Jumpstarting My Garden: On Seed-Starting Inside

Last year was my first year trying seed-starting inside. While it was not a slam dunk, I found that for some of my veggies, it resulted in stronger, higher-yielding plants. It's also more cost-effective than buying veggie starts.

This year, I've started multiple varieties of lettuce, jalapeno and Serrano peppers, tomatoes (primarily San Marzano), kale, and herbs including cilantro, parsley and basil.

The Flea Beetles Have Moved to My Kale

I think I should have just left the arugula in the ground to attract the flea beetles that subsequently moved to my kale. I came home from vacation to this:

Flea beetle damage on my kale

Flea beetle damage on my kale

Now, the little buggers were already taking a few bites here and there before I left, but they seem to have multiplied.

Kale Superfood Salad, Modified

I didn't have all the ingredients I needed to make the kale superfood salad I've seen at grocery stores the other day, so I modified it slightly. Really I just used whatever ingredients I had in the house, so it was simplified quite a bit.

I used the kale from my garden, chopped up (sans stem).

Half a container of blueberries. Yum!

Chopped red pepper.

And golden raisins.

The dressing I had was Caesar, so I tossed the salad lightly in that, and it turned out deliciously. Even my husband liked it. We served it alongside half a sweet potato and grilled tenderloin pork.

Inspired by … 3 New Ways to Eat Kale

I have a lot of kale in my garden.

As I’ve written before, I am growing eight kale plants right now. And they’re all doing well. Which means I need to find ways to eat them. And just for the record, I’m not crazy about kale chips. Doing a little research, and I found a few ways to prepare and eat kale, all of which look like more fun than a simple salad (which I love too!):

1. Kale Pesto. My co-worker mentioned this use to me, and I wasn’t sure, but I looked it up and found this recipe from Love and Lemons. The recipe calls for blanched kale, olive oil, walnuts, a garlic clove and lemon juice and zest, and parmesan cheese. I’m excited to try it!

2. Braised Chicken with Kale. This is from Cooking Light magazine.  I get bored with chicken, so trying something new would be good – and with kale – bonus!

3. Eggs with Kale. Who knew? I hadn’t thought of mixing in kale, sautéed in butter, with scrambled eggs. But I love adding veggies like broccoli to my eggs. So why not kale?

This is one of the benefits of a garden. You are forced to find new ways to try the veggies, lest they go to waste!

First Harvest Results in a Lovely Salad with Blueberries and Yellow Cherry Tomatoes

Growing lots of lettuce!

When I discovered my spinach had bolted, I decided to start harvesting my other lettuce for a salad. It turned out really well.

I took some red sails lettuce, some romaine, buttercrunch and a few pieces of kale. Added some blueberries and some yellow tomatoes for a deliciously sweet and fresh salad.

Yum!

An assortment of fresh garden greens!

Added blueberries and some yellow tomatoes. Delicious!

Water Drops Like Diamonds

After watering my garden by hand this weekend, I noticed what looked like a diamond on one of the kale leaves. It was a water drop. The water just beads up on the rougher texture of kale. I thought it was beautiful.

So I had to take a picture:

Finding My Orphan Kale a Home

After planting kale a few weeks ago, and then adding to my kale (when I thought my original kale wasn't going to make it) a week or so later, I had two remaining that I didn't have room for.

The poor kale plants were outgrowing their seedling beds:

New Growth After the Snowstorm

A second snowstorm hit. Actually, the third, but the second since I planted my garden. I actually planted additional lettuce, some arugula and a few more kale plants the weekend before the second. But my garden survived. You'd hardly know it was hit.

My Garden Survived the April Snow in Colorado

I planted last weekend, and then several inches of snow fell, starting the next day. We had several days of snow this April. A good thing for the drought, a bad thing for, well, people who really want spring to start. I guess the former is better.

I covered my lettuce and spinach (and rhubarb because it was close to those) with a light row cover the morning I knew it was going to snow. I laid it loosely over the plants and staked it down. I'm not sure if they really needed it, given the hardiness of a lot of lettuce and spinach types. I left the kale open and the onions.

My garden is in the bottom left of this picture, the day it was snowing. This isn't the full amount of snow we received.

I checked on it the next day or may have been the second day after the snowfall, when the snow had started to melt.

Love My Slow Cooker: White Bean Soup with Italian Sausage and Kale

I’m a sucker for slow cookers these days. Recipes I can throw in the crockpot in the morning and come home to in the evening are the best.

It’s like I have a personal chef who is preparing dinner for me while I’m on my way home from work. The house smells great and the food is ready to scoop and serve. I don't know why I never did this much before this year!

Getting Cool Weather Plants in the Ground: Lettuce, Kale and More!

I planted some cool-weather veggies last weekend - pre-Snowpocalypse here in Colorado. (For the third week straight it snowed, in April.  I'm ready for spring!)

I was so eager to get out there, and I wanted my lettuce to get a good start this year. I know that you can plant lettuce even earlier than I did, as it is a frost-hardy plant, but being a beginner, I'm pretty cautious.

I even expressed doubts about planting when I did; my husband responded by telling me to trust myself. I've read so much online and in books about gardening this year that I have too much information in my head, and it's making me think too hard about what's right and what's wrong. I didn't think at all last year, and things turned out OK. I think a new gardener needs to balance what they find in books with what they find with experience.