Corona Yard Tools

TJ MAXX

I was in T J MAXX this week and noticed they have Corona Yard Tools at a fabulous price.  I have been searching for good prices on these tools before I bought them, and low and behold there in the Park city store, dangling on a wall display are the tools I have had on by birthday list for years.  Of course I bought several, and yes I did leave a couple.  I will have to say the Corona Yard Tools are some of the best that I have worked with.

Last summer I did allot of yard work for neighbors and one neighbor had them to use, and I fell in love with them.  If you have never used these, you should consider them and at the price that I found you can not go wrong.

I also noticed that T J Maxx has other patio furnishings for great prices, such as pots, outside furniture and so forth, if you have not been in TJ, stop by in their seasonal section.  The only thing I will say about TJ Maxx is if you don't discipline yourself, you may walk out with a new wardrobe for the summer as well, they have some cool things in.

Zucchini

Have you been a victim of an overabundance of Zucchini?  Maybe you have found a Zucchini surprise in your car or at your front door from a "loving neighbor". 

I had 4 plants last year and boy did those guys go crazy.  My gardening neighbor Steve and I decided that we are not doing Zucchini this year only because we had too much last year. 

Just as I was going to pack up the seeds for another year, I found a delightful recipe in Bon Appetit, which utilizes the flowers of the plant.  My good friend Karen Walterson has been doing this for some time, but guess I did not think I would have enough blooms to try something different.

The previous years, I would harvest the Zucchini, shred it, freeze it and then bake muffins, and bread for the neighborhood for Christmas.  Last year I baked over 750 muffins, not the small ones by the way.  Let me tell you I bought more flour and sugar last Christmas than I have in my lifetime.

So with that said, I am breaking the seeds back out and going to give the Zucchini Blooms recipe a try. 

If you want something easy to grow and very hearty and long lasting this is your plant.  Zucchini seeds are large so they are very easy to handle, trust me when I say you don't have to have high dollar soil for them, I actually think they would grow well on the rock cliffs of Flaming Gorge.  Have you have seen some of the trees and plants that grow in very unusual places at Flaming Gorge? if so you know what I am talking about.

Plant the seed only about a month before you want to put them outside, they are fast growers.  While they are easy to grow they do not like the frost, however the big outside leaves will sometimes protect the inner, smaller leaves so the plant will continue to grow if they should be stricken with frost.

Zucchini plants love water, but don't worry if you forget to water for a day and they are hit by the sun, and look droopy, you may be able to revive them with a large drink of water when you remember. 

They produce like crazy, small to large, you will have Zucchini like crazy, have fun with them.

Where Can I Buy Seeds

There are many sources where one can find seeds for planting inside or outside.  Just go on the Internet and BAM you have a plethora of sites to choose from.  Here are a couple that I use frequently as I have had great customer service from them and the seeds are good.  Territorial Seed Company and Park Seed, most sites will send you a catalog so you can look at the pictures frequently which I tend to do.

Always remember to check the ZONE you live in, if the items you are after does not grow well in your ZONE, be careful, I hate for you to waste your money.  If you are in Summit County, Utah, you should look at items in ZONE 3 and 4. 

One other thing that is greatly important to mention are the days to harvest, especially with vegetables.  Since I live in an area with a short growing season I try to find hearty vegetables with shorter growing times.  I usually shoot for 60 days. 

I do start everything in the greenhouse, and transfer out to the garden usually around Father's Day, usually the last frost happens around that time.  Then I can anticipate that in mid September we will have a frost again.  My goal is to have the vegetables blooming at the time that I put them outside.

There are some difficulties I encounter with watermelon, pumpkins and viney items, they grow all over the greenhouse and when it is time to move them outside, it becomes somewhat difficult to untangle them.  None the less it is fun.

Tomatoes

Well it is time to start thinking about tomatoes.  If you love tomatoes like I do, it is time to think about the kinds of tomatoes that you want to plant and what you may want to do with them at harvest time.

I like the Romas, they are a great hearty little ball of yumminess, for almost anything.  They work great on pizzas, salsa, sauces and the list goes on.

But then I like the other ones as well, I enjoy the Beef stakes, Early Girls, Better Boys, etc, as they make some wonderful juices.

As with all my vegetables and flowers I start them in the greenhouse.  I planted my second round of flats this weekend.  They grow really well and by Spring Break they are taking over the greenhouse. 

Good rule of thumb is to cut them back, as the goal while in the greenhouse is to build up their root base, I always think what is growing on top, is what is growing under the soil.  Kind of like grass, along time ago, in a land far away, an experienced Gardner told me, not to cut my grass so short as it will eventually kill it.  Of course, at the time I was a very novice gardener so I was thinking, the shorter I take the grass the less times I will have to mow, well that is true as eventually I will not have grass.  The Master Gardener told me that if I let the grass a bit longer the roots are longer under the soils, which allows them to bring in more water and nutrients the grass needs to survive in the hottest of temperatures in the summer.  Well the MG was correct.

