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DIY Fish Emulsion

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What is fish emulsion? It’s fermented fish guts. Well, it’s not just guts, its also skins and scales and bones. It’s not a very pretty thing, if I’m honest, but it will make your plants pretty!

Fish emulsion is the grossest thing I’ve ever done for my plants. And the smelliest. I hate poultry manure, but I’d rather handle 500 pounds of that than one bucket of fish emulsion. But, plants love fermented fish. And buying that stuff is expensive! So why should I buy it when my best friend’s husband is a fishing guide and generously offered to give me a freezer full of fish scraps? I’d be stupid not to make this… Right?

Fish emulsion (or if we’re getting technical, what I make is fish Fish Hydrolysate because it isn’t processed with heat) is a great natural fertilizer for your garden. It contains organic nitrogen and soluble phosphorous and potassium. It’s also teeming with good bacteria that will feed microbes in your soil and improve your soil’s health. Remember: We feed the soil, not the plants. And fish emulsion is a great way to do that!

So I’ll tell you just how to make fish emulsion, in case you’re feeling brave and want to try it yourself. Then I’ll tell you what I did so you can laugh about it. Or gag. Blech!

Ingredients:
Fish scraps
Leaves
Water (non-chlorinated)
Molassas
Bucket with a tight lid

Instructions:
1. Cut fish scraps in to small pieces, or blend them in a blender.
2. Fill bucket roughly half full with leaves (these help trap the good nutrients)
3. Add fish to the bucket
4. Add water in a ratio of 3:1 (three parts water, one part fish)
5. Add about 2 tablespoons of molasses for every liter of water/fish scraps
6. Stir. Then cover tightly with the lid.
7. Open the bucket and stir every day or two. You should see bubbles–this is a sign that the fermentation is taking place.
8. Once the smell is no longer offensive, your emulsion will be ready to dilute and fertilize. This may be as soon as 2 weeks, or if you’re me, you’ll wait two years. Because you’re scared to open the bucket.

To Use:
Strain the liquid and mix 2 tablespoons of emulsion (liquid) with 1 gallon of water and apply to the soil. You can also add 1/2 tablespoon to a gallon of compost tea. Add the solid remains to your compost pile.

Emulsion can be stored for later use. Leave the cap loose until the bubbling ceases, then tighten the cap and store.

So Here’s my Story:
I got a few large bags of frozen fish scraps: skins, fins, tails, bones, heads and guts. I brought them home and left them outside overnight to thaw slightly, and the next day I collected two 5 gallon buckets, one with a tight fitting lid. I put a few handfuls of leaves in each, filled the buckets with fish scraps, added some molasses and topped them off with water. I stirred the contents and wondered if I had filled them too full. I just had so many fish guts! I put the lid on one bucket and covered the other with a Rubbermaid tote lid and placed some large rocks on top to weigh it down.

I returned to the buckets after a day or so to stir them. The fish scraps had swollen, and they were, indeed, fermenting! The buckets were overflowing and smelly and messy and there were flies everywhere! I found a third bucket and divided the contents between the three.

Soon the buckets were filling with maggots. Barf. I could hardly stomach stirring them. And after another day, I kid you not, I was sitting at my desk, looking out the window, and I saw a vulture circling. The smell was so bad that it was drawing vultures to the homestead! Vultures! I went outside to prevent the vulture from landing, but I soon abandoned the buckets and left them to their own devices. I didn’t lift their lids, I didn’t stir them.

It’s been two years since I tried to ferment fish guts. I think this year I’ll peek inside the buckets to see what’s there. What will I find? I don’t know. But I hope the smell won’t be too bad. And I hope I’ll have something good inside for my garden. If there’s liquid, I’ll use it as it’s meant to be used. If there isn’t, maybe I’ll add some water (and molasses?) and see what happens. Either way, I will either spread the solid remains thin and deep in my garden bed, or I’ll add it to my compost pile. I just hope that all that trouble will be worth it!

