Wordless Wednesday: Carrot 911

The first carrots harvested from my garden look, um, interesting. They are all looking like this! You should have seen the look on my hubby's face when he saw them! This is the 3rd year that I've grown carrots that are funky and I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I started all of my seeds inside my house, sowing them individually in peat. I transplanted them outside after they got to be several inches tall. The garden is in a raised bed with uncompacted, organic soil. I need help from all of my gardener friends for ideas on how to grow normal carrots!  Your input and comments are requested! Thanks for your help! 

Dusting off the juicer

I love this time of year for 1 big reason, and no, it’s not that the kids are out of school. Does that make me a bad mom? No way! Any autism mom would likely agree that summer is the most stressful time of year because our kids crave routine. For me, the best part about summer is the fact that lots of fabulous produce becomes available.

Here is one of my bowls of harvested spinach.
Many of the leaves are larger than a slice of bread!

I love watching beautiful, organic veggies grow in my garden. In fact, I’ve already harvested several huge bowls of spinach in the past couple of weeks! It’s so much fun to plan the garden and plant my seeds in the spring, knowing that there will be some great things to eat in the coming months.

And, I adore going to our local organic farms and also perusing the wonderful farmers markets to buy gorgeous fruits and vegetables that are far superior to anything I could get at the grocery store. The visual variety alone makes it worth each trip. I fill up my reusable bags with goodies each time I go.

I try to engage my children fully in the process of picking out things to buy at the farmers market. I know that by doing so, they are more likely to at least try a bite of something new because they picked it out themselves. Sometimes they even help me pay and carry the bag while we continue shopping. If they are particularly proud of their efforts, they may also carry the items on their lap as we travel back home in the car.

Even if after all of their participation they somehow take issue with eating the vegetable, they still "eat" it. Oh yes, I see to that! I’m a mean sneaky mom that way.

This is where the magic of the juicer comes in. You may recall that I wrote a post back in January about how to hide vitamins by doing things like juicing. The juicer is a wonderful tool for any parent! In that post I talk about how I make juices like “Silly Strawberry,” which is comprised of kale (or spinach) and strawberries. In fact, I have some organic Italian kale and organic strawberries in my fridge right now that I plan to use for this very juice. Kale is chock full of essential nutrients like: Vitamin A, Vitamin K, calcium, and magnesium, just to name a few.

As long as there is a strong berry or fruit flavor, the “yucky” veggie is effectively masked. You might have to be sly and make the green portion of the juice when your kid is not watching and then serve it in a colored or ceramic cup (with a sippy-style lid or opaque straw). You can add in a reward system to help them drink the new concoctions, too. It worked great for us!

It makes me happy to know that my boys will be getting fresh and organic juice, full of absorbable vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. This stuff is a far cry from the dead sugar water (a.k.a. pasteurized juice) that we buy in the store! It’s time to dust off the juicer and put it in position for heavy use this summer!

Do you juice? What is your favorite juice to give to your children?    

And so it begins...

Is there a 12-step program for gardening? I said it before and I'll say it again: I have a problem. Since my earlier entry about a slight gardening obsession, I went to the store again. Four times. And I bought more stuff. Did you expect any less? This weekend I dodged the downpours and got myself outside to play in the dirt a little bit. Oh, who am I kidding? It was mud.

Let me tell you the highlight of my weekend. I went out to pick up some organic potting soil and 2 more large pots. I got to the store right after a rain squall came through and was outside with my big cart seeking to gather my supplies. I found the exact pots I wanted, but they were up on a shelf and I had to stand on my tip-toes to get the pots down. Being from the great Pacific Northwest, you would think I know a thing or two about rain and would be smart enough to think about what happens when it rains. You know how rain has a way of magically collecting into all sorts of little nooks and crannies? Well, the pots I selected to buy were stored upside down, rendering the top edges into a nice, wide brim…perfect for collecting a plentiful reservoir of rainwater.

Can you already picture what’s about to happen? Unfortunately, I was still clueless. So, I’m reaching on my tip-toes to pull down these pots from the shelf. And that’s when the rainwater pours over me like a small waterfall. It got in my hair, soaked my arms, splashed on my leg and down into my shoe, and made a nice spot of wet in my mid-section in a not-so-flattering way. Mind you, I’m wearing light grey sweats, so the water shows up as ugly dark splotches of embarrassment. It was awesome.

I now resemble a partially drowned rat and I hadn’t even gotten the dirt yet. Thankfully, I am the only one crazy enough to be outside in the garden department on a rainy day. So, I decide to hang out there for a little while longer until the water spots become less noticeable. Frankly, I’m enjoying my time all alone with the entire garden paradise to myself. Then, I feel the first drops of rain. I remember that I still need to get dirt, which was my primary reason for making the trip out to the store in the first place. Why did I wait to get the dirt? I get so distracted when I’m having fun.

