Yikes and Cheap New Seedling Stand

It's been a long time. We've been told it hasn't been this cold since 1989, freezing weather, all the way down to 19 degrees one night...YIKES....
every one's scrambling to protect animals and plants from four nights of freezing weather...

the citrus...

lettuce...

beets...

herbs...

cabbage...

I'm really not sure how much I'll have left when it all thaws out, but it's beautiful in it's own way while it lasts...

...but there's a lot at risk....we'll just have to wait and see what we have left...

...meanwhile in the cozy inside...my seeds are sprouting!!!

Byron built me a light, inexpensive A frame stand with a plant light. It's been way too cold to put the seedlings on the front porch like I usually do, and they were crowding up my limited kitchen counter space. This is working wonderfully. It's also collapsible and will store nicely in the loft of our shed until it's needed again next season.

See my little solar oven underneath waiting for a sunny day? I've planted my tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Everything else I direct seed in the garden.

Here's a close up of the top. See the hinges? The framed chicken wire shelf is held on with nails that slip in and out easily. You just remove the light and shelf, fold it up and it'll store nicely. It only took a couple of hours for Byron to make it.

The supplies were: 4-6 ft 1X2 boards, 2- 8ft 1X2 boards, 2 small utility hinges, 8- 1 1/2 inch nails, chicken wire, staples, plug in florescent light fixture ($9. something at home depot), and two plant spectrum florescent light tubes ($10 a piece at home depot). We bought everything but the chicken wire at home depot to make it and the total cost was $60.00 even.

A New Start

The beginning of the year signifies an opportunity to start again in so many ways. My husband thinks, "so what? It's just another day", but to me it always feels like turning to a fresh page in a sketch book. You get to start all over again if only in your mind. I always forgive myself of my past failures and remember a motto I learned to live by a long time ago: "You can't make deals with the past, but with the future everything is negotiable."

So at the beginning of this year I'll congratulate myself on my past success, forgive myself of the failures and look forward to trying again and tackling new challenges.

I do believe setting and writing down goals is important to realizing them. I smiled as I looked through an old sketch book of mine. My sisters happened to be close by and I pointed out to them a rough sketch I had done of my "dream garden" and the computer generated drawing I had painstakingly rendered, printed and place between the pages of my sketch book. The date was January 2004. Here six years later I am in the final stages of realizing a completion of this dream. We slowly installed the garden one stage at a time and I am closing in on the final stage.

If there is any complaint I have about myself it is my tendency to start a new project before the last one is finished. This year my motto is going to be: "Start it. Do it. Finish it."

I'm going to find all my projects in the "Do it" stage and I'm going to finish it. I'm going to find all the projects in the "Must Start it" stage and start, do and finish them. Must is the key word here. I only want to start those projects that must be finished.

For example I "must" start my seeds indoors to have a nice crop of tomatoes. All other "Start it" projects "must wait" until the "do its" and "finish its" and "must start it" projects are done. In other words I'm not starting anything unnecessary this year until I wrap up all the loose ends!!! I could have said that to start with right!

My first exciting "Must do it" project is to plant my tomato and eggplant seeds. Mission accomplished! Also I "must" order my new seeds for this year. Done did! And I am so anticipating their arrival any day now!

Some seeds are best started indoors before they are ready to be placed out. I finished planting mine a few days ago. In our zone 9 you can start tomatoes and eggplants indoors in December. I like to start them as early as possible to avoid a lot of the pests that come along with the hot temps. Once they sprout I am going to keep them under grow lights this year. Last year I grew them on my front porch facing southeast and protected them when cold temps threatened. They did well, but I am starting them even earlier this year so I am going to try using grow lights. When I plant them outside I am going to use row covers to protect them if necessary.

I start seeds in peat or plastic pots using seed starting soil. They can be started in large trays and then divided and placed individually in their own pot, but I'm not doing that this year. I placed at least three seeds in each pot. I'll thin them down to the strongest one.

I like to buy my seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I really enjoy their catalog and the descriptions of each plant.

Here are the boxes I use to sort and store my seed. I store them alphabetically by type...tomatoes, eggplant, greens, beans, peas, carrots,...etc...

This is a pic of the things I dehydrated, and some of the seeds I saved from last year. I'm doing my best to save seed from year to year. I didn't have to order many types this year because I saved seed.

Here is a list of seeds I ordered:

(The ones in bold are varieties I have already successfully grown)

Asian Winged bean

Blue Lake Bush Bean

Golden Wax Bean

Red Seeded Asparagus Bean (a long bean variety)

Bull's Blood Beet

Crapaudine Beet

Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts

Bacalan De Rennes Cabbage

Nero Di Toscana or Black Palm Tree Cabbage

Cosmic Purple Carrot

Jaune Obtuse Du Doubs Carrot

Parisienne Carrot

Tendercrisp Celery

Chires Baby Corn

Dakota Black Popcorn

Rainbow Sweet Inca Corn

De Bourbonne Cucumber

Suyo Long Cucumber

Long Purple Eggplant

European Mesclun Salad

Georgia Southern Collards

Tom Thumb Lettuce

Green Machine Melon

Sleeping Beauty Melon

Sakata's Sweet Melon

Vidrines Midget Cowhorn Okra

Red Creole OnionAnaheim Pepper

Coban Red Pimiento Pepper

Emerald Giant Pepper

Quadrato D'Asti Rosso Pepper

Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach

Bennings Green Tint Scallop Squash

Crookneck Early Golden Summer Squash

Black Beauty Zucchini

Green Striped Cushaw

Brandywine Tomato

Cherokee Purple Tomato

Moneymaker Tomato

Pineapple Tomato

Yellow Mortage Lifter Tomato

Boule D'or Turnip

Moon and Stars Watermelon

Crackerjack Mix Marigolds

Giant Primrose Sunflower

Bright Jewels Cactus Flowered Zinnia

Some Seed Varieties I have saved and will plant:

Broccoli

Curley Mustard

Arugula

Purple Hull Peas

Silverline Melon

Striped Marigolds

Caledula

Zinnias

Merry Christmas From New Orleans

"Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." Matthew 2:2

Let Us Worship The Lord!

Merry Christmas!

Finishing Up...

Since my yard looks like a mud derby race track, I decided to stay in and finish up all the unfinished projects stashed around the house. December has made history as the wettest December ever around here. It had beat the record yesterday at 21.8 inches of rain with two more weeks to go in December and more rain predicted. Today the sun peeked out a little bit, but no rain. Maybe it'll have time to drain a little....fingers crossed.

Anyway it gave me time to sew the bias tape on these cute little flannel monkeys. Two pieces of flannel back to back and edged with bias tape makes great burp cloths. I like to make them nice and large. With a baby you can find so much use for them. Especially when you're on the go. I made these to match the little monkey outfit I bought for a friend who had a baby recently.

I used some of this bias tape. A older friend of mine gave me a large bag of bias tape since she no longer sews. I had so much fun rooting through the bag. I even found a package labeled "Boiltex Seam Tape". It was marked .19 cents on the label. Not even sure how old that is. I know one of the stores "Zayre" had been out of business for many years.

I had started this purse last summer and only finished the knitted part. I knitted a tube then sewed the bottom closed with a piece of yarn. Next I used a crochet hook to attach the bamboo handles.

Then I sewed a black small corduroy liner the size of the purse. I attached the liner in the purse by hand. Next...a cute little sparkly thing scavenged from costume jewelry to finish it up.

On to those loofah sponges I've been growing. You may have noticed if you shop at Whole Foods, these little pot scrubby things made from loofahs. Of course I thought...I can make those! For a whole lot less. First peel the loofahs and remove the seeds. Next you smush the loofah and cut out the shapes you wish. I made ovals and hearts. Not too many hearts because they were more difficult to sew. Next I removed some of the inside of the shape around the edges to make it easier to sew.
Then I put my machine on the thicker material setting, smashed the edges of the loofah shapes together and sewed them tight with a zig zag pattern. I started going over the edges twice and I found they looked nicer. Then I trimmed any scraggy edges and.....

I have these extremely cute little pot scrubbies. Some of the loofahs were softer than the others. I saved them for the bath. I'm going to put a couple of scrubbies with a couple of knit dish rags together....tie them up with a raffia bow and a homemade tag....and now I have some really cute useful homemade Christmas presents to give special people that other than time literally cost pennies!

If you are one of the many individuals I gave loofah seed to last year, I'd really be interested in your success or failure...if success...what did you do with them?

I Think My Mantle Won The Gaudy Award

I think my mantle could win the gaudy award if there were one! It has all my favorite colors...
aqua, pink, green...and lots of glitter.

These are all things I have collected over the years.

I just manage to make it a little gaudier each year.

The glitter snowflakes were an impulse buy from the dollar store. O.K. pink, green and aqua snowflakes...can't help myself...I love them.

...Most of the other glittery stuff I bought years ago for literally pennies after Christmas....

...Yes, I know...not very traditional...but delightful and Christmasy to me any way....

My nephew said he liked my Mardi Gras display....Thanks Gene...See if I invite you over again.

But all the birds!!! I love birds...I need to find a glittery owl to add to the mixture....

there is an owl who lives in my side yard. Each night we hear him hooting....

....it's a very lonesome sound...The cardinals are back for the winter and I ofter hear them calling in the morning...

The blue flocked birds are back as well. They don't say much.

Hope your Christmas decorating makes you smile.

Pergola Progress And The Garden

The pergola's taking shape! We still have to put the large cross rafters. See the notches Byron cut out to accommodate them? Next there will be a third layer on top of smaller boards. After that we will add a decorative lattice panel to the back with a circle aperture cutout, two bench swings and a round fire pit that will double as a coffee table in summer and spring. I can just see it now....
Cabbage seedling. The cabbages are sprouting. I plant mine a little later than the farmers here. There are already huge drum head cabbages for sale in the roadside stands.

Loose leaf lettuce mixture. This will provide us withs salad until late spring when temperatures first reach the 80's.

Beets have some of the most beautiful greenery. This variety is called Bull's Blood. When the root is cut you can see darker rings within. It's very pretty. I also thin them and use the thinnings in salad or in a "greens" recipe.

Some more of the beautiful lettuce growing in my garden. I am also still harvesting wax beans, purple hulls, peppers, egg plants, celery and miscellaneous herbs and seasonings. The carrots, Swiss chard, spinach, collards, Brussels sprouts, and turnips have sprouted as well.