Jun
10
I wanted to post some pictures of my Dwarf Grey Sugar Snow Peas. These pictures were taken about 1 month after I planted the seeds. I love getting past that first month, when the place is more established. It’s always a little nerve racking waiting for the peas to sprout (if yours aren’t sprouting check …
Jun
08
When you are growing broccoli it is easy to look at the plant and wonder how does broccoli come from this? This is why it is exciting to watch the head forming. I recently saw the first heads forming on some of my Packman broccoli plants (click on the picture to enlarge to see the …
Jun
08
Yesterday I decided to harvest my Bibb Lettuce in the morning for three reasons: 1. A high of 94 degrees was predicted. 2. It has reached the right size. 3. The center of the leaves had formed a “firm head”. I have two harvest options. I could have just take off the outer leaves and …
Jun
03
Lettuce is a crop that is easy to grow (as long as it is not too hot) and gives you a variety of options for harvest. Take the Bibb lettuce I am growing right now in a container. I could harvest at the point you see in the pictures. But I am going to wait …
Jun
03
The great thing about growing baby leaf spinach is that it is ready to harvest very quickly. When you grow baby spinach you can harvest the leaves whenever you like. If you want them on the smaller side, that is totally up to you. The more you harvest, the more that can grow. I harvested …
Jun
03
One of the biggest challenges to growing vegetables can be pests. They show up unexpected and unwanted. After transplanting my Packman broccoli I noticed a few holes in my leaves, clearly caused by some kind of bug. It could be a lot of things, but I haven’t been able to determine the guilty party. However …
Jun
03
One thing I have noticed about cabbage family members that they seem to take a while to start growing once you have planted them from seed or transplanted them from plants. The pictures you are looking at are of my Snow Crown Cauliflower plants 2 weeks after I transplanted them. They still haven’t grown very …
May
23
I am growing three different types of potatoes this year. The German Butterballs are the ones I will have to wait the longest to harvest. And so far they are the slowest growing of all my varieties. They were the last to begin growing leaves and the plants are smaller than their Red Pontiac neighbor …
May
23
Well it’s been 18 days now since I planted my Red Pontiac potatoes. And boy are they growing. Each day I can’t believe how much bigger they are getting. It was just a little over a week ago that there was no sign of life. Now I have some well established, strong plants. How Long …
May
23
I planted my Adirondack Blue Potatoes on May 5th. So it’s been between 2-3 weeks (18 days to be exact). They are growing at a good pace right now. The surprising thing about them is that they even a hint of blue/purple in the leaves themselves. They are easy to pick out in the potato …
Welcome to my blog! My name is Eric. I live in Saline, Michigan with my wife (Donna) and two daughters, Hannah (4) and Autumn (1). I started this blog in October 2009 to share my culinary experiences from making my own food from scratch to what I find at farmer's markets and grocery stores.
With 200 recipes for making and using your own soda, this book is the best source I have found on making your own carbonated treats at home.