Earth Day Activity: Making Seed-Starters from Recycled Newspaper

Last week, while I was in the community garden ripping grass from the raised bed, I enjoyed a moment of being present. A moment where I felt the grime on my neck, the sweat trickling down my back; a moment of pure bliss. At that moment I thought if I could lead workshops, or teach people how to grow their own food that would be perfect.

I’m not big on perfection; but teaching others how to grow their food would be lovely. I would like to teach those intimidated by gardening that they can grow their own food. This was my focus as I tossed roots onto the compost pile, cursing Johnson grass.

Enter, Miss Liz, Go-Green Day chair at Crabapple Middle School. Someone suggested she contact me.

Would I speak to middle schoolers on Earth Day? she asked.

Would I ? Sign me up !

Deciding what to speak about was a challenge. At first I wanted to show them how to recycle newspapers in the garden. Then I determined that most of the students probably didn’t have access to a garden. (Being that they were trapped in the confines of a subdivision with a rigid Homeowners Association). That’s when the idea to demonstrate how to make a newspaper seed-starter emerged.

Once I shared my idea with Liz, she suggested I have each student who visits my booth make their own seed starter. After the seeds sprout the students will plant them in their community garden. Imagine the Plant A Row for the Hungry concept. That’s what they’re doing.

Now we’re growing, and feeding the hungry nutritious vegetables!

For those interested in making these; or students who want to show their parents how to create a newspaper seed-starter, here are the instructions:

Supply list:

Newspapers

Seeds

Potting Soil (Note: try to feel the quality of the soil. If you feel small sticks and pebbles, most-likely you are purchasing woodchips, not potting soil).

Glass container cylindrical in shape. (Note: glass works best because it is sturdy and newspaper).

Instructions:

Fold one sheet of newspaper lengthwise.

Place glass on paper. Leave some newspaper hanging over the lower edge of the glass.

Place glass on newspaper. Allow one inch of paper to hang over the bottom end of the glass. You will fold this later and form the bottom of planter.

Once you have wrapped glass, fold ends toward the center to create bottom of seed-starter.

Wrap the glass with newspaper. When you reach the end, fold edges inward to form the bottom of the planter.

Stand glass up and press down firmly to secure the bottom.

Remove glass.

If desired, staple top of planter to keep pages intact.

Fill planter with dirt. Each planter will use approximately half a cup of dirt.

A shout out to the Roswell Garden Club ladies featured in the newspaper.

Following the instructions on back of seed packet, press seed into soil. Water lightly. Don’t worry if water leaks through planter. Once seedling starts growing it is ready to plant in the garden. Dig a hole in the garden, place planter in the earth and fill with dirt. Water well. The newspaper will deteriorate and allow the roots to grow deep in the soil.

This is an inexpensive way to start seeds, and recycle. I want to thank Miss Liz for allowing me the opportunity to fulfill a dream. If your school or church has a community garden and you’d like me to teach the fledgling gardeners in your area, please contact me through my website.

Renea Winchester is the award-winning author of  In the Garden with Billy: Lessons About Life, Love & Tomatoes. In 2012 she released Stress-Free Marketing: Practical Advice for the Newly Published Author. 2014 will see the release of In the Kitchen with Billy: Farming, Friends & Fried Bologna Sandwiches. She is currently working on her first novel. She would love to hear from you. Visit her at www.reneawinchester.com

Follow Billy on Faceboook HERE

 

A Farmer: The Biggest Gambler Around

Don’t forget: Follow my blog by email (or RSS Feed) located at the top right). The 100th subscriber wins a $10.00 gift card to Botanical Interests.  200th subscriber wins a $ 20.00 gift card.

It was just a blink ago, a short couple of weeks that Atlanta experienced several days of soil soaking rain; afterward, we basked beneath a cool breeze and tolerable temperatures. However this morning as June bugs fly across the lawn I sense a change deep in my bones.

A drought is coming.

I can feel it in the stillness of the air, hear it in the silence of the birdsong.

Heat. Oppressive heat has rolled into Atlanta and brought with it not a hint of rain.

Rain is the lifeblood for farmers such as Billy Albertson. With more and more “city folk” depending on his fresh locally grown produce, the garden this year was full of promise.

