So I got a few seeds to start some projects, some still really unorganized projects.. like me ;).
I was waiting until payday to buy the rest of the seeds, and to make pots, when I found the coolest little trick online!
Making Pots out of Newspaper!
Instead of buying little peet pots, or using yogurt containers and egg cartons as I had previously planned, we're making news paper pots, well we'll probably still utilize an egg carton or two, because, how much fun will that be!
Anyway, we found a cool tutorial online for making pots from newspaper.. sooo we've made newspaper pots!
We made six of them tonight, tomorrow, we'll fill them with dirt (we're buying potting mix) and seeds.. I hope something grows!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Free Tomato Seeds
WinterSown is also offering free tomato seeds, you get a variety of tomato seed packets, just for mailing them a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope! It's sooo great!
Dad hooked me up with some seeds too!
Cantaloupe
Watermelon (sugar baby)
Lettuce (Grand Rapids Leaf)
Onion (white lisbon bunching).
I'll surely post when I get my WinterSown seeds! If anyone else gets them too, leave us a comment and let us know what you get.
To get the tomato seeds from WinterSown send a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope to:
WinterSown.Org Six Pack
1989 School Street
East Meadow NY 11554
TWO Stamps, #10 envelope.
Not bad for a start, I wanted to come right home and plant them! Except I have a few bags of top soil, no potting soil. I asked dad if his dirt would be better to plant them, by accident completely dad made some pretty awesome dirt.
They've added compost over the years to their garden, they've gone to the zoo and picked up elephant manuer for the garden, and steer manuer, one year some fish started to go bad, lots and lots and lots of smelt, it was rototilled into the garden area.
In addition to all of that, there's a walnut tree on their property, so the rather acidic walnut leaves were also rototilled into the ground. But as fate would have it, they use a woodstove for heat (great for the frugal minded by the way, how many people can they heat their homes for free?
Anyway, over the year.. the ashes were taken out of the stove, and dumped out by the fence, which likely means they ended up in the garden dirt as well, now you might not think the ash from your stove is great for your dirt.. but.. appearntly it counteracts those walnut leaves.. and made for a pretty great dirt mix.
Dad wants to take some of the dirt down for testing he's really into that, he's always thought Oregon was the best place in the world, I didn't really much agree, but after just returning from a Vegas trip, I'm coming around.
Anyway, dad says his dirt is great for planting, and we will ;).. but not so great for starting, soooo tomorrow... I'm off to buy dirt.
Free Seeds
While I was investigating gardening websites at random, and really just becoming overwhelmed..
Wondering where I should buy seeds.. Appearntly Walmart is NOT the top choice, imagine. Anyway, while I was weeding through websites about gardening, and buying seeds, and name brand seeds, and gleaning, and swapping (what a cool idea, just as soon as I have something to swap, I'm IN!) I found a little freebie seed offer.
Great idea by the way, because they will more than likely put a catolog into my hands, and I will buy.
Anyways, free seeds:
#10 SASE to:
WinterSown.Org Six Pack
1989 School Street
East Meadow NY 11554
That gets you a mystery six pack of seeds, so not only is it free seeds, it's a surprise! I found it on gardening forum, where lots of gardening people listed all of the neat things they got for free..
Wondering where I should buy seeds.. Appearntly Walmart is NOT the top choice, imagine. Anyway, while I was weeding through websites about gardening, and buying seeds, and name brand seeds, and gleaning, and swapping (what a cool idea, just as soon as I have something to swap, I'm IN!) I found a little freebie seed offer.
Great idea by the way, because they will more than likely put a catolog into my hands, and I will buy.
Anyways, free seeds:
#10 SASE to:
WinterSown.Org Six Pack
1989 School Street
East Meadow NY 11554
That gets you a mystery six pack of seeds, so not only is it free seeds, it's a surprise! I found it on gardening forum, where lots of gardening people listed all of the neat things they got for free..
Gardening.... Where to start.
My two biggest goals for now are learning to garden, and to effectively recycle. Now these goals probably seem silly to some... put seeds in dirt.. water. Right?
Hmmph.
My parents ALWAYS had a garden, I was never real fond of the things they grew, but their gardens gave them a lot of pride, and us a lot of food. So I have a resource, in fact, dad just mentioned the other day that I need to be planting tomatoes indoors right about now if I don't want to have to pay for plants.
Dad's very 'into' tomatoes, I hate those suckers. But wait..
I was just reading about some gardening workshops that are to be happening in Portland, that I can take kids too... My kids would love that!
Not that we won't learn plenty from grandpa, but we're very interested in organic gardening anyway, so it can't hurt. It's $5 per person, so hmm, I don't honestly know if that's 'frugal' (goal number three) or not, we're going to have to work on that frugal thing, I just took a taxi to and from dads house for $70 the other day.. 2 bux would have gotten me on a bus.
Anyway, Lexi my six year old absolutely loves outings, I'm already absolutely teaching her to be wasteful like me. So this will be fun, an adventure, and as for those tomatoes..
