Gardening in a box continued!

SQUARE FOOT GARDENING 101 : The Soil-Mel’s Mix!

Learn the three parts of Mel’s Mix, they are so important, the roles they play in this perfect soil blend and how to mix it correctly. 

You will need three equal parts of:
Compost
Peat Moss
Vermiculite

These are so important to your garden. 

Compost - be sure and get 4 to 5 different kinds of compost to mix together.  Some examples of the type of compost you need are:

Manure - cow or poultry
mushroom compost
worm castings
wood blend

You will need to go to a nursery to find theses kinds of compost.  Compost is so important because it feeds your plants and soil.

Peat Moss - peat moss comes packed tight in a bag.  Be sure before you add it to your mix to open the bag up and let it fluff up some.  Please don't just poor it into your box! Peat moss is needed to retain the water for the plants.

Vermiculite - be sure and purchase the course vermiculite.  It's kind of sponge so it will retain water and it will help you so that it you over water it takes care of the extra for you! 

Be sure you have a tarp or something good to put 3 equal parts on so that you can mix they together once you fill they are mix good enough then pour the mix into your planting box, while you are pouring your mix in have someone help you by spraying water on the mix.  This helps a ton when you are planting your seeds.  It is important to really wet your soil down.  Spread the mix evenly around the box. and wet it some more!  You are ready to plant now!


Next important step is to have a watering plan for your garden.  Consistency is great with the watering. 

Only a short post this week.  Busy week ahead for me!  I hope you like to get your hands dirty because you will if you follow this weeks post!  Happy planting!

Successful gargening make it part of your food storage!

Remember to always have a plan for your garden.  I copied this map from Home Gardens To Go!  This is a great website.  It has "how to videos" and you can even order things from them.  I believe it's cheaper to make your own boxes and get your own soil and seeds.  But at least you can use this site to see how the pro's do it! 

If you check out their web site they are offering a FREE copy of the book The All NEW Square Foot Gardening with a garden package purchase-use the code “Q44I63MPGWH9Q” at check out. 

I am excited to have this on my blog for the next couple of weeks. This is something I am working on in my back yard.  I am so excited to see everything grow and then to be able to taste it!  Pretty Cool!

The Boxes!!
Instructions

Determine how big of a box you want to build. Rectangles are the easiest.
For example a single tomato plant needs about 4 square feet (2 feet x 2 feet). If you buy plants at a nursery they will be happy to tell you how much room you need to grow them.

Figure out how much lumber you need.
Just add up the perimeter of the box you need. If you are using 2x6's, double the length (you will want to make it two high). 2x12 works great. Also you will need 4 feet of board to make the corners stronger.

Buy the lumber (and nails, hammer, etc. if you don't already have them).
Redwood works best (it is getting pretty pricey these days, but will last.) Pressure treat will last, but is full of chemicals you don't want. Doug fir is nice, but will not hold up too many years.

Cut you lumber to the desired length and width.
Don't forget to add three inches to the width if you want you boxes to look pretty on the outside.

Cut four pieces of lumber to about 10 inches tall for the four corners.
If you have a table saw you can cut wider boards smaller, but it is not necessary.

Put it together.
Nail the length boards to corner boards making sure they are even at the ends. Then nail the width boards to the corners so they overlap the length boards and everything looks square and even.

Add dirt and then put you plants in.

I am using pots in my back yard, and hitting up some garage sales for different size pots and planters!  Anything to keep the costs down works for me! 

The Plan

First you want to draw out your vegetable beds, add plants and move them around to get the perfect layout. Either feet and inches or metric units are supported and any shape of garden can be created.

Mix And Match the different shapes of different plans and layouts. If you can't find a design to fit your exact front yard or backyard, find two or more that you can incorporate together to create an idea that will work. If you don't have any ideas on what you want to plant, put it out there on the web and you will come up with many ideas!

Don't get hung up on specific materials, hardscapes, and plant materials. Focus more on shape and functionality. The materials will be determined mostly by what is available in your area.

 I hope you enjoy this post!  I am so happy the weather is getting warmer I have my strawberry plants picked out!  Working on finding the perfect tomatoe seeds!  Have a fun week!

Wheat - what type of wheat should we use? White or Red?

WHAT TYPE OF WHEAT SHOULD I USE, WHITE OR RED?
Here is the difference with the two types of wheat.

Red wheat has a stronger, nuttier flavor.

The white wheat has a more delicate flavor that is much easier to disguise.

I would suggest always using the white wheat-especially in baked goods.

But, the red wheat is more nutritious.  Red wheat IS more nutritious. And by more nutritious, I mean that it has 2% more protein than the white. HOWEVER, in order to make most anything palatable with 100% red wheat you have to mix it half and half with the all-purpose flour. In that case, you’ve just cut the nutrition by half….or you could just use the 2% less protein white wheat flour and use it 100%. Now, do you think I mean that you ALWAYS have to use 100% wheat in your baking? NO! You use it how your family would like it and I’ll give you some good tips for how to use it successfully and how to know if your recipe is best for 100% whole wheat, half and half or less.
SUBSTITUTING FOR 100% WHOLE WHEAT

There are a lot of recipes that are great for substitution 100% whole wheat. I’d say as a general rule of thumb, if your recipe has two or more of the following ingredients in it-you’re good to go with 100% whole wheat.

1. At least equal amounts of brown sugar and white sugar. All brown sugar or more brown sugar than white sugar works even better!
2. Strong spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, etc.
3. Mashed fruit (non-citrus) or vegetables like bananas, zucchini, pumpkin, etc.
4. Nuts-wheat is very complimentary to nuts.
5. Oats. Oats already have that hearty feeling and wheat goes great with it!
6. Chocolate-Let’s be honest, chocolate covers a myriad of flavors and tastes great!

USING HALF WHOLE WHEAT AND HALF ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR IN YOUR RECIPES

So what to do if your recipe doesn’t have two of the above? Think sugar cookies, white cake, etc. If you’re at all nervous you can always do 1/6 wheat with LITTLE to NO taste difference. If you’re feeling a little daring, you can do half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose. You may be able to taste the wheat a little but it doesn’t mean it’s a bad flavor. Remember, with cooking just because it tastes different doesn’t automatically mean it tastes bad. It just means it tastes different and you if have to decide if you like it better or worse that way.

Couple places you can purchase Red Wheat:

www.amazon.com/Certified-Organic...Red-Wheat/dp/B000E7QYNG
www.beprepared.com
www.pleasanthillgrain.com



(parts of this post were taken from Everydayfoodstorage.com)

Gluten free treats!

No Hassle Breadmaker Bread



Ingredients:

Directions:

Mix first three liquid ingredients into a large bowl. Filter the rest of the dry ingredients into a different bowl, until they are thoroughly mixed.
Now mix both bowls together until well blended. Pour all this into the bread maker. If your bread maker has a "short cycle" option, use select that option to make your bread.
Add additional warm water if dough is too dry .

Allow to cool before you slice it.
WET INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup oil

DRY INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cup white rice flour
1 cup potato starch or arrowroot starch
3/4 cup bean flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp salt
Bread that is simple and easy, yet oh, so good!