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Spinach is one of the first crops that can be harvested in my garden. This year I let my spinach rows bolt after picking fresh spinach leaves for weeks before that. The plants grew flowers and began producing seeds on the stems. When they started turning yellow I removed the plants from the beds to avoid spoiling the seeds due to rain. I’ve hung up the plants beneath the roof in the garage in order to dry:

Spinach seeds are clustered in small spots on the stems. I’ve counted up to 10 seeds in each cluster but some only have 2. The seeds are beginning to look like “pro” seeds :

I look forward to finding out if they’ll actually germinate and what the next generation of spinach plants will look like and taste like.

Here’s an interesting video from YouTube about back yard sustainability. Janaia Donaldson is interviewing Scott McGuire from Oregon about the project he’s running in the backyard of his rented property. The picture is lagging but that’s worst in the first 10 minutes when they talk face to face. After that they take a tour in Scott’s garden and the lagging becomes tolerable.

In the video you’ll find:

• Experimenting with growing wheat and amaranth
• Growing a medicine border
• Growing sun flower seeds
• Greenhouse for starting plants from seeds
• Drying herbs in greenhouse
• Dog kennel as chicken house
• Growing food for your animals
• Crimson clover as nitrogen fixer

and some other small but interesting things:

Photo by foodistablog.

Radish is also known as Raphanus sativus in Latin and is a member of the Cruciferous family. It’s an easy crop to grow making it ideal for kids starting their first garden.

Soil
Radishes will grow in average soil that has been worked down to 15 cm (6 inch) with any stones removed. Fresh compost should be avoided.

Sowing
The seeds should be sowed 1.5 cm (0.5 inch) deep and 2.5 to 5 cm (1 to 2 inch) apart. Rows should be 20 to 25 cm (8 to 10 inch) apart.

Growing
Radish seeds will germinate in a few days. When the seedlings are 5 cm (2 inch) tall thin them to 5 cm spacing. Remove weeds as the radishes grow. They are likely to bolt in hot weather and won’t bulb above 28 deg. C (82 deg. F). If they grow too slow the taste will be bitter and hot.

Harvest
It takes 20 to 30 days before the radishes are starting to mature. Summer varieties takes about 3 to 8 weeks to mature, but winter varieties requires 3 to 5 months.

Storage
Radishes don’t freeze well, so keep them in the refrigerator. Remove the tops before putting them in the fridge to keep the moisture and nutrients in the roots. They can be stored for about 5 days in the fridge.

Here’s my first podcast and it’s all about potatoes:

 

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Ah, this is what you want, more than 80% of the floor is visible. The energy flows and it’s way easier to get something done when you have space to operate. At the moment I need space to build and prepare projects for the next year in the garden.

But why is it so hard to clean up? I mean, just do it, right?

I always had a problem earlier, where I would go into the garage, or any other room for that matter, full of energy and ready to kick some garbage. I would look at thing and go yes, this I definitely need to keep. And then on to the next thing, also a keeper. And this one needs to go into the garbage… garbage… keep. And hey, what is this? Ah, I forgot I still kept this one. Ah, what memories. And this one, sweet memories.

I could go on like this for half an hour, maybe even move stuff around. Around this time my eyes would return to the very first thing I looked at, when I started “cleaning up” the garage or room, and realize, that I didn’t actually clean anything up, not even in my mind. And it was all in the mind. Then it’s very easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged and just quietly close the door and go back to watching TV hoping that the mess will go away by itself. But it doesn’t.

I found another way that works every time. Of course it’s best to have a habit of keeping the floor or room free from too much stuff or mess, but sometimes it gets out of hand. Free space has some kind of magnetic attraction on things, whether it’s useful stuff or just garbage. In these cases this method can be useful:

1. Allocate some free floor area in another room or outside, at least as big as the room you will be cleaning up. Yes, this is often hard to find.

2. Divide this free area into four new areas:

• Keep
• Sell
• Charity
• Trash

3. Start emptying the messy room one thing at a time. The rule is that once you have picked up a thing you’re only allowed to put it down in one of the four areas. No cheating, make the decision and move on to the next thing, and empty the whole room.

4. Clean the empty room

5. Put the things from the “Keep” area back and organize them just the way you like it. Now there’s room to do it properly.

6. Rid yourself from the rest of the stuff, i.e. sell, charity or trash.

7. Start a new project that needs a lot of floor space. Or go watch TV. You deserve it

• Avoid washing potatoes before storage. Moisture causes them to rot

• The location must be:

1. Cool – Heat will make them sprout
2. Dark – Light causes them to turn green and poisonous
3. Dry – Moisture will make them rot

• Ideas for storage:

1. Brown paper bag
2. Cardboard box
3. In pantyhose separated by knots
4. Root cellar
5. As chips in a freezer

• Storage temperature must be 7-10 deg. C (45-50 deg. F). Freezing temperatures will change the taste and appearance of the potatoes.

• Remove potatoes that have turned soft, dried up or sprouted

• Potatoes can be stored for 3 to 6 months