A Refreshing and Healthy Smoothie Drink

This smoothie drink is super delicious and nutritious.  A dear friend gave me the recipe recently, and I've been enjoying this healthy drink every day since . . . just in time for the warmer weather!  It is so easy and you can always have the ingredients on hand.  Here's how I make it in my single-serve blender:

Pour 1 C. skim milk into the blender (or almond milk or coconut milk)
Add 1 handful of fresh spinach leaves (you can store spinach leaves for smoothies in the freezer)
Sprinkle with approximately 1/4 t. ground ginger and 1/2 t.  ground cinnamon (you'll adjust how much of the spices to sprinkle after you've tried it a few times)
Add 1 T. honey
Add a handful each of frozen strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.
(You could also add 1/2 banana and/or some yogurt. I haven't tried that yet.  You can really experiment with what you like or have on hand.)
Blend until smooth. Drink, enjoy, and be healthy!

I have a Hamilton Beach Personal Blender. It blends quickly and smoothly. The container can be removed from the base and used as a glass. It even has a tapered travel shape and sipping lid.



I received the original recipe for this smoothie from my friend Becky at Thoughts from a Daughter of a King.

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Growing Plants from Seeds

This is the first time that I grew plants from seeds.  I searched online and found so much information that it seemed sort of mind-boggling, but it really comes down to just a few basics.  I learned that for seeds to germinate and develop into plants, they need:

1) Containers
2) Clean soil
3) Warmth
4) Light
5) Water

I read a lot of neat ideas on how to save money by using empty yogurt cups or toilet paper rolls for containers and mixing and sterilizing your own soil. Being my first time, I decided to take the easiest route and bought the following at either Walmart or Amazon:

1) Peat pots                                  
2) Seed starting mix                          
3) One seedling heat mat                    
4) Two grow lights                            
5) Two water trays with domes          

1. Planting the Seeds

I bought some Jiffy peat pot containers that came in four strips with 10 sections in each strip.  I also bought some Jiffy Seed Starting Mix. I poured a bag of the seed mix into a clean five-gallon bucket and mixed it with a little water to dampen it.  Then I filled the peat pots with the dampened soil.  I placed three seeds in each section, pushing the seeds down into the dirt about twice the depth of the size of the seed, and then lightly covered them with the soil mix.  I cut some six-inch plant marker sticks in half and wrote the name of the plants on them with permanent marker.  I used one marker for each section so there is no confusion as to what is planted in it.

2. Adding Warmth and Humidity

Some seeds don't need warmth to germinate, but most do.  The information on the seed packets will give you specific instructions for each type of plant.  The seeds really don't need light until the plant begins to peek through the soil.  I set a tray of the peat pots with planted seeds on an electric seedling heat mat.  These special mats raise the heat about 10° above the room's temperature.  The seed packets will also tell you how warm the seeds need to be kept to germinate. Keep the heat pad turned on for 24 hours a day until the seeds germinated. (Don't use a regular heating pad; they get too hot.)  If you don't want to buy a seed heating mat, you could set your seed pots on top of a refrigerator or hot water tank to keep them warm.

Everyone's situation and setting is going to be different.  Just to give you an example of how it worked for me, I set up our seed trays on a card table in a corner of our family room where it wold be convenient for me to keep a watchful eye on them.  We keep our room thermostat set at 67° F., but we have a fireplace in that room that we use often, and the room has a lot of windows, so it gets some solar heat too. 

Besides warmth, humidity also helps the seeds to germinate, so initially I placed a plastic dome over the seed tray.  These domes have vents on the top and sides so I could adjust the ventilation if too much humidity was building up inside.  

I was surprised at how fast the seeds germinated.  I planted tomato, pepper and herb seeds in these trays.  The herbs and tomatoes germinated in less than five days.  The peppers took a little longer. The reason you plant three seeds in each pot is in case any of the seeds don't germinate.  I had one pot of tomato seeds that didn't germinate until a week after the others.  I really thought that pot wasn't going to germinate, but it surprised me and did! Once the plants started to sprout, I removed the dome so the plants would not get mildewed or develop a fungus (called "dampening off").

