I should figure out how to label these updates. I also need to post the pictures I took. I’m writing content before adding that great media but here is my exciting container garden update!!!

I know you have all been wondering and tearing your hair out for the next installment of The Container Garden – How Not To…

All kidding aside here is the update.

Carrots: I don’t know where these are. Seriously. My sister says I they come up as little tiny sprigs reminiscent of tiny chives but mine are so tiny there are almost invisible. She has bigger ones in her kitchen window. My verdict is still out on these. I have some mini tom thumb variety growing.

Corn: The corn sprouted so fast I’m a proud mama. I need to thin them now as my little Peanut and I planted 3 per hole. They have two long leaves each. These are also in the Garden Patch pot.

Cucumbers: My first two transplants died. I have another growing in my office but I’m not sure I even want to continue with him. I may put him in my rogue pot. More on that later.

Herbs: My aunt gave me one of those dollar store herb selections and I planted the whole pack in a pot. I’m not even sure what it was. It’s growing kind of. We’ve had a ton of rain so I had to move the water drain catcher thingsy from under most non-self watering pots.

Lettuce: We’ve eaten all of the transplants bought from Whole Foods…or is it Wild Oats? Oh well. My family says this was not a true  test of my gardening skills because they were already doing so well when I purchased them. My indoor flat is not doing well. I put it in more light but I think I’m going to scrap the indoor lettuce. The seeds I started in a pot (non-self watering) with some onions are doing really well. This was a mix from Seedsavers.org. I’m going to sow some more in a week or so to have continuous lettuce for a while.

Onions: These just baffle me. They are doing so well in a pot that I forgot to put the bottom on. They are big and I’m just going to leave them alone. I don’t even remember if I added fertilizer (keep notes unlike me). These were the onions I bought in a bunch at the beginning of the growing season. I put some more out a few weeks ago since they seem to like pots.

Potatoes: I am just so tickled at the potatoes. We have… well four pots actually but one is just

a very small pot I started so my daughter could really see the potatoes. We have 3 big Smart Pots on the ground and they are doing really well in there. We covered them with the next layer of peat moss/ soil mix.  We are following this method pretty much to the T. Just using Smart Pots instead of barrells.

Strawberries: These poor babies have been in a pot most of their lives. I’ve been carrying them around as we move hoping to put them in our backyard when we finally buy a home. I purchased them before I got married so they are about 12 years old now. They are in a Garden Patch pot and have several flowers on each little plant. I’m glad they didn’t give up on me.

Tomatoes: Tomaotes. So tempermental but so worth it. I have my second transplants outside permanently as of Sunday. So far so good. One did go and break in half on me so I gave that to my daughter who was making ’soup’.  My first set all turned into my version of lazy compost except one plant which had hardened up and was growing well. It actually has a flower on it. Replace the Gold Medal I lost today. I don’t know which variety it is though so this will be interesting. All the tomotoes are in Garden Patch planters.

I have one rogue Garden Patch pot where I put thinnings and odds and ends to see what will happen. I really shouldn’t be wasting a self watering container like this but my husband and I like to do things like this for surprises.

We have the potatoes out. They are in Smart Pots. I purchased 3.2 15 gallon and one 30 gallon. I’m trying German Butterball potatoes from Seed Savers. We’ll see how they do. According to the potato in a pot article I linked to earlier you start off with the soil halfway and then fill it as the plants grow. I won’t tell you how I planted potatoes the first time many years ago. It’s a wonder they grew at all and the reason I read so much.

We had a really warm day here early in the week and since my little almanac thingy says that the end of April is supposed to be a good time to plant after the last frost I went for it and transplanted my tomatoes, cucumbers and we started the corn….big mistake.

First off I was replanting a cuban oregano for my mom and I made the grave error of setting the pot on the banister right above a tomato plant. It promptly fell off and beheaded the plant.

Secondly the next day we experienced cold wet weather complete with heavy winds. Since you only plant two plants per pot about 4 of mine look like wilted lettuce. Extremely wilted lettuce.

Thank goodness a few weeks ago I had a feeling I was going to have problems with my first batch of tomato seeds so I started some more. They are growing nicely under the lamp.

Thirdly the cucumbers just died period in the wind. They couldn’t take it at all and it’s hard not to burst out laughing whenever I look at them. I’m only planted two plants and even though I wasn’t committed to them I think I’ll try again after reading a bit more about them.

The onion starts are doing well considering they are all in too shallow of pots. I’m just leaving them and I’ll see what happens. If nothing else we have some nice green onions.

