Preparing the Garden for Spring

How do you prepare the garden for planting?

They're calling for a lot of rain this weekend in northern New Jersey so I thought it would be an opportune time to get the garden ready for the season. It's a good idea to clean out and have some steady rain before sowing any seeds. In the past I've prepped the garden and sowed in the same day and then had really untidy rows once the soil settled. Rain will help settle the soil and make for much neater rows in the long term. This would also be a great time to add some compost to the soil to give everything a boost. I don't have any on hand so I'll  top dress with some later in the season. 

I never cleaned out the plants or the cages at the end of last fall, so that was top of the to-do list today. What else? The fig trees next door left a thick blanket of leaves that had to be cleared out and composted. I plan to replace the trellis so I wanted to disassemble the old one. The brick boarder and the stone pathways also needed attention. And I wanted to divide and replant the garlic bulbs that I forgot to harvest last year (oops).

Now it's ready to get a good soaking this weekend and receive some carrot seeds next week. I admit I did slip in some purple bunching onions from Pinetree Garden Seeds. The packet was from 2012 so who knows what the germination rate will be. 

Baby garlic, divided and transplanted for the 2014 season. 

I dug up this carrot from under the fig leaf blanket and tried it. Yuck. It had no flavor after 9 months in the ground and many days with frozen soil. So I don't recommend overwintering carrots in the ground. 

Seed Starting 2014

It was so cold and snowy this year that I got my seed order in a little late. So, I'm starting them a little late too!  Thankfully Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds processed and shipped my seeds so quickly that I had them in under a week. 

What seeds did I buy?

Sleeping Beauty Melon

Russian Red Kale

Amarillo Carrot

Chinese Red Noodle Bean

Red Wing Lettuce Mix

Philadelphia Fish Pepper

Topepo Rosso Pepper

Black Hungarian Pepper

Red Romaine Lettuce - free gift!

Not everything needs to be started inside, but I wanted to get the three varieties of peppers a head start. 

How do you start seeds inside? It's easy. I repurposed a plastic lettuce box from the grocery store, poked a couple drainage holes in the bottom, and used the plastic lid as a tray. 

I bought Jiffy brand seed starting pellets at the garden store, soaked them in water to expand them to full size, put them in my repurposed lettuce box, and put 2-3 pepper seeds on top. Then I covered the box with plastic wrap and put it by the window. 

Pepper seeds germinate faster in light but some seeds prefer a darker environment. (Baker Creek seed packets have lots of helpful info on the back!) 

I was supposed to start these 8-10 weeks before the last frost date, but I figure better late than never. It's either this or get lazy and buy whatever plants they have at the neighborhood big box store. I really wanted to try some new things this year. 

I'm hoping to grow the Hungarian Black and Philadelphia Fish peppers (both hot peppers) in containers on my balcony. The balcony faces south, gets direct sun all day long, and can get pretty hot. Last year I had a great hot pepper harvest out there despite it being a cool, wet summer. 

Next week?

I'm planting the Amarillo carrots out in the garden. 

Between the Sheets... with Mao Mao

Who doesn't like a little help when making the bed?

Solstice Eve Garden

The temperature outside was in the 50s today so I decided to do one last 2013 garden visit. Most of the garden was still under a blanket of snow but I managed to dig out some late season carrots. 

There were a few greens poking through the snow too so I brought home a mustard green leaf for Mao Mao. She likes to munch on something leafy but she's never tried this flavorful green. I'm not sure she'll like it but I couldn't pass up homegrown food for the kitty. 

Speaking of kitties, all the usual suspects were accounted for in the garden. The furry guy finally looks comfortable. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you loyal MaoMaoKitty readers!

A Christmas Tradition

So many to choose from... But none of these are big enough. 

That's just about the right size. And look at all that character! Can't get that in the local tree lot. 

The happy couple and their tree. 

Beautiful. Just beautiful. 

Let it Snow... Some More!

It's been a snowy couple weeks here in Jersey City. By that I mean it's snowed twice in the last week, it hasn't all melted yet (there are even patches that haven't turned gray), and we're supposed to get a few more inches tonight. This is by far the most snow I've seen before Christmas in this area since I moved here seven years ago. It's great!  And we should have known this was coming because we saw this guy in the fall (he was at least 2.5" long and reallllllly fuzzy):

He was well prepared for a snowy winter so I'm expecting lots more white stuff in the coming months. 

A Calico Cat in Fall Foliage

It's a little late (it's snowing outside right now), but I couldn't resist sharing these wonderful photos of Mao Mao romping in the fall foliage from a few years back.  Who doesn't love seeing a cat surrounded by autumn beauty?

Boo!

Happy Halloween!

The big guy got a face over the weekend. We had him lit each night in the living room until white fuzzy stuff started coming out of his eyes yesterday. Now he's on the balcony with a little battery powered tea light in him. Hopefully he holds up through the night. He was a little smooshy in the face area. Ew. 

Sweet Potato Vines

My window boxes grew some tubers!  I read they're edible but bland. Since I doused my plants in Miracle Grow a few times, mine might also be toxic. I think I'll pass. But this makes me want to try growing the real deal...

Projects in the Kitchen

I've been drying herbs all summer. It's wonderful to have them fresh on hand to snip into soups and onto salads but the warm days and summer bounty don't last forever. So I'm collecting bundles of sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and even mint to last us through the winter. They seem to dry out quickly in the kitchen with almost no attention from me.   Herbs are one of my favorite things to plant each year. They usually grow like weeds and don't mind the occasional neglect!

We've got a batch of hot sauce going on the counter too. We bought a basket of peppers at a farm stand last week (only $3) with the intention of making hot sauce and hoping that the peppers would in fact be suitable for such an endeavor. It turns out they pack a punch. And I found just about the easiest recipe imaginable (no cooking, 3 ingredients) at Bon Appetit http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/master-hot-sauce