Bells of the North Homestead

Remember to order these by June!!!! http://www.filareefarm.com/ps.html Purple Stripe http://www.filareefarm.com/cre.html Creole Recommended by garlicluvr on  http://www.idigmygarden.com/forums/showthread.php?p=737567#post737567 My husband & I are really interested in growing garlic.  This will be something I have never ever done before!!!  Heck, I never even thought about growing it until just as of recently when I tasted the fresh garlic from Brad's Produce!

When we first planted this bed I threw a bunch of leaves on top in hopes that it would help insulate.  Don't know if this was a good idea.  I guess I'll see in about a month! Chilly day out!  32 degrees but the sun is really warm so I figured the day of sun would help some of these guys out.  We've had a few die off I think mostly due to the inferior light we get indoors.  We have almost no areas in our house were we get full sun through the windows so we rely on grow lights for almost everything. New Stevia plants & Seedlings Traditionally I do not try growing flowering plants however ever since I was younger and I repeatedly killed orchids that friends would give me I vowed to learn how to grow these!  This Orchid is now flowering for me for the SECOND time!!!!  The smallest one almost died however I'm slowly bringing it back.  

Recently I read a tip from someone about green onions or scallions.  They advised that when you buy from the grocery store, simply cut the lower bottom part off (where the roots are)  and then plant that portion back in the ground.  They advised others that this will then sprout a brand new onion. I was sceptical but I figured what the heck, it's not like I'm wasting anything so I tried it!  Believe it or not, it worked! Within about 2 to 3 weeks I'll transplant these guys outside with some of my other seedlings and voila!  Fresh new onions to use in my scrambled eggs!   I'm going to try this with leeks next!  Too cool!

I Just wanted to share to all.  I have recently started talking to many of the ladies and gentlemen at Rareseeds.com. There is a wonderful gentleman there that has a really informative paper all about seed saving.  Puts my blog entry to shame, I should say!  I always feel you can never EVER know everything.  So please, please, if you've got a chance and you're so inclined look this up: http://www.americanseedalliance.org/index.html This manual had quite a bit more than my little blog about tomatos and squash! Oh, and stay tuned!!!!! MANY UPDATES to follow!!!

Or just about anyhow.  All 4 large beds are now done, the two smaller okra are built but one of them needs soil added.  No big deal.  Two weeks from now we'll add more.  I'm still debating if nasturiums are going in with the okra or pansies?  Either way, I have to get the seeds started soon. Here's what we have thus far.  Bed 4 is all the way to the right, Bed 3 right next to it.  Bed 2, then Bed 1.  Bed 3 & 4 always get the least amount of sun and always remain the coolest.  Bed 1 & 2 are the hottest areas in our yard so things like tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, and eggplant usually do well there.  We're upping our Basil production this year and that will be going in bed 2.  In a moment of inspiration yesterday I decided to take some leftover red mulch and put it down between our beds.  Originally I threw newspaper down between the beds as it was really muddy.  Now that the mulch is added it looks so muc...

Well we've got the raised beds allllllmoost done.  We have the okra bed and the melon bed out front to complete.  Come April we'll also have the potato condo to worry about.  Still though, progress is being made.  Edward finished the next raised bed which will be our home for 3 different varieties of tomatoes, 3 different varieties of cucumbers, 1 variety of eggplant, and possibly basil.  All depends on space.  The plan is to go on somewhat of a Three Sisters Planting Idea . (however we will not have corn OR squash in our back yard.  Not enough sun, really unbearable soil for any SORT of squash!) We're planning in BED 4 Tomatoes, Cucumbers, 2 Eggplants, Basil and loads of Marigolds to fend off bugs.  FYI, to those who did NOT know, Marigold & a lot of bugs don't mix.  They don't like the smell.  Or maybe it's just the taste.  Or both. BED 3 is going towards Bell Peppers, Tomatillos, 2 Brazalian Oval Orange Eggplants, Mild ...

Each January or February gardeners all over flock to their Burpee; Ferry Morse or other miscellaneous seed catalog and make up their lists of this years plants.  Some may decide to purchase an actual plant or some might actually buy the seeds and start the seeds by themselves.  Heck some would be gardeners out there might, on a nice, warm, Spring day get hit by the planting bug and head on over to their local Home Depot or Lowes to search for a few fruit or veggie plants to fill up a pot or a lonely spot in their yard.  In the past I've done this.  As a matter of fact this year we bought all seeds rather than just buying the plants. Now if you do the math, even buying a plant is a good investment as you'll most likely get fresh, homegrown tomatoes, bell peppers or maybe some herbs all summer long.  Most likely the best and most frugal way to really make your plants work for you is to simply save your seeds each year. Now I say "simply"...

I recently noticed this on my unusual seed hunt. After all, hubby and I usually try to grow anything that is hard or even IMPOSSIBLE to find in grocery stores. It's a very unusual looking broccoli. In fact I have never eaten anything like it before! Please, if you have, let me know how it tastes! I'm really curious! I actually contemplated planting this in my front as a decorative plant that would also be edible but I saw some negative comments on Amazon.com regarding it so it turned me off to it temporarily. Still, sometime in the future I may actually plant it, if only for my son. Who knows, this may be HIS plant that he picks out next year! Can you imagine actually EATING broccoli that looks like this? Weird!

Okay so these were the few extras I had: Tomato, Black Cherry Tomato, Amish Paste Tomato, Black Krim Tomato, Mortgage Lifter Melon, Twice as Nice Hybrid Turnip, Tokyo Hybrid Italian Rose Bean Next, here's some extras that I have that I can share. Burpee Super Sugar Snap Super Snappy Oregon Sugar Pod Squash Sweet Gourmet Hybrid Squash Butterstick Squash Sweet Zuke Hybrid Squash Pic-N-Pic Hybrid Pepper, Carnival Mix Turnip Cross Hybrid Bush Bean Lake Gardens Alive Organic National Pickling Cucumbers Lemon Cucumbers The only thing I ask in return for sending any of these is a self addressed envelope with a stamp. I am only a government travel agent and a military spouse to boot so it's not like I have loads of money. Still though, I want to share with others out here. I honestly feel if we all share with each other, help each other out we can all prosper. With that said, I really have to share this video that I just found so awesome. I could only HOPE to be like this family a...