Today, with new beans developing and tomatoes just about to turn red, the growing season is in jeopardy.

“If we don’t get some rain by next week, all will be lost,” Billy told me this morning when he rang the phone at 7:15 am.

Farmers don’t take the summer off, and they certainly don’t allow the helpers to sleep in.

“I know, which is why I put out the Pray-For-Rain sign,” I replied, equally concerned.

Most people would ask, “why doesn’t he just water the garden?” Those are the people who have never planted 250 tomato plants, people that do not understand that nothing, absolutely nothing compares to Heaven-sent rain drops.

Bless their hearts.

“I guess we could trickle some of that reclaimed water down the corn stalks,” Billy says more to himself than me. “That might help.”

He and I both know that it won’t. Once the Georgia clay starts cracking, only God can soothe the soil.

Cracks in the soil form as the earth begs for rain.

At my home, I snake a hose from the heat pump to my garden.

Billy doesn’t have that luxury; for you see, he doesn’t have air conditioning. Even though he is in the middle of the city, his water source is a well. If he used a hose to water vegetables, he wouldn’t have anything to drink. The water he uses on the garden comes from reclaimed rainwater, which is why the Pray for Rain request is a plea, a hand-on-knees cry to the One who makes the rain.

Please, please send us some rain.

Won’t you join me in asking for a few drops from heaven?

Renea Winchester is an award-winning author of In the Garden with Billy: Lessons About Life, Love & Tomatoes. Learn more at www.reneawinchester.com

 

Growing Vegies in the Bathroom. Really.

I dread cold weather. The moment the earth begins to turn away from the sun I begin longing for just one more day of unseasonably warm weather. Bulky sweaters, furry socks, and bone chilling cold leave me longing for the steamy days of summer. Even in “Hotlanta,” most of us can look back on last winter and shiver.

Reluctantly, I have planted my “winter greens” (lettuce, kale, spinach). However, I didn’t have the heart to leave the green pepper and tomato plants outside to suffer a frigid death. Nor could I rip them from the earth and toss them on the compost pile. 

My handy-dandy greenhouse

Yes, there are tomatoes, pepper plants and even a cucumber vine growing in my bathroom.

Black Crim tomatoes ripening in glass jar

As the weatherman predicted frost, I rushed to Billy’s with a pair of scissors and cut every tomato from the vine. Leaving a large amount of “limb,” I placed the stalk into a glass jar filled with water. The stalks will eventually turn brown and look terrible, but the tomatoes will ripen at their own pace and still taste spectacular.

When cooler weather forces us to turn up the thermostat, I place a warm-steam humidifier in the greenhouse as a way of keeping the plants moist without over watering them, as I am prone to do.

My Winter Garden

While I realize that most of the plants will downsize, shedding their leaves during their winter rest, all of them will enjoy their new home. Come spring, I will transfer the pepper plants and the lone tomato directly into the soil. Both will get a spring trim which will encourage new growth and, hopefully, give me a few months head start on the growing season.

None of these plants will produce a bountiful harvest as they did during the summer, having them nearby reminds me that winter won’t last long.

 Renea Winchester is an award-winning author whose book, In the Garden with Billy: Lessons About Life, Love & Tomatoes earned her a SIBA and GAYA nomination. She is currently teaching emerging author workshops across the Atlanta metro area in conjunction with her newest release: Stress-free Marketing: Practical Advice for the Newly Published Author. Visit  her at http://adviceforauthors.wordpress.com

 

School’s Out and The Garden Is Thirsty!

In Atlanta, many gardeners are beginning to see the first fruits of their labor. Last night I enjoyed fresh green beans with my dinner. Oh, they were divine! I thanked God while I was picking them, breaking them, and eating them.

Since little (or no) rain has fallen in several weeks, our house has entered water conservation mode.

The  ”water bucket” has returned to the kitchen. This yellow eyesore, sits beside the sink and receives every drop of water that would otherwise be tossed, discarded….wasted. From leftover tea, to water captured during hand-washing, every drop is rescued and fed to hungry plants.

Noone in this house runs the water while brushing their teeth. We are careful stewards of every single drop.

We’re even carrying water to Billy’s. After first meeting Billy and recognizing that all farmer’s have an urgent need for water, I incorporated two 45 gallon rain barrels into my home. Since my heirloom tomatoes are living at Billy’s, every Monday and Wednesday when I visit, I load two five gallon bucketss of water into my trunk and carefully drive them to his house.

