Green Garden Progress

So I finally got around to planting my wee little plants earlier this week. Not outdoors of course, but in my cute indoor greenhouse. I planted just about everything I had in the house. Cayenne peppers, jalapeno peppers, arugula, more peas, squash, strawberries, tomatoes, cantaloupe, lettuce, and a few others I can't remember, along with a bunch of herbs as well. A lot of the plants that I put in came from organic seeds that I bought from a local whole foods store, I was actually surpised that they had seeds on display this time of year. A few of them have also come out of fruit and veggies that I bought and pulled the seeds out of. I'm so glad that I have started them off and to be honest I think some of them are going to be sprouting in the next few days!

This is what the top shelf of the greenhouse looks like so far!

This is what the second level (and part of the third) looks like. I used a flat for these plants because they are plants that are runners, so I thought this way they would have a little more space to expand as they grow.

These are some of the plants that I had just growing in a window of the past few weeks :Catnip, peas, and green beans. But I think that they will grow much faster now that they are in the greenhouse.

I was dping some looking around on the trusty internet yesterday and found this interesting article that says that you can use od coffe grinds as fertilizer if you sprinkle it on the dirt around the plants, and also that you can spray cold coffee on them as well and they will help them grow. So that might be a new idea that I try in comming days/weeks. Will keep you posted!


Also, here is my new plant project, the little man and I shared a mongo yesterday, and I kept the seed, huge seed and I'm letting it dry out and will be planting that as well.

Green Garden

So I started a small veggie garden in my backyard two summers ago, but sadly it died off because my silly dogs wouldn't stay out of it. Last summer I had a newborn and didn't want to spread myself to thin. BUT this summer its my new project. I saw this cool little greenhouse that can be used indoors a little while before Christmas, and I fell in love with it. It's nothing specatacular, just a metal frame with shelves and a clear plastic cover, but it works like magic. I planted green beans in it, and within 5 days they were already almost 8' high.

Since then, I went out and picked up some starter flats and some dirt, and some new seeds from the organic store in my town. I also have been saving seeds from fruits and veggies for the past little while as well. I pulled the seeds out of a squash that I used to make Nolan's baby food, I saved the seeds from some grapes that I bought, along with strawberries and pomegranates. I'm most excited about the pomegranates, they're actually growing really well! I know that there is no way that I can plant them in the ground, they will surely die in the winter months, but I plan to keep to tree in a large pot on my back deck.

A little off topic there, but back to the garden. I have a decent size space in my yard that I'm going to rip up and then fill with goodies to eat with my family. I plan on starting off most of my plants at home in my greenhouse and then move them into the garden when they are ready. I figure that this will save me a decent amount of money, as I will be buying only some of the seeds, some will be preserved from fruits and veggies that I will buy between now and then, and even the seeds that I do have to buy will be a minimal cost compared to what it would cost to buy a live plant in planting season.

When you add up the savings from that stand point, I figure that I will save around $100 on the plants themselves, and then the money that I would be able to save on our weekly produce, the savings would be totally worth the amount of work required for my garden.

Not only keeping the savings in mind, I also like the idea of knowing where my food comes from. I want to know what is on/in the food that I'm giving to my family, and I believe that growing as many different things in my garden will be a great way to accomplish that.