Category Archives: Gardening

Are You Planning Your Garden Yet?

It’s still winter, and cold in many parts of the country, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be getting your garden ready to go. Not that you want to start planting in most areas yet, although some people do like to get an early start indoors.

This is a great time to figure out what you want to grow and figure out when you need to plant everything. Some seeds can be started earlier than others. How early you should start depends on where you live, but an early indoor start can nicely extend your growing season. It’s nice being able to avoid frost or freezes while getting your garden growing.

Check your local library for gardening books specific to your area. That will help you to figure out what you should be trying to grow and when to start. It’s pretty variable by region.

Square Foot Gardening is very popular, and a great way to keep your planning of your garden space under control. We do something similar, although much of our garden space is limited to where our landlord’s decorative plants died in a freeze a couple years back, and goes along the border. But the principle is in there.

It’s also smart to look up companion plants and plants that don’t get along so well. Tomatoes and marigolds are classic companion plants, for example. The right companion can keep pests away or fix more nitrogen in the soil for another plant. There are plenty of online companion planting resources too.

Your compost bin or pile can be used pretty much anytime. If it gets too cold for composting to happen, don’t worry. It will start up again as the weather warms. You can add some soil and/or compost starter when things warm up enough if you want to kick start things. If you’ve been neglecting it, get moving again.

It’s not too early to get things moving right now. The sooner you get things started, the sooner you can enjoy home grown produce.

Finding Your Kids’ Favorite Healthy Foods

My kids have some interesting favorite foods. Sugar snap peas probably lead the pack. They are perhaps not the greenest thing to buy, as I have no doubt that we’re getting them out of season, etc., but it’s hard to complain when your children are begging for something so good for them.

I’ve met a lot of parents who are quite envious that my kids like such things. Here’s some of how I figure out which healthy foods make great snacks.

1. Start early.

The sooner, the better. Pediatricians debate whether it works or not, but we started our kids on vegetables before fruits when they were babies. All I know is that we started on pureed green beans, and they’re also still a favorite. Grow them in the garden, and my kids will react as though we’re growing candy.

But even if they don’t like such snacks right away, you can work toward the goal of your kids preferring healthy snacks.

2. Stop keeping junk food around the house.

It may take time to cut things down. Good eating habits take time to develop. But it’s absolutely worth it.

Some unhealthy snacks can be switched out for healthy ones very easily. Make smoothies instead of serving fruit juice or sodas, and pour any excess into popsicle molds. There are tons of smoothie recipes out there, from ones that only use fruit to green smoothies.

Others are more challenging. We haven’t entirely given up candy in our household, although it’s mostly bought for holidays now, and eaten at the rate of 1-2 small pieces a day. It takes forever to get rid of even a small quantity that way, but also satisfies the urges.

3. Start a garden.

Kids generally love eating the foods they have harvested themselves from the garden. We teach our kids which plants they can snack freely from, and which they have to ask permission. Cherry tomatoes and other small varieties are a big hit around here. Sugar snap peas are also popular. Green beans fresh off the vine can be another amazing treat.

Our garden has always had a few simple rules. We point out which plants the kids can eat from freely. Others they have to ask, mostly to make sure that the plants aren’t damaged by overenthusiastic harvesting or to be sure everything can ripen before being eaten.

My kids and most of their friends get pretty much hooked on sweet basil most summers. Always good to be sure they know which leaves can be eaten safely. They’re taught down to the specific plant, so that anything that looks similar elsewhere is still off limits.

4. Buy healthy foods.

You would not believe how furious my kids were when apple prices went up too high for me to buy them apples for a time. It was great. Frustrating, but great.

It’s not easy keeping all the healthy foods local or in season, but do what you can. If you slip on this, at least the foods are better for your kids and quite possibly the environment than any processed snack could be.

5. Don’t give up.

It’s frustrating trying to change anyone’s eating habits. It is not going to happen after a single shopping trip. Take it a day at a time and even a food at a time as needed. Try foods raw as well as cooked in different ways. If something isn’t appealing, put it to the side for a time. Something else may work better.

Forcing a change of habit doesn’t generally work nearly as well as steadily making a change. Keep it up and things will work out.

Planning My Fall Garden

Well, my summer garden was a bit of a bust. We got some tomatoes and basil, but not much else… unless you want to count some random pumpkins growing out of last year’s seeds, and what I think is millet growing from dropped birdseed. I’m guessing on that one, though.

We’re probably going to keep things simple for the fall. Just some broccoli and one variety or another of lettuce. I think after last year’s experiment with unusual varieties of lettuce, my husband is quite willing to go with something we know we like. It just didn’t really work out last year.

I’m really trying to build this habit of growing more food at home. I like knowing what goes on my food as it grows, and its great for the kids. If I grow the right stuff they snack on it quite freely.

I don’t think I’ll try for much more this year. My husband has been resisting the idea of a fall garden, but I think he knows now that I’m serious about it. Not like southern California doesn’t have amazing weather for growing food most of the year, after all.

How Green Are the Lawns in Your Area?

I’ve been noticing a trend in my area. Lawns are looking a little browner than they do most summers in my area. Seems like a lot of people are watering them less.

Not a bad start, if you ask me.

Better, of course, is to do something useful with the land, or at least xeriscape so that the yard is not completely unattractive. But it’s nice to see that more people in my area seem to be more willing to deal with a less than perfect lawn right now.

In my area, that’s a very rational decision. We’re facing a huge water shortage and they’re trying hard to get us to cut back on our water usage. I’m determined to keep the garden alive, but the lawn? Only enough for the kids to play on. And they delight in dandelions and other weeds just as much as they enjoy the grass.

Quite frankly, if we owned this house rather than just rented, the front lawn would be long gone. There’d also be a much bigger garden in the back yard, which might make up for any water savings, but at least the water would be used productively.

We’d probably also be looking at installing water barrels or some such for those rare times when we get rain. Be nice to get some use out of what would otherwise be runoff. We have lots of dreams for when we own a home. Too many changes just don’t work on our current budget, even when they’re possible for a renter.

Fresh, clean water is something that is just going to become more valuable throughout much of the world, and it’s time for people to start understanding that. Using less even when you could have more isn’t a bad habit to establish at all.

How to Clean Outside Areas

I got thinking on the topic of summer today when my daughter’s kindergarten teacher commented that there are only 4 Mondays left in our school year. It was one of those “wow, summer’s almost here” moments for me.

That, of course, brought me to thinking about cleaning up the outside of the house. Living in southern California, it’s pretty practical to keep the outside areas of the house nice all year. We don’t get much rain here, after all, never mind significantly colder weather.

One of those things that has always been a bit annoying is how some people like to clean their walkways and driveways with the hose. Considering the water situation in our area, I hope to see very, very little of that this year, but I know people will do it just because it’s faster.

A good broom will allow you to take care of most of the problem without water. You’ll want one that does well outdoors, which may be a little heavier duty than many like for the kitchen or other parts of the house. I always liked the big push brooms for larger areas myself.

Most of the time, that’s all you need. If there’s a dried up mess outside then yeah, you might want to get the hose as the fastest way to clean it up. But most of the time you don’t really need it.

The same goes later in the year for leaf blowers and such. Get a good rake and a broom for the walkways, and get your yard cleaned up without wasting fuel, electricity or water.

Of course, many people do one thing that is pretty green is add plants to their garden. That can be more or less green, depending on how you garden. The plastic containers that many plants come in can be problematic, although some garden centers may take them back if they’re in good condition. Use compost instead of fertilizer, and you can make your yard more beautiful without hurting the environment much.