The carrots have sprouted but I have some teeny round ones I would have rather planted than the Nantes that I did plant.

The strawberries continue to do well and it will be interesting to see what they produce. It’s been so long that I’ve had them I’ve forgotten what variety they are. Either June bearing or ever bearing. I think they are the ones that produce twice a year but then I think I say that every year. I have moved with them 5 times over the last 15 years and have been keeping them in a rather too small pot until they find their permanent home. They still aren’t home but I decided then needed a better pot.

My lettuce in a pot indoors has sprouted and well…we’ll see. The lettuce out doors (the ones from starts) are doing well and we had some amazing turkey with Caeser dressing sandwiches last week with them. There wasn’t enough for an all out salad yet so we just had them on some sandwiches.

The main thing is we’re having a blast. Yes it would be nice if something actually came from all this but I did not use all of my seeds so there’s always next year. Well that’s my update so far.

So the last time I bought lettuce in the grocery store my little nice bag of freshly washed lettuce went bad well before the expiry date.

I thought about buying the lettuce that is still growing in the little pod thingy but then I decided that I really wanted my own lettuce. You know from my own home. Sometime in 2007 I posted about how a serious gardening friend of mine harvested her own lettuce through the winter from her back porch so I thought I would grow my own lettuce.

Well I really didn’t know what I was doing and really didn’t read about it. Sadly my daughter and I just sowed a few seeds in a miserly fashion in a couple of pots that let us (lettuce Hahahah!) know mad they were by not really taking off.

So I sent an SOS call to my friend and she gave me a few tips on having a better harvest.

Whilst we await the new shipment of lettuce seeds I went and bought some organic lettuce starts which we transplanted this morning. You can see them below…

This is Romain and Butter Crunch. Shortly after I placed them outside it rained kind of heavy so they look flattened. I’m wishing them well and moving on.

Oh a little tid bit on my potting mixture. I’m feeling rather farmer like these days as my garage is packed with potting mix, lime, vermiculite, fertilizer etc.

So the salad greens are in a mix of potting soil, vermiculite, and peat moss with a dollop of fertilizer. I mixed like I cook and so it’s pretty much a third of each (except fertilizer) with a little less of the vermiculite.
I’ll let you know how it does. I did the same with a teeny pot of cilantro I’m messing with.

Meanwhile I also landed upon this blog post… Growing Lettuce Indoors and decided to give that a try. I had about 25 seeds of a lettuce mixture from seedsavers.org left over so I used that. Just go to the url and look up lettuce mixture. There is only one (unless you’re a member). That’s the one I used and I’m giving that a try below…

Stay tuned…

My husband and I like meals like this and it seems with the economy many people like and need meals like this.

Much like many of us tend to do with the large Thanksgiving turkey chef Jose Andres uses the slim 4 minute cooking slot on the Today show to dish up four delicious family meals from one chicken.

Starting with a yummy sauteed chicken breast dish he ends it all with the famous Spanish dish Paella.

If you’re trying to stretch your grocery budget ideas like this are valuable and timely.

Never toss a chicken carcass again!

Read the full story along with recipes here.

Have I shared our family favorite bread recipe with you? As with most of my recent baking favorites it comes from King Arthur’s recipe section and is called Honey Wheat Black Bread.

I found this recipe when I was looking to duplicate a bread that we had picked up that the local grocery store (they carry local products). Apparently the bakery that makes the bread went out of business or something and I was horrified.

The recipe makes 3 very soft delicious dark brown loaves. I omit the coffee and substitute molasses. I also add a teeny bit of flour to compensate. Since I’m using the bread machine to mix I can watch the dough to see how much more flour to add.

Enjoy ~ Honey Wheat Black Bread

Technically this could be a very long blog post. There is just so much information. But I will try to stay on point, make it short, and just set you up with good links.

This year I have decided to grow all of our vegetables in containers. There are a number of reasons but I won’t go into them.  I’ve heard you can do quite well in containers and since I had good success with the in ground garden I’m always up for a challenge.  So my Peanut and I have started the process.

We ordered our seeds from Seed Savers.  If you don’t know about them they are non-profit group of gardeners who share heirloom seeds. You can become a member or just buy from them. My very good friend is a member but I just bought from them without becoming one. I have to see how well I do first. It’s been a while since I did actual food gardening.

We purchased 3 kinds of tomatos, onions, potatoes (yes I’m going to try potatoes in a pot but they won’t come until fall), garlic (same as potatoes fall), corn (yup), lettuce, carrots and cucumbers.

