Posted on Mar 06, 2009 under Gardening, contest |
Our girls love to plant sunflowers and each year again, they are amazed at how big they can grow in such little time.
Inspired by Melinda’s Growing Challenge, I decided to host a small growing challenge here as well: who can grow the biggest sunflower?
A contest isn’t complete without prizes, so I’m working on that. If you have any suggestions or have anything to add to the prize pot, please leave a comment!
I’m going to keep a list of who is participating as well as keep track of growth, so send in your measurements every now and again.
It would also be nice to know exactly how you are growing your sunflowers (i.e. type of soil used, watering schedule, fertilizers, etc.)
Please leave a comment if you want to join or if you have any suggestions.
Get ready to grow!
Posted on Mar 05, 2009 under Compost, Gardening, Self Sufficiency, Water, construction |
I got my ordered copy of Growing Under Glass
, a book by Kenneth A. Beckett in the mail yesterday. It contains a big section about different types of greenhouses, finding the best location for your greenhouse and how to build your own. All information I obviously don’t need, since we already have our greenhouses. Still, it was a very interesting read!
The book covers about everything you need to know about building a greenhouse, equipping it and growing plants in it. It teaches you how to prepare your soil as well as less known planting methods like growing in straw bales. Growing plants from seeds as well as propagating cuttings are extensively covered and everything is accompanied by clear, step by step, illustrations.
I own quite a few gardening books, but if I had to pick my favorite one, Growing Under Glass would be it!
Posted on Mar 02, 2009 under Gardening, Self Sufficiency |
Melinda, over at One Green Generation, has started a new round of The Growing Challenge. The goal of the challenge is simple: grow a new crop from seed, organically of course, and save its produced seeds for a new round of planting next year. Sounds simple, and it is, if you pick the right crop to plant.
I planted a lot of seeds yesterday: kohlrabi, strawberry, tomato, cauliflower, bell pepper and lettuce from seed packs that we already had. I also planted broccoli and basil from seeds that I saved from last years crops. I’ve planted tomatoes and basil from saved seeds before and they grew very nicely. If you’re new to seed saving, tomatoes and basil are probably the easiest to start with.
While waiting for the seeds to sprout, we are getting the greenhouse ready for planting.
