Friday Favorite: Flannel
Mr Chiots and I are HUGE fans of flannel sheets in the winter. They’re usually on the bed by mid-October and they stay on through at least the end of April. One of the reasons we like them so much is because we keep our house cold at night. It’s nothing like Kristin over at Going Country, who wakes up with her pillow frozen to the wall, but we keep our house at a chilly 55 at night in the winter (and 62 during the day, we’re cold loving folks). We have a big heavy wool blanket we use addition to our flannel sheets and we stay toasty warm all winter long.
I’ve always been a flannel loving girl, I remember having flannel sheets during the winter growing up (probably because my parents kept the house really cold as well). There’s just something so cozy about climbing into soft flannel sheets when it’s cold outside.
Are you a flannel lover? Is your climate too warm for them?
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The Indoor Garden
I have a lot of plants inside the house, some of them are outdoor plants that spend the winter indoors because they’re warm weather plants and some of them live inside all year long. There’s at least one plant in almost every room of the house.
They’re tucked all over the house, taking up almost all the window space. I have a lantana between the dryer and the hot water heater by the laundry room door, it gets just enough light from the window in the door. I also have a few fig trees, other tropicals, and a lot of herbs under some grow lights in the basement.
All of my houseplants are organic just like my outdoor gardens. Once a year they get a fresh layer of worm castings on top of the soil, usually they’re mixed with some Dr. Earth Organic All Purpose Fertilizer. They also receive some fish emulsion occasionally as well. My miniature citrus trees get fed on Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day with a special organic citrus fertilizer. I also put all my old tea leaves on my house plants, kind of like mulch.
I don’t usually have any trouble with my houseplants, they’re pretty happy and healthy. If I ever have any kind of pests I use a homemade insecticidal soap, but I’ve only had to use it once over the past couple years. I simply mix a little Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap with some water in a small spray bottle. I just used this earlier this week, I bought a rosemary plant last month and put it by my dwarf variegated citrus. I noticed earlier this week that there were some little white furry insects on my citrus tree. I carefully sprayed each little insect with my homemade soap and now they’re gone.
I really do enjoy having houseplants, they’re not only beautiful, but they help keep the indoor air clean. Houseplants can absorb all sorts of chemicals that pollute the air in your home (and they don’t use any electricity to clean the air). I wrote a blog post about this specifically a while ago, it includes all the different plants and what chemicals and VOC’s they help clean out of the air.
I especially love this pothos that helps clean the air in our office. This particular plant was on the stage at our wedding twelve and half years ago. It’s been thriving in our various residences since. It has produced a lot of offspring as well, I have a few of them in other rooms around the house.
Do you keep houseplants in your home? What’s your favorite?
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I Love Lettuce
I’ve been sorting through all of my seeds and entering them all into a database where I can keep track of seeding dates, germination, notes about harvest and flavor. I must say that I’ve acquired quite an assortment of seeds over the past couple years. I have a few varieties of many different things like broccoli and cabbage. I thought tomatoes would take the prize for most variety of seeds with about 20 different kinds in my box. But, I was surprised to see that lettuce/greens took the prize, I actually have 3 folders full of lettuce, spinach and other greens.
I do love lettuce and who can resist all the lovely colors and shapes in the seed catalogs. I do grow a lot of lettuce and greens each spring and fall, and we do eat a lot of salads. Lettuce is a great vegetable to grow yourself because it doesn’t take up much space, it matures quickly, is pretty adaptable to most kinds of soil and can be grown easily in pots. The seeds germinate easily and grow quickly, so it’s a perfect thing for first time seed starters and gardeners. Even though I have tons of lettuce seeds in my collection I’ll still be adding a few more this year, including that ‘Roxy’ lettuce I bought at my local farmer’s market and loved.
