be accomplished in an urban kitchen), as well as raising chickens and honeybees in the city. He also touches on composting and vermiculture (composting with worms). For those concerned with living sustainably , his last chapter is dedicated to ways in which you can apply the book’s methods for getting through small food shortages,  creating small scale energy solutions, and building a sustainable future. He concludes with a list of helpful tools and suppliers.

The Bountiful Container – Rose Marie Nichols Mcgee & Maggie Stuckey

- Don’t leave home try container planting without it. The ladies give detailed info on container types (anything can be a container!), planting by color, and succession planting (cool season, warm season and extended season crops). They discuss pests and treatments specific to container gardening, and they tell you which plants are not worth your time to grow in containers. The majority of the book is dedicated to giving detailed info on the vegetables best suited for container gardening, with notes about tried and true varieties, including sections on fruits, herbs, and edible flowers. There are illustrated, theme-based container garden plans and recipes scattered throughout, with mail order resources at the end.

Carrots Love Tomatoes – Louise Riotte

- The definitive companion planting guide, this book has everything you could ever want to know about the ways in which vegetables , herbs and fruits can mutually benefit or hinder each other when planted in certain combinations. Going even further, she also covers companion planting for nuts, wild plants, grasses and grains, and ornamental trees and shrubs. The author gives garden techniques for intercropping, mulching, shade planting, and vertical gardening, as well as insect control through companion planting. Her section on natural pest control methods is quite exhaustive, and you might be surprised by her poisonous plants chapter, which discusses some common plants you will find in the garden, or even in your kitchen. The last section is dedicated to all sizes of illustrated garden plans, including small scale and window box options.

And handy websites:

USDA Hardiness Zone Finder - It's in the name. Know before you grow. 

Cubit's Organics - Organic, family run seed company on Etsy that has "high quality organic, rare and heirloom seeds." Not only do they have some unique varieties, but their pictures are gorgeous and I adore their well-designed, sustainable packaging. Their blog is also fantastic and they post some great recipes.
Seeds of Change - Organic seed catalog (online or by mail). They carry heirloom, rare and traditional seeds with the goal of "preserving countless heirloom seed varieties in danger of being lost to the 'advances' of modern industrial agriculture." These people make me want to start a farm and grow all their vegetables. Most of their products are seeds, but they also carry live plants and have a wealth of resources on their site.
Companion Planting Chart - A fantastic companion planting resource that puts the most popular veggies in a table comparing which plants benefit and hinder each other. This is the best visual summarization of companion planting that I've found. 

Vegetable Garden Planner - Experiment with garden designs or plant placement. Most useful for people doing square foot or in-ground gardening. It gives you frost dates, best planting times for different veggies, and cute little icons for your plan design. Free 30 day trial if you just want to make a couple plans and be done, or sign up for a full year. 

Better Homes and Gardens - "Garden by Number" is what I like to call it. They do the work for you by putting together garden plans that work well, then they give you the plant info so you can replicate it. Many of them are for flowers gardens, but they have some vegetable plans too.

Home Depot - If you sign up for their free garden club, they will send you coupons and monthly updates/reminders about regular garden maintenance for your region. Might be more useful for people who have a yard. 
Zone 5 Planting Calendar - Wowzers. If you live in Zone 5 (aka anywhere near Cleveland), check out this guy's planting schedule. Talk about maximizing your growing time. Whether you want to get really ambitious or just inspired, the author gives a full run down from planning to garden productivity 12 months of the year. 

 

Recap. The no-B.S. seed starting run down.

If you plan on starting your own seeds, you need to start planning in January or February. That might sound a little crazy, but for anyone doing seed starting, you will need to start your seeds in March.

