Big events this week
15.4 years ago kids, sunflowers
My four five year old has been patiently been waiting for the “color sunflower” she planted from seed at a friends house this spring to finally bloom. Every morning she will run to the kitchen window and check on its progress. It turns out the sunflower was waiting to share her blooms on my daughter’s birthday which was definitely one of her favorite presents that day.
Here she is posing with her flower (still in pajamas)
Tags: garden seeds, outdoor plants
Growing sprouts in a Mason jar
15.5 years ago cheap, kids, sprouting
My daughter was required to do a presentation which included an experiment using plants for school and of course her mother directed her to me. Given there was not a lot of time until the presentation I suggested that she grows sprouts, given you can go from seeds to a jar full of sprouts in less than a week.
Construction
You really can grow sprouts in almost anything. We chose a mason jar, though plastic storage containers, trays, or even fabric bags (just drip in water and hang)
The important thing is to provide plenty of airflow, if you don’t your seeds will produce an awful stank that you won’t want in your house let alone eat. We used a piece of an old pair of leggings, which we stretched over the opening of the jar and applied the mason jar ring….well that’s about it.
How to Grow Sprouts
The process starts with seed selection. You can grow any seed as a sprout though you may not want to eat them. Cilantro is a good example it will grow great but the root of a cilantro/yellow mustard
Take about a tablespoon of seeds and soak in room temperature water with a couple drops of liquid fertilizer overnight.
In the morning drain, rinse and let sit out of direct sunlight. Repeat the drain/rinse process once a day (twice a day if your sprouts begin to smell) During the first couple days it is advisable to shake and/or roll the jar on its side to allow the seeds to spread out a little. Doing this simple procedure within about a week you should have a jar full of fresh healthy sprouts.
Why grow sprouts?
Fun: Great for kids with limited attention spans. Within a day or two they can see their seeds sprout growing more and more each day. It is also a great way to keep your sanity during those long winter months.
Cheap: For mere pennies you can grow pounds of greens.
Nutritious: These little sprouts pack a ton of nutrients for their little size.
Easy: The process is pretty fool proof, just rinse with water, set them on your counter, and eat. What could be easier
Tags: cheap, cilantro, garden seeds, garlic bulbs, outdoor plants
Picking strawberries in the garden
15.5 years ago kids, strawberries
In the past couple years we have grown strawberries the story has been my oldest daughter salivating over the strawberries asking, “Is it red enough yet?”
This year her desire for strawberries is just as great though with the plant maturing as well as the additional plant we propagated last year she has been easily getting her fill with plenty more ripe strawberries on the plants. Not wanted to be wasteful, we went out and picked all of the ripe strawberries.
Not having enough to make something like jam or even some strawberry shortcake for the family we opted to make a strawberry milkshake.
Strawberry milkshake recipe
- handful of strawberries
- 2 scoops of ice cream
- milk
Directions: Add strawberries and ice cream to blender. Blend adding milk until it has the consistency of…well…a milkshake.
Tags: cheap, outdoor plants, strawberry plants, vegetables
Kids eating vegetables from the garden
One of my many reasons for growing a vegetable garden was to encourage my daughters (four and seven) to eat more vegetables. Currently other than a few raw carrots they do everything they can to avoid them. In the previous years, with the exception of strawberries and potatoes in “Baked French Fry form,” I have been the primary consumer of our garden harvest.
This changed this weekend when my youngest daughter tried and decided she loved peas (pea pods) I even heard the quote, “I like peas more than fries” and if you only knew how much she loved fries you would understand how much of a compliment this is. Not to miss out on the extra attention her younger sister was getting, our older daughter tried the peas with less stellar results though definitely gave her points for trying.
Right now our plants are not keeping up with demand with my daughter eating every pod that comes out. The old primary consumer is patiently waiting for the time when the plants are producing way more than we can keep up with so I can have some extra sweet peas myself. But really who could deny that cute face any delicious peas.
Tags: cheap, outdoor plants, strawberry plants, vegetables
3rd Annual Ladybug release
15.7 years ago aphids, kids, ladybugs
In case you missed the first and second annual lady bug release, you can follow those posts. We have never had a serious aphid or spider mite problem and I like to feel our annual release of lady bugs is the reason why. Either way, great entertainment for the girls for a couple hours for a $6.00 bag of lady bugs.
Lady bugs sometimes naturally choose to wander from the location where you release them and may just take residence in your neighbors yard, so I have thought about releasing them in my neighbors yard so they will end up in mine. Fortunately there are a few tricks to help entice your lady bugs from leaving your garden.
Give them a nap. Before you release them put them in your refrigerator for at least a couple hours. This will make them go asleep (dormant) until you are ready to release them. This way when you bring them outside in their sleepy stupor they may be more inclined to check out your garden before heading over your neighbors.
Feed them. After watering your garden before releasing them spray the ground with some sugar water. This will entice them to feast on that while waiting for a the aphids and spider mites to show up.
Choose the right time. Put your lady bugs out as the sun is falling and ensure that they are shaded from sun when releasing. This will prevent them from hiding from the hot sun and possibly finding a new place to make home.
Encourage your neighbors to have their own lady bug releases. One of our friends and neighbors had a great time with their girls releasing lady bugs last year and fortunately they are close enough that we may be sharing some bugs from both of our releases.
In the past I have had good results with the releases maybe seeing 30-40 lady bugs still crawling around on my plants the next day. This year had great results with hundreds of lady bugs in my aphid killing army.
Tags: cheap, outdoor plants, vegetables
Goose cucumber
16.3 years ago cucumbers, kids
My 4 year old called this our goose cucumber, I think I see it.
Tags: cheap, led, vegetables
