Spring Plant Sale

It has been another amazing year of friendship and growing at the greenhouse.  And the members have been busier than ever.  We still have all the awesome tomatoes but we have new friendships blooming.  There are many new members and many new flowers, lantana and blue fan flower, cosmos and zinnia of various colors and heights, marigolds in yellow, orange and gold.
Members have been picking greens all winter; kale, swiss chard, frisee, lettuce and radishes have made many a delicious salad for working members to enjoy.  We have been meeting on Wednesdays and Saturdays at about 10:00.

Spring Plant Sale

Hillbilly Tomatoes waiting for a home !  Beautiful red, pink beefsteak streaked with yellow and orange.  This is just one of the many choices of heirloom tomatoes available.  Also there are hot and sweet peppers.  Jimmy Nardello, Yummy, and Alma Paprika are some of my favorites. 
The Spring Sale begins May 9th and lasts for the month. 
Everybody expects tomatoes, eggplants and peppers from the Greenhouse but this year we also have a great assortment of flowers and hanging baskets.  The members have been busy starting the tiny seeds and transplanting them into their pots where they wait for their final home.  On Wednesdays, the volunteers make soup and salad for lunch and share their plant knowledge.

Fall Festival

The Greenhouse is gearing up for its Fall Festival.  We will be working on Wednesday to spruce up the house and plant the rest of the lettuce.  We need volunteers for baking, and manning the booths.

Springtime in the Greenhouse

 The Ladies Have Arrived

This has been a tough year for aphids on the diplodenia.  We used several methods to control them.  Pruning, a hard spray of water and safer soap.  Now, it is all up to the lady bugs.  did you know that there are at least 200 kinds of aphids.  The ones on the diplodenia plants are orange.  Aphids reproduce sexually and asexually.  One female hatched in spring can produce thousands of decendants.  When a male is need they can change sex and produce eggs that can withstand winters harsh weather and if food gets scarce they grow wings and fly to a new plant. 

 

The greenhouse has been busy with volunteers starting pepper, tomato and eggplant seedlings.  the spring sale will begin the Saturday before Mother's Day May, 10th. 

 

 

We are also going to celebrate Earth Day with a festival on April 12th.  Come help us start squash and cukes or just peruse the plants and start planning your garden.  We will have paperwhites, violas and other flowers to buy and beans for the kiddies to start.



 

 

Herbed Vinegar

Add clean herbs to the bottle.  Wine bottles work well.

Some herb combinations:
Chive, tarragon, basil
Sage, rosemary, thyme
Basil, thyme, oregano
Basil, garlic chives
Tarragon, garlic chives

Fill the bottle with vinegar to within an inch of the top.  Make sure that the herbs are covered.  Let the vinegar steep for at least 2 weeks.  You can use any type of vinegar, but white vinegar is the best to preserve the flavor of the herbs.
Use within 6 months.

New Seedlings at the Greenhouse

What a crew we had today.  We have started the seeds for the hot peppers and most of the eggplants. We also planted a new lettuce bed.  We enjoyed a freshly made greenhouse salad with French bread and finished with cupcakes.  It was sunny and warm.  A little island of summer locked in a sea of ice! 
Here are some suggestions for starting seeds.

Guidelines for Starting Seedlings

1. The general rule is that seeds should have a sterile pot and potting mix with no fertilizer. Potting mixes prevent soil compaction and are free of insects, disease and weed seeds. A soil that is fine outside where nature can keep these pests at bay, would put your seedlings at risk of problems like damping off and cut worms, and compact soil makes it difficult for tender new roots to develop.

At the greenhouse, we use Promix which is a mixture of sphagnum moss, perlite, vermiculite, dolomite lime (to stabilize the pH) and a wetting agent for even water absorption.

Spagnum moss is well draining yet water retentive.

Perlite looks like styrofoam but is a volcanic mineral. It aids in air and water retention.
Vermiculite is a mica-type material that is heated and expanded. It holds water and nutrients until the plants are ready to use them.
Dolomite lime sweetens the mix which is naturally acidic.
The wetting agent makes it easier to wet the mix.

2. The potting mix should thoroughly damp but not soggy before using. If the soil is not wet place the tray on a soaker tray until the surface just begins to show the wetness. Don't let the mix get too wet or the seeds could rot.

3. Fill 6 packs with mix and gently tamp it down. About ¼ inch from top is good.  Put one seed in each compartment. Read the package for the seed depth. 1/8 to ¼ inch is typical depending on the size of the seed. Larger seeds are planted deeper, for example, beans are planted 2” deep. Some seeds need light to germinate and should be placed on the soil, others need darkness to germinate and are planted deeper.

4. Label each 6 pack with specific name, and date planted. Flower seeds should be marked with height. Zinnias and marigolds, for example, come in cut flower and border heights.

5.  Place seedling in a germination bed or on a heat mat or other warm place. It is important to read germination temperature. Some seeds germinate at cooler temperatures. Most vegetable like to germinate at about 75, but some flowers need lower temperatures.

6. Most seeds need to be kept moist to germinate. Check seeds in the germination bed to make sure the soil is damp and sand under the flat is also damp. Soggy soil can rot the seeds so it is important not to over-water.

6. Seeds in the germination bed have a humid environment because of the plastic cover. You can also do this with a plastic dome. It is a good idea to remove the plastic for a short time everyday to give the plants fresh air.

Betsy brought us a recipe to try with all the kale at the greenhouse.

 Kale Salad

This was one of the winning recipes from the Slow Food sponsored kale cook off & festival in 2011 at Mermaid Farm & dairy.

1 large bunch of kale (about 12 leaves) removed from the stalk
1 tsp coarse salt
11/2 tbls apple cider vinegar
1 tbls extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup toasted sunflower kernels
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1crisp apple, diced small


Tear or slice kale in thin strips.  In a large bowl, mix kale with salt & message vigorously for 3 minutes!!  This breaks down the fibers & releases some of the bitter flavor.  (This causes the kale to shrivel up & you have way less kale than you thought!!)  Toss with vinegar & evoo!  Add remaining ingredients & serve!!!

(If doubling recipe, do not double the amount of salt.....then it becomes too salty!!)

A popular cuke at the Greenhouse is the  heirloom lemon cucumber.  When fully ripe, it is a bright lemony color.  It’s small size makes it a great snack or perfect single serving in a salad.  It is never bitter but has a sweet crisp flavor.  When slightly under ripe, it is great for pickling.  I tried it in a recipe for freezer bread and butter pickles and they were terrific.  I shared they pickles with the greenhouse crew at our last Wednesday  worker’s lunch.  We also had Betsy’s dip and Ken’s famous hotdogs.

Here are the directions for the pickles:
Mix 4 cups of thinly sliced cucumbers with 1 very thinly sliced onion and 2 tsp salt. 
Let this sit in a colander for 2 hours.
Meanwhile combine 1-¼ cups of vinegar (apple or distilled) with ½ cup of honey in a sauce pan and heat until the honey is dissolved.
Add ½ tsp ground turmeric and ¼ tsp each of celery seeds, black pepper and ground mustard.  Let this cool.
Pack the cucumber mixture into glass jars leaving an inch at the top.  Pour in the brine to just barely cover the pickles.  Freeze.

Betsy Cabana brought a tomatillo and avocado dip.
Cut up 8 tomatillos and puree them with the juice of 1 lime, pepper and salt to taste, and one avocado. 
Dice another avocado and  a red onion and add to the pureed mixture to add some texture.