Last year in honor of #SuperSowSunday I posted about starting seeds outdoors under umbrella greenhouses, which is incredibly successful in my climate.  As part of Delish Magazine’s Spring issue, I also wrote a piece on seed starting which I thought I would share here.  Enjoy!

Seed Starting 101: 

Start your own seeds this spring and revel in your gardening wizardry

“I made this!”, I gloat while serving up a dish made entirely of food that I grew in my garden. Well, “gloat” is probably not the right word. I prance around like the fantastical wizard I am, cheering about my mad skills in making real food from tiny seeds. It took me months. I had some fatalities. But overall, it’s fairly simple to grow from seeds. And more importantly, it’s awesome.  Here are some basics for staring your own seeds at home.

Choose Your Seeds
Starting seeds early in the season is a great way to save money on annuals, which are flowers, herbs, and vegetables that will flower or fruit in the first year. More advanced propagatrixes could also start perennials from seed in many cases, but it is a more difficult and time consuming process as perennials may need many months, or years, to reach the size of a nursery plant.

Seed companies in your area should sell the right seeds for your climate, but do make sure that you pick the right plants for your experience level. If you’re a seedling yourself when it comes to propagation, don’t bother starting watermelons in Northern Ontario. Many seed companies will also list a difficulty rating that will help to guide you.

Read the Packet
Following the instructions on the seed packet will give you the best possible start unless the growing directions read like my radicchio, “sow seeds a few days after a moonless night”, which may as well be gibberish. The majority of seed instructions will list everything you need to start seeds, like when and where to sow, planting depth and spacing, special watering requirements and days to germination. Some will also list special information like germination temperatures, repeat sowing, transplanting, and thinning. Following the instructions gives you the best chance of success, so those map-hating-instruction-scoffing types out there best pack away your stubbornness for this project.

Containers
You can start seeds in just about anything you can find around the house that will create a mini-greenhouse, or you can buy all sorts of interesting setups to best suit your needs.

Greenhouse Kits
Many different greenhouse kits are available now. Most will have a plastic tray with a clear plastic greenhouse dome. Some come with a soilless mixture for starting seeds like peat pellets that expand to a mini seed pot when soaked in water, others may have coconut fiber pots that you can be transplant right along with your seedling. Others may even have a heat mat that gently warms soil to improve germination.

The beauty of these kits is that you can start a large number of seeds individually in one tray (up to 72) and many are made for small spaces like windowsills. The drawback is that the seedlings will need to be replanted either in the garden or a larger pot in a few weeks. Leaving seedlings in small pots with no nutrition will cause unwanted stress to the plants.

Seed-Starting Trays
Garden retailers will sell many different types of professional grade seed starting trays, domes, and inserts with features like root training, moisture control, automatic watering, and grow lighting. Certainly many of these features have value in starting the year’s plants off on the right foot and can be used over and over.

Household Items
An inexpensive and creative way to start seeds is to use household items as seed containers. Lining a seed tray with pots made from toilet paper tubes, newspaper, or egg cartons will cost nothing. At times your family may think you’ve gone mad given how excited you will become when you get to take home the plastic cake dome from the party. But come on, that’ll make a really great greenhouse dome, right? Search for biodegradable paper products you can plant right in the ground or food safe plastic containers you can use as mini-greenhouses for your containers if you are on a budget.

Growing Medium
You can buy a pre-made seed starter soil or you can make your own with a mix of three parts peat, two parts compost, and ten percent perlite. This mixture is light and holds moisture well, so it is wonderful for helping seeds germinate. All growing mediums will need some time to absorb water, so add moisture and let it soak in for an hour before planting.

Be sure to use sterile mix if you are starting seeds indoors. Soil or compost from the garden will bring in all sorts of critters like soil gnats which will drive you freakin’ crazy as you run around your propagation trays like a mad person swatting and squashing an endless supply of teeny tiny flies.

Moisture
Germination will be best in a moist environment for most seeds, so keeping the soil damp and a greenhouse dome on top will keep the right amount of humidity for optimal germination. Keep the soil from drying out by checking it daily. Water gently, from the bottom where possible, so as to not damage the seedlings about to emerge.

Dampening Off
Dampening off is a term for a fungal growth which looks like fuzzy hairs on the stem of the seedling. This fungal growth will kill the seedling so it’s bad, real bad. To prevent dampening off, occasionally spray with a bottle of 3% food grade hydrogen peroxide and vent the greenhouse dome on a regular basis to regulate humidity.