Teaching Kids to Love Gardening

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The kids love the giant rhubarb leaves.

When I was little, my family had several small garden plots, each about 4 feet by 4 feet, all in a row and bordered with long square wooden posts.  Each of the kids in the family got a plot to themselves to grow whatever they wanted.  My sister, Anna, grew pumpkins one year.  And I remember growing a mix of wildflowers. I think my sister, Becca, liked to grow carrots.  Most years we would simply grow whatever vegetable we felt like in the moment.  We always had at least one family plot for bush beans, and it was our job, as kids, to pick them.  We never liked picking beans, but we always loved tending our own plots and watching our vegetables or flowers grow.

Luci loves to help move the flower pots around.

It was a simple thing, but it turned work in to pleasure.  Now I’m all grown up, but I still feel like a kid who gets to design and grow whatever she wants each spring.

Double eggplant and other odd shaped vegetables are always a fun find.

There’s something magical about taking care of a garden that will then take care of you.  Here are a few ways to involve the kiddos in that magic:

  • Let them plant with you.  You can make the hole, and the kids can put the seed in.
  • Let kids pick and eat veggies from the garden for snack time.
  • Have the kids help look for and collect potatoes when you dig them up.  It’s like finding a hidden treasure!
  • Make a little garden plot for each child where they can grow and tend whatever they want.
  • Ask the children to choose a veggie from the garden to eat with your meal.
  • Have the children paint rocks or sticks to use as garden markers.
I plant orange, yellow, purple and white carrots. Not because I prefer rainbow carrots, but because the kids love picking colorful carrots.

My Grandad used to have a beautiful strawberry patch.  He would tell us to go pick some strawberries and we’d ask “where should we put them?”  He’d say “in your breadbasket,” which was code for “stomach.”

We don’t preserve many peas on my homestead because the kids like to eat all of them from the vine!

I have great memories as a child in the garden.  And now I get to share my love of gardening with my nephews and niece, and they’re loving it, too.  What ways are you teaching the kids in your life to love the garden?

DIY Pallet Composting System

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You can never have enough compost, right? That stuff is garden gold! The thing is, it takes lots of time to get your compost heap from start to finish. And if you keep adding things to it, it’ll just mean that you start over again from the beginning. The key is to have a composting system that allows for two or more heaps so that they can be at different stages in the composting process.

Before we get in to the system, let’s discuss a few key elements that will ensure your composting success:

Materials

Compost should include a variety of material, both green and brown. Green materials are things like fruit and vegetable waste, grass clippings and animal manure, which are nitrogen rich and provide lots of protein for your compost. Brown materials include dead leaves, hay, straw, wood shavings and cardboard. Brown materials provide energy, meaning they are food for the microbes that will be breaking down your compost and turning it in to garden gold. Naturally, the smaller the size of your compost materials, the faster they will break down, so consider shredding boxes or paper, mowing over leaves to cut them up, and breaking garden waste in to smaller pieces.

Moisture

Your compost pile needs to be watered to stay alive. Consider keeping it in the shade so the sun won’t dry it out, and/or keep it covered with plastic. Alternatively, if you have a very wet summer, you might consider covering your system with a piece of plywood to keep it from getting too wet.

Size

The ideal size for a compost heap is about 3 cubic feet. Compost generates heat as it breaks down, which is a necessary component of the process. If your heap is smaller than 3 feet tall, wide and deep, it might not get hot enough. Going bigger than 3 cubic feet won’t hurt, though going too big will make the next part difficult, which is…

Turning

Your compost heap needs to be turned regularly. Mixing will introduce air in to the living pile and help it break down. If you want to make the process as quick as possible, turn your pile weekly. This will give it time to heat up between turns. The ideal temp to look for is 140-160 degrees Fahrenheit.

