Quote of the Day: John Ruskin
“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”
I try to savor each kind of weather in it’s season, it is wonderful living in an area with four distinct seasons. At the moment, we’re in winter, and that means snow. I love the snow, if it’s going to be cold I want there to be snow on the ground. I don’t go out and play in it like I did when I was a kid, I can distinctly remember the joy playing in the snow brought . Mr Chiots spent some time out in the snow with our nieces & nephew on Friday and took some photos while he was out.
Kids sure know how to relish the weather, especially snow! I think as an adult I relish rain the most.
What kind of weather do you remember relishing as a kid?
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My Seed Organizing Method
Many of you wanted to hear a little more my seed organization system. I didn’t used to be organized in this area, until last year I kept my seeds in a plastic bin. I had amassed so many seed that it took me while to sort through them every time I needed something. I decided to come up with a more organized solution.
After much thought, I finally I set up the system I’m currently using and I really like it. I made these small folders from some extra folders I had in the office. I simply cut them to size to fit the box I was using for my seeds (which is from IKEA). I cut each folder in half on the normal fold line, then I cut it to width retaining the tab in the location I wanted (of course I alternated them as you can see in the box view). Then I folded those in half and I had a folder the perfect size for my box.
Next I set up and printed up these charts to put on the fronts of the folders. These keep track of the things I have inside the folder so I can see at quick glance what varieties are inside.
I have tweaked it a bit since I set it up. I now have added subcategories to a few of the kinds of seeds I have lots of and for the different seasons that I grow them in. So I have categories for: spring greens, summer greens, fall greens. This particularly helps with my winter gardening as I have all the varieties that are good for fall/winter separated out so they’re quick to find. I also have folders for flowers I need to start extra early like globe amaranth and others that take 120 days to flower.
You may have noticed that I also paperclip or butterfly clip the folders closed (it also attaches the info card), I find this makes them easier to take in and out, no seed packets sliding out of the folders.
To help keep my seeds viable for longer I store my seed box in the basement where it’s cool. I also save those little silica gel packets and put them in the boxes to absorb extra moisture. I plan on replacing them with some activated bamboo charcoal as soon as I order some.
This system is working very well for me. It sure saves me a lot of time when I’m planting seeds. I have actually set up another box to store my larger packets of seeds and cover crops separately. All I need to come up with now is a great garden journal that I can use to keep track of all of my other planting notes. I’m hoping to incorporate that into my new blog redesign so you can see it as well in case you’re interested.
How do you store your seeds? Any great tips for us? Any great tips on setting up a garden journal?
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We all know that without winter’s dim afternoons we couldn’t have summer’s brilliant evenings.
“Wabigokoro asks us to pay close attention to nature’s cycles of growth, decay, and rebirth, to follow the rhythm of the seasons as they ebb and flow. We all know that without winter’s dim afternoons we couldn’t have summer’s brilliant evenings. Sometimes though, as the days grow smaller and a sad but certain sense of rest envelopes the earth, it’s hard not to wish summer could last forever. The oaks and maples shed their leaves and give their mighty souls a respite from production. Yet deep into midwinter, we humans continue to churn through our daily routines, asking ourselves to muster up the same vigor we had during the long days of June.”
Robyn Griggs Lawrence (The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty)
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Friday Favorite: Terracotta
You may have noticed that I love terra-cotta. I’m not a big fan of plastic or foam pots, I don’t feel like they have the warmth that real terra-cotta does. There’s just something so classic about a terra-cotta pot spilling over with flowers. One of the things I also love about terra-cotta is the way it ages, with such grace. They never look old, they just look like they belong.
I’ve been collecting terra-cotta pots for quite a while, buying them here and there. My sister gets them for me at garage sales, people give them to me. I have teeny tiny ones only a few inches high and huge heavy one that I can barely lift, I have short ones, tall ones, thin ones, fat ones and even a few square ones. One of the benefits of terra-cotta is that they’re fairly inexpensive as well, much cheaper than glazed ceramic containers. I also like that I can find them made in the USA or in Italy, most of the glazed pots are from China.
One of the drawbacks of terra-cotta is that you have to overwinter them where they won’t be exposed to the harsh elements. I empty mine out in the fall, dry them, and stack them on shelves in the garage. A few plants are overwintered in them in the basement or garage and they do quite well this way. This pot of chives was overwintered in the garage and put out in the spring, it’s covered in a late spring snow so it’s safe from the hard freezing and thawing that it would be subject to if I left it out all winter.
My ultimate favorite terra-cotta item is a cloche and coming in second is a nice rhubarb forcing pot. I don’t own either and most likely never will, but one can dream! If I ever travel to England I’ll try to find a way to bring back a rhubarb forcing pot, HMM… wonder if that will fit in the overhead bin? I may look into having a local potter make me some cloches for the garden, they won’t be terra-cotta but perhaps a glazed ceramic or clay instead.
Do you have a favorite kind of container in the garden?
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Planning My 2011 Edible Garden
I received most of my favorite seed catalogs before Christmas, but I didn’t look through them. I set them aside for the new year. This past weekend I realized it’s getting close to the time to start my onions and celery already so I figured I should start looking through the catalogs to decide what interesting things I may want to grow this year.
First I had to get out my seeds and sort through them. I’ll get rid of varieties that didn’t do well or I didn’t like, I’ll sort out old seeds to do germination tests, and I’ll see if there are any gaps that need filling. I’m pretty sure I’ll need pea seeds, popcorn, and a few other things I want to try new this year.
I really want to try to grow some broom corn this year, how fun would it be to make a broom. I’m pretty sure my nieces would love to come over and have a Little House on the Prairie party to make brooms.
I’m also looking for a new variety of popcorn to grow this year. We grew Strawberry Popcorn two years ago and we loved it, but I want something that produces larger kernels and has a higher yield for the space.
Are you going to grow anything new and interesting this year? Do you have a great variety of heirloom popcorn that you’d recommend?
