Making the Most of What I've Got

Two weekends ago, I sliced and diced some boards we happened to have in the garage, and hobbled together some more lighting racks.  I was left feeling very resourceful and even a little adventurous.  Historically, the only projects requiring tools that I've been willing to tackle myself were hanging picture frames with a hammer and changing out batteries with a screwdriver.  Re-purposing the kitchen island was huge for me (see DIY Conversion post).  So I surprised even myself when I marched into the garage and decided that if I could install grow lights, I could make a stable frame for more lights using some 2x4's, a jigsaw, a hammer and some nails. I didn't cut off any appendages, I only smashed my thumb twice, and I successfully added a third tier to my gardening stand.  I admit, it's not the most elegant addition to my piano room, but I'm using every square inch of out-of-the-way space that I can. (Since this picture was taken, I moved the extra florescent light sitting on top of this whole arrangement to the laundry room growing area.)  All in all, I'm extremely proud of my expanded spaces for starting seeds.

[Side Note: I understand now that power tools are called that because they make you feel POWERFUL.  After I'd sawed through a few boards (and maybe gotten a little high off of adrenaline and the smell of sawdust), I started having visions of my very own wood shop.] 

We watch our budget pretty carefully, and I've put up with enough teasing from my wonderfully supportive husband to be curious about my current gardening expenditures versus our potential reward.  In total, I've spent $121 just on lighting (6 2-ft plant grow lights and 1 additional 4-ft florescent fixture).  I saved a lot of cartons and yogurt containers, but still ended up buying peat pots and plastic seed pots for about $18.  Seed starting medium, potting soil, Garrett juice, and worm castings cost me around $50, and I spent $22 on seeds from Seed Savers Exchange.  So for a little over $200, I've grown 92 beautiful, organic seedlings!  If I bought those plants at a store for $3 a piece (which I think is a conservative estimate for organic plants), I'd spend around $270.  So there.  I'm coming out ahead so far.  Plus, I can reuse the lights and stands for years to come.  Now it just remains to be seen how many peppers and tomatoes we'll produce to offset the grocery bill.



This is my workbench / potting bench in all it's glory, tucked between the new tiller I got for Christmas and boxes we're waiting to recycle.  I actually rescued this dresser from someone's curb years ago, and my dad surprised me by re-purposing it into a play kitchen for the kids.  (He added fresh paint, the "control panel" board, washers for dials, and coffee can lids for burners - so awesome!)  Now that the kids have quit playing with it, I've claimed it as my own.







My new favorite way to grow tomatoes is in eggshells.  Pretty sure I saw this on Pinterest.  This season, I started all of my seeds in a store-bought Jiffy medium (instead of making my own mix) and added spoonfuls of worm castings.  The seeds I tucked into eggshells have grown at almost twice the rate of those in other containers.

I cleaned them out well after making breakfast and let them dry.  

After filling them with seed starting medium, I carefully drilled a hole in the bottom with a screwdriver. 

 

Planted seeds and watched them grow! (The eggshell seedlings seem to hold moisture better as well, and so needed less watering each day.)

 

Out with the Old

Gideon and I both got awesome new gardening gloves in our stockings this year. He wants to use his at any opportunity, so today I sent him to clean out some of the straggling lettuce plants from the backyard raised bed. (Come spring, that bed is getting an overhaul. I'm interested to test summer sun back there, because winter sun was a total bust.)

Watching things grow

Growing seeds is a romantic endeavor for me. Seeing tiny leaves emerge from the ground fills me with wonder. Last year (my first to start seeds), I'd read lots of books about the process, seed leaves, true leaves, rough timelines for varying inches of growth, etc. But I almost didn't believe I would see it would happen.

DIY Conversion -- Kitchen Island to Seed Starting Stand

I've been lusting after Gardener's Supply Company's seed starting grow lights and stands for months, but they're dreadfully expensive.  When I have lights and surfaces on hand that function perfectly well, it's hard to justify such an investment.  My husband already teases me mercilessly about $100 peppers and $40 tomatoes.  Still, my own hodge podge lighting system was awkward and driving me nuts.  The 4-ft flourescent light was causing all kinds of problems since it could only hang diagonally and on the lower shelf.

