Only 20 tomatoes?

I started my seeds today. Looove the block maker. If you are a seed starter and don't have one do yourself a favor. While I was making blocks, Bill and I discussed starting less tomatoes this year. We thought 20 seemed about right. However, after planting I ended up with 36. Since there are over 70 pepper plants on the list, you can see we are experimenting with the 3 Flat Acres dried peppers and blends this fall.

My starter mix is a concoction of worm castings, vermiculite, coconut coir and a bit of organic potting soil

This little implement is amazing!

I use my mother-in-law's old baking pans to start seeds

I sprinkle No-Damp Off on the topUnder the lights they go

Here is the list of what I planted:

PEPPERS

Jalapeno - 5

Chile de Comida - 5

Romanian Hot Pepper - 5

Paprika - 12

Czeck Black - 12

Mini Sweet Bell - 12

Quadrato Dasti Giallo - 15

Hot Portugal Pepper - 10

TOMATOES

Green Zebra Tomato - 5

Yellow Brandywine - 5

Principe Borghese - 6

Purple Russian - 6

Illini Star - 14

GREENS

Green Chard - 5

Yellow Chard - 5

Red Chard -5

Red Ursa Kale - 5

HERBS

Summer Savory - 5

Dill - 5

Clary Sage - 5

Sorrel - 5

Fennel - 5

Basil - 10

Russian Tarragon - 5

Sweet Majoram - 5

Yesterday, in the Chicago backyard, I planted: arugula, purple mustard greens, regular mustard greens and in the cold frame some beets. Need a couple of more pepper varieties (Jimmy Nardelo - yum!), more kale and a couple different types of basil.

Seed starting!

I was late starting my seeds this year and I think it turned out to be a good thing. I planted on March 31st, April 7th and May 1st. My seedlings are stronger than they have ever been. I think I am not fighting the heat-war by starting them later. I don't have heat mats so I heat up my seedling room (it is walk-in closet size) with a portable heater. This year I only turned the heat on once but the seedlings look healthy and strong.

I almost transplanted last week, but I had heard that we were going to get a cold snap. I am so glad that I have held off. Pushing the season on the front end - unless you have a hoophouse and row covers - doesn't seem to pay off. The cool weather seems to stunt the growth.

And in typical fashion, I started too many. I think I have about 35 chard plants, at least 15 kale starts. Not to mention 25+ tomatoes. Oh my - I really need to move to a farm! I updated the side bar with the varieties and numbers.

Herbs and the church we own

I finally started my herbs back on 3/20.
5 Cumin
5 Curly Parsley
5 Flat Parsley
5 Sweet Basil
5 Dill
5 Chamomile
5 Clary Sage
5 Thyme

25 Red Milkweed Prairie Asclepias incarnata
These were cool - I had to refrigerate for 2 weeks in moist stratification to help increase germination. I just took them out of the fridge this past weekend. We'll see how they do.

We are off to Wisc this weekend for a big work project. We have a second property in Wisc (other than the farm) that we actually purchased back in 2003 - 3 years before the farm - its an old country church. I found it for sale online and it was priced right because it had no well, water or bathroom. What it did have was electric, a furnace and lots of character. Its a Primitive Methodist church from the 1850s with lots of original glass. We have spent the past six years fixing it up at every possible moment. We have had the exterior painted and a new roof (including tear-off) put on, a septic installed and well dug. Those were the projects that we hired others to do. Bill and I have: installed plumbing for a bathroom & kitchen, refinished the floor (environmentally friendly stain and wax finishing), painted the interior (interior scaffolding to reach the 15' ceilings, 6 days and 35 gallons of primer and paint - again environmentally friendly), repaired the bell tower, cleaned out the bell tower (birds living there), landscaped, installed a kitchen, installed the bathroom, laid bathroom tile (with heated floor), installed slate in the entry way, installed a new energy efficient furnace, tore out the Menard's special cheap door and replaced with original doors that were in the basement, installed a fireplace with chimney, built custom screen doors for the front, installed large boulders as steps to the doors, sewed curtains, put in a garden, increased the garden size, installed a gravel parking pad, built a shed/firewood storage. And, there's more.

I could go on and on. When we go to Wisc, this is where we stay as the farmhouse isn't habitable. So this weekend, Bill hopes to finish a bit of stonework and I am going to strip the majority of sod from the 1/4 acre lot so we can seed with native prairie seed.

This about wraps it up for our work on the church. We then turn to the farm. Our church projects will quickly dull in comparison to the amount that we have to do at the farm. We like old buildings and we like to fix 'em up! :)

Seed panic!

Yikes! It is already the end of March! I have lots more seeds to start namely herbs! I haven't even begun to think about them yet. Tonight is the night. I did prep some seed starter on Sunday - I'm trying a new recipe for this batch. Worm castings, perlite and a little bit of peat. This is the first time that I've worked with perlite - so far I'm on the fence. We'll see what its like tonight after its been hydrating with my castings for a few days. It seemed pretty sharp so I don't know how well that will work in my soil block maker.

