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Category: Vegtables

Time to Start Veggies for Hydroponic System

  • By - DiyGarden
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It’s hard to believe that it’s time to start veggies for the hydroponic system. After all, I’m in North Texas and we are getting hit with so much cold, snowy weather. Which makes it difficult to get the hydroponic system set up outside. And I know my northern friends have an even longer wait. I am still going to go forward with the belief that there will be a place to put these veggies when it’s time for them to be planted.

You can watch how I start the hydroponic seeds by clicking here.

A Veggie Is A Veggie

You might wonder if there is a difference between a veggie seed for a hydroponic system versus a veggie seed planted in a dirt garden. The answer is no, the difference is the planting material. Most of us are use to starting seeds in a planting mix which I do for most of our garden. However, the veggies seeds I start for our hydroponic systems I use a material called “rock wool”. The seed grows roots in this medium very well. It also protects the hydroponic system from dirt which can contribute to clogging the system.

Watering System

The thing that keeps me drawn to a hydroponic system is how water is used to grow the veggies. The main water source for the system might be an upfront heavy use of water. In our case we will be filling a 275 gallon tote full of water. That is a lot of water! However, it’s all the water we will need for a season of growing plants. A hydroponic system is a closed loop of circulating water so except for some evaporation the same water is used over and over again.

Here is a blog I wrote about starting our first hydroponic system

In North Texas this is important and very helpful because there are always water restrictions in the summer which makes it very difficult to keep the veggie plants alive in the heat of the season when watering the garden is very restricted. These totes are easily found and relatively inexpensive, we found ours on Facebook Marketplace.

Here is to your homesteading dreams,

Shawn

Welcome to Our YouTube Channel

  • By - DiyGarden
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Our New YouTube Channel

It might be half way through January but Happy New Year!

Ron and I have taken on doing a YouTube channel this year and I’d like to share the videos with you weekly here on the blog. Now of course, it if you would like to go and subscribe to our channel here is the link to our YouTube channel.

Rabbit and Compost Set Up at Our DIY Garden

Pebbles the bunny.

The first video I want to share with you is called, “Rabbit and Compost Set Up at Our DIY Garden.” We show how we built our DIY rabbit enclosure and compost area And all made with reclaimed wood that was free. Here is the link to the video.

Hot News for End of Season Peppers

Hot Pepper Power

The next video is named, “Hot News for End of Season Peppers.” Ever wonder what to do with your peppers at the end of the season? You don’t have enough of the same kind of peppers to can them? Here is an excellent way to deal with all the odds and ends. See the entire video here.

Walking on Eggshells

Walking on Eggshells

The last video for this week is called, “Walking on Eggshells.” Here’s the secret to peeling farm fresh eggs plus a couple of other secrets about farm eggs. If you want to learn about those secrets the link is here.

End of Season Tomatoes…Do This

  • By - DiyGarden
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If you are a gardener you probably have the same issues with end of the season tomatoes that I do. They ripen one by one and the green ones are threatened with frost so you pick them and then they end up sitting on the counter forgotten and go bad.

Click here is how we try to prevent that.

Check out our other YouTube videos to see what else we are up to.

Blessings,

Ron and Shawn at Our DIY Garden

Transplanting the Wild and Leggy Brassicas

  • By - DiyGarden
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Sprouting Seeds

I finally got my hands in soil today! It has been a long time since I got my fingers dirty transplanting seedlings so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Last week I did a video that talked about the need to get your garden seeds and sprouting them. The reason I sprout seeds is because it helps with germination success and makes transplanting the seeds easier as well. If you worry about older seeds being viable sprouting is a great way to know that before placing them in soil. Here is the link to that video  https://youtu.be/Tj7bCHFJLXE

brassicas
Transplanting Brassicas

I started my cooler weather seeds planning on transplanting the brassicas first since I know they will be able to be put out in mid-February to early March. These seeds have sprouted, been put into the seedling trays until they got to leggy which is what happened to my broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. I transplanted these into the pots they will stay in until they are put into the grow bags for outside in the garden.  This video I talk about my wild and leggy brassicas. https://youtu.be/W1388X6XVNQ

Appreciating Brassicas

It took a long time for me to appreciate the qualities of brassicas. Like most kids, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage wasn’t on the top of my menu choices. And as most adults and gardeners I have come to appreciate these cool weather crops for what they represent to me and that is the first bite of outdoors. I love being able to go out and harvest them from my garden and bring them in and prepare them for my family.

Dinner with Brassicas

Some easy and nutritious menu ideas using broccoli are just roasting it with some garlic and Parmesan. A beef and broccoli stir fry, and a broccoli cheddar soup. With cauliflower you can make it into a mash that tastes like mashed potatoes, make a pizza crust out of it, and even have cauliflower steaks. The thing I do the most with cabbage is to make coleslaw, I pickle it for kimchi, I also love cabbage rolls.  I believe the more we vary using these ingredients we can find ways that people of all ages enjoy the brassica family.

Comment below with your favorite brassica recipe.

Until next time,

Shawn

Do You Keep A Garden Journal?