So the kids and I took a trip to a home improvement store this morning in search of shorter flourescent lights.  I am very intimidated by power tools and DIY projects, but I managed to install them without any trouble.

I'm so happy with the end result! It may not be sexiest seed starting system available, but it's much more stream-lined than before and didn't cost me an arm and a leg.

Maybe at some point I'll find a more attractive way to raise and lower my seedlings as they grow... but Amazon boxes will work fine for now.  :)

                            

SURPRISE!

I made a discovery yesterday while I was watering. I just happened to glance down at my flowerbed (the landscaping the builders installed that I've hardly messed with) and noticed a beautiful green plant growing. We have a fair amount of clover, dandelions, and miscellaneous weeds growing all over our yard, and this didn't look anything like them.  So I did a double take, then leaned over for a closer look. Finally this morning, I rinsed off a leaf and tasted it.  ARUGULA! 

The biggest arugula I've ever grown and it was a complete accident, growing in compacted, clay soil that I assumed wouldn't grow anything worth a lick.  The powdery stuff around it is a mix of cornmeal and diatomaceous earth that I poured over some anthills.

This is the arugula bed that I planted on purpose in between my dormant raspberry and blackberry bushes.  It's doing beautifully (though now that I've seen how monstrous arugula can get, my opinion of this bed is tempered slightly), and I pick leaves and whole plants on an almost daily basis to add to pizza, eggs, and salads.

When planting, I've often dusted my hands off over the flowerbed, wondering absently if any random seeds would take hold.  But I've never gone to the trouble to check.  After taste-testing my surprise arugula  (with Evan watching me doubtfully), I went back out to the flowerbed to scan for other lettuce-type leavings. 

I should say that none of my lettuce is growing well in containers or in my backyard bed.  I'm beginning to pinpoint the mistakes that I've made.  And now I'm wondering if I should just broadcast seeds in my front flowerbeds, careful planting and soil preparation be hanged.  There are three plants here that I'm pretty sure are some kind of mesclun.  They look similar to dandelion leaves, until you put them side by side.  I ate one a small leaf (with Evan still looking highly skeptical), and it tasted fine - really mild with not even a hint of bitterness.  After a little more research, we might have some free. yummy salads for dinner... assuming I can talk my husband into some entry level foraging.

Put to Good Use

My new compost crock...

is actually my mother's old bean pot, which I've always loved.  My mom used it to hold sausage balls for community meals, and that's all I've ever done with it, too.  Until this morning, I had it sitting on top of my cabinets next to a ceramic rooster and an old oyster tin for decoration.  

For five years, I've been re-purposing plastic containers (usually margarine tubs or milk jugs) to hold my veggie scraps.  Not the most aesthetically pleasing choice, but being free and reused counts for a lot in my book.  However, I'd finally decided I could justify buying a more attractive container as a permanent fixture next to my sink.  It only occurred to me yesterday that I had the perfect crock right under my nose!

Hunting for Inspiration

I see yards and landscapes differently now as I drive around.  Wide open lawns just seem like wasted spaces where neighborhoods could grow so much food!  And beautifully, too!  As much as I love my gardening books, I love seeing the way "real" people garden next door and down the street.  It inspires me to see what is possible, what can be grown successfully in my climate, how small and odd spaces can be used.  This weekend, I drove around to some points of inspiration in my neighborhood.

This entire carport is so beautiful! Proof that small and odd spaces can be transformed, giving people without gobs of land a way to grow food.

There wasn't much growing here at this point in the year, but the remnants are still inspiring. This twisty raised bed is in the middle of a typical Fort Worth front yard.

 My picture does not do this yard justice. This home is on our trick-or-treating path, and is the real-life yard-garden that finally made Evan a believer in beautiful, edible front-yard landscaping.

 

I have a lot of work ahead of me and a long way to go in re-imagining and re-purposing our yard into a productive, edible space.  My two current gardening book favorites are "Edible Landscaping" by Rosalind Creasy and "The Edible Front Yard: The Mow-less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden" by Ivette Soler.  And I'll keep hunting for more local inspiration.