Tag Archives: organic

Garden Crop Harvest

Garden Harvest Time

Autumn is in the air … the evenings are getting chilly. It is time to harvest our garden crop. I’m a little concerned about how this year’s crop is going to be. Between my neglect (lack of weeding) and an early frost last night, I don’t have high expectations. My schedule is crazy busy this week, but my plan is to harvest everything on Thursday afternoon … please pray for no rain that day.

Each springtime, I usually try to plant seeds that I’ve saved from last year’s crop. I use my own compost created from our own compostable kitchen scraps and fallen leaves from our many trees. BTW, if anyone is ever in the mood to rake during the month of October … give me a call …  we usually fill 40+ kraft bags with leaves every year. Continue reading →

Dandelions

Dandelions

It’s Springtime here in Chicagoland … and although it is often referred to as “construction season”, it is also “dandelion season” … again. Both dandelions (and other weeds) and construction seem to be hardy perennials that do extremely well in the Midwest climate.

I say “dandelion season” again, because every year I think I have them under control, only to have them come back with a vengenence each spring.

My husband and I are not what you could call “lawn snobs” by any stretch of the imagination, but having a nice green lawn would be so nice. We don’t hire a landscaping company for lawn care, we cut our own grass. I’m trying to not you chemicals to kill them. My methods thus far have been trying “natural” remedies.

I have tried a homemade recipe using apple cider vinegar, salt and Dawn dishwashing detergent. It does kill the dandelion plant that is visible above ground, but apparently does nothing to get rid of the root. It also kills any grass that is surrounding your dandelion. Guess what? They grew back!

I have tried digging them out by hand. It is backbreaking labor, and is very hard to get the whole root out without it breaking off (to grow back again). I even bought an attachment for a power drill that is supposed to get the whole root out … surprise, surprise … it didn’t. Plus, I have so many in my front lawn; they will have gone to seed before I could possibly dig them all out 🙁

I have tried an organic weed control product that you apply using a spreader, only to find burnt patches in my lawn while the dandelions looked healthy and strong.

This year, I’ve read several articles online about letting the dandelions grow so the bees can get nectar after the long winter. I’ve read about how the bees are dwindling off because their habitat has changed so much over the last couple decades.

My plan for this year is to dig them out of my garden area and flower beds. My husband will mow them down each week before they go to seed. The bees will collect nectar and make wonderful local honey. Our lawn will be mostly green, but with some yellow dots 🙂

How do you handle dandelions and other weeds in your yard?  

 

Garden

7 Standbys You’ll Always Find in My Organic Garden

Spring weather is in the air this week, we’ve had quite a few days that have been sunny and in the sixties 🙂

I’ve started my vegetable garden seeds indoors over the weekend. Now I patiently wait to see signs of life. I get so excited when I see tiny bits of green coming out of the soil.

This year I got seeds from a company that specializes in Heirloom Non-GMO seeds. I want to try to save seeds from this years harvest to plant to next year … wish me luck 🙂

Here’s my list of the 7 vegetables I’ll always have in my garden … my standbys for having fresh produce for summer and fall.

  1. Tomatoes ~ I just love fresh tomatoes … there’s nothing like the first bite of a vine ripened tomato of the season … I’m planting Roma and Grape tomatoes
  2. Peppers ~ Green Bell Peppers and Jalapeño
  3. Broccoli ~ Lots of broccoli
  4. Green Beans ~ I like the kind that climb up a trellis
  5. Cucumbers ~ I like the burp-less variety
  6. Carrots ~ I’m actually planting these in large planters, they seem to grow straighter in the softer soil … no rocks means less resistance
  7. Potatoes ~ This year I’m trying these in a large container as well … hopefully, I’ll be able to just dump the container and pick up the taters

Spring is my favorite time in the garden … planting is fun ~ weeding and watering ~ not so much 🙂

Many thanks to  http://www.manylittleblessings.com & http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/ for co-hosting List It Tuesday 🙂