1. Determine your available space and any space constraints - Maybe you don't have garden beds or much of a yard, but you have room for a small square foot box. Maybe you are a city dweller and only have a small balcony or fire escape to use. Maybe your space doesn't quite get 8 hours of sun. Good news. You can grow veggies in all these places. But these are all things that will determine what you can successfully grow, so you need to consider them first. 
2. Get in the zone - I'm not talking about Auto Zone. Your garden climate hardiness zone. Cleveland is in Zone 5. You can find out yours  here. This is important for knowing what plants will tolerate your climate as well as when the first and last frost dates are for your area. Frost dates determine your growing season aka the earliest date you should put your seedlings in the ground. You don't want to spend three months trying to grow those little guys only to kill them off by planting them too early.
3. Decide which veggies/herbs are most important to you - Which do you consume most? The ones you think will give you the biggest bang for your buck (slash that will produce a lot from a small plant in a small space)? The ones that are most expensive to buy at the store? We eat tons of peppers and tomatoes, and peppers are pretty expensive, so those were important to us. I knew I would get a lot of green beans from a small space, so I thought they might be worth planting. How big will the plants of your favorite veggies get, and do you have room for them? Though squash and zucchini might be yummy, the plants get Enormous with a capital E, so they might not be the best choice for a container garden on the balcony of a high rise in NYC.
4. Decide on something new/different/fun to grow - This step is kind of interchangeable with #5. Experiment with a new type of veggie or herb that you think might be fun, something that looked cool in a catalog (like the amazing and organic eye candy in Seeds of Change ), or something you like but don't eat very often. If your space is really limited, it might only be one plant. It will be exciting if it grows well, but you won't be too heartbroken if it doesn't, and in the meantime it's not taking away much real estate from more productive or desired plants.  
5. Pick out/order your seeds - Seed options are everywhere. You can go to your local garden supply store, Home Depot or Lowes and they will have some of the most popular varieties of vegetable and herb seeds, some of which are organic. If you are really concerned about organic gardening or are looking for special or unusual seed varieties - heirloom tomatoes, purple beans, spicy mustard greens, or chocolate spearmint, perhaps - you might want to consult some gardening catalogues or websites (see my favs in the refs section). These is where the real fun happens. The whole world of different vegetable and herb varieties is amazing and you might never have known they existed because you don't see them in the grocery store. Only by growing your own can you experience them. I guarantee you will be like a kid in a candy store, but try to restrain yourself and only choose one or a couple 'splurges' to experiment with. 
6. Start your engines seeds - Around mid-March, purchase some peat pots or reuse old egg cartons (not the plastic/styrofoam kind), potting mix, any seeds you want but don't already have, and some plant markers. Dampen the potting mix, fill the peat pots to the top, then follow the instructions for planting each seed type at the appropriate depth (the packet tells you). Do a few peat pots of each type of seed because you are guaranteed to have some failures, or at least a few plants that aren't exactly D-1 superstars. Water them all when you're done and use plant markers to note the names and date that you planted them.                                                                             A few notes...Peat pots are preferable to the little plastic ones because they decompose, meaning you can plant the entire thing without having to remove the seedling from it's container later. Use potting mix, not garden soil. Most garden soil isn't naturally nutrient rich, but potting mix is specially balanced specifically for seed starting. More deets in the books about that. Also, instead of buying pre-labled or plastic plant markers, you could just use popsicle sticks which might be cheaper (or free). (The plastic ones I used that I labeled with supposedly permanent marker all ended up fading in the sun anyway, so I probably wouldn't recommend my method.) 
7. Mr. Golden Sun - Put them in the sunniest spot you can find, preferably a south facing window. If you have to fudge it with a west or east facing window (or perhaps you have tall buildings very close by that prevent you from maximizing all your south facing sun), try putting a sheet of foil underneath your peat pots so it overlaps around the sides, absorbing more of the warmth. Plants need lots of light and warmth to grow. If you notice this seems to be frying your little plants (I didn't have any problems with it, but you never know), get rid of it. You can also try empty 2 liter bottles cut in half to make covers, or buy a rectangular plastic cover, either option would help retain heat and humidity, which the baby plants love. Obviously, you can use grow lights or fancy hydroponic systems, but those can cost a lot of money and waste a lot of energy. If environmental impact is one of the reasons you're growing your own seeds, these methods might defeat the purpose of your efforts.  