Water, is the most precious resource any farmer has.

There are many simple tricks everyone can do to conserve water. Low flow toilets are wonderful, but in my older home, I can still conserve water by placing a quart jar (like a pickle jar) in the holding tank. Each time the toilet is flush less water is used.

Applying mulch to thirsty plants is another wonderful way. And for the love of humanity, practice pratical common-sense thinking when watering the lawn. Unless one lives in Arizona no lawn under the sun requires watering every day. That’s just a bunch of hooey the lawn maintenance people have sold you.Check with the Cooperative Extension Agent in your area. They will confirm that lawns watered every day require MORE water than lawns that aren’t.

Why?

Because lawns that receive water every day never develop deep roots. Only thirsty grass plants dig deep into the soil for nutrients. Please, stop watering lawns every day. And don’t get me started on chemical run-off as a result of over-watering. Today, adjust the timing of watering to once a week, never….ever daily.

Alas, the children have awoken from their slumber. Remarkably, they have decided (in June no less) to hack out a garden space and plant more vegetables. I’ll let you know how that turns out. Fingers crossed. Until then, consider how you use the precious resource of water in your home.

Renea Winchester is an award-winning author. Her book In The Garden With Billy: Lessons About Life Love & Tomatoes has been nominated for a SIBA and the Georgia Author of the Year Award (GAYA).

She may be reached at www.reneawinchester.com

 

Another Freebie from a Trusted Small Business

GROW BEST, Meet In The Garden With Billy

Visitors to this blog know that I only endorse products I personally believe in and have tried at my home. Such is the case with Botanical Interests ™ and GROW BEST liquid plant food. I can proudly announce that the Cherokee Purple tomato seeds sprouted in three days! Then, I began misting them with GROW BEST plant food. Below is a picture of the plants 14 days later. Six leaves in 14 days…unheard of.  I will chart their progress throughout the season.

Healthy Cherokee Purple Plants

I was so pleased with GROW BEST that I contacted the owner, Bill Lucas, yesterday and asked if he would donate samples I could give to readers who buy copies of In The Garden With Billy: Lessons About Life, Love & Tomatoes  during conferences and speaking engagements. He said Yes! He also volunteered to visit Billy’s ‘little strip of land’ in the summer and hand out a few samples.

This my friends is the power of buying local and establishing relationships with family owned small businesses. Both Botanical Interests ™ and GROW BEST liquid plant food offer a superior product. And, they aren’t too “corporate” to care about you, their customers. Seriously, check them both out online here. www.botanicalinterests.com and www.growbest.com

At this point I should probably explain that neither company has paid me to be their spokesperson. I just want to keep the record stick-straight. Not many of us have money to waste on products that don’t work. Unless there is a natural disaster, or Mother Nature smacks us around this summer, these products will work for you.

For those who live near Billy, I’ll post on my blog (and on the In The Garden With Billy Facebook page) when Mr. Lucas is going to be at the Billy’s farm. Those who are coming to any of my events in the future (in Georgia and North Carolina) will receive free samples of Botanical Interests ™Heirloom Tomato Seeds

I'm Still Giving Away Botanical Interest seeds

and GROW BEST (while supplies last) when they purchase a copy of my book. Those who purchase copies of the book online receive only the free seeds (boo hiss on that pesky postal service shipping liquids red-tape).

If growing vegies isn’t your thing, don’t worry. Botanical Interests™ is also THE place for wonderful flower seeds and tools. As you know Billy and I like to add something different every year. Next year, my wish list includes this Botanical Interest uniquity. 

Of course, GROW BEST is an all-purpose food that works on everything green. There is no need to purchase multiple varieties. This is truly a one-bottle does it all product.

Yes, I’m thinking about ALL gardeners, not just tow-mader lovers.

GROW BEST is available in Home Depot stores in North Georgia. (There is a store literally across the street from Billy’s house). South Georgia friends, please, ask for it. Stores are being added daily and GROW BEST is coming your way if you ask for it. The summer is a busy time in the Garden Center and employees might not be familiar with all the products. Don’t let them steer you to another brand they think is “just as good.” Ask for GROW BEST by name. If the store doesn’t carry it, they can order it for you. And of course, it is available through the company website.

