Mystery Seed Swap

Last month I signed up to join a mystery seed swap.  The rules were fairly simple:  mail seeds to them and they will mail seeds back to you.  I sent a variety of seeds, both saved and retail.  I clearly labeled each variety with what it was, if it was saved or retail, and directions for proper growth, along with days until harvest, and any other information that was relevant.  I also added $4.50 for return postage.  They asked for a minimum of 10 packets to be sent of a variety of seeds, and for each packet to contain at least 15 seeds or 30 seeds for a plant like corn.  I sent in around 30 packets of about 10 different varieties.

Here is what I received in the exchange:

Pumpkin - Big Max, Cinderella, and Jarrahdale
Squash - Hubbard
Chinese Cabbage - Pak Choi White Stem
Brussels Sprouts - Long Island Improved
Beet - Golden Detroit, and Detroit Dark Red
Parsnip - Hollow Crown, and All American
Carrot - Royal Chantenay
Pepper Chile - Ancho/Poblano
Long Pod Okra
Gourd - Luffa Sponge
Beans - Cherokee Trail of Tears, Rattlesnake, Red Chili, and Frank Barnett Cut Short
Tomato - Taxi, Alaskan Fancy, Red Robin, Cherokee Chocolate, Jersey Giant, Beefsteak, Cherokee  Purple, and Amish Paste
Flowers - Delphinium, Candytuft, Zinnia Giants of California, Datura Blue, Pink Manners Obedient, Yellow Cup Tall Native, Pink Tall Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate, and two Lily Grass.

I was very excited to see the Jersey Giant tomato seeds in this package.  I just tried to order them from Baker Creek and was told they had a failed crop of them last year so they had no seeds to offer.

Can't wait to get these started in the greenhouse I hope to get built in the next month or two.  I need to look up some of these plants as not all of them came with planting instructions.  Going to have a fun gardening season this year.  Once I get my seeds in that I ordered from Baker Creek, I'll go over all I have and make a post about ones I'll be happy to trade and what I'd like to trade for.  Maybe just postage, and I'm not sure I will need anything else.

Wear Those Gardening Gloves Every Time!

I have a great pair of gardening gloves that I've only been wearing when I'm picking tomatoes.  I can't stand to pick a mushy tomato and have it goosh all over my hand, nor did I was to encounter any of those disgusting tomato worms.  I did wear them the other day when I picked beets and they kept my hands clean while brushing off the soil from the roots.

Decided to pick the rest of the strawberry popcorn today and since the stalks were no longer needed I would pull them up, then remove the ears and toss the stalks into a pile for my husband to run over with the lawnmower later.  I'd picked at least 30 stalks then had my kids come help me a little, and my daughter noticed a weird looking caterpillar and was ready to call it quits.  I picked that one and tossed it aside, and then she noticed another one on another stalk.  She did call it quits then and would only shuck the ears, not pull the stalks.  So I went to get that one and my hand just barely brushed that caterpillar and it instantly felt like I'd been zapped by fire.

 Needless to say, we were done picking corn for the day.  I came inside and washed my hands well and inspected it to see if there was anything leftover from the encounter.  No spines that I could see, and it wasn't even red, but it still stung quite a bit.

Not knowing what it was, I turned to the internet to help me.  I asked on my Facebook page and on a group's page that often answer people's garden bug questions.  I was able to find out that this is a Saddleback caterpillar and the spines on it are venomous.  Luckily, I did not have a bad reaction to it.  If you are allergic to it, you could go into anaphylactic shock.

I followed some suggestions on the site that was recommended and pressed some clear tape over the area several times to make sure any spines were removed, and applied a paste of baking soda and water.  I also wrapped it in a little plastic to keep it in place.  I then wrapped an ice pack around my hand.  I also took an allergy pill as soon as I came in the house as an extra precaution.

My hand stung and burned for about an hour and then eased completely.  The spot where I made contact is tender if I touch it but otherwise I feel just fine.  Luckily, I barely brushed it, I can only imagine the pain if I'd grabbed onto it with my whole hand.

Compost Bin From Pallets

After a successful garden this summer, I asked my husband to help me make a compost bin using the pallets he can get free at his work.  So he brought home five of them and we assembled it by screwing the two back pallets to the three facing out.  There was very little time involved and no real cost as we already had the screws. 

My daughter (right) and niece got very excited when they saw us building it and declared it their new playhouse.  I told them they could have it until I started filling it and I heard them discussing wallpaper options who gets the better bedroom.

The Great Potato Experiment

We were late in getting our garden in this year but things are still growing pretty well.  I'm hoping for a nice fall as that will let me harvest later than typical. 