8. Water - Yep. It's really important. Your seedlings' soil should always be damp. Never let them dry out. If that means watering them twice a day, so be it, but they won't grow without H2O. Don't drown them, however. The soil should be damp, not soggy. 
9. Thin your plants - If you planted a few seeds in each peat pot and all of them sprouted, your baby plants might be getting a little crowded. If this is happening, pinch off a couple. This is calling 'thinning' your plants. It may seem counterintuitive, especially because the plants are so small and fragile looking, but it actually encourages growth. The couple times I did it, some of my seedlings were nearly an inch taller by the next day - no joke. 
10. Harden off - Not to be confused with 'hard-on', sickos. Harden off. The week before you are ready to plant (and any chance of frost is clear, of course) you gradually transition your plants from their indoor environment to their new outdoor environment. They haven't been exposed to wind, pests, heavy precipitation, or intense heat yet, so this process helps them adapt and become a little stronger before you put them in the ground. Start with a few hours in the shade and work up to a full day in the sun by the end of the week. 
11. Plot your plot - Sometime between deciding what you will plant and actually putting your seedlings in the ground, figure out where will put your plants. This means assessing your garden bed, plotting your square foot box, or determining what size containers you will need (they should accommodate your plants at their biggest size). This should also involve a sunny spot, with around 8 hours of sun per day for most veggies. Determine your plant placement based off each plant's growing requirements (on the seed packet or plant marker if you bought nursery plants). Also consider which plants are good 'companions', meaning they are mutual beneficial in enhancing flavor and preventing pests. This is known as companion planting, which is a method I used in my square foot box. For example, tomatoes and basil are mutually beneficial - perhaps ironic because they also taste delicious together. Sketch all this out so you don't forget. It doesn't need to be fancy. Or, if you're a technology geek, then maybe it does. They make online garden plotting gadgets just for you. You can even find pre-made plans online or in books (see the refs section) that do all the dirty work 'research' for you.
12. Planting day - Aka seedling graduation day. Prep your soil - whether it be more potting mix in containers, soil in a bed, or soil in a square foot box - by mixing in some compost for nutrients and any other amendments you might have decided on. You can also use other natural additives for 'fertilizer,' such as dried egg shells or coffee grounds, at this time. But research what is appropriate for your veggies. Make sure the soil isn't completely dry. Insert plants at their appropriate depth and spacing requirements, per the seed packets or markers (if store bought). Water thoroughly. 
13. Water - Again. And again and again. The dirt should always be damp, but never soggy. If you aren't sure, stick your finger in it about halfway. If it feels dry, it needs water. Plants in containers, hanging baskets or otherwise in a location in which there is a lot of airflow underneath the pot will need more water than plants in square foot boxes or beds. The added airflow causes the roots to dry out quickly, so they might even need water twice per day. Tell tale signs are usually browning leaves. The best times to water are early in the morning or around dusk (the best, I think) because the plants have maximum time to absorb the water before it's sucked up by the heat/sun again. If you are really struggling in the hydration department, you can try covering the top of the soil with peat moss (thanks for the reminder Christin!) or mulch. Or for container gardens, consider planting in a self watering container, such as an Earth Box. They are expensive to buy, but you can DIY your own version...something I actually started doing and never finished, so that will be a blog post for next spring. 
14. Watch for pests - Check the leaves and any appearing 'fruit' regularly to see if pests are getting at your plants, and try to identify them. If holes appear all over your leaves, that is one of the most common signs. Some natural remedies that generally won't harm plants include sprinkling cayenne pepper on leaves or around the base of the plant (or making a spray out of it) or using diatomaceous earth, which is natural powder that kills most pests (but can also kill good ones if you aren't careful or use it too liberally). If you tried companion planting, hopefully pest problems will be unlikely. However, if you have to deal with them, there are many other options beyond what I mentioned that don't involve chemicals. The books I reference are especially helpful in this area.
15. Harvest - Yum. The best part. Don't forget to pinch of browning leaves as they appear, which can often encourage new growth in it's place. 

