Feb 23, 2009 Posted by Tiffany

No more folds for a while – 2009 Seedling Journal Vol. 2

We planted more seeds yesterday. I folded about 30 pots in a couple hours. Does it seem excessive yet? We’re wondering ourselves. But we actually have a lot more planting to do. Most of the seeds left will be planted directly in the ground, though, (carrots, more beans, onions, brussel sprouts, perhaps red potatoes, gourds) so we’ve got a bit more time to wait until the cold weather is gone. We... read more

Feb 17, 2009 Posted by Tiffany

Recycling a little junk mail – making origami newspaper pots

After posting new photos of the seedlings, some were asking about the newspaper pots I use. They are completely free (aside from the soil we buy to fill them with although one could use their own soil and compost) because I use papers that come to our house every week for free. We get an insane amount of junk mail here. About two inches thick every week. A lot of it is slick fliers which can’t be... read more

Feb 8, 2009 Posted by Tiffany

Time to start folding again – 2009 Garden Journal Vol. 1

So we didn’t exactly get to finish the compost bin or work on the greenhouse this weekend. We managed to get ourselves out of bed at about 7:30 on Saturday but after fully waking up, taking the dog and cleaning up, it was almost time for our guests to arrive. That didn’t give Stefan time to cut the supports for the compost bin and we can’t use loud things like the table saw on Sunday, so... read more

Feb 3, 2009 Posted by Tiffany

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s off to work we go

Things are finally starting to thaw out a bit here and the plants are just beginning to bloom – and that means we have a whole lot of work to get accomplished. Spring may not be right around the corner just yet but we’re hoping it will soon set in. We’ve had plenty of winter already this year! So we mapped out the important projects for the first half of the year and broke them down into... read more

Jan 29, 2009 Posted by Tiffany

Getting my hands dirty

Newspapers litter the floor and tables, and my fingers are black. It must be getting close to potting time. Yes, I am at it again, folding newspaper pots like a demon. I can do about 20 at one sitting before I go completely insane with the origami monotony. But since Stefan is home sick from work, we’re taking advantage of the time to get ourselves ready for the gardening season. We screwed up last... read more

Mar 31, 2008 Posted by Tiffany

Our seedlings are indeed seedlings!

As usual I’m a bit overdue to write about what is happening with our little seedlings – but what can you do? I did take some photos of them on March 18th which was about a month after they’d been planted. As you may notice, the zucchini were sprouting like weeds and most of the tomato seeds had popped up as well. I took some new photos this morning because we already needed to start... read more

Mar 14, 2008 Posted by Tiffany

What we got from Burpee

So I’ve mentioned that we got seeds from Burpee a few times now…and you may be wondering what we ordered…so here goes – it’s a LONG list, I know. But the seeds there cost a fraction of the price here, especially for chili seeds so even with shipping them over here, it’s totally worth it. Plus you can’t find okra seeds here…. We mostly stuck to heirloom... read more

Mar 14, 2008 Posted by Tiffany

Starting seeds in newspaper pots

Because this is a blog about becoming more self-sufficient and “green” in general, I had a brain storm…well it actually resulted when I was feasting on the Burpee seed catalog and noticed a little gadget they have to assist in the making of newspaper pots. We get 4 free newspapers delivered to our house each week – whether we want them or not. That is a a LOT of newspaper going... read more

Feb 20, 2008 Posted by Tiffany

Burpee seeds are on their way…

I FINALLY placed our order today for a huge collection of Burpee seeds. Athough this will be our first experience with them, I’ve heard fantastic things and found so many things in their catalog that I wanted to try out. It’s mostly tomato and chili plants but also okra and a few other heirloom varieties. We’re trying to avoid the hybrids this year because most of the ones we tried last... read more

Jul 18, 2007 Posted by Tiffany

Let there be a lettuce fest!!

After the first 12 lettuce plants we had were promptly eaten by slugs as soon as they hit the ground, we have decided that we are not yet ready to give up. I mentioned before that we found some lettuce plants at Sunflower garden center two weekends ago and we have decided that instead of putting them in the ground outside, we will start growing them in the window boxes along our courtyard. The boxes are... read more