Perhaps there's a use for them after all! Though according to dad, May's to late for the Tomatoes, going to have to ask about that when we check out this earlier event..
Doesn't that sound like fun.. exactly what I need! I'm so excited! I'm going to plant a half of yard full of squash! Though I'm going to look prettttty funny traveling along on the bus with dads rototiller..
Food for thought.. I don't just want any garden, I want a garden like Florence, who lives near dad would grow, ultimately, an organic garden, with lots of color, and flavor, that looks good and works with my yard. The kind of garden that uses the rocks to airate.. not rows upon rows of sweet corn.. though I do want some sweet corn ;)
And.. I want to try some international things as well. . . for instance, my friend from Ethopia gave me some bread like food, it's eaten with nearly every meal where he's from appearntly..
I'm honestly not even sure it was legally brought into the United States, but.. someone brought a root from Africa, and this bread like spongy round food that my friend Sammy loves, is now available in DC.. wouldn't it be neat to be able to grow that here... wonder who I'd have to write to get a root ;) .. anyway.. a little excited, getting a little ahead of myself.. and off to read about .. tomato seeds, and dinner gardens, I'd never even heard of those before today.
Hmmph.
My parents ALWAYS had a garden, I was never real fond of the things they grew, but their gardens gave them a lot of pride, and us a lot of food. So I have a resource, in fact, dad just mentioned the other day that I need to be planting tomatoes indoors right about now if I don't want to have to pay for plants.
Dad's very 'into' tomatoes, I hate those suckers. But wait..
I was just reading about some gardening workshops that are to be happening in Portland, that I can take kids too... My kids would love that!
Not that we won't learn plenty from grandpa, but we're very interested in organic gardening anyway, so it can't hurt. It's $5 per person, so hmm, I don't honestly know if that's 'frugal' (goal number three) or not, we're going to have to work on that frugal thing, I just took a taxi to and from dads house for $70 the other day.. 2 bux would have gotten me on a bus.
Anyway, Lexi my six year old absolutely loves outings, I'm already absolutely teaching her to be wasteful like me. So this will be fun, an adventure, and as for those tomatoes..
Planning a Dinner Garden; Pizza, Salsa, Salad, & Taco Gardens!
Saturday, May 3rd, 10:30-12:00pm
Wednesday, May 14th, 5:30-7:00pm
Parents and children will walk away with fun ideas and supplies to grow their own food in gardens specially designed for making fresh pizza, salsa, salad, or tacos!
Perhaps there's a use for them after all! Though according to dad, May's to late for the Tomatoes, going to have to ask about that when we check out this earlier event..
Planting the seeds for your garden
Saturday, April 5th, 10:30-12:00pm
Wednesday, April 16th, 5:30-7:00pm
Parents and children will learn the basics of how to start seeds, care for them, and when to transplant them to have a summer full of fresh vegetables.
Doesn't that sound like fun.. exactly what I need! I'm so excited! I'm going to plant a half of yard full of squash! Though I'm going to look prettttty funny traveling along on the bus with dads rototiller..
Food for thought.. I don't just want any garden, I want a garden like Florence, who lives near dad would grow, ultimately, an organic garden, with lots of color, and flavor, that looks good and works with my yard. The kind of garden that uses the rocks to airate.. not rows upon rows of sweet corn.. though I do want some sweet corn ;)
And.. I want to try some international things as well. . . for instance, my friend from Ethopia gave me some bread like food, it's eaten with nearly every meal where he's from appearntly..
I'm honestly not even sure it was legally brought into the United States, but.. someone brought a root from Africa, and this bread like spongy round food that my friend Sammy loves, is now available in DC.. wouldn't it be neat to be able to grow that here... wonder who I'd have to write to get a root ;) .. anyway.. a little excited, getting a little ahead of myself.. and off to read about .. tomato seeds, and dinner gardens, I'd never even heard of those before today.
Welcome to my Urban Gardening Blog
I am a Portland mom. Born at Emanuel Hospital, raised in NE Portland, before it was classy to live in NE Portland.
I am a mom, as a matter of fact, I was a teen mom. I have five children. I'm also currently taking care of a nephew, and an elderly adopted uncle, and a husband.
We are currently environmentally irresponsible. We sometimes recycle card board boxes, that's about it. To be completely honest, I believe that we clean cans to be recycled on holidays, but I don't think we actually bother to rustle up a recycling bin to put them in.
I planted a garden last year, so to speak.. it didn't grow. Parts of it pretended to, but those parts were smashed anyway. I don't like tomatoes, so I can't say that I was to protective when the kids threw those at each other.
So as you might see here, it's time for a change, a little accountability, and a whole lot of research. There is obvious resistance, and some obstacles, but throughout the next few weeks, and hopefully a lifetime to follow, we're going to look into being .. a little more frugal.. a lot less wasteful.. and a bit more resourceful..
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