The potential farm truck that we looked at in Wisc on Saturday turned out to be a dud. It was all fine and well until Bill took it for a drive. Upon return, pretty near a gallon of antifreeze came pouring out of the bottom and there was oil on the engine that was smoking. We don't expect it to work perfectly of course, but a potential cracked transmission was more than we were willing to take on. We're rethinking truck options. We want something reliable but I'd like to not take a car note. We'll keep looking.

We buried Miss B on Saturday. We like the grave digging and we each talk and laugh about memories. We've done this with each of our other two pets buried at the farm so we repeated the process. We were able to cry and then fill the soil back in the grave with our hands. Its a very spiritual experience for both of us. Bill then found a good stone and chiseled a 'B' on it. He did this for our dog and our other cat too. This was our 3rd pet euthansia in 2.5 years - it sure is hard to watch them age.

Seedlings up!

Seed Starting - is there such a thing as too many?

I may have overdone it this time. I told Bill that I can always give extras away to friends and family.


Ground Cherry (5)
The Grow the Change blog had the brilliant recommendation to dry ground cherries - she says they are similar to raisins. Now this I have to try!

Peppers - 45 plants
Czech Black (5)
Hot Portugal (5)
Paprika Alma (5)
Serrano (5)
Jalapeno (5)
Mini Red Bell (5)
Chili de Comidia (5)
Quadrato d'Asti Giallo (5)
Romanian Hot (5)

Tomatoes - 50 plants
Sweetie (5)
Yellow Brandywine (5)
Principe Borghese (5)
Purple Russian (5)
White Beauty or Snowball (5)
Caro Rich (5)
Green Zebra (5)
Illini Star (5)
Costaluto Genovese (5)
Santiam (5)

I haven't even begun to think about herbs yet.

On Sunday I am going to a heirloom apple grafting seminar at Garfield Farm (http://www.garfieldfarm.org/) - I have never been to this farm museum but I am greatly looking forward to seeing it and learning how to graft. The instructor specializes in heirloom trees in Southern Wisc! I look forward to meeting him!

Worm tower & my worm friends

Worms (reddish, pink) in the worm bin tray. You can also see some squash rind and some shredded paper in this picture.




This is a worm in the lid.

This is the tray. I'm able to get worm tea from the tapper.

I love this worm set-up. Its got different layers of trays so I can feed my worms on several layers at a time. I've been really careful about not feeding them too much - which I hear is the most common mistake in new bins. For the first two months, I have only fed once a week (although probably 2+ lbs of scraps, which is a lot) and then didn't open the bin until the following week. It seems to have worked well as they seem to be multiplying.

We started this in Dec 08. We've always been composters, but composting in the city is difficult (mostly b/c of rodents). Plus, in the winter you are essentially just tossing your scraps into the pile and they freeze. I don't have a manure or straw component to my outdoor bin so its doesn't run hot like a lot of outdoor compost piles. My indoor worm bin allows us to compost year round and I'm able to use the castings as seed starter. I'm experimenting with different "recipes" for seed starting (i.e. more or less castings, etc.).

Plus - I think they are neat.

One thing that I don't like: its plastic.

Soil Block Makers - Part II

Here is my opinion. The larger one is better. Don't bother with the 'mini' - they don't press together very well, they are very small (I guess the term mini should have been my clue), and it seems like they will dry out fast. The step up from the mini - the larger one pictured above - creates blocks that are just shy of 1.5" square with a little dimple in the top for the seed. I love this item!! I was able to make 110 blocks in no time flat this morning (not even an hour). They are easy to plant and water. (I had to replant my onions; the first batch of seeds were really old and I had tried them in the mini blocks, I wasn't happy - no sprouting and the little blocks were already falling apart.)

This morning I started 60 Australian Brown Onions, 20 Yellow of Parma Onions, 20 Blue Solaize Leeks, 5 Nutri-bud Broccoli, and 5 Long Island Brussels Sprouts. And another little tray of arugula.

Soil block makers

I received my soil block makers for seed starting.

No more plastic! No more attempts to try to disinfect those little plastic trays from year to year. I am on a mission to eliminate plastic from my life (impossible, I know - but one can try, right?)

The past several years I have been making pots out of newspaper. Those are great, except, there is only one size and you can't really transplant or move up in size in newspaper. Things like tomatoes fairly quickly outgrow their little pot. Plus, after 6 to 8 weeks, the newspaper pot tends to get a little wilty.

So, I caved and purchased some soil block makers. I did find some instructions for making your own online, but Bill doesn't have time so I broke down and bought them from Seeds of Change (love that company, although my jury is still out on their new seed packaging).

I'll take a picture soon, but I planted up 60 onions a few nights ago. I also have arugula going in an old cookie sheet (its an experiment - for eating now - I don't know if it needs more soil depth).

So far, I think the blockers will work out great. I got a whole tray of finished vermicompost last night to add to my mixture. I'm also going to try that straight as a seed starting medium.

I'll also do a post soon on my worms and my worm tower.