Gardening | This Organic Process

About Time the Sun Was Shining Again

May 9, 2013 | Comments Off | by Ben Czajkowski | Gardening

It’s been almost a year since I made my last post. No real reason why I stopped posting; mostly, it was that life put a lot in front of me, and it was this (part of the) hobby that got the axe. With life evolving, I had to put something down.

Since my last post

I’ve moved. Twice. The second time from Baltimore, MD, down to Greensboro, NC. Anyone that’s moved can attest to how much of a stressful and time consuming process that this is.
My wife and I bought a brand new home. Like, literally, it had just finished being built. It’s a work in progress, still, however.
We had our first child, Liam, in September. He’s now my favorite growing thing. And for now, he’s thriving in a soil-less medium (because he’d eat it).

Liam in his jumper

Now that we’re established and settling in, comfortably, I’ve been able to redirect my focus back to gardening, growing, and the challenges that go along with this hobby. Hopefully, 2013′s season will be better than 2012…

2012 Gardening Setup

We moved at the tail end of the gardening season. Baltimore’s summer was miserably hot, bug infested, and it couldn’t decide if it was going to stay wet or dry. This absolutely obliterated my tomato crops; I got virtually no cucumbers for pickling; and the mosquitoes made going outside a chore rather than an enjoyment.

This year, I am focusing on, mostly, peppers. I get more of an enjoyment out of growing them, I’ve had much less of a struggle with them vs. tomatoes, and I just don’t want to deal with the endless hardships that tomatoes seem to bring me. PLUS, I don’t like raw tomatoes.

2013 Pepper Seedlings

So, to start this year, I’ve started my garden with:

-Red Beauty Bell Peppers (from seed)
-Chinese Five-Color Peppers (from seed)
-Tabasco Peppers (from seed)
-Red, Yellow, and Orange Mini Bell Peppers (from seed)
-Fish Pepper (bought a seedling because of the awesome looking leaves)
-Sweet Mint (bought because it was cheap)
-Peppermint (bought for my wife so she could distill its oils)
-Sweet Basil (bought because it’s delicious)
-Rosemary (bought so that we can use it in everything from hair conditioner to olive oil)

The seedlings are not doing well. Greensboro weather has not been as warm as I’d have hoped.

Massive Tree Branch Down!

May 28, 2012 | Comments Off | by Ben Czajkowski | Gardening

While the wife and I were enjoying the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center14390 Air & Space Museum and a game of Empire Builder last night, a band of storms rolled through the Baltimore area. While were were in DC for it, last night, when we awoke this morning, we were greeted by a massive part of the tree, in our backyard, no longer being … upright.

View of the tree from my second story

In the bottom right is a 6-foot pole for my Cascade hops. That will give you some perspective on just how big this tree is–was.

Sadness! Tree branch down

Blue Spice Basil Memorial Day Harvest Monday – 05-28-2012

May 28, 2012 | 7 Comments | by Ben Czajkowski | Gardening

One of the best parts of gardening in a community is sharing harvests with everyone. Since we can’t really hand each other butternut squashes or cuttings of a giant bush of rosemary, we take pictures, measure weights, and post them over at Daphne’s Dandelions. Because she’s AWESOME.

This week, I only have one herb to report. My attempts to start some spring spinach didn’t quite go… well. Regardless, my Aerogarden produced some absolutely delicious Blue Spice Basil, seeds that I received for free from Wintersown.org.

Blue Spice Basil Harvest

Harvested: 1/4 oz of delicious

My basil plant was beginning to grow a bit too aggressively, outpacing the other plants in the Aeorgarden. So, I cut half of the stem off to harvest this quarter ounce, after doing some quick research to make sure I wasn’t going to end the plant’s life. I layered it on fresh Italian bread with thinly sliced baby Swiss cheese, pepperoni, salami, and turkey. I cracked some pepper on there, as well, onto a thin layer of Mayonnaise.

What a great sandwich. I meant to snap a picture, but the sandwich didn’t last long enough.

So far, the basil has been some of the weirdest seeds that I’ve seen sprout. The sequence is below:

The Blue Spice Basil seeds are tiny

Those black specs form translucent sacs

The blue spice basil's radicles begin to show

And the blue spice basil emerges

Growing quickly

Sticking above the growing medium

Taking over their world

The final, delicious blue spice basil product

Transitioning Seedling Outdoors for Summer 2012

May 12, 2012 | 1 Comments | by Ben Czajkowski | Gardening

Hiding in my basement for the last six-plus weeks have been my seedlings. They’ve been waiting for their time to move outdoors, gathering strength from fluorescent lighting. I’ve been passive about getting them outdoors to harden off, afraid that Baltimore was still due for another frost. It has been chilly in the evening, but the days are now consistently in the 70s.

The seedlings will start spending the next few days outdoors as I finish setting up their sub-irrigated (AKA self-watering, SIPs) planters. I’m going to roll with a new design that I thought up late one night, for about 10 of the seedlings.

Moving Seedlings Outside

While hanging out in the basement, one of the tomato plants have already started fruiting!

First Tomato of 2012

I do have a problem, though. I have almost 50 seedlings and not nearly enough space to accommodate as much as I want:

Tomatoes: ~25 seedlings
Gourd-like vine-y things: ~15 seedlings
Peppers: ~10 seedlings

The peppers are lagging far behind everything else, except for the paprika peppers in my Aerogarden.

Paprika Pepper Plants

Thinking About Fall Garden and Summer 2013 – A Great Groupon Deal On Seeds

May 3, 2012 | 4 Comments | by Ben Czajkowski | Gardening

After the rabid success of the Great Seed Giveaway of 2012, I am now mostly depleted in my seed stock. Which is exactly what I wanted. Now, it’s time to refresh! The best time to do that would probably be at the end of the season, when stores and retailers are trying to get rid of their stock.

