What did you do in the garden today?

[Mini Horses]

My father wants to grow my starter plants this year, which is beyond fantastic because I don't have a good set-up to do it right now. They will have to travel 5+ hours to get here...but I'm very lucky to have a Dad whose a green thumb!

If he has a truck, tell him to bring his tiller and get a little till in while he's there.

Hubby may get some more hay moved for you!!! That method does work and the hay composting is awesome for the plants, soil and all that. Leaves around you? Rake & add to the piles.

 

[Mini Horses]

Walked through an area I'm converting from a round pen to garden area -- did some good growth last summer -- and while it's ready for me to do a till & mulch, I'm not ready. Temps at 15 when I get up and barely 30 days, nawwhhh.... Not today.
But soon. Collecting big cardboard now...stashing in a section of barn just 30' away.

I went thru my stash of seeds last night. Excitement grows -- then you look at the danged thermometer!!!!! Alas, waiting is very hard. It will be 2.5 months before plants can go out safely & those will be the cold hardy ones. Better get cooking on this pile of butternut I have from the summer. Probably 50# to eat. Good day to put a stash in the oven, then freeze some.
Heat the house & use veggies. I'll dry some seeds, too.

 

[Beekissed]

Have you ever tried them raw? They taste like a good, sweet carrot! I like them raw much better than cooked, even.

 

[sumi]

Grate them raw and sprinkle some flavoured jelly powder (that you use to make jelly for deserts and stuff) over it. If you want you can add a few pieces of canned pineapple as well. Let it sit for a while and eat it as a salad. It's really good!

 

[Mini Horses]

Butternut raw? Nope, don't remember that -- although I don't know why because I eat most other squash raw in season -- snaks, salads, etc. I'll try it.

 

[Beekissed]

Dumped half of a 5 gal. bucket of pee in the raised bed compost. It was frozen...it will eventually thaw and do some good.

 

[treerooted]

If he has a truck, tell him to bring his tiller and get a little till in while he's there.

Hubby may get some more hay moved for you!!! That method does work and the hay composting is awesome for the plants, soil and all that. Leaves around you? Rake & add to the piles.

No truck at my parents', and the expense of hauling long distance would be prohibitive. But it'll be here in the fall when they move so that's exciting!
Everything is beyond frozen at the moment, but in the spring we may try pulling some more hay out if it isn't too wet. If not, I'll use what I've done, and continue to improve for next year! Love the potential out there, I really hope I can make something of it!

 

[Mini Horses]

We had a high of 41 today!! first time out of 20's in a week..add 10" of snow and it's cold!! No wonder I'm thinking "garden" !!

Has anyone eaten, grown, parsnips? Look like a white carrot, supposedly somewhat sweet, easy to grow, store very well, take a lot of cold. Used to be a real staple many, many years ago. Don't hear much about it now.

So, thinking if I could FIND ONE in a store, I'd buy and try. No luck. Any input from out there?

My "gardening" amounted to scraping as much snow as I could from driveways .... we're talking about 600' of driveway, so any rain tonight, plus our now warmer weather could melt what I could not scrape off. 10" and 18" drifts don't melt at 24 degree and less ( -5). This week will be 40-65 degree days.

 

[sumi]

@Mini Horses parsnips are a staple here, I see them in the shops all the time. As for growing them, I haven't yet, so I can't give you any tips. They are o.k. eating, not as nice as carrots, but they are nice enough. If you get stuck I can see about posting you some seeds. Let me know.

 

[Mini Horses]

Thanks, Sumi. I can get plenty of seeds, just don't know the veg. Apparently it is similar to a carrot -- taste wise, was curious. Never had one and read that they store really well, so thinking for animal feed. But, already have mangel beet seeds which have been used for eons, store well etc. Those will be used this year.

Looking at those darned seed catalogs!!!!

No wonder we end up with gardens we cannot maintain. I see so many things that I like to eat, are easy to grow, soon it's a nightmare! Back to my 2018 goals, limit self to WHAT you really eat most often & buy the occasional. Hard to limit ones self. It's worse than grocery shopping while hungry!

If these catalogs ever have "scratch & smell" we are sunk.