  • By - DiyGarden
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It’s a simple one subject notebook that sits on the end of a table I have in my grow room. Right now, it’s pretty bear in that room. I haven’t been in there lately because all of the plants are outside. Today, as I walked by I spied my garden journal and realized I hadn’t written in it for awhile. Not because my gardening dreams have waned but now they are not in this room.

As I picked up the journal and scanned through the pages I got excited all over again as I read through the notes I made in December and January. It made me sad when I realized I didn’t make any notes in May. So, I decided to use this first day of June to update my garden journal.

Want to take a peek of what has been happening in my garden?

Dear Journal,

The last several months have not been easy for me, the state, the United States and the world as we have all had to deal with Covid19. Thankfully, I have been oblivious to most of it because I have had my garden to keep me busy. Here is what is happening right now with the garden.

Hydroponic System

hydroponic lettuce

As you come onto the deck our hydroponic system is set up with different lettuce products. Because it’s getting hot the lettuce is starting to bolt and tasting a little bitter.

If you turn right off the deck the potatoes, onions and peppers are over there. The potatoes are about ready to come out. The peppers are being eaten by bugs but we have gotten some sweet peppers already. They taste yummy!

Herb Garden

herb bed

If you take a right off the deck you will see our new herb garden that we just started this Spring. We cut down two big trees and there are another two I’d like down. The herbs are all in pots so we can move them around as we need to. I have harvested and dehydrated lots of lemon balm, basil, greek oregano and a little chamomile.

Cantaloupe & Watermelon Patch

basil & lemon balm

The cantaloupe and watermelon patch is growing great. I haven’t seen any fruit from it yet but lots of blossoms.

cantaloupe & watermelon patch

Ron built an amazing ramp that takes me from the back deck down to the concrete slab that has 4 raised beds. At the bottom in front of the ramp is a zucchini bed with 4 plants in it. Big, green and lots of male blossoms just no fruit yet.

The Raised Beds

Cucumber bed

Raised bed #1: Has 4 cucumber plants with lots of fruit on them. We had one in our salad last night!

Beefsteak tomato bed

Raised bed #2: Full of beefsteak tomatoes. These are what we will eat on sandwiches all summer. I can’t wait. We have green tomatoes and lots of blossoms right now.

carrots, peas & radish bed

Raised bed #3: Probably my favorite bed this year. We call it our CPR bed. It had carrots, peas and radishes. We got a nice radish crop. We are picking peas right now and enjoying them in our salads. And I have carrots this year! I’ve pulled all the radishes out and planted some beans. They are up and flowering right now.

Roma tomato bed

Raised bed #4: This is a new bed and right up against the ramp coming down. I have about 26 Roma tomato plants in there right now. I’ve got some tomatoes and blossoms but not what I was hoping for.

Corn!

Corn

In the middle is probably my favorite thing because so many said it couldn’t be done. My corn plants, about 20 of them in a kiddy pool and they are tasseling and have corn cobs on them! Around the pool I have about 13 cherry tomato plants that are growing great with lots of little green tomatoes and blossoms.

Cherry tomatoes

So, there is what I have been up to. Hope you enjoyed a peek inside of my garden journal. If you don’t have one pick up a notebook and start one today. You will be glad you did.

Blessings,
Shawn

Broth by So Many Names

  • By - DiyGarden
  • Posted on

We all know how popular bone broth has become and I find it amusing that it has been made for centuries but been called by the protein of the bone; chicken, beef, pork, seafood and etc. I’ve been making chicken stock forever but when I heard of this new broth called bone broth I had to go google it to see what this new broth was all about and how come I was unaware of it.

Newsflash

Boy was I disappointed! Newsflash: the new exciting thing called bone broth… was stock made with the bones/carcass of an animal. I’ve been doing it for years. You know that country song that says I was country before country was cool. That’s me and bone broth.

Vegetable Broth

Now, I’m going to make you laugh right now or at least snicker. I’m not even writing about bone broth, no I want to talk to you about veggie broth. The funny thing to me is for as long as I’ve made bone broth I have never thought of making veggie broth, it wasn’t until I was looking for bouillon cubes and came across vegetable bouillon that I thought about why I never made fresh vegetable broth.

Simple and Oh So Good

The good thing about making vegetable broth is how simple it is. Whenever you have the peelings, ends, cores, and seeds of a vegetable save and put them into a gallon Ziploc baggie or something that you can throw into the fridge or freezer until it’s full and you are ready to start making broth. You ask how to know when it’s time to start your veggie broth? The answer is when the bag is full or you have time to put everything together.

Making of the Broth

vegetable broth

You can do it two different ways, get out your large Dutch oven or your crockpot, dump veggie scraps into your choice of cooking vessel, and fill the pot with water. Bring to boil, bring heat down to simmer, cook all day, I usually let it go for 6-8 hours. Strain veggies out of broth, set veggies aside for your chickens or compost pile.

Managing the Broth

Veggie broth

You can do many things with the broth. You can freeze it, can it or my favorite thing to do is pour it into some canning jars and keep in the fridge. When I make rice, couscous, mashed potatoes, soups or anything that needs water to make I use my vegetable broth to flavor that item. I go through the broth fast and am usually out and needing to make another batch in a week or so.  

Let me know how your vegetable broth making goes.