Groupon Seed Deal

However, today Groupon is running a fantastic sale on seeds. For $25, you get TWENTY!! different varieties of seeds, and they’re not being stingy with the seeds either. Here’s the breakdown:

Variety	Seed Count
Blue Lake Bush Bean	Over 150 seeds
California Wonder Bell Pepper	Over 70 seeds
Scarlet Nantes Carrot	Over 800 seeds
Marketmore Cucumber	Over 150 seeds
Parris Island Cos Romaine Lettuce	Over 900 seeds
Golden Acre Cabbage	Over 530 seeds
Detroit Dark Red Beet	Over 260 seeds
Lincoln Shell Sweet Pea	Over 100 seeds
Lucullus Swiss Chard	Over 160 seeds
Beefsteak Tomato	Over 180 seeds
Champion Radish	Over 320 seeds
Green Sprouting Broccoli	Over 500 seeds
Waltham Butternut Winter Squash	Over 100 seeds
Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach	Over 260 seeds
Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion	Over 145 seeds
Golden Bantam Sweet Corn	Over 250 seeds
Hales Best Cantaloupe	Over 70 seeds
Snowball Cauliflower	Over 285 seeds
Black Beauty Zucchini	Over 50 seeds
Crimson Sweet Watermelon	Over 60 seeds

Some of you might recognize that I was giving away some of these seeds. Right now, I am interested in the broccoli, radishes, peas, and beats, all of which would be good for a baby and toddler, which I am expecting in the Fall, 2012.

This is a great deal for those who really want to branch out what they’re growing, a CSA, and for those who have a community garden to sustain and/or participate in. What’s great is that you can buy three of these, get 60 packets of good seeds for $75, shipping included. Then, you’re set for years to come, if you store the seeds correctly.

If you’re new to Groupon and decide to buy, please use my referral link. You don’t have to, but I would appreciate it:

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu3751450

Happy growing!

March 2012 Was Warmest On Record

April 9, 2012 | 1 Comments | by Ben Czajkowski | Gardening

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) crunched the numbers and found that this past March was the hottest on record, since temperatures were recorded, in 1895. What does a single month of warm temperatures really mean? Probably not much without a context of manipulative numbers of surround it. So far this year, the global means have been pretty mundane.

Just how many record highs were set, in this great nation?

15,000. Fifteen and three zeros.

March Temperature Breakdowns

The high temperatures kicked off an unusually early spring cluster of tornadoes in the Midwest. It also sent us gardeners scrambling to get Spring crops into the ground and prepping our summer plants.

It’s also left me worrying what to expect for the rest of the year… I’m not sure my pregnant wife can handle 100 days of 100+ degree days.

Advanced Sub-Irrigated Planters – A Few Videos

April 5, 2012 | 3 Comments | by Ben Czajkowski | Gardening

Since I started gardening, in 2008, I’ve focused my growing methods, mostly, on sub-irrigated planters (AKA SIPs, AKA self-watering planters). These re-purposed buckets and containers wick water from a reservoir, driving the roots downward and building a stronger plant and creating better fruit production, for the most part.

Every year, my methods have evolved a little bit, as I refine the process. Here are a few videos that I’ll probably base my system off of, this year. I am looking to make a closed-looped water distribution chain of sub-irrigated planters.

Make A Gardening Apron From Old Jeans

April 2, 2012 | 1 Comments | by Ben Czajkowski | Do It Yourself - Gardening (DIY), Gardening

If you’re in the process of doing Spring Cleaning, odds are, at some point, you’re going to hit your closet and find a pair of pants you don’t want anymore.

If you’re like me, you have a favorite pair of jeans that you just can’t part with. Well, Chow.com has an easy way of turning them into a gardening apron, perfect for carrying stuff around.

A pair of cargo pants works just as well, though…

How I Truly Feel About Squirrels

March 26, 2012 | 1 Comments | by Ben Czajkowski | Gardening

Little buggers…

Squirrels Represented on Draw Something

Five Resources On How To Make Soil Blocks For Seed Starting

March 26, 2012 | 1 Comments | by Ben Czajkowski | Do It Yourself - Gardening (DIY), Gardening

One of the best things about the gardening community is the sheer willingness to share information, walk through step by step how to solve a problem, and the overall good-natured support provided.

This Spring, there have been a bunch of solid guides for making seed starting soil blocks. While I’m content with making use of my Aerogarden for its hydroponic seed starting or the Jiffy pods, one of the most common methods for getting gardening going is by using soil blocks (pictured below).

Soil Blocks

Here are five links that you should read, use, and bookmark:

1. Daphne’s Dandelions – Soil Block Tutorial: I’m hesitant to use this word, but what an epic post by the Harvest Monday ringleader. She really covers the process, end to end, everything from soil to using a commercial blocker.

2. Annie’s Kitchen Garden: I’m sharing this one because she goes through, step by step, on how to make a soil blocker from pieces from your local hardware store or that you might have in your basement. As a huge supporter of ‘found-gardening’, I recommend this since it re-purposes discarded items.

3. From my bookmarks, Instructables has another guide for making a beefier soil blocker. Another potential for re-purposing.

4. Treehugger.com’s John Laumer has another great step-by-step guide with clear and concise photography.

5. Gardening Channel’s post has a great list on how to improve the longevity of your soil blocks.

Bonus video:

While I love soil blocks for their use-of-use factor, they do take time to make. However, they help reduce clutter and waste that you would get from buying seed flats, from your local hardware store or gardening center. Soil blocks are extremely easy to transplant. Plus, you can make bigger blocks and transplant the smaller cubes to fit inside the bigger ones. It’s like a puzzle! Or not.

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