Light
Seeds won’t need light until they emerge from the surface of the soil, but then they will need strong sunlight for most of the day to prevent them from becoming leggy (overly tall and spindly = weak). You can supplement a lack of sunlight with florescent lighting, either buying a set of grow lights made for seed staring or by making your own with florescent shop lights.

Thinning
Generally the seed instructions will suggest you plant 2-3 seeds per pot and thin out all but the strongest. This seems to be the thing that some gardeners have the hardest time with. If three strong tomato seedlings have popped up in one tiny peat pot, then the gardener rushes off to get tweezers and separate out the three wee plants and re-pots them all. More inexperienced gardeners may damage each plant giving none a strong chance at survival, so it’s best that you grab a clean pair of scissors and snip all but the strongest seedling in each pot and be done with it.

Hardening Off
As the seedlings grow into plants and the date to plant outside is getting near, it’s time to start hardening them off, or toughening them for their natural environment. I like to start by opening a window a few hours a day so they get a breeze. Then start moving the trays outside, out of direct sunlight, for a few hours. Start at one hour and gradually increase to a full day outside. By the time your plant date has arrived, you can safely transfer your tough little soldiers directly into the ground, with some delicious compost and a thorough watering, to brave the elements on their own.

Seed starting is such an interesting and magical process, especially for children, so it’s the perfect activity to do as a family this coming spring. The months that you’ve spent germinating and raising seedlings will be a series of trial and error, so expect some loss. Not every seed will germinate, not every seedling will survive being transplanted, and not every kind of plant will do well in your garden.

The gains will be clear when you have piles of leafy greens taking up every inch of your windowsills bursting to get outside. Starting the plants off yourself ensures you are in charge of the health of the plant and can control what goes into it. And the satisfaction you’ll feel from starting your own seeds is tremendous.

from Delish Magazine Spring 2011

This project may be submitted to these wonderful link ups.

• Green peas for micro greens x 2
• Black oil sunflower seeds for micro greens x 2
• Violetto Artichoke (and Italian heritage variety) x 2
• Eggshells for seed starters

Even though my gardening knowledge has a great foundation and soon you will have to call me “Master” (which I swear is not the only reason I’m taking the course), the library trips haven’t stopped or even slowed down.  Just today I picked up a bunch of new books with sewing projects as I hone my skills at my machine.  Plus I have a great big pile of wonderful gardening and garden-related craft books that I’ve been sent to review.

This is the inspiration that brewed the new Garden Therapy Book Club that will be launching, heck, let’s launch right now!

I’m not totally sure what the book club will look like in a few months time, but for now I’ll start with this: I’ll select a book every week or so to feature and review.  I’ve spent a fair bit of time out there searching for great books and interesting projects so I have a large selection to get us started.  If the book has projects in it I’ll give one or two of them a try and post the results.  Then, you can get a feel for if the book would be a fun for you as well, and maybe inspire you to get out for a little garden therapy.  All the books I recommend will be on this Pinterest board so you can find them easily.

If you decide to get a book on the reading list, get in touch with your review, thoughts whatever.  You can leave a comment, send some photos, or send a link to a project you tried from the book and I’ll post them up here.

Here’s a Disclaimer:  I do fully support using the library or buying the book wherever you prefer.  That being said, I will add links to the books on Amazon and if you buy the book from there I will get a small commission.  No pressure.  Anything that I make will just to help pay for new books and materials for my projects, the tutorials on this site for which I provide for free.   Some of the books are sent to me for review as well, which will not affect my review of the book.  If I love the book or hate it, I’ll disclose either way.  Never fear, I’m not doing this to generate great gobs of income (ha!) and will not be “pushing” books.  The goal is to have fun and I hope you will join me.

Now, for our very first book club selection check out A Green Guide to Natural Beauty: 35 step-by-step projects for homemade beauty by Karen Gilbert.  Based on the popularity of the Natural Skincare Series of recipes that were posted before the holidays, I though this would be a great place to start.  Look for a review to come next week, with a project tutorial from the book.

 Please chime in if you plan to grab a copy and want to share your thoughts.

{From left: sprouting spelt berries, sunflower seeds, and alfalfa / radish / red clover mix; the Fresh Life Automatic Sprouter; the whirling sprinker is a hit with the under 4 crowd.}

As I was organizing all of my packets of seeds for the garden this coming season, I started feeling overwhelmed with the idea that I could very possibly be a garden hoarder.   I have a lot more seeds than I can possibly grow this year, or any year for that matter.  It seems reasonable then to sprout the suckers now and eat them before I have to call A&E and register for the show.