One pint (priced at $ 7.97) makes 16 gallons! The sample bottle mixes to create one gallon of food for all the plants you love. AND, there are no blue/green thumb stains as with those other fertilizers.

For my out-of Georgia friends: I’m sorry that I cannot ship samples of GROW BEST to you. (pesky postal regulations). However, the free tomato seed contest is still in effect until the last Friday in May. Those new to this blog, comment on any posting and be automatically registered for FREE seeds. I’ve been known to thrown in Dill seeds also. One never knows quite what to expect from me. 

My goal is to help everyone, both experienced and newbie, grow delicious vegetables.

Remember, keep those hands dirty, and, forward this link to friends. Time is running out on the giveaway!

Renea Winchester is an award-winning author of the widely popular book In The Garden With Billy: Lessons About Life, Love & Tomatoes. Visit her at www.reneawinchester.com

 

From Spice Aisle to Garden: How to Turn Dill Seeds Into Plants

 

One day spices, next day plants!

It began with Dilly Beans. A canned concoction I was certain to dislike, until I tasted them.

It became an obsession. One bite and you’ll know what I mean. Each year, Billy and I vow to grow something “different.” Not in an excentric way, but something he hasn’t grown before. One bite of the Dilly Beans Nettie Mae Cooper made and we both knew this year’s “new crop” would be Dill.

I “carried” a plastic container of Dill seed I had purchased at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market (in Decatur GA) to Billy’s “little strip of land.” Reasoning that 66 cents was an investment my pocketbook could handle (compared to a couple of bucks for a dozen garden supply seeds) I began my experiment.

Would common seeds purchased in the spice aisle germinate?

Short answer: Oh boy, yes!

Visit this link to see how I planted the seeds. Billy comes in at the last with a wheelbarrow load of “organic” fertilizer. Which, by the way, I did not incorporate. Thank goodness !

Seven days later, I visited the Dill “bed.”

 Imagine my surprise when every single seed germinated….twice ! Seriously, this is enough Dill to cover Atlanta. I am excited. Dill is basically a weed. Now the challenge becomes to keep Billy from fertilizing it.

Here’s a video of what the Dill looked like 9 days after planting. File this under the category: Be careful what you wish for.

Remember: comment on this or any blog and be automatically registered to win a FREE pack of Heriloom Tomato seeds from Botanical Interests.(Learn how: HERE).  I give them away every Friday until the end of May.

Until next time: Remember to keep those hands dirty (and the fertilizer away from the Dill).

 

The $ 48.00 “Free” Earth Day Tree

By Renea Winchester

Like most Earth lovers, the thought of receiving a FREE tree was enough to launch me out of bed early and straight into the nearest Lowe’s store. With only a million trees available, they were certain to go fast !

I expected to find a long line of others eager to do their part to make the Earth a greener place. Instead, I found a third of the parking lot filled with vegetable plants, tropical Hibiscus, shade-loving Hosta, hardy Impatiens, and Roses…oh the roses were divine.

“I’m in heaven,” I said aloud to my husband who had insisted on driving. He learned years ago to either set a budget, or chauffeur and pray that I can control myself when in the presence of Petunias.

“Hmm,” he said while tightening the grip on the Durango’s steering wheel. “I’ve got to pick something up in the hardware section. I’ll come get you later.”

“You mean, you’re leaving me alone,” I said. My smile widening as I bent to touch a Bearded Iris. “Are you sure about that?”

I tried to buy only one item: a Foxglove whose purple petals demanded attention. But Hibiscus are my husband’s favorite, and they had a red one!  Of course I needed to pick up a flat of Marigolds to plant in my vegetable garden. They deter pests, or so I’ve been told. The flat of New Guinea Impatiens (bright orange, of course) needed to come home with me. They were miserable nestled beside the pink Dianthus. And since the price of gas is so high, might as well save a trip and grab another bag of potting soil.

Oh, and I also picked up a lovely Loblolly Pine courtesy of Lowe’s.

“Looks like the “Free” Earth Day tree cost almost $50.00.” I said to my beloved on the way home.

“Hmm,” was his only reply.