My husband helped me rig up a contraption in what I hope will help them produce more.  I'd seen potato towers on Pinterest and other sites and decided to make a frugal version.

I have five potato plants that came up, which surprised me as it seemed to take so long I'd given up on them.  I kept mounding the soil up on the plants but they were starting to get pretty big and the soil kept rolling off the mound.  I stopped at my local dollar store and purchased five laundry baskets for $1 each.  I also purchased 14 qts. of potting soil.

My husband used a shop knife to cut the bottom out of each basket.  I put the basket over an individual plant, maneuvering them so that each plant was able to get a basket.

Since laundry baskets have holes along the sides, I layered hay up against the sides on the inside to hold the soil in.

Then I layered the baskets with the potting soil and garden soil. I also had my husband zip-tie them all together as the first two were leaning a bit so I could get all the baskets in there and I was afraid the addition of the heavy soil would wind up toppling them.  I watered them well and the hay also helped to hold in the water.

Here's hoping my experiment works!

Gardening, and How "Not Dead" It Is

The way I rate my gardening projects is by how "not dead" they are.  I cannot keep a plant alive if it is in the house, and I've not had a lot of luck with trees, but I can usually do pretty well with a garden.  I think it helps that once the plant or seed is in the ground I pretty much leave it alone. 

Unfortunately, where I put the garden this year is nothing but very poor soil.  I'd planned on adding a truckload of really good soil and compost to it, but didn't seem to get it done this year.  I'm hoping to be able to do it this fall so in the spring it's ready to go with just a little tilling.

I was also rather late getting things planted and the first round of tomatoes I started from seed inside never survived transplanting into bigger containers, so I started more seeds around the time other people were putting the plants into their gardens. 

Here are some pics of a few of the things in my gardens from the last couple of days, almost the end of June.

These are the two types of beans I'm growing.  In the front are bush beans called Greasy Grits and the ones in the back are pole beans called Dragon's Tongue.  Both can be eaten when green and can also be left on the plant to dry.  I plan on trying them both ways.

 This little corner gets little sun and a lot of water runoff from the porch roof when it rains.  I'm actually surprised anything grows  in it.  I have sunflowers along the walls and mixed dwarf cockscomb in the middle.  Oddly I planted the cockscomb all over the whole area but it's only growing in that little section in the middle.

I don't know if you can see, but it's a couple of tiny baby carrots.  I'd planted them in the garden forever ago, it seems, and had given up on them ever coming up, but a couple of them are giving it a go.

The stems on this have a purplish tint to them, that's because they are Purple Peacock Broccoli.  I don't have a lot of them coming up either, but at this point, I'm pretty happy with any that make the attempt.

This is some of my Strawberry Popcorn and it's around knee high and if I remember my little sayings then it's about right on schedule.  "Corn should be knee high by the fourth of July."  Oh, look over the weeds, too, I really need to get them pulled before they get out of hand, it's just been too darn hot!

Super Frugal Pole Bean Trellis

This is my first time growing pole beans and I was a little concerned on how I could give them something to climb without having to buy something made specifically for that purpose.  I remembered seeing a tip on how to do it a good while ago, but I can't remember where now.  It said to use some sort of string (or twine, or yarn) and tie one end to a rock and put the rock beside the plants as they are emerging and tie the other end onto something higher.  It so happened that I decided to plant them in a very neglected flower bed that my husband had built years ago in front of our porch, so that gave me the banisters above the bed to use for the string.  Instead of tying the string to a banister I wrapped the string around two of them and tied a rock to both ends.  I did that all along the bed and I can't wait to see if it works! 

The beans in the back are Dragon's Tongue and the ones in the front of the bed are bush beans and they are Greasy Grits.  All the seeds I'm using this year are from Baker Creek Seeds, and I've had excellent luck with them for the last several years that I've used them.  I don't get paid to say that, either, they are just that good.

This Blog's New Direction

When I originally started this blog, I was only planning to use it to record recipes I come up with for use in an ebook eventually, and I'll still do that, as well.  However, as I'm decluttering and organizing things around here I started going through a mountain of papers and came across several with lists of books and websites that I want to explore, and projects I want to tackle, and thought this would be a good place to keep track of them.  So I will continue to have recipes, but I will also be including book reviews, website reviews, frugal and free activities, gardening hints and tips, pet care, and homeschooling.  I have no choice but to operate on a very tight budget, so everything I list will be as cheap as possible or even free, if I'm lucky. 

Thanks for joining me on this journey and if there are any ideas or tips you are looking for, let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can come up with.

I found this image on Pinterest, but couldn't find out who designed it.  If you know, please let me know so I can give proper credit.