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....

Last night I shared the outside tour of our house, which included a glimpse into our ever-changing gardens. Almost all the updated pictures I posted were of the flowers that have popped up - but that's not the only stuff that's growing out there. While some people grow food in their gardens, I grow 'drink accessories.' Just kidding. By drink accessories, I meant herbs, but I grow veggies too.  My next post will be about this year's seed starting adventures - my first time trying it! - but I thought I would take a little break from the garden mumbo jumbo and share something you can use, regardless of whether you have a garden. 


My overly ambitious, type-A self was hoping to plant a window box full of herbs this spring, but due to all the rainy weather, I only got around to planting basil in the square foot box and two kinds of mint in some containers. These were priority herbs for me because we like to make margherita pizzas from scratch (fresh basil goes on top after the bake), and I often drink mint tea before bed or as a way to settle my stomach if I feel sick or eat too much. Instead of buying prepackaged mint tea, I thought I would do a little 'experi-mint' (yay for bad puns) and try making my own. I started the basil from seed, and planted three containers of mint - one container each of peppermint and spearmint with seeds and two small plants in each (as a backup if the seeds failed), and one container of spearmint completely from seed. This is how the mint started out:

And this is what it looks like now:

Wowzers does that stuff grow fast! (Tip: If you attempt to plant mint in a garden bed instead of its own container, it's advisable to plant it in a bottomless coffee can or other small container, and then bury the whole thing in your garden. Mint spreads out quickly - and I hear is hard to remove - so this planting method will help contain it.)  It was even more lush looking before our heat wave last week. Plus I've experimented with some tea already which has made it a little more sparse. Anyway, I've rambled on about gardeny stuff and still haven't gotten to the fun part you can use: a mojito recipe! (Was my 'drink accessories' comment from above a good hint?) We had some friends visiting from Columbus this past weekend and it occurred to me that growing your mint has yet another fantastic advantage. Mojitos. And so ladies and gents, I bring to you my fabulous Garden Mint Mojito recipe, in both pitcher and single glass form, as adapted from a variety of recipes I found on the internet. (The pitcher version was Columbus guest tested and approved this weekend, and the single glass version tested and approved by me after my 27 mile bike ride on Monday night.)

First a few things to note. The key to a mojito is freshness. Fresh lime juice + fresh mint = fresh tasting drink. It's a little labor intensive, which is why I recommend the pitcher version. Although I grow both spearmint and peppermint in my garden, spearmint imparts the more desirable flavor for this drink. If you are buying your fresh mint from the grocery store, it is likely spearmint, so you shouldn't have to worry about getting the wrong kind. I choose to use entire sprigs - stem and all - when I muddle, because much of the minty oils come from the stem and I think it helps create less 'debris' in the drink than using loose leaves. Don't over-muddle. Your mint should not end up in itty bitty shredded pieces. I know the amount of sugar looks like a lot, but it is necessary. Sugar helps cut through the acid of the limes and enhances the flavor of the mint, so you will want to go with the recommended amounts. Lastly, you might want to consider using simple syrup in place of the sugar because it dissolves instantly. I didn't this time because we made them spur-of-the-moment, but I will likely try it next time. Sip slowly and enjoy the way the flavors meld as you drink. On to the recipe...

Garden Mint Mojitos

For a pitcher: 
Juice of 8-10 limes (depending upon how large they are)
5 springs of mint, intact (about 10 leaves per sprig)
Scant 3/4 cup of granulated sugar (or about 1/2 cup simple syrup - see below)
1-1.5 cups of white rum (depending upon how rough of a week it's been) - I recommend Bacardi
Chilled club soda/sparkling mineral water

Place lime juice, mint and sugar in a cocktail shaker and muddle, releasing mint oils and dissolving sugar into the juice. If the mint is floating too much in the liquid, strain some out into your pitcher and continue muddling in the shaker. (You can always muddle directly in the pitcher, but mine has an oddly shaped bottom which would've made it difficult.)  Strain all liquid and throw some of the muddled-but-still-somewhat-intact mint springs into the pitcher. If you have a clear pitcher, add a couple of the used and abused lime halves for decoration (only if you're optimistic and think the drink will last that long).  Fill glasses full of ice and pour the drink over top. Add a fresh, extra mint sprig to each glass for garnish.


For an individual drink: (Cue George Thorogood's 'I Drink Alone'...anybody? anybody?)

1 whole spring of spearmint (about 12 leaves, intact on the stem)
2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar  (depending upon how sweet you like it. Or, substitute .75oz. of simple syrup - see below.)
Juice from half a lime
2 oz. of white rum - I recommend Bacardi
3 oz. chilled club soda/sparkling mineral water
(That's 2 parts rum to 3 parts soda/sparkling water, for those who don't like to measure...which is me sometimes.)