Canning Homemade Fresh Organic Garden Tomato Salsa

Summer has officially come to an end … with autumn comes the task of canning and preserving the harvest. My garden crops differ from year to year, but this year, my tomatoes and broccoli were my star performers. Up until this point, I’ve managed to keep up with the ripened produce – by sharing with friends and neighbors and/or serving it to my own family. With the change of the season, it seems that all my grape tomatoes ripened at the same time. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love grape tomatoes, but I think I may have had my fill of them for a while:) So, I started researching how to preserve them for later use. I checked out books about canning from the library (I know, kinda old school). I also looked at several websites. They all went into great detail about techniques for peeling and seeding the tomatoes. I didn’t have tons of regular sized tomatoes, I had hundreds of little, tiny grape tomatoes … there was no way I was peeling and seeding them 🙂 Continue reading →

Fresh Produce from my Organic Garden

Top Ten Reasons I Love My Organic Backyard Garden

Thanks to Angie at http:// www.manylittleblessings.com and Top Ten Tuesday!

This is my 10th blog post; so I thought I would share my Top Ten reasons that I love having an organic garden …

  1.   I just love daydreaming of how my yard will look come summer time. Reading garden blogs and leafing through seed catalogs. It takes some of the chill out of a snowy northern Illinois March.
  2.   I’m a planner at heart, so I love planning the layout of my garden plot. I started keeping a journal to keep track of what was planted where and the date … what worked and what fizzled. I actually map out my yard and pencil in the variety of plant that will be planted there. My journal also helps me remember what perennials and/or bulbs I have, as well as, when and where they are located.
  3.   I love starting the seeds indoors and placing them by the most sunny window in my house. Checking on them each day, waiting in anticipation to see the first newly sprouted seedlings.
  4.   I love when the weather finally warms up enough to get outside in the fresh air and do some initial yard clean up and garden prep work. While I don’t love picking up a winter’s worth of debris, I do love discovering my daffodils and hyacinth breaking through the ground and coming to life.
  5.   I love planting my thriving little seedlings in the moist garden soil. When I look over my work, they look so fragile and spaced so far apart. It’s hard to believe in a just few months they will be huge and seem crowded.
  6.   I love watering and nurturing my garden, especially in the early summer. I use homemade natural, organic mixtures ~ not chemicals to fertilize and to control insects. Notice that I didn’t say that I love to pull weeds, but alas, I do it so my plants get all the sun and nutrients from the soil they need. Plus it looks so nice ~ all neat and tidy J
  7.   I just love, love, love discovering the very first tiny, cute little green bean or bell pepper of the season … it’s so exciting !!
  8.   I really love the first delectable bite of the very first juicy, red, ripe tomato !
  9.  I love going out to my garden and picking fresh herbs and veges to use in preparing meals for my family. You just can’t get any fresher than that … from the garden to the table in under an hour.
  10. I love sharing the bountiful harvest with our friends and neighbors. I like canning and preserving the last of it so we can enjoy it during the long winter, while anticipating and planning for the next summer garden 🙂
photo by: OakleyOriginals

Organic Gardening

I recently started paying more attention to the ingredient labels on some of my favorite food brands.  I was shocked by all the ingredients I couldn’t even pronounce.  So many different chemicals, why were they needed?  As preservatives?  For longer shelf life? 

So I tried to start to eat more fresh produce.  That has to be good, right?  Then I started reading about how much pesticide they use for the mass production of produce.  How they pick the fruits and vegetables way before they are ripe and use other chemicals to ripen them enroute to the store.

Also, many of those chemicals are being found to be carcinogens.  What?  So eating fresh produce can now give you cancer?  This world we live in is becoming a very scary place.

So, I think to myself, I need to figure out a way (budget wise) to buy organic produce.  It’s like double the price, but my family’s health is worth it.  Then I discover that there are all kinds of loopholes so that companies can label their products as Organic even though they used pesticides.  So much legal mumbo jumbo.

So, I think to myself, summer is coming, I’ll try organic gardening. I’ll grow my own veges.  Then I learn about GMO seeds.  Really? Seeds that produce fruits with seeds that can’t reproduce?

Now I have to find Heirloom seeds …

Will it ever end?  Will we always have to be at the mercy of big business making the almighty dollar … whatever the cost?