Link ups for this project here.

PS: I buy my seeds from West Coast Seeds but you can also find them online here.

The concept behind this DIY came from 4 different ideas melded into one relaxing project:

1.  The container of lavender that I harvested this year has inspired many a project.

2.  I had some left over popcorn from making door socks a few weeks ago.  Popcorn has the perfect weight and feel for eye pillows, it doesn’t go rancid like flax and some other fillers, and it’s cheap.   Also, you can heat it in the microwave (so I hear) and it won’t pop.   Now since I don’t have a microwave, I can only assume that it won’t pop because you won’t heat it long enough.  So microwave for only 30 seconds or so and let me know how it turns out.

3. I saw a great tutorial on how to print on fabric on Modern Day Moms that I HAD to try.

4. Seinfeld is awesome.

Materials for one eye pillow:

• linen or other scrap fabric measuring 10”x 10”
• 1 cup dried popcorn
• 1 heaping tbsp dried lavender
• Ink jet printer
• Freezer Paper
• Sewing machine or needle and thread

Directions:

1.  First, fold your fabric in half and print one of the sides following the directions here.  That being said, I didn’t follow that tutorial, I just taped the fabric to a sheet of paper and fed it through my printer.  Let me be clear, I DO NOT RECOMMEND doing it that way.  It worked beautifully for me, but it can really mess up your printer so unless, like me, you want to print on fabric more than you care about your printer, do not try it at home.

2.  Fold and iron a hem on the sides of the fabric.

3.  Folding the fabric so that the back of the is on the outside (print inside), sew the long side of the together.  Turn right side out and sew one of the ends together.

4. Fill the bag with 1 generous cup of popcorn and 1 heaping tablespoon of lavender.  Adjust quantities for your personal tastes.

5. Push all the filling toward the end of the bag, and pin about halfway to help prevent popcorn from creeping towards the open end.  Sew the open end closed and you’re all done!

Thanks for visiting for the weekend’s project which may also be submitted to these parties.

To celebrate the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival the VCBF is putting on a Cherry Blossom Umbrella Flash Mob Dance complete with pink umbrellas!  Part Bollywood and part Singing’ in the Rain, this upbeat flash mob is sure to be a blast for those who participate!   Sign up at: www.vcbf.ca .

Materials:

• Flour sack tea towels (ironed)
• Fabric Paint
• Paint roller / brushes
• Linoleum block or rubber stamp
• Old towel and large plastic bag (freezer bags are good, plastic shipping envelope used here)
• Paint tray (top of a salad box used here)
• Iron

Directions:

1.  Mix up your paint colour using fabric paints which are intended to heat set to withstand washing and use.  Roll jus

t a wee bit of paint onto your stamp or block.  A little goes a long, long way but too much paint will make your print gloopy (i.e.: bleed outside of your intended design).

2. Set up your printing area by folding the old towel over a few times and covering it with the plastic bag.  This is so there is a bit of give below the fabric you will be stamping, ensuring a nice even transfer.

3. On a piece of paper or some scrap fabric, do a test print on your bag/towel block to ensure you get the color and the amount of paint needed right.  I didn’t like the double stem on my original design so I adjusted the top before printing the fabric.  Like the results?  Then on to the next step.

4. Time to print your fabric!  Stamp it like you did the paper and set aside to dry.

5. The final step is to heat set your beautiful creations with a dry iron for about 5-10 minutes.  Once that’s done, your tea towel can be used, washed, and dried.

Here is the final design from the linoleum block that I carved (which by the way is also addictive!):

And here is the result from a rubber stamp:

This project may very well get included in the following wonderful parties.  Thanks for visiting!

Oh, and they are freakin’ adorable too!  Here’s how to make your own.

Materials:

• Socks – pick nice long ones.  Men’s woolly work socks are shown here, but knee socks would also be a great choice
• Dried popcorn
• Stuffing from old pillows, an old sweater, etc
• Fabric scrap
• Sewing machine or needle and thread

Directions:

1.  Measure the length of the doorway or window you would like to use the draft sock on.  Cut a length of fabric that is 1 inch longer than your measurement and 10 inches wide (you want the sock just slightly longer than the doorway, so it fits in snugly).  Fold the fabric in half and pin.  Using your sewing machine or needle and thread sew one end and the length of the fabric so that you have a long tube that is open at one end.