This is clearly not comprehensive advice, but hopefully gives you a few tips that worked for me, as well as some new tricks to make growing your own organic food easier for you. Or I guess semi-organic if some of the seeds weren't labeled as 'organic' to begin with. But you get the point. I really encourage you to check out the books I reference because they have such a wealth of knowledge and options, even for those with the tiniest spaces. Don't forget, you can grow upward too - vertical gardening!

Ok, so I failed at keeping this short. Like, really failed. But maybe it was useful at least...?


*I wasn't paid/perked in any way for offering up the references I listed - I only WISH I could be cool enough to get offers like that. They are just what I found to be the most helpful for me.

Revising this to let you know that I did a more concise recap on seed starting, along with tips, tricks and my favorite references in this post. Oh! And recipes too.

First of all...holy crap, it's been a month since I last posted! What is wrong with me? I honestly don't even have a good excuse for you. Just plain Shameful with a capital S. Second, I thought of calling this post 'Veggie Tales' but didn't want you to get confused with the kids cartoon and think I was getting all religious and creepy-singsong-vegetable on you (even if I did sing the song in my head a few times) and then risk you never reading this post.

Now that I got that out of my system, I want to talk about getting down and dirty. The on-your-hands-and-knees, bare feet, hot and sweaty kind of dirty. Are you all hot and bothered? Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm just talking about gardening. Specifically, VEGGIES! You already know how thrilled I am about our garden space from the outdoor pictures post, and maybe you even noticed the funny looking box of dirt sitting in our driveway.

It's a square foot garden box that the former owner left behind. Since I wasn't sure what plants would pop up in the garden beds, I thought I would leave the square foot box right where it was and make some good use of it. Being the overly ambitious, learning obsessed person I am, I thought it would be fun to try my hand at seed starting, despite the fact that my mom (the most knowledgable gardener I know) has rarely attempted to start any vegetable plants from seed because it's so difficult...and despite the fact that I have nearly zero gardening experience besides throwing some flowers in pots. And eating all the green beans and snow peas out of my mom's garden when I was a kid...if you want to count that as experience. At least I was smart enough to eat something that wouldn't leave my breath smelling funky so that I could lie to my mom about it later...unlike my sister who would eat all the garlic chives, then come in the house, breath reeking of garlic, and try the "no mom, i haven't been eating things from the garden!" line. I suppose if my mom's biggest problem was her kids stealing veggies out of her garden, then either we were weird kids or my mom really lucked out. Maybe both. I digress.

So, seed starting. It's a beautiful thing. You plant this itty bitty little thing that you can barely pick up between your fingers in some dirt, water it, keep it warm, give it a little love. You wait. A little sprout shows up. And you get excited. You plant it outside and think it's never going to survive the elements or bugs or animals or million other things that could go wrong. But it does. It keeps growing and starts looking like a REAL plant and you love it like a child think 'holy crap I haven't killed it yet!'. Then the fruit part (vegetable) appears and it's amazing. It ripens and you eat it immediately because you're so excited think 'holy crap, I made that happen!'. Proceed to harvest yummy things which you in turn don't have to buy at the grocery store. Free food! Then the plant starts to die as it gets too cold, but the nutrients it leaves behind help enrich the soil for some cool-weather plants or something new next spring. It's the CIIIIIIIRCLE of LIIIIIIIIFE! (Himinama hima numa namah...)

Oh, the real lyrics! Apparently my Swahili was way off...

Anyway. Veggies. Now that I've summed it up, let's get to the real dirt. (What would my posts be without at least one terrible pun?) Knowing I was working with limited space, I chose to plant the veggies we buy most frequently - peppers, broccoli and tomatoes - and a few things I thought we would enjoy - jalepenos, poblano peppers, green beans, mint, and basil. Here's how we went from this:

To this:

Back that thang up. Before we could get to the square foot garden bed, we needed to start even earlier. This took a little pre-planning, since the seeds needed to start growing inside (while it was still cold out) in order to be big and strong enough to plant once any chance of frost had passed. Not all seeds need to start indoors first. Typically, plants that take longer to grow and produce fruit are the ones you want to start indoors. For example, tomatoes and peppers can take 50-60 days or more before they produce fruit.  In a short growing season like Cleveland's, it's really important to get the baby plants (seedlings) in the ground asap so you can get a few harvests from your plants before it gets cold again. 

So, where to start? I hit up Home Depot for seed packets, some biodegradable seed starting pots (I chose Jiffy Strips, which are made out of peat moss), plus potting mix specifically for seed starting. My total came to about $12 for 13 seed packets (some of which were flowers), 2 Jiffy Strips packages containing 32 'pots' each, and the potting mix. Dirt cheap. (There I go with the dirt references again...I just can't keep my fingers from typing them. If you were to play a drinking game based off my dirt references, you'd probably already be tipsy.) 

