My adventures in growing lettuce
| May 16, 2013 | Posted by Kelly under Gardening |
Gardening is still pretty new to me. Growing up my mother had a garden for a few years, but I honestly don’t remember much about it, except that no matter how much fencing my father put around it, the deer and bunnies got to the food.
Last year was my first real attempt at a serious fruit and vegetable garden. Let’s just say it was a bunch of lessons learned with very little food to show for it. Some of my seeds never turned into anything. I wasn’t sure what I did wrong, but my thought was the weed population.
Remember the mystery “food” I showed you, that I suspected was lettuce? Guess what, it is! With all the recent rain it has flourished! I actually pulled a clump out and took it to my neighbor for his opinions. He is often outside mixing his compost bin. He confirmed that it was indeed lettuce and really good lettuce at that. He found it just as amazing as I did that seeds I planted last summer came back this spring to give us a very healthy crop of lettuce. The seeds I did plant this year, however, aren’t doing a thing. Maybe there is something to planting the year before? Or maybe it is just me 
Which is always a good possibility
After finishing my chores, I went out and cut the lettuce from the plant. My neighbor, Chet, said cutting it was better then pulling because it will grow back. With my basket full of lettuce cuttings I made deliveries to three of my neighbors…. Chet, Thelma and Louise (Thelma and Louise live across the street from each other and they are the best of friends, those aren’t their real names, but that is what they like me to call them). Thelma was having out of town company so she took enough to feed herself, Hubby, and family of 4 that was visiting. Chet took enough for a few nights for his wife and himself, and Louise took a bowl full to put on her BLTs….. and I still came home with enough lettuce for salads for my family! That was on Monday.
Today (Thursday, even though I keep thinking it is Friday), the lettuce has all grown back, nice and full, enough to feed myself and the neighbors for a few days. I’m not sure how many times I can cut it and have it grow back, but for now we are really enjoying the fresh daily salads.
I started some lettuce under the plant light in the kitchen in an attempt to grow lettuce year round inside, so I will keep you up-to-date on how that grows!
Do you know any secrets to growing great lettuce?
Not all sunshine and roses at the Kidney Patch
| May 12, 2013 | Gardening |
Today wasn’t such a great gardening day. It started with weeds, lots of them, that literally popped up over night with all the rain we had. Then as the day went on, I saw the little “helicopter” seeds, flying down from my neighbor’s tree, all over my Kidney Patch. Thousands of them, planting themselves into… more
How to Prick and Stitch – Video and Free pattern!
| May 11, 2013 | Crafts, Free |
One of my favorite things to do is hand-make cards. Years ago I did a lot of stamping, but in more recent years I have enjoyed doing Prick and Stitch, some times called Paper Embroidery. It’s is a fun hobby and pretty inexpensive. For this project you will need red embroidery floss a small needle… more
Grow, grow, grow!