2. Fill tube alternately with dried popcorn and the stuffing you have chosen.  Popcorn is used for weight, but it is also inexpensive and won’t go rancid like some other dried goods.  The stuffing helps to give the sock a nice shape and insulates against the cold air. When the tube is really packed full all the way to the end, pin the end and sew it shut.

3. Turn socks inside out and sew the heels straight so that when the sock is covering the tube, the heels don’t protrude.

4. Pull the sock over your hand still inside out.  Grab the end of the filled tube with your sock hand and unfold the sock over the tube.

5. Add the second sock of the pair to the other end, and overlap the first sock.

That’s it!  An easy, cheap, effective, and stylish door sock in no time at all.

I’ll be linking this post to these wonderful parties.

   Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2  tsp baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, very cold and cut into cubes
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• Zest of 2 organic lemons
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup cream
• Juice of 2 organic lemons
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking pan with parchment and sprinkle it with flour. Measure out and combine the milk, cream, lemon juice and vanilla. Stir and let sit while you measure the dry ingredients, it will become thick and a bit separated – that’s OK!  Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the butter and gently cut the butter in using a pastry knife until it is somewhat mixed in and chunks of butter are still visible.  More butter chunks = flakier scone.   Add lemon zest and milk mixture to the flour mix and gently combine.  Gently fold in frozen blueberries.  Pour dough out onto a floured surface and very lightly knead only about 5 times being careful not to melt the butter or blueberries. Dough will not be completely mixed, but if it feels equally moist all around, and not overly sticky, it’s ready to shape.

Shape the dough into 2 equal balls and flatten to 3/4″ thick on the floured parchment or pan.  Using a knife slice each circle into 6 wedges and carefully pull the wedges away from the center to separate them to 1/2″ space around the outer edges.   Bake until golden about 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Makes 12 extra large scones

First made last winter, the jars were quickly gobbled up as it is my all-time-favorite jam of all time.  Then in the summer when raspberries were ripe and ready, I hunted for blood oranges.  In this day and age of abundance I though someone might stock a few.  Nope.  I settled for making the recipe with cape gooseberries and it was good.  Just not my all-time-favorite of all time.

But now it’s time, my friends, time for blood orange and raspberry jam.  Finally.  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• enough  blood oranges to get 4 cups freshly-squeezed juice
• 4 cups raspberries
• 3-4 cups sugar (this really depends on your preferences and how sweet the fruit is) I used 3 cups and my jam is perfectly sweet and tart
• cheesecloth

Directions: 

• Put a couple of plates in the freezer.
• Juice those bloody oranges until you get 4 cups.  Take all the membrane and seeds out of the peels and tie into a square of cheesecloth (I used a 4-ply thickness of cheesecloth, i.e. a large square folded in half twice).  Tie the ends of the cheesecloth around a large wooded spoon.  This is your pectin bag.
• Add juice to a large pot with the raspberries and sugar and bring to a boil on medium-high.  Stir frequently.  Hang bag of orange guts from the edge of the pot.  I rigged up something with a chopstick and a clip on the side of the pot, but the large wooden spoon works great too.
• When boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and continue boiling and stirring until reduced.   Remove pectin bag and let cool.  When cool enough to handle, squeeze the bag so that a creamy gel comes out of the pores of the cheesecloth – that’s your pectin!  Scrape the pectin back into the jam and stir.  Then you can discard the bag and membranes.

• Jam is ready when it passes the gel test: put a spoonful of the jam on a plate from the freezer.  When the jam has cooled, drag your finger through the middle of the glob.  If it spreads back into a puddle, it isn’t gelled yet.  If your finger mark stays put, then your jam is ready to be canned.
• Process 125ml (aka 1/2 cup) jars for 5 minutes, or 250ml (aka 1 cup jars) for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

In other news, just as these flavors came together organically, it seems that right at the same time I’m all ramped up about citrus, I have a few new Garden Therapy Handmade pillows to launch.  This one seemed particularly fitting to announce today, given the citrus-y color of the crocosmia blooms.  For those of you who haven’t yet, please visit the Garden Therapy Handmade shop and take a look at all the bright-colored blooms.  Hopefully they will bring some cheer to your winter’s days.

I’ll be linking this post to these wonderful parties.