We are using these Jiffy Greenhouse little pot things to start our seedlings. I thought about making some from newspaper and all that but at this stage of life I just need to get the job done so I bought these.

We have planted the tomato and onion seed.

Next we will be ordering our pots.

There are these new fangled pots out there for container gardening. The first ones we heard about were these. Then we saw the Earthbox and thought that was nifty. Yes it is expensive but you get the dirt too. And finally I opted for a combination of these and these.

Even though I took pictures of the seed starting I don’t think I will post any until we get the box stuff happening.

Okay somehow in following links and things, which I said I was going to cut back on considerably because you can get so caught up in reading about other’s lives that you forget you have your own, I came upon this great site…blog…site.

Pioneer Woman she calls herself, Ree is her name and food galore she dishes up. I admit to getting sidetracked by the how she met her husband story and attempting to learn new Photoshop tricks but the food is really what I was after.

I’ve been making her cookies rather regularly and she so lovingly makes up a printable pdf which came comes in quite handy.

I have my eye on the best lasagne ever who’s comments had me laughing out loud and the scrumptious looking rib eye steak which my husband will be ecstatic over.

Then! Oh then! I notice the up close and personal picture of a delectable piece of white cake with pink frosting!

Why oh why!

Now I’m a cake decorator by…hobby I guess. I bought myself the Wilton series when all my college friends where busy being social. I was in the kitchen struggling to make icing roses. I purchased my kitchen aid for my 21st birthday and my marble rolling pin for the 22nd. Yes I still have these items.

But truly what makes the cake is not the box mix you whip it up from. It is the license you take with ingredients and the light hand you use in putting it together.

As the official family celebration cake maker I’m always looking for new recipes to try.  Although I have been told that there will be a strike if I dare try to replace the old family secret celebration cake recipe which if I post they (family) will have to ship me off somewhere. So alas… you’ll have to guess.

BUT!

…also being a cake decorator a picture in Ree’s sidebar landed me here where I got lost again.

Bakerella. I have just begun to dig into her site but aside from being all about cake she’s got these darling cupcake pops which I think kids would adore making.

I’ve gone on long enough. Do enjoy the links.

Who doesn’t love cookies and around this time of year cookies seem to be on the agenda for everyone. In addition to be a great bonding time for parents with their children and friends and relatives cookies are just plain delicious and fun to make.

Here are my top cookie picks

Classic Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies courtesy of King Arthur These cookies are deliciously crunchy. I used barley flour in the recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookies courtesy of King Arthur my husband and I love these. Soft and chewy they don’t last long.

Wilton Roll Out Cookie Recipe These are a favorite with friends and family and they make a good kitchen activity for kids. The almond extract gives it a yummy hint of flavoring. Don’t forget to frost them with the easy Poured Cookie Icing

Washboard Cookies Courtesy of Taste of Home => These are really good and even better with a few changes. I started doctoring them up a bit and substituting some of the flour with ground hazelnuts. About 1/4 cup. Ground almonds will also work.

I hope you have some lovely holiday baking ahead.

We love salad but the lettuce always wilts too soon. I try to only shop once a week so this has been a bit of a bother. But! Alas! Working from a tip in one of Emilie Barnes’ books.
I now have been able to save my lettuce a full week (we eat it by then) without the inevitable wilt.

So here is my method…

You will need a plastic food bag. I use freezer bags because they are so much sturdier and I can wash and re-use them. Some paper towels and your preferred lettuce! Oh and water. Yes! To wash your lettuce in. Let us begin…

First wash and dry your lettuce. I actually fill my sink (after cleaning it) and dump all the lettuce in there. Swishing heavily. I then drain it on paper towels or the less wasteful me lays it out on waffle weave kitchen cloths (as above). I do have one of those windy things but it’s put away so far I want to get rid of it. Emily Barnes says put it in the spin cycle in your washing machine. I can’t do that. I have a front loader and if I did that my lettuce would be smoosh!

Next get your paper towels ready. These will be at the bottom of your bag.

I use about 2 nice thick ones from Costco.

Fold your paper towels in half and place them at the bottom of your bag.

Mine has been through a few washing as you can see.

Now place your semi dry leaves in the bag. Mine always have a few droplets of water still on them.

The paper towels serve to soak up that excess liquid.

The lettuce bagged and ready to go.

• Place two more folded paper towels on top and voila! Place the closed bag in your fridge and enjoy lettuce a wee bit longer.

Depending on how much lettuce I’ve worked with sometimes I’ll replace the paper towels mid week.

Enjoy!