3. Adding Light

Once the seedlings come up through the soil, they need light to continue growing. "Grow lights" are more expensive than ordinary florescent light fixtures you find in any home supply store, but the less expensive fixtures work just as well. I had a hard time finding 24" fixtures, which are the perfect length for my seed trays, so I ordered the light fixtures online through Amazon.  They are classified as "grow lights" and cost $27 each. They take either T8 or T12 bulbs, which were not included. You don't have to pay the high price for "grow light" bulbs, but you do want the bulbs to have all the colors of the light spectrum. You can use one "cool" light bulb and one "warm" light bulb, or do as I did . . .  I bought "daylight" florescent bulbs which combine the cool and warm colors in one.  They only cost $10 for a package of two.

I also saved a good bit of money by making a grow light stand instead of buying one. I used pvc pipes and corner joints and put rubber tips on the "legs."  I hung the lights from the stand with chains and "S" hooks.  I can raise and lower the lights to the height needed. I plugged the lights into an electric timer set to come on each morning and turn off at night, giving the plants 14 hours a day of light.  The lights are off at night when it is dark so that the plants can rest.  

When the plants came up through the soil, they each had two leaves on the stem, called the "seed leaves."  I hung the light so that it was only a couple of inches about the tops of the seedlings.  If the light is too high, the seedlings will grow too tall and leggy as they stretch to reach the light.source.

4. Adding Water

The seeds are planted in dampened soil and need to be watered regularly.  You want to water the pots from below, pouring water into the seed trays, instead of pouring water directly onto the soil, which might cause the seeds to float out. The peat pots soak up the water and keep the soil damp. I felt uncertain at first about how often to water them, but it did not take me long to recognize when they needed watered.  I could tell when the surface of the soil and the pots would start to dry out.  They would turn a lighter color and feel dry to the touch.  Each setting will be different; in my situation, I found that I was adding 16 oz. of water to the seed trays every other day.

The pots and soil will soak up the water in about 20 minutes and will feel damp and look dark again.  If there is any water left in the bottom of the tray at that point, I would remove it with a meat baster.

In two to three weeks, the seedlings began to grow their "true leaves."  These begin to grow after those first two seed leaves that push the seedling up through the soil and begin to nourish it. Once they have their first set of true leaves, you can transfer them to 3-4" pots and begin to add fertilizer to the water.  If you want to grow your plants organically, you can use fish or sea kelp emulsion for fertilizer. These seedlings are three weeks old and are about ready to transplant.

Living in a Zone 4 growing area, I still have about six weeks until the last frost date, when I will be able to start growing plants outdoors.  From now until then, I will be starting some more seeds indoors that don't need as long a grow time as these tomatoes and peppers and some herbs.  I'll also begin preparing these indoor seedlings for the transfer outdoors with a "hardening off" process.

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Heirloom or Hybrid, Seeds or Transplants

How Does My Garden Grow? - Part 3
What to Plant: Seeds or Transplants, Heirloom or Hybrid

The garden beds have been built and composted (Part 1), and the planting layout of the garden has been determined (Part 2). The next big question I faced in my garden planning was whether to grow from seeds or buy transplants, and whether to grow heirloom or hybrid vegetables.  Being a newbie to vegetable gardening, I had a lot to learn and a lot of places to turn to for answers.  

What's the difference between heirloom and hybrid?  What's involved in growing from seeds?  These were questions I had, and I spent the winter reading on these topics.  I'm no expert, obviously, and I don't want to try to rewrite what others have written so thoroughly.  I found Chris McLaughlin's book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Heirloom Vegetables, to be very helpful.  I also found a good article at the Garden Frugal.

Heirloom or Hybrid

In brief, as I understand it, heirloom plants are "open pollinated," which means they are pollinated by the wind, birds and insects rather than by controlled efforts.  This gives them diversity in their gene pools, so that the next generation may not be exactly like its parent but will be true to its breed.  Therefore, you can save the seeds from heirloom vegetables and plant them the following year.  In general, heirloom vegetables have been around for 50 or more years. There are seed banks for the collection and preservation of these seeds, and nobody "owns" the breeds; they belong to the public domain.

