Author Archives: Sandy

Mid-May planting: Beans, squash, cukes and melons

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Sandy

Sunday was a beautiful day to garden, which was great since I had a pretty long to-do list.  Above you can see one section of the garden.  The far raised beds are planted with raspberries.  The raised bed in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Green power! Get with the program

Posted on May 9, 2009 by Sandy

Last summer, we joined the Green Power Program at Puget Sound Energy. The Green Power Program allows energy customers to buy and add into the system energy from green energy sources (wind, solar, biomass and landfill gas). It’s a good … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy usage | Tagged | 5 Comments

Baby chicks, take two

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Sandy

After our first baby chicks met a sad fate, we decided to try again.  Here you can see our four new baby chicks:  three Golden Sex Links and one Golden Laced Wyandotte.  The chicks are now about a week old … Continue reading →

Posted in Homesteading | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Photo album: Greenhouse in May and self-watering containers

Posted on May 3, 2009 by Sandy

Today, pretty much all my garden time was spent working on projects in the greenhouse. In spite of a weather forecast that predicted mostly cloudy weather today, it was really mostly sunny, making the greenhouse quite warm. I opened up the … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Homesteading | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Baby chicks RIP

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Sandy

I’m sad to report our baby chicks are all dead. We’ve been keeping them in the basement in a large box. Our dog Gala has been curious about the chicks so we’ve kept the door closed to the basement to keep … Continue reading →

Posted in Homesteading | Tagged | 12 Comments

Gawky chicks and the indoor phantom insects return!

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Sandy

A few things for my quick post today. First, I noticed more insect damage under the grow lights yesterday. As you can see in the lower right, one of the watermelon seeds was cut down.  So the seedling damage continues.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Homesteading | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Under the grow lights: The summer crops emerge

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Sandy

Last weekend, I seeded my summer crops.  As you can see, I’m having really good germination and early growth under the new grow lights.  In these 28 pots, I have three types of cucumbers (Alibi, Green Slam, and Boothby’s Blonde), … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Homesteading | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Help! Something is chopping down my seedlings

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Sandy

Ok, I need some help with a quick diagnostic here.  Something is chopping down my pepper seedlings.  The plants, as you can see, are chopped off at the base.  These seedlings are indoors under the grow lights.  The plants did have … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged | 8 Comments

Seeding for summer and more blueberries!

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Sandy

We had a colder than usual winter and a number of my more tender lavender plants (Spanish lavender) died. This left a section of our yard looking quite a mess. Today, I tackled removing all the dead lavenders and I … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Tomato before & after and plum in bloom

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Sandy

Previously, I mentioned that my LED grow light system was not working out well. The plants were too leggy and were not maturing as fast as they should.  I broke down and purchased a new light system before the next … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments