-
Soda Bottle Garden
This is a great little recycling project I’ve seen variations of in many gardening blogs. I decided to keep it as simple as possible so I could involve the Man-child who just turned three. These teaches about reusing materials and caring for plants. How to make a soda bottle garden: You will need plastic bottles from your recycling bin, scissors, two rocks big enough to stop up the bottle opening, potting soil, plants, water, and four pipe cleaners or twine.…
-
10 Weeks of Vegetable Gardening: Week 3
Each Friday I am posting a weekly guide for prepping your home vegetable garden. In Raleigh, the last killing frost date is April 11 (on average, give or take a week), so my first weekend for planting outdoors is April 9. I have a tendency to do before planning and end up with far more things to plant than there is space for. However, if you are willing to put in a little time and thought, there is no need…
-
10 Weeks of Vegetable Gardening: Week 2
Each Friday I will be posting a weekly guide for prepping your home vegetable garden. In Raleigh, the last killing frost date is April 11 (on average, give or take a week), so my first weekend for planting outdoors is April 9. It has been a fickle weather week in Raleigh and we are supposed to have rain today and Saturday morning, so I debated switching weeks on you. However, Joe and I will be out in the dirt since…
-
10 Weeks of Vegetable Gardening: Week 1
Each Friday I will be posting a weekly guide for prepping your home vegetable garden. In Raleigh, the average last killing frost date is April 11 (give or take a week), so my first weekend for planting outdoors will be April 9. Check out this frost map to determine yours. There are now ten weeks before our big outdoor planting weekend. If you buy all your vegetable plants for your home garden, this may not be very significant, but if…
-
Seed Cataloging for the Home Garden
Every mid-winter I find myself in a Lowes or Logan’s perusing the seed displays. I cannot help myself. Today, the boys and I spent nearly an hour in Lowes playing on the mowers, looking at seeds, and talking to the staff. Actually, the staff was talking to my boys. They are cuties, what can I say. I left with a seed-starting kit, six packets of seeds and some starter refills. This evening, I spread my spoils on the floor and…
-
Let's Talk Soil Temp
Every spring, as soon as the sun begins to warm my face, I’m ready to put seeds in the ground. I cannot control the urgency I feel to begin planting. This past spring, I learned a valuable lesson: air temp does not equal soil temp. Every type of seed has an optimum soil temperature for germination. It so happens that beans like 75-80 degrees F, and at this optimum temperature, they will germinate in seven days on average. Planting them…
