Grilled cheese and soup. Perfect!

One of my friends mentioned that she was going to make vegetable beef soup and then have that with a grilled cheese sandwich. Gee, I thought, that sounded like the perfect lunch time meal for an otherwise chilly and icky Friday. And, so it was... Now, if it would just warm up outside....

Miracle Gro's AeroGarden!

What a wild idea! Miracle Gro's AeroGarden is supposedly a whole new way to grow herbs, flowers and veggies in a controlled environment using their patented Liquid Plant food with timed LED lights that turn on and off automatically.

I took advantage of a special offer to obtain one of their 6 pod units a week or so ago to see how well they would perform. I selected the 'herb collection' from among a group of different mixes of plants like peppers and cherry tomatoes! Over the next couple of months, I'll try and report on how this product works out!

It's December the 27th and I had my first harvest!

A pepper seed germination experiment! Nov 2015 style!

November 5, 2015 - For lack of anything else constructive to do, I took a small Styrofoam container that had coleslaw in it from a meal I'd purchased at a local restaurant, add some potting mix along with four seeds from a pepper I'd harvest just a week earlier. Since eat fruit had so many seeds, I though I could save myself a little bit of money latter this year when I had planned to start some plants for the 2016 season. I had had great luck with a couple of container grown versions over the past summer and was anxious to see if this little experiment would work out.

Four seeds are just visible

As I had just moved from a stick built house with land to a condo with just west facing balcony, my choices for veggies that I can grow have become more limited. No problem, really, I'd been in a similar situation before and did quite well. And, at my advanced age, it will be a relief to have to tend to just a few containers this go around. Note that each seed was planted at a depth of about a quarter inch.

Still producing in Nov!

This little 'seed incubator' was placed on a south facing window where it will get a little sun. Holes in both the bottom and the top will insure a good supply of water and air respectively. I'll be sure and update this post in a week or so with the results!

Dec 11, 2015 - A quick update. All the seeds germinated and I am now looking for a small pot to transfer the little guys to....

Jan 3, 2016 - Three of the little guys have made it through the transplant process and are doing well.

The lost summer of 2015!

I never got things in gear in 2015 as I was heavily involved in selling my home of many years and replacing it with a condo in the same town of Forsyth MO! Both processes lasted from June until September and so, other than a few token pepper plants, not very much got done.

Now, I find myself in a new location, three stories up with a western facing balcony that has a nice view. Of course, my planting situation has changed as I will now have to address container gardening, and that's really not a bad thing for someone of my age!

This coming winter, I'll make some plans, get some equipment and seeds and will be raring to go come the spring of 2016!

November frost puts the kabosh on my SW MO garden!

As November the 1^st 2014 rolled on in at midnight the temperatures were well on their way in a plunge into the mid 20's! Outside, my veggies which had bravely survived some cold spells thus far, gave up the ghost. The next morning, all was limp carnage with just a few small peppers that could still be salvaged.

Well, there's always next spring to look forward to!

Growing carrots in 5 inches of soil!

If you select the correct variety for shallow soils like Burpee's Short and Sweet – carrots can be easily grown just about anywhere! This 70 gram specimen was harvested on this posting date for steaming as part of a mix of carrots and broccoli for my dinner.

Carrots are extremely nutritious to eat as one 10 year study revealed the effects of eating this vegetable on heart disease;

“We are fortunate to have the results of a new 10-year study from the Netherlands about carrot intake and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD)—and those results are fascinating. Intake of fruits and vegetables in the study was categorized by color and focused on four color categories: green, orange/yellow, red/purple, and white. Out of these four categories, orange/yellow (and in particular, foods with deeper shades of orange and yellow) emerged as most protective against CVD. And even more striking, carrots were determined to be the most prominent member of this dark orange/yellow food category. Participants who had the least carrot intake had the least amount of CVD risk reduction, even though they still received risk-reducing benefits from their carrot intake. However, participants who ate at least 25 more grams of carrots (with 25 grams being less than one-quarter of a cup) had a significantly lower risk of CVD. And the groups of participants who ate 50- or 75-grams more had an even more greatly reduced risk of CVD! We're not sure how any study could better demonstrate how easy it can be to lower disease risk by making a food like carrot part of the everyday diet in such achievable amounts.”

Of course, some of the carrot went into a nice romaine salad creation....

First day of Autumn coming!

Well, Summer is pretty much over, even though we can expect some 90 days to sneak in now and again. The meteorological beginning of fall began on Labor Day while calendar-wise it is September 23^rd. So, the small raised bed areas that grew some terrific veggies this spring and summer are now in decline. That said, I'm hoping for a few more peppers and even a tomato or two before it's time to pull the plants and prepare the soil for the coming winter.

Speaking of winter – this graph from Firsthand Weather, seems to have a pretty good handle on what to expect over the nation! It looks like some folks might have quite a wild ride coming.