Buying the seeds early

It is December, gifts have been mailed as of the 14th. On the same day, I have put out my first order for Tomato and Pepper seeds to Totally Tomatoes. When they arrive, I shall begin planting them in the basement for my pot garden. Tomatoes and peppers planted early will be in bloom when they go out on the deck toward the end of May. Much of my garden will in fact be planted in containers. As for the garden that covers a third of an acre, I have those seed orders ready to and will have to look into ways to defeat the predatory deer.

Looking forward to gardening this next year.

Domain Hostings of America

I took a hit off my business account and made a $50.00 payment to Domain Registration of America for two years registration of my Morpheus Creative Photography business web site. Hopefully, it will make my web site more widely known. If so, then an investment well worth it.

Onward.

I am planning ahead now to the next Farmers' Market. I am making out seed orders so that I can begin to plant for that first day in May when the Market will again start. Best be saving some money as well so that I can get the seasons' pass paid for too.

What to do when not gardening

Seed catalogs start to come in at this time of the year. But, I won't begin to truly check them out or order anything until January of 2008. So, I am instead planning on some holiday cooking and gift giving. Bought some mandarin oranges in a 5 lb box today and then went looking for recipes in which to use them. In most cases, the recipes call for canned and then drained oranges. Well now, how about freshly peeled out of the box mandarin oranges? I believe that I can figure an 11 oz. can to be about 4 oranges and go from there to make a bread, a cake, a pie, a batch of cookies, and slow-cooked mandarin orange chicken. You got it, that some of what is made will become holiday gift giving.

I also plan on a sauce. Just thinking that I could can this and send it along as a condiment to close relatives. Only one could not use it because he is diabetic.

This is now November and there is a promise of snow in the forecast by next weekend, a few days before Thanksgiving. What is going to be a real headache for a lot of people, and that is if the weather in N. Idaho gets particularly brutal, natural gas for heating has now shot through the roof as has the price of oil. That is going to make for a very ugly winter for a lot of people.

When taking your garden indoors

I put peppers and tomatoes into pots about mid July. Only since September have they shown any significant willingness to bear. It is now October, what to do, what to do. Having a recent discussion with a fellow I vendor with down at the Kootenai County Farmers' Market. He told me a lot of light, he also suggested using a fan. I can think of why on the latter, stirring the air around plants would reduce fungal infections as well as keeping them stronger for not being out in the wind. As for "lots of light." Well, you need special fixtures and ballasts for "sun stick" full spectrum lights. But checking out the Sylvania web site and I found "daylight" light bulbs of various wattages (I chose 60 watt.) And ordered 3 packages. Then going to Lowes, I found 48" 40 watt daylight fluorescent tubes. Installing them without need for a special ballast and they were roughly equivalent to the sun stick in near all spectrum bright. And not as spendy. So, my plants are now in the basement. Hopefully, I can overwinter at least the peppers and bring them out next year. If I actually manage to overwinter the tomatoes, I'll let my fellow vendor know, and what to use as light. Tomatoes need 14 hours of daylight. Would daylight bulbs help? Stay tuned.

When deer are a problem

Many problems got in the way of my putting in a main garden this year: rototiller broke down, weather, dinged my foot. My mother had put in a garden in good order and then got to complaining about the too hungry deer feeding on her plants.


Taking that as a cue, I started putting what I'll call a garden into pots on our deck. As this black and white digital HP photo demonstrates.

Here in Dalton Gardens, Idaho and living near the mountains as we do, deer can be real pests. Nice to look at and a problem when you try to grow a commercial garden on a shoe string.

Did you know this?

Recently getting an herb catalog, saw where the people putting it together listed various hot peppers as an herb, a spice with medicinal qualities. How about that?

So, come county or state fair time, here is one for you: If there is a garden area for the fair and if the garden portion of it also allows exhibits of potted herbs, submit a hot pepper plant. You may have to explain to everyone however just why a hot pepper can actually be displayed in the potted herb section.

But, what the hey, for the folks who view a tomato as a vegetable and not a fruit, the local Kootenai County Fair manages to confuse anyone who thinks a tomato is a vegetable by wanting it displayed in the fruit section of the garden section of the fair. So, let's display a hot pepper plant as an herb and really throw a kink in how people should understand what they grow in their gardens or buy in the supermarkets, Farmers' Markets, road side stands and etc.

Weather is always a factor

When setting up for the Farmer's Market, weather can make a big difference as to how much business it will get that day. People do not like to come out when it is cold and rainy. As happened Saturday the 19th of May 2007. It rained for about 5 hours in the early morning and finally stopped around 9:00 am. Up and until that time, barely anyone of the customers was even walking through the market on the corner of Prairie Ave. and Highway 95 in Hayden, Idaho. As for myself, I am out there getting drenched and wondering if the rain will stop.

As a result of weather, I am more likely to set up plants for my booth and/or produce if I have it. Since photos and crafts don't do so well in pouring rain. Checking the desktop weather on my computer, the weather for Wednesday is cloudy and around 70*. Which should bode better for my comfort and decent sales at the downtown Coeurd'Alene, Idaho Wednesday Farmer's Market.