| April 29, 2013 | Gardening |
Ever see a plant growing in the garden and you aren’t sure what it is? It happens to me I am working on keeping better records this year of where I plant everything and also pictures so I can see the development of my fruits and veggies. Today we had a lot of rain, but… more
Raspberry Patch
| April 29, 2013 | Gardening |
About a week ago I shared with you with new raspberries bushes, since then I have created a raspberry patch and added some new additions. Bill gave me some really nice looking Canby red raspberry bushes and I also picked up 3 black raspberry bushes from someone on craigslist. While picking up the black raspberry… more
Grapes and Building an Arbor
| April 27, 2013 | Gardening |
I’m so excited… I have three grape vines In my quest to grow most of our own food, I occasionally search local websites to see what others are sharing. Last week I found an ad for concord grape vines. It was a pleasure to meet Bill and come home with 3 grape vines. I had… more
Some updates at The Kidney Patch
| April 23, 2013 | Gardening |
Strawberries are growing!!!!! Peeking up from the Salad Bed Look at them grow! more
Growing Apple Trees
| April 22, 2013 | Gardening |
Ok, It’s really only one apple tree, but it is two varieties grafted into one tree. Each side pollenates the other and produces both red and green apples. When we first purchased the house our neighbors weren’t sure if the tree made edible apples or just crab apples, most were convinced that they were just… more
Real Peppermint
| April 21, 2013 | Gardening |
After creating my “getting rid of spiders” post, I started doing research on how to make my own peppermint oil. Of course peppermint oil is made from peppermint. Mint comes in many varieties from spearmint to chocolate mint to apple mint. What isn’t commonly known, at least not that I have found, is that the… more
Red Raspberry plants
| April 21, 2013 | Gardening |
Yesterday I added Raspberry bushes to The Kidney Patch. I purchased them for just $1 each from someone in the neighborhood. One drooped the second I left her house, but the other four looked good. Because of the temperature drop last night, I decided to plant 3 outside and keep two inside for the night.… more
Got spiders? Natural way to get rid of them
| April 20, 2013 | Everyday, Green ideas, Simple Living |
Ok, no one wants to admit there are any type of bugs in their house, but I’ll say it…. I have spiders. Ugly black ones that live in the bathroom…. ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Since Hubby really doesn’t like spiders (I won’t use the word “afraid” just in case he reads this), I am the resident spider killer.… more
People who shape us
| April 19, 2013 | Everyday, Faith |
There is no way of knowing all the people and all the ways those people have affected our lives or for them to know that they have. Little things that they did over the years or maybe in just one moment that forever changed who we are. Things that made us better people, things that… more
Pepino Melon and Cauliflower
| April 18, 2013 | Gardening |
Today I started Pepino Melon and cauliflower seeds inside. Both were ordered from Baker Creek. They were generous with the tomato seeds, the Pepino Melon had 12 seeds, the packet says a minimum of 10. The cauliflower says a minimum of 200 and I didn’t count all of those I started doing some research on… more
Tried something new today!!!!
| April 16, 2013 | Crafts |
I still tended to my gardens and my little growing seedlings, but I also got to try something new today! I had so much fun learning how to use a long arm quilting machine!!!! I made a table runner to practice on and here is how it turned out…. I still need to trim off… more
Growing Pumpkins and saving seeds
| April 14, 2013 | Gardening |
Every year my younger daughter grows pumpkins and gourds. Her goal is to grow the biggest pumpkin possible, so this year she is going to focus on giving the pumpkins fertilizer and growing them on straw. But pumpkins don’t require anything fancy at all to grow. In fact, we started growing pumpkins years ago by… more
Happenings at The Kidney Patch
| April 14, 2013 | Gardening |
This weekend was beautiful, so it gave us a chance to do a lot of work in the gardens and yard. I was able to finish moving all the plain soil to the back yard, all that is left to move is the mushroom soil. I completely covered the area where I will be growing… more
Brillant Idea from one of my readers
| April 11, 2013 | Gardening |
Today I was reading through some of my post comments and one from Colleen is simply brilliant! She uses old BBQ grills for an herb garden. The more I think about it the more impressed I am with the idea. Grills are meant to be outside. They usually have lids or covers that can protect… more
More seeds planted
| April 11, 2013 | Gardening |
Today I started more seeds inside, Money Maker Tomatoes from Baker Creek. Since my other tomatoes took so well, I only planted one seed per pot this time. I’m so excited to see the progress of my other seeds! Day 8 of my water experiment Onions (on the left) and Tomatoes (on the right) Day… more
The Kidney Patch
| April 10, 2013 | Gardening |
I think I have settled on a name for my garden…. The Kidney Patch. Not everyone agrees, a particular friend came up with a very cute name, but most people wouldn’t “get it”. I still reserve the right to change my mind, but for now it is The Kidney Patch. Why the name? Many of… more
The seeds are sprouting!
| April 10, 2013 | Gardening |
Last night, while up late working, I noticed that my seeds are starting to sprout! I’m thrilled! There are strawberries growing, onions growing, and one lonely tomato plant growing. Today while moving more soil (I really am making progress, 7 scoops is a lot of soil to move) I got to enjoy the beauty of… more
