Let's Talk About My Gardening Notebook!

Do you have a 'gardening' notebook that you make notes in about what you plant, when you plant and other pertinent information about what you plant?

Mine is a work in progress and today I added a page about leeks ... yes, leeks!  I planted leeks today and took the time to complete it's page.  I thought you might like to see the kind of info I include ...

These notes are on the variety I planted and customized for our area. (I would add a separate page for each variety.)

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Leeks 

Variety:  Giant Musselburgh  (Heirloom)

Best planted in fall or late winter

Sprouts in 7 – 14 days

Ideal Temp:  45-80 degrees F

Seed Depth:  ¼ inch

Plant Spacing:   4 – 6 inches apart

Frost Hardy:  Yes

Minimum Full Sun:  6 – 12 hours daily

The Musselburgh is a large, mid-season leek with a mild flavor, tender stalks, and excellent tolerance to cold. It also happens to be one of the larger leeks, averaging 9-15" long by 2-3" in diameter.   Approximate days from seed to harvest:  120 - 130

Planting Instructions:  Sow indoors in late winter.  Set outdoors 6 – 8 weeks before last frost of spring into rich, finely worked garden soil.  Hill up plants for long white shanks.

How I use leeks:  (use the complete plant)

In salads (raw)

Soups

Casseroles

Stews

Quiches

Stir fry

Potato cakes

Grilling

Making stock

Additional Notes:

Preserve by freezing or dehydrating

Leave 3 – 4 plants in the ground to go to seeds for next year’s planting

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Having this information filed alphabetically in a notebook is a big help to me when it comes to planting, harvesting and using what we grow.  Do you have a similar system?

Thanks!

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

What to Plant and When According to Moon Signs: March 2021

I've had several to ask where I got the planting calendar I wrote about in this post.  I got the calendar at a small mom and pop gardening store in a nearby town for the grand price of $0 ... yes, it was free!

Since it was free, they were giving them free to all customers, I thought I would share the what to plant and when 'according to moon signs' information from the calendar.  I can do this at the end of each month for the following month if there is enough interest.

Here's the information for March 2021 ... let me know in the comments if this is something you would like to see me continue for each month.

What to Plant

Plant these out in the open ...

asparagus

rhubarb

horseradish

artichoke

cabbage plants

onion sets

Bermuda onion plants

English peas

Irish potatoes

beets

carrots

collards

mustard

parsnip

parsley

radish

spinach

turnip

kale

lettuce

tendergreen

cauliflower

endive

broccoli

Swiss chard

Transplant to the open all vegetable plants now in cold frames.

Keep tomatoes, eggplant and pepper plants under glass, lifting the sash off these during mild days, so they may be hardened off.

When to Plant

Above-ground crops:  16, 17, 21, 22

Root crops:  1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 28, 29, 30, 31

Seed beds:  2, 3, 21, 22, 30, 31

Kill plant pests:  4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

If you're interested in this sort of thing, I hope it's helpful to you.  If you're not, please consider sharing the link to this post with someone who may be.

Recommended reading:  No Dig Gardening, Course 1, from weeds to vegetables easily and quickly by Charles Dowding

Thanks!

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

A Journal of My Days: 2/26/2021

We have had a wonderful week weather wise!  The temps have been in the 60's and 70's most days with less rain!  After the weather of last week, this week's weather seemed like a gift!

For my baking day this week, I did bread, rolls and with the discard I made these sourdough chocolate chip cookies.  I didn’t have the amount of chocolate chips the recipe called for so I chopped up mini chocolate candy bars I had on hand to finish out the amount needed.  They were delicious!

So far, I’ve collected recipes for using sourdough discard that include sourdough pie shells, sourdough pizza dough, sourdough brownies, sourdough chocolate chip cookies, sourdough rolls and loaf bread.  I haven’t made the pie shells or pizza dough yet, but will be doing so soon.  Can you tell I’m really trying not to waste the discard from my sourdough starter!!

I was able to get some gardening done this week.   I planted spring onions, the variety ‘Candy’ onions, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.   These are all cold hardy plants so should do well.  In about 3 weeks I’ll do another planting of cabbage and again about 3 weeks from that date.  This will allow us to have fresh cabbage available for a longer period of time.

I was also able to get some seeds started in the greenhouse.  We’re about 6 weeks away from our last frost date so I needed to get our tomato seeds along with several others started.

And finally, read about my ‘turmeric harvest’ surprise in this post.  That was quite a harvest!

I also harvested horseradish and ginger the same day.  I’m in the process of chopping and drying all three of these to add to my pantry.

When all the harvesting of the turmeric, ginger and horseradish was completed, I replanted 2 containers of each for next year’s harvest using some of what I had harvested.

I needed some markers for labeling the seeds I started in the greenhouse so I cut them from broken mini-blinds creating a point to stick in the soil.  (I used scissors to cut the point.)

I used a permanent marker to write on each marker.

We had to run an errand in town one day this week and stopped by a local grocery store because they had pot pies on sale and we wanted to get some for the freezer.  Imagine our surprise when hubby saw these 2 lb sausage rolls on sale for $1.99!  It was one of those unadvertised ‘while supplies last’ kind of sales and we took advantage of it.  We now have a nice supply of sausage in the freezer part of our pantry!

I hope everyone's week has been better and that you've been able to enjoy it more.

What did you do to add to your pantry, live frugally or 'look well to the ways of your household?'

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.