The DIY System:

Materials:
5 wood pallets
Nails or wire ties (such as electric fence wire)

Instructions:
Place two pallets on end, in a row and secure with wire ties or nails.
Place remaining three pallets on end and perpendicular to the first two, one on either end and one in the center. Secure with wire ties or nails.

And that’s it! I built my composting system against a garden fence, but you could place yours against a shed, or if it needs to be freestanding, you might consider pounding some posts to secure it to.


As you can see, I use one section of my system for a hotbed. The bottom of the hotbed is hot, un-composted manure, so next year I’ll mix and remove the compost on that side. When I removed the material from last years hotbed this Spring, the horse manure had broken down very nicely! This year I’m using chicken manure and straw, so we’ll see how it looks next Spring; it may return to the compost pile. Although my composting system is a nice place for a hotbed, I’d really like another place for a compost pile! I think I’ll build on another section to my system. And that’s part of the beauty! You can customize and make 10 sections, if you have the space and materials. Let me know if you try it out! Happy composting!

No Dig Gardening

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The No Dig Method of gardening is something I learned from Charles Dowding on his Youtube channel. It’s excellent, you should check it out! As the name implies, you plant your garden without digging or tilling.

Benefits of No Dig Gardening

Under the soil is a metropolis of life. Microbes and earthworms and all manner of healthy soil lie undisturbed. Once you till or dig or turn that soil, the microbial life breaks down and your soil loses health.

Soil erosion is the movement and loss of topsoil. By tilling, you are causing soil to deteriorate. Let’s remember that we need to feed the soil, not the plants in order for our gardens to feed us. Tilling is taking away from the soil, not feeding it.

Also among the soil under our feet lies a bunker full of weed seeds! Most people think that tilling will help eradicate weeds, but this is a misconception. Tilling, digging or turning your garden soil will not help with weed control. Indeed, you will find yourself pulling more weeds when the seeds are woken up.

How to Start a No Dig Garden

Supplies:
Cardboard, newspapers or paper bags
Compost

Directions:
Lay at least one layer of cardboard, paper bags or newspapers four pages thick where you want your garden bed to be. Be sure there are no cracks or grass or weeds will come through. Then cover the newspaper or cardboard with at least 6 inches of compost. Then plant away!

Roots will be able to penetrate the cardboard, so don’t be concerned about restriction. If your compost was processed correctly, at a high enough temperature, you shouldn’t need to worry about weeds more than a few here and there. If your compost does have weed seeds in it, you’ll want to mulch. I recommend mulching with old hay (the more rotted the better), because it breaks down wonderfully and continues to feed your garden.

This is the “before” picture. I decided to plant popping corn opposite the raspberries.

Make sure you don’t use cardboard or newspaper that is glossy or shiny. This won’t break down.

I actually went in later and straightened out that far end a little more.

Here’s a load of composted horse manure that I used. This spent the last year composting and is now ready to feed my garden.

Apart from the excellent vegetables, my favorite part about the no dig method is that when faced with the question “paper or plastic” I always choose paper, knowing that it will benefit my garden and keep a little less plastic out of the landfills. Also, not breaking my back trying to strong-arm the tiller is a plus!

Charles Dowding has experimented with identical planting of two beds, side by side: One with the no dig method and one with tilling. His results show better yields with the no dig garden bed. Even if the results were the same, why wouldn’t you choose less work over the alternative? If you’ve tried a no dig garden, let us know how it worked for you!

Companion Planting for Happy Plants

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Companion planting refers to strategically mingling plants with others that will support their growth and not hinder it. Reasons to companion plant include:

Organic Pest Management. Some plants will deter the pests that damage others.

Increase Pollination. Flowering plants will attract the insects necessary for the pollination of their friends. These flowering plants could also attract the beneficial insects that deter harmful insects.

Protection. Some plants will cast shade over friends who don’t fare well in full sun. Others appreciate protection from the wind and elements.

Improved Yield. It is said that some plants produce more abundant or more flavorful crops when planted near friends. The opposite can also be said, so avoid planting near enemies. Some companions go well together because their preferred care is similar, ie. they require the same amount of water, soil, sun, etc.