When I got home, I took everything to the basement - it was mid to late March at the time and I didn't want dirt all over our old apartment (this was pre-new-house) - and got set up. I figured I would allot up to 4 seedling pots for each type of plant, assuming a few of each variety might not survive the transition outside.  So, about 44 seedling pots total. (I basically assumed I would fail at this whole thing so I tried to set myself up for the least amount of failure as possible.) As you can see, I also used an old egg carton because - fun fact alert! - they are biodegradable, free, and I try to be frugal 'green' like that.  Then I opened my bag of potting mix and added some water so that the soil was nice and damp but not soaked. You don't want completely dry soil because it will compact when you water your seedling pots later, leaving a big gap at the top. Using a small measuring cup for the least mess possible, I filled all of the pots to the top, packing in the soil a bit. 

All that's left was to follow the instructions on the back of the seed packets to know how deep to plant each type of seed. Because seeds are different sizes, they have different planting depths, so it's important to only put them as deep or just slightly less deep than what the packet suggests. If you don't, they won't effectively absorb the sunlight and sprout. You can use a chopstick, pencil, or your little finger to poke a hole in the dirt and insert the seed. Some seeds only require you to lightly 'roughen up' the top bit of soil, sprinkle the seed, and lightly 'rake' the soil back over top. I made sure to put a couple seeds in each pot just in case one didn't sprout. Then I labeled each section of pots with the plant type and date and watered them so the soil would be nice and moist but not soaking. Labeling is especially important because most seedlings look alike until they get bigger and you'll want to be able to identify them. 

Put in the sunniest spot you can find and wait. Easy right?

DECEPTION. This is where the hardest part begins. 

You have to attempt to keep that perfect balance of enough sunlight, warmth and soil moisture to get your little seed babies to grow. In our old apartment, which didn't really get south facing sun (aka a full day of sun) and which we kept at a 'toasty' 63 degrees through March and April (58 degrees during work hours) thanks to a freakishly high gas bill, I wouldn't exactly say that I had stellar growing conditions. To help make up for the lack of sun - and therefore warmth - I put a sheet of foil underneath my seedling pots to help attract and absorb more sunlight, hoping it wouldn't overcompensate and end up frying them.  Fortunately, it seemed to help and they grew. Then they had to withstand the treacherous transfer that was moving day - sudden temperature changes going from apartment, to outside, to car, to outside, into the new house. And somehow they still held on. When any chance of frost had passed in May and it finally quit raining nonstop, I began to harden off my little seedlings. 'Hardening off' means you gradually introduce the seedlings to the outdoors, usually starting about a week before you intend to plant them. It sounds high maintenance, but it is necessary for them to adapt to the wind and temperature changes which they have been shielded from indoors thus far. For me, this was the last week of May. I started by putting them on the covered front porch for a few hours, then out in part sun/shade for half the day, into mostly sun for a whole day and leaving them overnight. Then it was time to plant in the square foot box.

The day I decided to plant, I ran out to Home Depot and bought a bag of compost (hopefully I will be making my own by next year) and picked up a couple extra veggie plants. That fear of failure was still lurking around in my mind and I at least wanted SOME veggies out of  the whole ordeal, so I figured would have a couple ‘backup plants’ just in case my seedlings all died. Grabbing the backup plants also allowed me to nab a couple veggie varieties I had been looking for but couldn’t find seeds for at the store. The backups I bought were 1 pear tomato plant, 1 Early Girl tomato plant, 1 green pepper plant, 1 poblano pepper plant, and peppermint. I had seed starts for everything but the pear tomato plant. What’s that you say? I still haven’t given you the veggie planting run down? Let’s call them the ‘dirty dozen’: heirloom tomatoes, Early Girl tomatoes, pear tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, green beans, green pepper, jalepeño pepper, poblano pepper, basil, spearmint, and peppermint. Because I’m firm believer that there's nothing like a fresh tomato from the garden, I carefully chose a few different varieties based off size growth time and how I thought I would use them. We eat tons of green and red peppers – fun fact alert again! Red peppers are actually just ripe green peppers – so I definitely wanted those. The hot peppers were more for fun. The mints I had planned to use for making my own tea (or mojitos...more on those here), and the basil for cooking. The green bean seeds were left behind by our house’s previous owner, so I figured why not? And so, I planted.