Anyway back to the tomatoes and cutting them back, if they go out to the garden with a strong root system, it will flourish into a nice tomato tree.

Have you ever bought tomatoes from your local nursery or grocery store and you plant them and they seem to kind of kill over?  Well the roots are not established and hearty, they will eventually take off and start to grow, but it may take a couple weeks, which if you have a short growing season you okay I don't have that couple of weeks to waste.

I will have to say that after caring for the tomatoes and they look so big and beautiful, I have to have my husband come in and cut them back, it makes my cry to see them with such a short haircut.  They do grow back and we have to do it again.

Here are a couple of pictures of the tomatoes before their haircut, this was last year.

Farmer's Market

I just received notice that we will be having a Farmer's Market in the Summit County area- Oakley.  I have the website that you might want to check out.  Summit County Farmer's Market- Oakley.

This is a great opportunity to sell flowers and vegetables that you are producing as well as other items. 

This is also a great way to find really fresh produce from local growers.  Hope to see you there.  The dates are listed on the website.

Seeds Galore

Where can you find seeds for planting?  Just about anywhere, and just about any kind of seeds you want from herbs, flowers, vegetables and so forth, it is out there, now you can decide what you want to work with.

I like to buy small quanities from different companies, as I have found if I buy one package and see how it grows, if it flops and trust me there will be some flops ( non growers) .  I also found some seeds like allot of moisture when starting out while other prefer to be on the dry side.  One example would be cilantro, they do not like allot of water where as parsley you can provide lots of moisture. 

Look around at your local farmers market, you might find some heirloom seeds, talk to your firends and neighbors they might have some seeds or go to the store.  In Utah, one can be hard pressed to find seeds for planting in your local Home Depot or Lowes so you might want to check out an online site.  I will have to tell you though, I was in the Park City Wal-Mart last week and not only is Valentine's Day goodies out, but also I noticed spring planting items are coming out.  Funny how we want the snow but then can't wait for it to move along or rather melt. 

I did recieved a seed catalog the other day from,Territorial Seed Company, I have not tried their seeds yet but plan to order a few to get started. 

Park Seed, is another on line place that has a vast variety to items to choose from, the only thing I don't like about their seeds is the packaging of the small seeds, for some reason tiny seeds will cling to the inside of the wrapper and when you try to pull the wrapper apart, bam all your seeds go flying.  They do have clearance seeds which I like to buy and see what I can grow out of them, one for instance was the Dreads, which I have a post on.

I could go on and on, have fun and venture out see what you would like to experiment with. 

The Dirt on Dirt

There are several kinds to choose from for starting seedlings, I usually use potting soil of some sort.  You can usually watch sales on potting soils for some good deals.  I have found that Miracle Gro potting mix has many of the nutrients that seeds to plants needs, however if you watch sales and find less expensive ones, you can always mix them together. Miracle Gro, this site will show you a variety of soils on the market from Scott's.

Keep in mind that soil is the base for your plant growth, so if you want to focus on one thing I would say your soil. There are some acidic plants that require different soil, these would be like the Foxglove & Bleeding Heart. Here is a chart that I found that has some variations on soil Soil Mixing Chart Acid-Loving Plant Mix --for plants that need acidic soil to grow 4 parts organic matter 1 part sand, perlite or vermiculite All-Purpose Mix - for use with most types of plants 3 parts organic matter, such as peat, humus or sawdust 1 part sand, perlite, vermiculite or a combination of all three 1 part sphagnum peat moss Cactus and Succulent Mix -- for cactus, succulents and other plants requiring good drainage 3 parts organic matter 2 parts sand, perlite or vermiculite Seed Starting Mix -- for starting seeds in flats 1 part sphagnum peat moss 1 part vermiculite Seedling Mix --for seedlings that have developed their first set of leaves 2 parts organic matter 1 part vermiculite 1 part sphagnum peat moss What is in a potting mix?  You will want to check the ingredients on the side of the bag, usually you will find the following: 1. Sphagnum peat moss- this is necessary for holding water in the soil. 2. Compost- is the ingredient that adds nutrients to your soil. 3. Vermiculite or Perlite- this helps to make the soil more porous, which also allows oxygen to get to the roots for plant growth. You can also buy a specific seedling starting mix- I tried this and it works great, but also found that an all purpose soil which I add in compost from my composter, vermiculite and peat moss.  I usually take a large drum and mix it all together just like if I were mixing a recipe of bread with the mixer in the house. I have a tool- an auger for bulb planting,  that I attach to a electric drill that does a nice job of mixing it all up, and also gets rid of any dirt clods. Plant Auger on Amazon