Asparagus
Friends: Aster, Basil, Cilantro, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Oregano, Parsley, Peppers, Sage, Thyme
Enemies: None.

Basil
Friends: Tomatoes, Asparagus, Oregano, Peppers
Enemies: None.

Broad Beans
Friends: Not picky.
Enemies: Onions

Bush and Pole Beans
Friends: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Carrots, Celery, Swiss Chard, Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Peas, Potatoes, Radishes, Strawberries.
Enemies: Chive, Garlic, Leeks, Onions, Marigolds, Beets (Bush Beans are ok near Beets)

Soya Beans
Friends: Corn
Enemies: None.

Beets
Friends: Bush Beans, Corn, Garlic, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Leeks, Lettuce, Mint.
Enemies: Pole Beans.

Brassicas (Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip)
Friends: Chamomile, Rosemary, Sage, Dill, Mint, Nasturtium.
Enemies: Eggplant, Peppers, Potatoes, Tomatoes.

Carrots
Friends: Beans, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Chives, Leeks, Onions, Peas, Peppers, Pole Beans, Radishes, Rosemary, Sage, Tomatoes.
Enemies: Dill, Parsnips, Potatoes.

Celery
Friends: Beans, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Cucumber, Garlic, Leek, Lettuce, Onion, Tomatoes
Enemies: None.

Chives
Friends: Carrots, Tomatoes, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip.
Enemies: Beans, Peas.

Cilantro
Friends: Potatoes.
Enemies: None

Collards
Friends: Tomatoes.
Enemies: None.

Corn
Friends: Amaranth, Beans, Beets, Cucumber, Dill, Melons, Parsley, Peas, Potato, Soya Beans, Squash, Sunflower
Enemies: Celery, Tomatoes

Cucumber
Friends: Asparagus, Beans, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Celery, Corn, Dill, Lettuce, Onion, Peas, Radish, Tomatoes, Nasturtium.
Enemies: Potatoes, Sage.

Dill
Friends: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Corn, Cucumber, Lettuce, Onion.
Enemies: Carrots, Tomatoes

Eggplant
Friends: Amaranth, Beans, Marigolds, Peas, Peppers, Spinach, Thyme.
Enemies: Fennel


Fennel
Friends: Doesn’t play well with others.
Enemies: Beans, Kohlrabi, Tomatoes, nearly all others.

Garlic
Friends: Roses, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Celery, Lettuce, Potatoes, Strawberries, Tomatoes.
Enemies: Peas, Beans.

Kohlrabi
Friends: Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Cucumbers, Onions.
Enemies: Peppers, Pole Beans, Strawberries, Tomatoes.

Leeks
Friends: Beets, Celery, Carrots, Onions, Spinach.
Enemies: Beans, Peas.


Lettuce
Friends: Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Carrots, Celery, Chervil, Cucumbers, Dill, Garlic, Onion, Radish, Spinach, Squash, Strawberries.
Enemies: None.

Melon
Friends: Corn, Marigold, Nasturtium, Pumpkin, Radish, Squash, Sunflowers.
Enemies: Potatoes

Mint
Friends: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip. Note: Mint is invasive, so consider planting it in containers and/or spreading the cut leaves around the brassicas.
Enemies: Parsley

Onions
Friends: Chamomile, Summer Savory, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Carrots, Dill, Leeks, Lettuce, Strawberries, Tomatoes.
Enemies: Asparagus, Peas.

Oregano and Marjoram
Friends: Asparagus, Basil, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip
Enemies: None.


