Thursday, October 4, 2012

Preparing for Winter

Winter on my BathroomFarm is much different than winter on the outside farm. In fact, it is my optimum growing season. My bathroom has south facing windows so I get a little boost from the sun. The wall my garden "grows up" has a dead air space behind it and a source of heat in front of it and my garden lamp shining on it. The cooler window ledge on the other side of the room is ideal for growing collards, a cool weather crop, in pots on the window ledge.

I started some new seeds for my winter crops and they are hanging in the milk carton "greenhouses" on the wall. Empty milk containers are such a great supply for my garden and I love the built-in handle hangers. My fingers are crossed that the green globe peppers, spoon tomatoes, Minnesota mini melons and the Easter eggplants all get off to a good start.

The seedling on the left is a cherry tomato plant discovered growing rogue on an Etsy seller's farm. I chose it for it's aggressive nature. So far, the seedling looks awesome. If the tomato vines currently growing, but not blooming don't improve by the time this one is ready to transplant, they are going to be pulled up to make room for something that's going to be hopefully better. Space in my garden is too precious to curate plants that aren't productive!

Also from the same Etsian's farm, I'm hopeful about growing very small "spoon" tomatoes. They were hand cross pollinated from two different tiny tomatoes growing in a container and the fruits are the size of a currant. I like that they were grown in a container so hopefully they will work for me, too. I got the Easter eggplants which grow white egg-size, soft-skinned eggplants from a different Etsy seller. I "heart" Etsy for garden supplies!


I moved my cucumber vine from a flower pot into the larger suspended trough container on the wall. There's twine on the wall for a trellis so it will have plenty of room to meander! This vine blooms like crazy but only recently has started producing female flowers. Like the peppers, cucumbers also require paintbrush pollinating because there aren't insects indoors to do the job for me! Because there was some room in this hanging planter, I direct sowed some parsley and cilantro seeds. I'm planning on making a lot of falafel this winter so fresh herbs would be great on hand!


My chili pepper plant which has been producing continuously since last Christmas has once again outgrown its container. This jumbo pot has been sitting outside of the carriage house growing nothing but weeds for a few years. With a huge pot full of extra nutritious homemade mix and regular spritz of magnesium-rich Epsom salt water, I can't wait to see how well this healthy little plant grows!

My BathroomFarm is reorganized and is going to be left to grow into it's next phase of development while I work hard on my Halloween projects. Halloween is like Black Friday for Baisebeige Studios, my textile business. And, shortly after that, there's the real Black Friday to consider. In fact, I start Etsy Holiday Boot camp to prepare for that today. Time is flying on the BathroomFarm!



\

No comments:

Post a Comment