In a tall glass, add the whole mint spring, sugar (or syrup) and lime juice. Gently muddle to extract the mint oils and dissolve much of the sugar. Just don't go too nuts on it. Add the used lime half from the juice you squeezed out and fill the glass with ice. Pour the rum and soda over the ice and stir until the glass is frosted. Garnish with another mint spring if desired. I recommend a straw if you are 'put off' by the mint bits floating around in the glass. (Sidenote: for those who don't like the muddled remnants in their glass, I think you're crazy. you can do the muddling in a cocktail shaker and then strain the resulting liquid into your glass with a little mint garnish at the end.)

Simple Syrup:
It's called 'simple syrup' for a reason. It might be the only thing simpler than boiling noodles.

2 cups (or 2 parts) granulated sugar
2 cups (or 2 parts) boiling water

Stir together until clear. Let cool and move to a bottle for easy pouring. And that's it. This stuff can be used in a number of cocktails or to sweeten non-alcoholic drinks like lemonade or iced tea - it really gets around.

Cheers! Let me know what you think if you try them! Any other fun uses you can think of for mint from the garden?

Alright, now that you've seen the inside of our house, I'll show you what we get to see out our window every day. Despite having a small yard, I have to say that I'm in love with my gardens and front porch. One of the things I was most excited about when we starting looking for houses was the prospect of actually having sunny garden space to plant veggies and flowers. Plus, after living in two rentals with covered front porches, I was hoping a covered front porch would be something I wouldn't have to live without. Fortunately, the seller of our house put a lot of time into the gardens, particularly into choosing plant varieties for blooms from spring through fall (more on the gardens later), AND our house has a nice spacious front porch! So apart from the size of the yard, I feel like we pretty much hit the outdoor jackpot.

Just like the indoor tour, I'll show some pics and list some of the projects we have in mind, crossing out the ones we've completed so far. Let's start with the front yard/porch. I forgot to take pictures of it when we first moved in, but it basically looked like a plantless, chairless version of its current self. We haven't done much with it. (I blurred out our address on the front of the house so the whole world doesn't know where we live, hence the blobby parts of the pictures.)

Front Yard/Porch:

        

        

         

• Obtain clear cafe string lights for some porch ceiling ambiance
• Decorate with potted/hanging annuals - I do have some hanging currently, but not as many as I had hoped
• Plant some shade/part-shade friendly perennials in the front yard to cheer up all the shrubbery
• Paint wood patio furniture and make new cushions for outdoor seating - partially done. The patio furniture has been painted (stained, actually) but I have yet to redo the cushions, which is why we haven't put it on the porch yet. 
• Repurpose our old baker's rack as a potting stand - you can see in the lower left picture that it has found its new home - a perfect fit - in the awkward front corner of the porch. 
• Paint plastic adirondack chairs with Krylon Fusion (plastic friendly paint), possibly light blue.
• Replace house numbers and mailbox

Backyard:

    

      
A few things to point out...The wooden box sitting in the driveway is a 3'x3' square foot raised bed. As you can see in the lower right picture, we have two walkways from the driveway that converge at the back door. Unfortunately, they slope downward toward the house, so every time there is a heavy rain, we get about a 4" deep puddle of water under the door which causes seepage in the basement. See our project list below for what we plan to do about it.

But first, let me show you some garden updates. Though there are still a few plants I can't identify yet, here are some of the other things you'll find growing since the first pics were taken in April:

In late spring/early summer...

As we hit the hot days of Summer...

Ahhhhh summer...

Oh, right. Here's the yard projects we have in mind so far: 

• Install a privacy fence with gate
• Fix the pipe/drain issue outside the back door by installing a new drain and regrading the landscape - Temporarily done! I will post on our drain-scapades later.
• DIY a cobblestone patio with partial retaining wall
• Make earthboxes (giant self-watering planters) for balcony veggies
• Plant the square foot garden box - Check! Next up is a garden post about what I planted.
• Buy/make window boxes for herbs
• Fix garage door, which sometimes doesn't close all the way
• Replace back balcony rail to match the front porch
• Find something to hide the air conditioner unit - tall plants or bamboo 'fencing'?

And since there are some other things we have on our list that don't really fit into a specific room/area of the house, here are some of the random projects we have in mind:

• Enhance existing insulation - our insulation seems to be pretty good, but I'm sure there is room for improvement. We might have to determine that by having someone do an energy audit though
• Repair upstairs windows - our windows are all original to the house except for the storm windows that were added on. Some of the weighted cords on the upstairs windows are broken, so the windows don't open as easily as they should.
• Buy and install basement supports - One of the things our inspector noted was that there has been some structural shifting over time, which can easily be fixed/stopped by fitting some support posts and beam brackets in the basement
• Paint the house and front porch - our seller touched up some areas, but the paint colors don't exactly match well and you can tell. Some of the paint is starting to peel and I don't really like the hunter green anyway so I'm looking forward to changing it.
• Paint the front door - I like red front doors, but I feel like that's kind of cliche. I'm thinking something terracotta colored - it's not really red, and not really orange (which is my favorite color, but let's be honest it could be kind of questionable as an exterior house paint choice)

So there you have it! Any suggestions for some great flowering, shade-friendly perennials for the front yard and back by the garage? I would love something purple but I know I can't be too picky. Do you have any plants or flowers that have made a surprise appearance in your yard this year?