Parsley
Friends: Asparagus, Carrots, Chives, Corn, Onions, Tomatoes. Sprinkle leaves around Asparagus and Roses.
Enemies: Mint


Peas
Friends: Beans, Carrots, Celery, Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Parsley, Peppers, Potatoes, Radish, Spinach, Strawberries, Turnips.
Enemies: Onions


Peppers
Friends: Asparagus, Basil, Carrots, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Endive, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Squash, Swiss Char, Tomatoes.
Enemies: Beans, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Fennel


Potatoes
Friends: Bush Beans, Celery, Corn, Garlic, Marigolds, Onions, Peas.
Enemies: Asparagus, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Carrots, Cucumber, Melons, Parsnips, Rutabaga, Squash, Sunflower.

Pumpkins
Friends: Corn, Pole Beans, Melons, Squash, Sunflowers.
Enemies: Beets, Onions, Potatoes, Carrots, Turnips.

Radish
Friends: Nasturtiums, Beans, Beets, Celeriac, Chervil, Cucumber, Lettuce, Mint, Parsnip, Peas, Spinach, Squash, Tomatoes.
Enemies: Agastache (aka Anise Hyssop), Potatoes.

Rosemary
Friends: Beans, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Carrots.
Enemies: None.

Sage
Friends: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip.
Enemies: Cucumbers.

Spinach
Friends: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Eggplants, Leeks, Lettuce, Peas, Radish, Strawberries.
Enemies: Potatoes

Squash
Friends: Corn, Lettuce, Melons, Peas, Radish, Borage, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Sunflowers.
Enemies: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Potatoes,

Strawberries
Friends: Beans, Borage, Garlic, Lettuce, Onions, Peas, Spinach, Thyme
Enemies: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Fennel

Summer Savory
Friends: Beans, Onions.
Enemies: None.

Swiss Chard
Friends: Beans, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Onions.
Enemies: None.

Thyme
Friends: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Strawberries.
Enemies: None.

Tomatoes
Friends: Nasturtiums, Asparagus, Basil, Beans, Borage, Carrots, Celery, Chives, Collards, Cucumber, Garlic, Lettuce, Marigolds, Mint, Onion, Parsley, Peppers.
Enemies: Dill, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Corn, Potatoes.

Turnips
Friends: Mint, Peas.
Enemies: Pumpkins.

Remember to rotate your crops each year so that your soil maintains nutritional balance and to avoid soil borne diseases. Growing a garden doesn’t only require physical endurance, but mental agility, too! Finding a different garden layout each year can be a challenge, but hopefully this list of friends and enemies will help you create a garden full of happy plants!

The Complete Guide to Growing Tomatoes

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Apart from being a delicious and versatile addition to any meal, tomatoes are a great source of vitamin C, potassium, folate and vitamin K.

When you consider what varieties of tomatoes to grow, you may decide you want a cherry tomato for snacking or salads, a slicing tomato for sandwiches, and a fleshy tomato for cooking sauces.

My personal favorites are the Gardner’s Delight for a red cherry tomato and Sungold Select for a yellow cherry tomato.
Some slicing tomato varieties include Moskvich, Abe Lincoln and Bella Rose.
Roma tomatoes are the perfect choice for salsa, spaghetti sauce and tomato paste.

How Many Tomatoes do you Plant?

Cherry Tomatoes: Plant 1-4 plants per person

Slicing Tomatoes: Plant 1-4 plants per person

Cooking Tomatoes: Plant 3-6 of each variety. This will yield about 8-10 quarts of sauces or salsas

How to Start Tomato Plants

Start seedlings indoors about 6-8 weeks before the last frost. You can find your typical last frost date here.

To start tomato seedlings, fill a tray with a seed starting soil mix. You can use a tray with cells that was made for this purpose, or you can use an old cake pan or tupperware or even solo cups or eggshells.

Plant seeds at a depth of 1/4 inch in moist soil.

In order for seeds to germinate (start growing) they’ll need to be kept at a temperature between 70-80 degrees and humid. If you don’t have an indoor greenhouse, you can cover your tray with plastic and place it on top of your refrigerator for warmth.

Seeds will germinate in 5-12 days.