Renea Winchester  blogs about gardening with a 78-year old farmer. Learn more at http://www.reneawinchester.com

 

“Setting Eggs” and Breaking New Ground: By Renea Winchester

“Setting Eggs” and Breaking New Ground: By Renea Winchester

It only takes one or two days of sunshine to catapult winter-weary gardeners into a feverous pitch that can only be defined as mania. It’s been a frigid winter and most of the country has at one time or another, been blanketed in either snow or ice (or both)!

As a result, the moment the sun breaks through, birds gather to shout their praises and sun lovers abandon the couch in search of spring.

However, before we start getting all crazy and start setting eggs, planting seeds, and plunging our hands in the dirt, we need to refer to the “good book” for guidance.

Almanac... aka "Farmer's Bible"

I’m talking about the almanac…Grier’s 205th Annual issue to be exact.

Last week, I presented Billy with his copy of the almanac. Under his training, I’ve quickly learned that he takes the advice written on these pages quite seriously. He plants crops and “sets hens” only when approved by Mr. Grier himself. According to page 6 of the 205th edition, we should: “Set eggs to hatch in a fruitful sign. The chicks will mature faster and be better layers.”

Billy snatched the calendar off the wall as I delved into the newsprint pages eager to determine when we were going to “break the new ground.” As an aside, he likes to plant something, usually potatoes on Good Friday.

This year, Grier’s predicts a wet February which is not good, considering the rice-field debacle we mucked through last February in his garden.

Undeterred by the gloomy prediction Billy asked, “When does it say I can set some ‘aigs?’ The hens are getting restless.”

Photo by Billy's other Farmhand, Kelle McEntegart

According to Billy, he has been “breaking up hen parties left and right.” He is a firm believer health chicks comes from following these stringent, albeit mysterious, “signs.”

I licked my finger and turned the page. “It says we should set eggs on the 13, 14, or 15th of February; then on the 22 or 23rd of February.”

I placed a sharpie in his weathered hand. Billy opened the cap and circled the date; then he replaced the cap and said with a nod, “We’ll set those hens on Valentine’s day.”

I can think of no better way to celebrate our love of gardening…can you?

Soon, we’ll be listening to baby chicks say, “peep, peep” and enjoying the magic that spring brings.

Little Momma, the best "Mother Hen" ever !

 

Until my next post, remember keep those hands dirty.

Renea Winchester is an award-winning author whose

book, In The Garden With Billy: Lessons About Life,

Love & Tomatoes is available in bookstores everywhere and online. Visit her website at

www.reneawinchester.com to learn more.

 

2011, A New Year Of Gardening

A New Year of Gardening, by Renea Winchester 

The weatherman reports that Atlanta could see another dusting of snow. Which caused my spirits to sink. I know the kids are excited at the possibility of playing in the white stuff, but I am ill-equipped to handle dreary weather when it dips “down south.” 

When the weather turns icy I can think of nothing better than to curl up on the couch and read the latest release. I’m not talking about what the New York Times list tells us we should read. I’m referring to the stack of seed catalogues that receive top priority during the month of January. 

My parent's "lettuce bed."

With pen in hand and sticky notes ready, I thumb through each magazine. This is the year, I convince myself, that my garden will surpass those I see on the cover of a magazine. I’ll begin by planting a salad bed (which, by the way, should be planted fairly soon here in the south). It will produce a rainbow of  leafy goodness. Not the boring “lettuce” and “mustard” like my parents grow. We’ll have none of that in my garden. Oh no, my salad “bed” will be exotic.                   

I’ll have a garden filled with lettuce no one can pronounce: Purple Mizuna and Rouge d’Hiver, and a touch of Skyphos (to add some pink to the mix). This year, I’ll sprout my own wheat grass (have you checked out the prices of wheat grass lately?), I’ll give Dill one more try and plant Chamomile, primarily because I noticed a charming Chamomile Rake that seems to be the smartest invention since the sticky notes that now color the pages of the catalog. 

My Dad on his Bowen "tractor." You would not believe how hard both work to create a beautiful garden.

I’ll draw out my design and plant the seeds with care. I’ll call my dad and brag because my planting season in Georgia begins a few weeks before his in North Carolina. He’ll laugh, because he knows that regardless of what I plant or when, his little Bowen tractor has worked the ground into a powdery consistency that grows anything he darn well pleases. 

