It's Back.

Just when I thought all of the snow had finally melted away.... we got this.

We've gotten another inch or so since I took this picture.

Before my husband made the 20 year old who lives with us shovel our driveway... he played.

My husband has left to plow for the day, which is great because substitute teachers don't get paid for snow days. I'm off to crochet this snow day away, while enjoying the lovely Victorian Farm series posted by Thomas at A Growing Tradition here.

Seedling Saturday

I have a seedling Saturday this week. Not completely by design, but here goes.

I've got the stuff that I planted in the Aerogarden 16 days ago. I'm still loving how much growth I get to enjoy with this thing.

I've got true leaves on my basil plant. Pesto here I come!

My lettuce seedlings are sizing up nicely.

And here she is. The Pineapple tomato seed that I stuck in the Aerogarden 24 hours after the seed saving fiasco. I had NO intentions of having a tomato seedling on January 15, while snow is on the ground., but here she is. I'm going to have to figure out a way to keep her alive between now and MAY. At least all of my seed saving wasn't for naught.

I had several days without a sub job this week (snow day, and then a day without a phone call...) I've been spending my time working on some crochet projects for an etsy that I started last week. If anyone feels like checking it out, and giving me some pointers, I'd greatly appreciate it! I still need to get pictures of the hats on actual people, but for now this is what I'm working with.

Garden in January

Here's the typical shot I take of the garden. This one will be fun to look at later on. We've got fresh snow on top of the leaves on top of the garden.

Here's an updated picture of what my tomato seeds look like after they've dried. I did stick ONE seed into my Aerogarden so that they won't be a total loss (and that was after they dried for 24 hours) and I can definitely see the radicle sticking out now.

Here is an update on my lettuce and basil seedlings that have emerged on my Aerogarden! It's fun to see how fast these grow, I planted them 12 days ago.

HELP!

So I tried to save my own tomato seeds from my Pineapple tomatoes this year, and one that ripened inside. I went with the fermenting method, but I had a bit of an issue. The tomato that was ripening was starting to mold, but we were leaving for PA to visit family for Christmas, and I wasn't going to be home, so I decided to put them in the refrigerator in a tupperware in water until I got back. This past week I left them sit on the counter until they got "cloudy". I went to dry them, and noticed the seeds looked sort of funny. Have they GERMINATED!? If they have, I'm in trouble, because this is a MONTH AND A HALF too soon! I couldn't possibly part with 100 some tomato seeds from my own garden! The little green guy at the bottom is my little lettuce seedling that I started, but is over a half an inch tall, the picture is old... Any help would be appreciated! I don't want to end up drying these out only to KILL them!

Happy New Year Planning Time!

Happy New Year to all! The start of January gives me permission to actually start my planning. I have a basic layout drawn on some notebook paper. I'm still searching for a good way to do this on a computer. This is one of my favorite part of gardening. It's when I can imagine my garden perfectly neat, without weeds, without any pests, and everything will produce to its full potential. I am aiming for a "neater" garden, or at least a design that is easier to maintain and move around in for this year. The space I have to work with is small, so it has to be planted closely, but I'm going to try to space things out a bit this year. I am going to downsize my tomato plants from 30 to 20 this year. When I get a chance I'll upload a picture of what I'm thinking so far.

I have my first sign of green today, though I am not going to post a picture of it, because it's a pretty useless picture.

I planted my Aerogarden two days ago with some salad greens, basil, oregano, cilantro, and chives. I'm excited to already see some green! My grandma gave me the set up after she got sick of it a few months ago. It was a great gift, but when I went to set it up, I found that the pump was broken. So I asked Santa aka my mom for a new pump, nutrients, and refill sponges. It's up and running, and will certainly help me get through the part of winter that I dread.

Happy New Year and garden planning!

Let it Snow!

I woke up to this yesterday morning! It was nice to see everything white and pretty! It made for a treacherous drive to church though. I'm glad I didn't have to be the one to do any of the driving. Today's weather includes wind chills of -15 to -24 according to weather.com. These temps and weather make me nervous about the turtles hibernating out in the compost pile. They made it through last year, they should be absolutely fine, but it still makes me nervous. It's amazing how animals can not eat for months and survive incredibly cold temperatures, but they do. My husband always rolls his eyes when he hears me confess my worries about them. Oh well. I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season!

Fun Surprise!

So my husband walks in after checking the mail, and says, "How much do you love me? I have something for you."

And I got excited and said, "Is it a new seed catalog?"

"Even better!" he says.

It took me a second to think about it, but fortunately I was already on the gardening track, and I shouted, "MY SEEDS!"

He goes on to repeat, "Well, how much do you love me?"

I say, "JUST GIVE THEM TO ME!"

He eventually relinquishes a nice little envelope filled with some Cherokee Purple tomato seeds which I am very excited about and have come all of the way from Alabama! Thanks EG for the generous gift of these seeds! I can't wait to try them!

Here is the return gift trying to get ready for me to save... the two biggest Pineapple tomatoes that are currently working on ripening (rather slowly...) on my kitchen table.

Here are a few pictures that I don't think that I ever blogged about of what they looked like in the summer. I'm pretty sure the one that is cut up is not the same as the one in the other two pictures. The other two pictures are in fact the same tomato! They are definitely beautiful!