Once your seeds have germinated, your tomato plants will need full sun for 16 hours of the day. Grow lights will make for stronger tomato plants than the sun in a windowsill. To prevent seedlings from becoming “leggy” or “spindly,” meaning tall, thin and weak with sparse leaves, the distance you keep between your plants and the grow light is important. If using LED grow lights, keep the light 3-6 inches from the top of the plant. If using a full-spectrum grow light, 8-10 inches is ideal.

When seedlings are two to three inches tall and have two sets of true leaves, it’s time to upgrade your plant to a larger pot! Gently scoop your plant out of the soil (I use a spoon to aid me), and replant it deep in the new pot, with the soil coming just below the leaves.

Be sure that you use pots that allow for draining out the bottom. This is helpful for two reasons:
1. It prevents your plant from getting waterlogged or rotting by allowing excess water to drain.
2. Watering plants from the bottom is very good for young vegetable plants! Place your plants in a dish of water, and let the soil absorb it from the bottom up. That way you’ll know that the roots are getting the water they need. Be sure not to leave your plants to sit in water for more than a couple minutes.

If you choose to use a tall container for planting (such as a solo cup), transplant your young plant deep in the pot. As the tomato plant grows, you can fill it in with soil. The fuzzies on the stem of a tomato plant will become roots once it’s below the soil, which will make for a stronger plant. If you fill in your pot as the plant grows, you won’t need to upgrade to a larger pot as often (maybe not at all) before it goes outside.

Hardening off your Tomato Plants

Your tomato plants have been so gently nurtured, but it’s time to get them used to the harsh environment that they’ll soon experience. You can start by setting up a rotating fan on your plants while they’re indoors.

To introduce them to the outdoors, start by placing them outdoors where they won’t be in direct sunlight or strong winds. Keep your plants in a tote with high walls so that they’ll have a little extra protection from the elements. Leave them to sit out of doors for ten minutes at a time, gradually increasing the amount of time and amount of sun and wind exposure over about ten days. Be sure to water them well before placing them outside as the sun and wind will dry out their soil quickly.

Once your plants are able to comfortably stay a night out of doors, they’re ready to go to their home in the garden!

Transplanting to the Garden

Soil
Tomatoes like a soil PH of 6.0-6.8. A soil PH of 7.0 is neutral, so tomatoes like their soil on the slightly acidic side.

Sunlight
Tomatoes will need at least 8 hours of full sun to be happy in the garden. Be sure not to plant it near anything that will cast a shadow.

Spacing
Space your tomatoes 2-3 feet apart to allow for growth and airflow. Without proper ventilation you tomato plants will be more susceptible to disease.

Preparing
Dig a deep hole where you want your tomato plant to live. Place a handful of crushed up eggshells in the hole. This will give your plants an extra boost of calcium, which may help prevent blossom end rot. You can also add some Epsom salt to the hole, which will provide an extra boost of magnesium and sulfur, which are both very good for tomatoes. Cover your eggshells with a layer of soil so that the roots don’t come in to direct contact with it.

Before placing your tomato plant in the hole, remove the bottom leaves. And I mean from half way up your stem. Gently pluck them off. Then plant your tomato plant to the depth of about 4 inches below the remaining leaves. This will give your tomato more strength and better roots. Trust me, your plant will thank you!

Supporting
Tomatoes will need supports to grow in the garden. You can use a tomato cage, or you can tie your tomato stalk to a stake. You can also hang garden twine from above and train your plant to grow intertwined with it. Without these supports your tomato plants will fall over and be at risk of parasites and disease due to laying in the dirt and not having adequate air circulation.

Care
Tomato plants will need about 1-2 inches of water a week. Keep an eye on the weather forecast. Tomatoes prefer one or two good soakings a week rather than daily watering, though your weather conditions will need to be taken in to account and you may find that you do need to water daily. Aim for the soil to be moistened at a depth of 6-8 inches with each watering. Tomatoes hate to have their leaves wet, so water them at the ground and not from above with sprinklers. If the bottom leaves are getting dirty from the water splashing, remove them from the plant so as not to introduce disease to the plant. Water your plants in the morning and not at night. Plants can grow fungus when cold night temperatures are combined with the damp of watering.

