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The second way is to sprout them before you plant them. You can make your own sprouting tray by getting a paper towel wet and putting it in the middle of some tin foil. Then fold it up and put it in a sunny window. This will help the seeds to germinate faster and then you can plant them in the ground. Once seeds are sprouted they act more like plants than they do seeds so they can handle a little bit colder weather. You have to be careful when you plant these sprouts that you do not break off the sprouts.
If you are planting in the spring you should pick plants that can handle cooler temperatures or light frosts - plants like radishes, peas, lettuce, kale and beets. These are some of the same plants you grow for overwintering. |
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Get started growing your own food inside!
This spring I am getting a jump on my garden by starting the plants inside. I am sprouting tomatoes, beets, leeks, parsnips, and five types of herbs. After a few weeks I am going to plant the cold hardy plants outside, about mid February. I am also going to transplant the tomatoes into bigger pots so they can continue growing inside until April. Outside right now I have Swiss Chard, 2 types of Kale, and Fava beans. They are all doing well and we just ate kale out of our garden last night. If I wanted to grow my own garden this year I would go to the store and look for food that I know I like and foods that are good for me, like kale, that I want to try and eat more of. I find that planting a vegetable that I do not eat a lot helps me to look for new ways to cook and eat that vegetable. I give a vegetable two years for me to get used to it. I see if I will eat it a lot and if it is hard to grow in my area due to weather or pest control.
Open pollinated sh2 gene corn that I grew this year for the seed. I will plant this next spring! Lots of sweet corn for next year.
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More Carrots I just pulled out of the garden! They taste so great.
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Brussel Sprouts
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Grow your own healthy food!
Eating fresh vegetables is great for you and planting your own is easy. You can plant in your backyard garden or plant some vegetables in a pot. Planting your own vegetables is a way to get great vegetables cheap. You also know that their is no pesticides or herbicides on them. Planting your own garden does not have to take a lot of work!!! Planting some spinach in a pot is easy or throwing some kale in with your flowers on the side or front of your house is not hard either. It is amazing how many crops you can grow and harvest in a small area if you plant in beds not rows. Plus if you plant is beds you do not have to weed or if you want to weed, very little is required. Planting in beds is not leaving space in between the plants. This is kind of like a mat of lettuce or Kale. Some plants do very well planted in beds and others like corn do not. You want to plant corn in rows. I plant most of my greens in beds. There are several ways of harvesting your greens. You can thin and eat your greens as the plants get bigger. Another way to harvest is to just cut the leaves off and let them grow back (so that you can cut them again). I think Greens are also the easiest to grow and have more nutrients per calorie. You can also try another easy plant to grow, a sun flower. I like these because when they get bigger weeds cannot hurt them. Easy to grow and no weeding. You could also put lettuce around the base and have two easy plants with little to no weeding. Happy planting and eating your fresh vegetables!!
Brussel Sprouts and Beets
It has been fun to grow brussel sprouts this year and they are great for you. They have high levels of Indole-3-Carbinol which has anti-cancer properties and it may even have other health benefits. Brussel sprouts also have vitamins like C, A, and folic acid. I like brussel sprouts with a little butter and salt and am looking forward to eating them this fall.
Beets are also great to eat and are in the same family as swiss chard. You can eat the greens and the root. Just eat in moderation because it has oxalic acid which can cause some problems in high amounts and I would be extra careful if I had kidney problems. Enjoy all the fresh fall food! God Bless. |
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Fresh vegetables out of my Garden
I just lifted out some carrots and Kale out of my Garden and I also just got some more potatoes too. There is nothing like fresh vegetables!! They seem to taste even better and they are better for you. The reason they are better for you is that many vegetables are stored in cold storage and this can make them loose many of their vitamins. Fresh is best!
Another thing you can do if you grow vegetables yourself is you can control the soil and if you want to grow organic or not. You can choose to use no pesticides, but still have the ease of fertilizers or you could compost and go all organic. The choice is yours. Next Page |