Hybrid vegetables are a cross between two or more varieties or breeds.  They are bred for certain desirable characteristics and are pollinated in a controlled environment.  Many commercial companies experiment and develop these hybrid breeds and own patents on them.  You cannot save and plant seeds from hybrid vegetables and expect their offspring to have the same characteristics as their hybrid parent. 

I decided to plant heirlooms because I want to collect and use the seeds. Heirlooms are said to be more flavorful than hybrids because of the diversity of their genetic makeup. I love reading the names and the stories behind the heirloom seeds that have been passed down for generations.  

Seeds or Transplants

When buying plants from nurseries and garden centers, there are not nearly as many selections of heirloom as there are of hybrid varieties.  It became apparent to me that if I want to grow heirloom vegetables, I would need to grow from seeds.  It feels a bit overwhelming to me, but I do like the idea of growing the plants myself organically, without the use of synthetic fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides.  It would be easier to just buy plants and plant them outdoors when the ground is warm enough, but I'm willing to take on the challenge of starting my plants indoors and transplanting them later.

Purchasing Seeds

The next thing I needed to tackle on my learning curve was where would I buy the seeds.  I asked some gardening friends for names of reliable seed producers.  I studied their online catalogs and even ordered some catalogs through the mail.  McLaughlin's Heirloom Vegetables book has an extensive directory of heirloom vegetables that is very descriptive and helpful.  Mother Earth News provides a list of respectable seed companies.

My task was suddenly made easier when one of my neighbors stopped by, saying that she had seen the raised beds we had built and wondered what we were going to plant.  She said she was interested in growing heirloom vegetables from seed and wondered if I would want to combine an order with hers.  What a blessing!  She contacted a few other neighbors, and soon there were five of us pouring over the catalogs.  There are several good seed companies whose goals for growing organically line up with our own goals.  We ended up ordering our seeds from Sustainable Seed Company.  

By combining our orders, we were able to set up a neighborhood seed bank.  Many of us were interested in some of the same plants, so we shared the cost of seed packets.  

Since the seed packets remain in the neighborhood seed bank, I made envelopes to store my own seeds in. I bought 4x6 inch colored envelopes, cut them in half and then taped them closed with the seeds in them.  (Pink for flower seeds, purple for herb seeds, yellow for root vegetable seeds, and green for above ground vegetable seeds.)  I printed labels for the envelopes with information about growing the seeds.

 If you're thinking about growing plants from seeds, I'd highly recommend you talk to some friends and see if you can go this route.  I ended up with a greater variety of seeds for less money!  Since we're all planting heirlooms, we can collect our seeds and add them to the bank. We may not ever have to purchase seeds again unless we want to try some varieties we don't have yet.

Next in my garden development, I'll be starting some of those seeds indoors!

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Square Foot and Vertical Gardening

How Does My Garden Grow? - Part 2
Garden Layout: Square Foot, Vertical and Companion Gardening

As I started thinking about having a garden, I new up front that I wanted a Kitchen Garden . . . a neat and tidy, picturesque and small-ish garden near my kitchen, where I can run out and grab some herbs or veggies in a hurry while I'm cooking.

As I began to do my research, I discovered the benefits of square foot gardening and vertical gardening, and I knew this was the way to go.  Square Foot Gardening means that you section off your beds into one-foot squares instead of planting in rows.  There are many charts available online that show you at a glance how many plants of each type to plant in each square foot. Here's one I found at Snappy Gardening:

Square Foot Garden Chart at Snappy Garden

When you look at this chart, you can begin to think of vegetables in terms of sizes.  XL vegetables, such as zucchini, pumpkin, and watermelon  need two square feet per plant, whereas you can plant 16 plants per square foot of the XS veggies, such as radish, carrot and onion. You can pack more plants into the space of a square foot garden than you can in rows.  It also reduces weeding.