The varieties in my seed box:
Arugula – regular
Arugula – wild
Arugula – ‘Even Star Winter’
Kale – ‘Lacinato’
Kale – ‘Lacinato Rainbow Mix’
Kale – ‘Red Russian’
Spinach – ‘Winter Bloomsdale’
Spinach – ‘Catalina’
Spinach – ‘Bloomsdale Longstanding’
Spinach – ‘Tyee’
Spinach – ‘Giant Winter’
Swiss Chard – ‘Multicolor Bright Lights’
Lettuce – ‘Rocky Top’
Lettuce – ‘Black Seeded Simpson’
Lettuce – ‘Red Sails’
Lettuce – ‘Simpson Elite’
Lettuce – ‘Jericho Romaine’
Lettuce – ‘Rouge Grenobloise’
Lettuce – ‘Sanquine Ameliore’
Lettuce – ‘Sea of Red’
Lettuce – ‘Little Gem’
Lettuce – ‘De Morges Braun’
Lettuce – ‘Brune D’Hiver’
Lettuce – ‘Winter Density’
Lettuce – ‘Seed Savers Mini Lettuce Mix’
Lettuce – ‘Sweetie Baby Romaine’
Greens – ‘Green Malabar’ Spinach
Greens – ‘New Zealand’ Spinach
Greens – ‘Scarlet Frills’ Mustard
Greens – ‘Fall Mix from Sand Hill’
Greens – Green Curled Endive
Greens – Minutina
Greens – ‘Tendergreen’ Mustard
Greens – Mache, corn salad
It would be hard for me to choose one type of lettuce or green to grow. I would have a really hard time deciding between spinach and arugula. I think arugula would probably win if push came to shove. There’s just something wonderful about this lovely green. It’s spicy and delicious and makes a wonderful salad, pesto and a killer BLT.
It’s also quite beautiful and ornamental when you let it go to seed. And a huge bonus for me is that the deer and ground hogs won’t eat it, so I don’t have to worry about protecting it.
I’ve always wanted to make an ornamental lettuce bed in one of my raised beds. I think this spring I’ll grow 4-5 different colors and shapes of lettuces and put them in a decorative arrangements. The only problem with that is then I’ll end up with a lot of mature lettuce to eat, I guess we’ll be eating lots of salad!
What kind of seeds do have the most varieties of?
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It has started….Seed Starting 2011
I’ve officially started the 2011 gardening season. I started 1 flat of onion seeds so far and some celery seeds. Most seed starting guides will tell you to start your onions and celery a month later than this, usually mid-late February. I find that these do much better if started earlier. Onions can be planted outside early as they can take some cold weather. I have found that my celery does much better if I plant it earlier rather than later.
I’ll be starting a few more flats of onions this week when I have some time, and I’ll probably start a few little containers of herbs that I want to be of decent size when when spring comes. This year I’m experimenting with soil blocks. I think I’m going to be doing some experiments to see how they compare to cell flats, they’re certainly cheaper.
What is the first thing you typically start for your garden?
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Time to Start Spring Cleaning
Yesterday afternoon I took down all the Christmas decorations both inside and out. It’s always sad to do this as the house seems empty and bare afterwards. I miss the warm glow of the light in the evenings and the smell of pine in the house. For me this signals the start of spring cleaning.
All of the Christmas decorations were taken down, cleaned, organized and put into boxes. I try to make sure everything goes back in great condition so that it’s quick and easy to put up next year. It was the perfect day, sunny and bright. That made the outside work seem warmer than the 18 that it was, and it made cleaning the living a much sunnier task.
All of the fresh pine garland and the tree get put outside on the brush pile. They provide great habitat for snakes, rabbits and other animals. We have a pile that we’ve been building since we bought our house. It’s out back by the edge of the woods by the compost piles. It’s important provide this kind of habitat for animals in your garden. I keep hoping for a big black snake to move into mine.
Now that Christmas is down, it’s time to start moving furniture, cleaning the floors, and getting all those spring cleaning chores checked off the list. I like to get my spring cleaning done in winter, spring can get awfully busy around here with maple sugaring and seed starting.
Do you spring clean? When do you start?