Even though not all my seeds were organic, I still wanted to garden as organically as possible. Instead of chemical fertilizers, I used compost and a strategy called ‘companion planting’ in which you plant your garden according to groupings of plants that are mutually beneficial to each other, which in turn encourages growth and flavor and wards off pests. To start, I turned all the soil in the square foot box, then incorporated a bag of compost and mixed it all together. Then I dampened the soil with water from the hose. My box is 3’x3’, so I had 9 squares to plant in.

Large plants, like tomatoes and peppers, need a whole square to themselves, while smaller plants, like green beans, can have about 4-6 plants per square foot. For the seedlings, I separated the little peat pots and gently tore the bottom of them to expose the roots without harming them. Then I made a hole in the dirt and planted them in the center of each square with soil just covering the tops of the pots. For the backup plants, I just removed them from their plastic store pots, gently broke up some of the root ball at the bottom, and planted them in the same way. For the tomato plants that were a bit weak and leggy – meaning they had tall stems but only leaves at the top – I buried them a bit deeper so that about half the stem was in the soil. Tomatoes are able to grow root shoots off the stem, so this approach gives them a stronger start in the ground. All that was left were the green beans and basil, which I seeded directly into the square foot bed, and the mint, which I seeded directly into some containers, per the instructions on their seed packets. I had a few veggie seedlings leftover so I planted some of the more viable looking ones directly in the garden beds in a few random spots where I thought there might be space amongst the still developing flowers. (It's always good to have a doggy supervisor.)

Commence waiting. At this point I basically just monitored the soil to make sure it stayed slightly damp at all times. This meant watering every day (or twice a day if it was really hot) in the square foot bed and containers, which dry out easily because air can get underneath. The garden bed veggies only needed water maybe every other day. If there were any leaves that started browning, I pinched them off to promote more growth. Fast forward to the beginning of July.

Halleluiah! I didn’t kill them all – or ANY in fact! It’s a Christmas in July miracle! The beans started producing first, even though I seeded them directly in the box. But that’s because they produce ‘fruit’ in a really short amount of time. I confess, I got really excited about the first few pear tomatoes that ripened and just ate them straight off the plant, so my first legit harvest was this:

Glorious. I thought I would end up with so many tomatoes that I could can some, but so far I’ve been eating them like a fiend...straight off the plant, on homemade margherita pizza, sliced with some of the garden basil as a side dish, you name it. We’ve had plenty of the Early Girls and pear tomatoes. I’ve already cooked up about 5 green/red peppers too. And you already know that I’ve used a bunch of mint for drinks. The plants I started from seedlings have been a little slower to produce, so the cherry tomatoes, jalepeños, and heirloom tomatoes are just now ripening. In fact, the heirloom tomato plants are Out. Of. Control. This one in the garden bed is almost as tall as me and so wide that it’s growing its way into two other plants and over the top of the air conditioner, a la Little Shop of Horrors. Feed me, Seymour, feed me!

You might not even be able to tell among the chaos of leaves, but I had to use two sticks from the yard to try to support some of the branches coming off the plant (albeit not quite successfully) because it's original stake can no longer support it. Hard to believe that guy started out as a tiny seed in my hand back in March. And has made it all this way without any chemical fertilizers – just some good ol’ compost and a sprinkling of dried coffee grounds for a little au natural boost. That can be said for all my veggie plants. So proud.  The peppers and some of the tomatoes might not be as big as what you would buy in the store, but the flavor is so much better and we have the satisfaction of knowing we grew them ourselves. And that they aren’t laden with chemicals. And that they’re (nearly) free! Three points for us.

So there’s a long little glimpse into seed starting and my first attempt at a vegetable garden. Mad props to you if you made it all the way to the end of this post. I award you the Most Dedicated Reader award.

Anyone try growing their own veggies or herbs at home? We would love to hear about your experience/methods. Maybe I’ll share our homemade margherita pizza recipe with you. I think we’ve made it a half dozen times already this summer because it’s So. Delicious. And I’ve been obsessed with the fact that all the ingredients are either in my pantry or my garden - with the exception of fresh mozz – so it’s CHEAP to make. Mmmm...gooey, melty, fresh mozz....I’m hungry....