Vertical Gardening is another way to save space in a garden.  You can save a lot of valuable garden space growing vining vegetables "up" instead of sprawled on the ground.  Growing vertically also reduces loss of vegetables due to bug or critter invasions or mildew and mold.  My friend and Master Gardener, Chris McLaughlin, released a new book this year, "Vertical Vegetable Gardening." I love this book and learned so much about gardening in general and vertical gardening in particular.  There are endless ways to get those veggies growing "up."  You can read more of my thoughts on Chris' book in the book review that I wrote. We naturally think of tomatoes, beans, or peas growing vertically.  But how about zucchini or cucumbers?  Here are a few types of structures:

I was sold on the idea.  I wanted to have a square foot garden and incorporate vertical gardening into the spaces.  Using good old-fashioned graph paper, I drew my garden to scale. Each 1/4" equals 1 square foot.

Maple Grove's Kitchen Garden Plan, including
five garden beds, a storage space and a Potting Shed

There are a number of Internet sites that have useful tools and resources for planning a garden.  I like this one at Smart Gardener.  Using this free tool, I was able to lay out my garden, select plants, and decide where to plant them and how many to plant.  When you click on an image it gives you information about that vegetable and tells you how many to plant in each square foot.  This resource also gives you a planting schedule, weekly to-do-list and a place for journaling.

Smart Gardener Garden Plan

In my research, I learned that Companion Planting is a very beneficial way to reduce or eliminate the need for using chemical pesticides and fungicides in your garden.  I desire to have an organic garden, so planting the right herbs and flowers in among the vegetables will help to deter harmful insects or fungi.

Following is a list of some of the most helpful resources I found while researching how to lay out my garden beds.  The next items on my agenda are 1) deciding if I want to plant heirloom or hybrid plants; 2) whether I want to plant seeds or buy transplants; and 3) determining a planting schedule.  See you next time!

Square Foot Gardening:  
Smart Gardener
Suwanee
Gardener's Supply Company

Companion Planting:
Organic Gardening Companion Planting Guide
My Square Foot Garden Companion Planting Guide

Vertical Gardening:
Vegetable Gardener Growing Vegetables Vertically

General Gardening Information:
USDA Cooperative Extension System Offices
The Old Farmer's Almanac
Growing Vegetable Gardens

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Raised Bed Gardening with Compost Sandwiches

How Does My Garden Grow? - Part 1
Composting Raised Beds

I've never had a garden.  I've had flower beds, and I've planted a few tomato, pepper, and zucchini plants before.  But I've never had a full-fledged garden.  So I decided I would like to develop a Kitchen Garden where I could grow some herbs and vegetables. This is all new to me, so I have a lot to learn.  It's a good thing I have a friend who is a Master Gardener and knows this stuff!

Announcing a new Ebook: From Farm to Table Through the Year

I LOVE this book (even if I wasn't in it . . . but I am!)

Subscribe to Maple Grove by email to receive a free copy of Farm to Table Through the Year.  è

My friend, Gretchen Carlson, from The Backyard Farming Connection worked diligently over the last several months collaborating with 11 fellow writers, gardeners and cooks to create "Farm to Table" that is being released on Thursday, March 14, 2013.  Gretchen is a firm believer that the best food comes from fresh local ingredients, and this ebook is a reflection of her passion.

"Farm to Table" is a culinary and gardening journey through the 12 months of the year with growing tips, first hand growing information, recipes, and photos to inspire you in your own backyard and in your kitchen this year. I am so honored and blessed that Gretchen invited me to be one of the contributing writers for this project, and I am offering a free digital copy of the book as a thank you for subscribing to follow Maple Grove by Email.

Free Download:

To get your free digital copy, just enter your email address in the subscription box in the top right column of this page.  (If you've subscribed to follow Maple Grove by email before, please enter your email address again to receive your free copy of Farm to Table.)

Thanks for visiting the Maple Grove blog, and I hope to see you again real soon!  ~Katie

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Maple Grove Published in "Must Love Chickens"

Maple Grove published in "Must Love Chickens"

to download on your Kindle reader

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