Companion Planting

Tomatoes have natural friends and enemies in the garden. Take this in to consideration for happy plants.

Friends:
Basil Asparagus
Beans Borage
Carrots Celery
Chives Collards
Cucumber Garlic
Lettuce Marigold
Mint Nasturtium
Onion Parsley
Peppers

Enemies:
Brassicas Dill
Corn Kohlrabi
Potatoes Walnut Trees

Tomatoes are one of my favorite vegetables to grow. If you haven’t grown them before, give them a try and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Rhubarb Streusel Bread

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Rhubarb is in most yards in Northern Minnesota. And lovely, lovely rhubarb is the first grown fruit or veg that shows up in the spring. When I’m waiting for my tomatoes, beets, kale, peas, everything, I get to enjoy some one-on-one time with the rhubarb in the kitchen. Boy oh boy do I love it! And this rhubarb streusel bread just might be my favorite rhubarb recipe.

Rhubarb Streusel Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen rhubarb, chopped between 1/4-1/2 inch

Topping:

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon cold butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 in x 4 in loaf pans and lightly coat with flour.

With an electric mixer, mix together brown sugar, oil and egg. Beat in buttermilk and vanilla. Add salt and baking soda, mix. Then mix in flour. Fold in chopper rhubarb with a rubber spatula. Divide batter between the two loaf pans.

To prepare the topping: Combine sugar, ground cinnamon and butter in a bowl. Use fingers to work ingredients together until mixture is uniform and crumbly. Sprinkle over rhubarb bread batter.

Bake for 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted to center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then use a knife to release bread from sides of pans and turn out to finish cooling on the rack. Cut with a serrated knife.

Just a quick couple of notes about this recipe: I never buy actual buttermilk. Do you? I just measure out a hair less milk than the recipe calls for and add a quick glop of vinegar to it. It curdles the milk, and works as a perfect substitute.

If you like nuts in your bread, feel free to add some walnuts or pecans and tell me how you like it!

And if you prefer a denser bread, just use one teaspoon soda instead of one and one half, just know that it won’t rise as much. It’ll still be tasty, though!

And finally, this recipe is very forgiving with the amount of rhubarb that you use. If you only have 1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb, that’s ok! And if you want to add three whole cups, go ahead! You can probably tell that I’m the sort of cook who uses most recipes as an outline or inspiration for my cooking and baking. I encourage you to follow your heart, too. Have fun in your kitchen and tell me how you like your rhubarb streusel bread!

No Knead Dutch Oven Artisan Bread

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My dad found this old wood stove at an auction for a steal, and he wanted to make bread. So I brought my baking stuff over to his house and together we made bread. The kind you knead and let rise and punch down and shape and bake and all that. And it was SO GOOD! Unfortunately, though, his hands and wrists were killing him the next day. See, he has Psoriatic Arthritis. His joints get mad at him when he uses them in ways that they don’t want to be used. Like kneading. So then he just used the frozen dough that you buy at the store, and he’d bake that. It was so bland and boring. That’s when I came up with this easy, no knead, dutch oven, artisan bread. This one’s for you, Dad!

Dad and I made beautiful bread in his antique wood stove.

This artisan bread is crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. You only need to wash your bowl and spoons afterwards, no elbow grease needed to get those counter tops cleaned up! The whole thing is baked in a dutch oven (technically, mine is a french oven–potato, potato).

Now, I personally like to knead my bread. I can get all my frustration out, and there’s just something about handling bread dough that makes me feel so wholesome, grounded and primordial.

But…

This recipe is so quick. It’s so easy and foolproof and delicious and the textures and appearances are so dynamic. I love it!

With no further ado, I give to you (drum roll, please)….