As I begin browsing the selection of various planting mediums, I realize that there’s a lot to go through before I can find what I want. With each step, the rain increases. What I need is completely out in the elements, and by now, it’s pretty much a downpour. Well, what the heck? I’m already drenched and I need dirt. I’m not afraid of rain. So, I begin slugging the heavy bags of dirt onto my cart. Those suckers gain a tremendous amount of weight when they’ve been sitting under a rainy sky! Not to mention the fact that any dirt residue on the outside of the bag is now a minor mud slick that makes the bag slippery. And, there’s the fact that the mud is now on my light grey clothing as I’m trying to leverage the bags against my body so they don’t slip out of my grip as I maneuver them. 



I wasn't nearly this cute in the rain.

By the time I’m done, I am more uniformly wet as I’ve been throwing around bags of dirt in the rain. My hands are covered in a flattering shade of dirt brown to accessorize with my dirty and damp sweats. I’m a muddy, wet mess. I manage to find a little puddle of water to dip my hands into so that I can try to clean up a little bit before I start rummaging around in my purse to pay for my items. My glorious tale makes you want to garden, doesn’t it? It’s so glamorous, you know.

All that being said, I’ve added the following seeds to my growing collection:

• Yellow onion
• Sage
• Oregano
• Dill
• Basil
• Stevia
• Golden beets

And, in addition to the 2 pots that drenched me, I also purchased a frost blanket, and a makeshift raised planting bed which I will construct into a 2’ x 10’ size to complement my current raised planting bed and other large pots.

I went ahead and filled up my first Jiffy tray with seeds to get the seedlings going indoors in preparation for planting them outside sometime soon. This takes care of about half of what I intend to start from seed. In outdoor pots I planted blueberries, garlic, asparagus, and my first batch of potatoes.  

With all the stuff I’ve acquired, I am not sure I’ll have enough room to grow it all. Here’s hoping everything works out and grows well! You gotta love fresh, organic produce from the back yard. C'mon, spring! I wanna get this party started.

Calling all gardeners!

It’s March! That means that all the stores are stocking garden supplies. I can’t resist! Never mind that it was just snowing here 2 days ago… Why, yes! I do need more seeds. I just bought seeds. For the third time in 3 weeks. I may have a problem.

Want a look into my gardening neurosis? So far this year, I’ve purchased:

·         Carrot seeds

·         Beefsteak tomato seeds

·         Loose-leaf lettuce seeds

·         Sugar snap pea seeds

·         Bush bean seeds

·         Broccoli seeds

·         Straightneck summer squash seeds

·         Cylindrical beet seeds

·         Spinach seeds

·         Garlic starts

·         Blue and red seed potatoes

·         Asparagus starts

·         Blueberry shrubs

From last year, I’ve already got:

·         Strawberries

·         Boysenberry canes

·         Thyme

I still want to buy:

·         Yellow onion seeds/starts

·         Basil

·         Sage

·         Dill

·         Oregano

I’m sure there’s more, but I know I’ve already gone overboard. I don’t have enough room for what I’ve got.

Almost everything I grow originates from organic seed and I use organic soil and fertilizer. Last year I installed a new 4' x 8' raised garden bed. I’m going to need about 2 more of them and don’t have any money to buy them, much less room to install them. I have a feeling that I’m going to be doing lots of gardening in pots this year. The soil in my yard is awful, and gardening attempts prior to the new raised planting bed (with all new soil) yielded pitiful results. Last year was my first real success and I'd like it to be bigger and better this year.  

I just bought a huge new pot that I will grow potatoes in. I read an article about using a barrel or large pot to grow potatoes, so I’m going to give it a try. Basically, you add some soil in the bottom of the barrel, add the seed potatoes and let them grow about 6 inches or more, and then add another layer of soil, not covering the leaves of the existing plants, and add more seed potatoes. Keep growing, layering and planting until you reach the top and then at the end of the season, dump the whole thing over and collect your bounty. I can't wait to try it.

I think I may also attempt collecting my own seeds this year, too. I really have no idea how to do it, but I’m sure Google will offer up some great suggestions. Do you collect your own seeds?

My biggest flop from last year was growing carrots. All of my carrots were short, tiny, fat and funky. I’d like them to actually look like carrots this year so that my kids will eat them. How do you get carrots to grow properly?

I’m fairly new to the gardening thing and I have a lot to learn. As for now, I need to figure out when to start the seeds so that my little plants are all ready to grow out in the big, bad world after the fear of frost is gone. When should I start the seeds?    

Do you garden? Do you have any tips? I’m all ears (well, I guess it would be eyes…)! Please, feel free to comment below with your favorite gardening tip. I’d love to hear from you!