As an aside, last week he worked two truckloads of nearly-rotten sawdust into his garden. That’s his secret.

Find sawdust in Atlanta.  Go ahead, I dare you.

So with my purchased soil that has been fortified with fireplace ashes and a bit of goat manure, I once again begin the quest to grow something…anything better than those who’ve much greater experience than I.

Let's be honest. There is a 99.9% chance my garden will look like this, instead of my Dad's.

I’ll begin the growing season filled with hope and ignore the card which sits at the corner of the desk. This year my dream garden will become a reality. 

Enjoy those seed catalogs and remember, keep those hands dirty!

Renea Winchester is a two-time winner of the Appalachan Writer’s Award for Essay. Her work  has appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Georgia Backroads, Smoky Mountain Living and Long Leaf Style, Georgia Magazine as well as Georgia Public Radio 90.1 FM. She is a frequent contributor to http://Southernauthors.blogspot.com and http://www.grit.com Her memoir, In The Garden With Billy: Lessons about Life, Love and Tomatoes, was released October 2010,  by Little Creek Books.   She may be reached through her website.

 

Hornworms and the Battle Over Tomatoes

Aah, the rewards of summer. Peach juice trickling down my chin, blackberries staining my fingers and time spent with friends. I’ve coaxed tiny seeds into tomato plants that are seven feet tall. I’ve carried water, scratched in fertilizer, and to be completely honest, I’ve spoken love-words to my tomatoes hoping to entice them into a love-love relationship with me.

“How about some extra water today,” I say as I pour water around the base of my plant, never on the foliage because that might burn delicate, undeveloped fruit.

The plants responded. Clothed in yellow blooms, they grew tall, dark, and deliciously attractive. As the plants matured, my anticipation increased with each passing day.

I had waited, patiently watching the largest tomato change from lime-green to pale pink. With heat scratching my neck, I grabbed my bucket- my mouth watering. Today would be sandwich day. 

Imagine my surprise when my precious Park’s Whopper, the one I could already taste even before I’d picked it, greeted me with stripped-bear stalks. The tomato I’d admired for weeks hung half-eaten with a large green worm my happily munching the delicious fruit.

 ***

 I was excited the first time I encountered a Tomato Horn Worm. A gardening newbie, I naively thought the pudgy caterpillar hanging on the stalk before me would morph into a Luna Moth. I photographed the creature and emailed all my friends that soon I would “be the proud parent of a Luna moth.”

 “Kill it!” was the reply from seasoned gardeners. “Take a rock and smash it dead!”

 After arguing that I would never…ever kill something so beautiful, I received an email with a photograph confirming their accusations. The caterpillar might be beautiful now, but as soon as it had stripped every tomato in my garden my beautiful caterpillar would become a Sphinx (not a Luna) Moth.

I became a disciple in Horn Worm behavior. Since spraying pesticide is out of the question, hand-picking  the creatures was my only pest control option. Worm excrement (for lack of a more technical term) was the best clue in determining the location of my prey. Horn worms are masters at hiding behind immature fruit, far away from view. However, droppings  are impossible to hide. If you notice “droppings” like those in the text-box below, begin searching for worms immediately.

Removing the worms is a bit like a treasure hunt. Begin searching at the top of the plant near tender new growth. Look on the stalk, beneath the leaves, and behind green fruit. When you locate one, remove it with one sudden movement (think ripping off a Band-Aid). The worms do not bite. They do, however, release a lime-green “juice” and make a slight clicking sound when disturbed. Place the worm in a cup and-assuming you have chickens-feed the worms to them. In the absence of chickens, you might opt to drown, or smash them.

Be diligent. Once these death-worms discover your tomatoes you are thrust into a battle; either they must go, or all hope of tomato sandwiches will vanish. Small worms you might ignore today will grow to massive three-inch-long-worms overnight ! Now is not the time to be humane. Every worm must die. Check plants for several days to ensure you’ve won the battle.

A dusting of Sevin will drive the worms away, as will a mixture of hot pepper and water, sprayed on a still summer day also works. However, the best defense is to check the plants. Spray or dust doesn’t cover everything. I prefer the hunt and pluck method. So do my chickens.

Happy gardening and remember, keep those hands dirty.