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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Gentlemen, start your seeds! (Ladies, too!) and Book recommendation


My green house starter kits cleaned and ready to grow some seeds!
Hi everyone! I can't believe it's March already! Where is time flying to? Of course I hope you know that March is the time to start some of your seeds!! I know some of you in southern IL have probably put some in already. I'm planning on doing some this week. I got all my seed starting equipment cleaned this past weekend, and today I'm going to bring my seed starting mix in and let it warm up. I tell you, I can hardly wait! I am so excited for this year's garden. Hoping and praying that it will be productive beyond my expectations. (Of course, I hope and pray that every year!)


You know one of the great things that happens when you garden? You're learning a new skill, one of the most important skills. Feeding yourself is necessary to living. When you garden, you learn to feed yourself, and you're practicing one of the most important skills there is. Plus, if anything happens to the public food source--think of tomatoes 2 years ago--you've got your own safe, healthy, affordable, tasty food. No need to fret about whether or not your food is safe to eat. You can know for certain that it is!
I love gardening books! They're absolutely delightful reading! One of my favorite gardening authors is John Seymour. He's written a number of wonderful books covering the subject of self-sufficiency. He covers gardening as well as canning, freezing, and drying, fruit growing, animal husbandry (keeping animals for food), greenhouses, managing garden tools, forgotten arts, etc. If you need some gardening help, his books would go a long way to answering questions and providing inspiration. I personally have 'The Self-Sufficient Gardener' and I love the book and the beautiful pictures it contains. If you ever see a John Seymour book at a book sale, it would be a good one to pick up. They're valuable books!
Prep On!
Gen-IL Homesteader

8 comments:

Aloha2U said...

you know, I never really thought of gardening as learning a new skill but you are absolutely right because there is a lot that goes into caring for plants. There's so much that goes on in the garden on so many levels and it all starts way before we even plant the seeds. The planning and so forth, wow now you really got me thinking! Great post!

kymber said...

Gen - i have started some seeds already and will be starting more each week for the next couple of weeks - i am sooooo happy that spring is right around the corner!!!

have you ever heard of Ruth Stout??? she is awesome and used to garden naked (something even i have been known to do!)look her up - she has some awesome gardening tips!

thanks for sharing your pics and thanks for the link to John Seymour - from what i have seen - he is awesome!!!

happy gardening to you my friend!

Gen-IL Homesteader said...

Thanks, Aloha! You're so kind! So, do you have any veggies growing right now? Or is this the season where you don't grow anything? Glad you're safe!!

Anonymous said...

Woo Hoo! I'm starting my seeds this weekend and we're incorporating it into our school lessons. Taking on a new venture and putting in a strawberry patch. It seems so complicated, so I will need to really study up on this. Growing everything I can imagine this year. A little nervous about the seed saving as I do not want to ruin my seeds by cross pollinating and making new variety's.

BTW- I loved the post on perrenial plants/food.

Hopefully this comment goes through, could not get the last one to work.

Gen-IL Homesteader said...

Thanks for stopping by, Kymber! Yes, I have read Ruth Stout. If I remember she's the 'no-till' lady, right? You've gardened naked? Woo-Hoo!! I garden in my bikini; that's about as close to naked as I get! :)Yes, I love John Seymour!

Shelly, I'm starting a few seeds this week/weekend, too! Isn't it so exciting? Getting your kids interested is the best thing to do. I tried, but they didn't pick up on it--at least not yet! Maybe when they're older and more settled? Strawberries are SOOOO easy! You'll absolutely LOVE them! I've done nothing to mine over the years except add compost and pull weeds. AFter a few years some will die back, but if you let your strawberries have runners (babies) you'll continue to have more and more plants. They're so easy! I'm excited for you! Let us know how it goes! (Thanks for your kind comment on the perennial food post.)

Aloha2U said...

I do have a few of them growing but it has been quite cold weather wise for Hawaii, we got that northern front blowing in at about mid sixties in the evening and upper seventies in the day.

I have started planting my seeds from a few weeks back, just had to start all of them indoors though in keeping them warm. The cucumbers have sprouted already and will be transplanting them soon, also planted more tomato seeds and they have sprouted wonderfully I'm almost done transplanting most of them. Also started two buckets of growing potatoes and they've been springing into life with the leafy greens growing nicely.

I still have other vegetable seeds indoors that yet have to sprout, been a challenge keeping them from the kitties. Oh yes, and have some carrots growing as well and red onions. I find myself really babying all these seedlings and plants it's so funny because it's like I'm babysitting.

I'll be starting the strawberries soon as well, this is so exciting and fun rewarding too I just love it!

Gen-IL Homesteader said...

Aloha, you've got ALOT growing!! Good for you! It is exciting and rewarding!! I did my potatoes in buckets last year. It worked good to keep the slugs away from them. This year I'm going to try them in the ground again and see how they do. But, you know I haven't had any potatoes sprouting lately. (Usually I just let a bunch of store-bought potatoes sprout and plant them.) Do you start strawberries from seed? I've never done it that way.
Yes, seed starting is like babysitting. Feed them, water them, change their clothes(containers). Hehehe! Thankfully they don't cry! :)

upinak said...

I got some pic up of my seedlings.

Been to busy to post a lot. We will see what happens this summer as well. :)

Garden On!

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