No Knead Dutch Oven Artisan Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water
1 Tablespoon yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar or honey (or a combo of the two)
2 Teaspoons salt
4 1/4 cups flour

Instructions:

Proof yeast by combining with warm water and sugar or honey in a large bowl. Let rest 5 minutes. Add salt. Add flour one cup at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon. Dough may still be slightly sticky, but should form a ball in the bottom of the bowl. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.

Place your dutch oven with lid in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Remove your hot dutch oven, liberally sprinkle some flour inside, then carefully lift or dump your risen bread dough (do not punch down!) and place inside your hot dutch oven. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake for another 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. Cut with a serrated knife and enjoy!

My Great-Grandmother Cora used to say that if you cut bread when it’s hot that you’ll make it sad. I mean, I like a hot slice of bread, but if you cut it hot you do run the risk of collapsing your loaf or altering the look of the crumb. To each their own! Follow your heart.

I used to use parchment paper to lower and lift my bread into and out of the dutch oven. It helps to prevent sticking, and you can take the bread out of the oven right away after it’s baked. Then one day I was making and reached in the drawer for the parchment paper only to find there was none! So I made it without, and I swear it was better. The crust was crisper and the shape was more interesting. I recommend that you forego the parchment paper, but whatever you do, give this recipe and try and let me know what you think!

Build a DIY Garden Hotbed for Free!

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Last summer I planted eggplants for the first time. Lucky for me I planted two varieties, because one of them didn’t grow. Here are the two varieties I planted:

The Early Long Purple Eggplants grew beautifully, and produced abundantly. They were delicious, especially lightly breaded and baked. But they were slender, and I wanted something more meaty. I’d like to try stuffing them, or maybe not having to bread and bake a million pieces the size of quarters, but instead just half a dozen pieces the size of saucers.

These Early Long Purple Eggplants are the ones I got:

These Black Beauty Eggplants are the ones I want:

Unfortunately, living in zone 3, our summer nights can still get pretty chilly. My Black Beauty Eggplants flowered, but then the flowers would fall off in the cold night. No flowers, no fruit. Since I’m not willing to move to a warmer zone, and an expensive hoop house or greenhouse just isn’t in the budget…. I made a hotbed! This should create a warmer environment for these cold sensitive plants.

Here’s how I built my hotbed for free:

Supply list:
3 or 4 pallets
Screws, nails or metal wire for tying pallets together
Cardboard boxes, broken down
Hot manure (horse, cow, chicken, rabbit, or llama will do)
Brown compost matter (such as leaves, straw or hay)
Composted soil

Instructions:
Start by screwing, nailing or tying the pallets together to form a large C, or if you want it to have four sides instead of three, you can make a square. I did three sides because I’m short and don’t want to reach up and over the hotbed to tend my plants.
Then line your three-sided pallet box with cardboard and fill about half full with hot manure and brown compost (I used dried leaves). Layer the manure and brown compost matter so you’ve got about one foot of manure, then an inch of brown compost, then a foot of manure, then an inch of brown compost. You can use a large piece of cardboard to act as a fourth side to help hold and shape the manure.
After your hotbed is about half full, pile on at least 18-24 inches of soil.
Then plant your eggplants on top and let the manure warm your little garden bed!

A hotbed can be used for any plants that love heat, or it can be used to extend your growing season by providing warmth for your plants. Once my eggplants are flowering, I can easily cover them with garden fleece from edge to edge of the hotbed when the evening forecasts are cold, which will be kinder to the plants than if the fleece were laying on top of them while they’re planted on the ground. The high sides of the pallets can also act as a bit of a windbreak, which will help keep my plants toasty and cozy.

What do you think? Will I have Black Beauty Eggplants this summer??? I’ll update you when I know!

Have you ever built a hotbed? How did it work for you? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Update!

At the end of the summer I had pretty, pretty Black Beauty Eggplants growing in my hotbed. It worked and it was so worth it.